Can’t make it to the monthly meetings of the Morris Township Committee? Starting next month, you should be able to view replays on cable TV.
A group called “The Friends of Televised Access” has obtained a donated camera and raised funds to hire students from the Morristown High School broadcasting department to shoot the meetings and prepare the video for airing on Cablevision’s public access channel.
The May 20, 2015, committee meeting will be the first one recorded, and if all goes according to plan, it will air on Channel 21 at 6 pm on June 2, and on subsequent Tuesdays in that time slot, said Cathy Wilson, who is coordinating the project.
Wilson also is running as a Democrat for a committee seat in the fall election. She said her wish for televised meetings preceded her political aspirations.
“I’ve been interested in this for years,” said the former social studies teacher. “It’s good for your community to have information about what’s going on.”
Earlier this year, the all-Republican committee introduced audio replays of meetings.
Wilson said more than 500 residents have signed a petition asking for televised coverage. Eventually, she said, the videos will be posted online so people who don’t subscribe to the cable system can view them.
But first, everyone must establish a workable production routine, Wilson said. Neighboring Morristown has televised and webcasted its council meetings for years, with sophisticated gear that includes three cameras.
The Township’s coverage will be more basic, at least at first, said Wilson, who finished fourth last year in a four-way race for two committee seats.
Wilson said she has asked the committee for access to the meeting room, for a test-shoot, but so far has not received permission.
Mayor Dan Caffrey said the room only is made available to “nonpartisan township groups” such as the Little League and seniors organizations.
“It’s not a legitimate group in the Township,” the Mayor said of the Friends of Televised Access. “She [Wilson] has a right to come in and set up a few minutes early. But it’s a pretty simple, straightforward room.”
Anyone has the right to record municipal meetings, Caffrey added, as long as the recording is not disruptive.
But he questioned how many people will tune in.
“The interest is so miniscule,” he said, citing online stats for the Township’s audio recordings. “We get 70 or 80 hits, in a town of 24,000. We are fully transparent with all our meetings. We don’t feel there is a public outcry to take any further action” to post videos.
Even though the audio postings have few listeners, Caffrey said these recordings save time for the Township clerk when residents file requests for audio CDs of meetings.
Using taxpayer dollars to hire professionals to video tape our meetings when the majority of the population would not watch them is a waste of money. The audio is fine, I can listen to a meeting while doing chores and such and it is of no cost to taxpayers. Kathy Wilson just wants to show us that “she did something” in the hopes of getting elected. The only thing she will accomplish is showing all that watch our current elected officials are doing an excellent “non partisan” job!
Video the meetings and have them available on-line.
If the Mayor has a problem with that, then he is doing something he doesn’t want recorded and available on-line. Period.
500 channels and there’s nothing to watch…..
Seems like a pretty reasonable request to get access to the room for a test run. Who cares how many people want to shoot video of a meeting and what party they are affiliated with? I think the only legitimate thing that Mayor Caffrey said is that recording can not be disruptive to the meeting. Everything else just sounds like partisan politics. Ask anyone who shoots video for a living if showing up a “few minutes” early is all that is required because a room is a room right? Every room has the same dimensions, furniture layout, power outlet locations, sound dynamics right?
And how about posting the audio with more user friendly options something like SoundCloud so that it is possible to consume the audio on a mobile device like an iPad/iPhone.