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Low ratings kill committee coverage in Port Moody

A Port Moody councillor says moving meetings of the city’s finance committee and committee of the whole to the smaller confines of the Brovold Room that is not equipped for video streaming is “a huge step back in the levels of transparency.” Coun.
video streaming
Fewer meetings of Port Moody committees will be available for viewing at home after a decision by the city's mayor to move those meetings to the Brovold Room, which doesn't have facilities to allow streaming video feeds.

A Port Moody councillor says moving meetings of the city’s finance committee and committee of the whole to the smaller confines of the Brovold Room that is not equipped for video streaming is “a huge step back in the levels of transparency.”

Coun. Diana Dilworth said council has a duty to be as accountable as possible, even if there are only a handful people viewing a live video stream.

But such low viewership numbers are part of the reason for removing committee meetings from Inlet Theatre, which is equipped for live streaming, said Mayor Rob Vagramov.

He said a pilot project that started last year to expand video streaming and archiving beyond regular council meetings to include meetings of major committees has proved to be a ratings flop.

Vagramov said live coverage of those meetings was drawing an average of 30 viewers, hardly worth the estimated $800 he said  it costs to produce the stream and archive it.

“The rationale was ensuring financial responsibility through increased transparency,” Vagramov said of the pilot project, that was implemented after the city had to bring video coverage of council meetings in house when Shaw Television ended its commitment to cover council meetings in several communities in 2017. “The data shows it achieved neither.”

But Dilworth said ratings aren’t the point.

“The real principle here is if there’s 34 people who want to watch council, we have to provide that,” she said.

Vagramov said the Brovold Room also provides a more intimate setting that is more conducive to increasing the depth and length of conversation, “which is exactly the kind of environment you want for committees.”

He added committee meetings remain open to the public, and the decisions made by those committees eventually make it to council meetings that are streamed anyway.

Vagramov said he’s also exploring the possibility of adding audio and video capability to the Brovold Room.