Town meetings in New Fairfield have gone viral
Erik Ofgang, Staff Writer
Published: 11:22 p.m., Thursday, October 28, 2010
STEPHEN STANGL, DIRECTOR
cody morris, director
- Director Cody Morris, an 11th-grader and director Stephen Strang, a 10th-grader, both of New Fairfield, operate remote cameras from the control room at a town meeting in the New Fairfield Senior Center. New Fairfield is adding a channel dedicated to town events. Both channels are available on the internet. Photo taken Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 Photo: Scott Mullin / The News-Times Freelance
NEW FAIRFIELD GOES DIGITAL!!!
 |
NEW FAIRFIELD -- New Fairfield's education channel, which has been broadcast on Channel 17 on Charter cable for the past six years, is now available streaming in real time on the town's website at www.newfairfield.org.
In addition, the town launched a new government channel on Oct. 13 that will also be streaming on the web. Both channels also will be available to subscribers of AT&T U-verse, a digital TV, high-speed Internet and phone service newly available in some parts of New Fairfield.
First Selectman John Hodge said streaming online allows residents without cable to view the channels and the addition of a new channel will allow the town to broadcast more government meetings.
"The more people know, the more informed they are, the better their decisions," Hodge said. He added that the town wants to make local government as accessible to residents as possible.
The idea is to "try to bring town government right into people's living rooms (and) make it accessible to them, so they don't have to get their information from a third party. They can watch and make their own decision whether their town is moving in the right direction or not."
Both channels can be viewed by going to the town's website and clicking the link on the left hand menu that says "New Fairfield TV on the web."
The Community Room in the building that also houses the New Fairfield Senior Center was built as a TV studio to broadcast town meetings, so the town is poised to broadcast more events.
When New Fairfield launched its education channel, Hodge said attendance at town meetings went down, but residents' awareness of town issues went up. He predicted that trend will continue now that the channels can be viewed online.
To broadcast the town's educational channel and the new government channel, AT&T installed new video equipment at the community room in the Senior Center. That equipment is allowing the town to stream both channels online.
Ray Juskiewicz, the video coordinator for the town, explained the difference between the two channels. The educational channel will continue to provide live and repeat coverage of board meetings and original programming related to school and town events. It cannot show any overtly politically events, however.
On the other hand, the government channel will broadcast town meetings and other programming related to local, state and federal government.
At election time candidates from each party will be given equal time on the channel and be allowed to produce segments in support of their campaigns.
Channel 17 broadcasts Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance and the Board of Educationmeetings. The new channel will allow for coverage of other town meetings.
Juskiewicz said the next step will probably be to broadcast the Park and Recreation Commission meetings and the Zoning Board meetings, but that will all be decided by town officials as the new channel gets started.
Hodge said streaming is part of a bigger effort to enhance the offerings of the town's website.
He said residents can now perform, "90 percent or better of all Town Hall functions on the Web. There are very few things that you actually have to come to Town Hall for anymore."
