Glen Osborne officials are considering livestreaming their council meetings.
Mayor Matthew Doebler made a pitch at the March workshop meeting to get an Owl Labs camera and microphone in order to boost local government transparency and accessibility.
The microphone is very sensitive and should pick up audio with ease, and the camera has 360-degree and zoom capabilities, according to Doebler.
The mayor also offered to cover the estimated $1,300 cost.
“I believe so strongly that streaming or recording your meetings is the single best thing that you could do to connect residents to their local government,” Doebler said.
The Owl system is used by Sewickley Borough and at the Sewickley Public Library, where Quaker Valley Council of Governments has its meetings.
The library has a camera in its conference room on the first floor and in the community room on the second floor.
Richelle Klug, library head of communications, said the devices are used frequently for virtual programs and group gatherings like French conversation.
She said it has been at least two years since the cameras were installed, and staff are able to help people with their use.
Sewickley livestreams its council meetings, which take place on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 6:30 p.m. at the borough building. Sewickley council approved its process in August 2022.
Zoom links to join are posted on the borough’s website. The borough does not have a YouTube page.
Video recordings are kept for three months and are not permanently archived.
Borough manager Donna Kaib said there was a one-time cost of a little less than $1,700 to set things up.
“It allows residents to view the meetings remotely or at their convenience if they are unable to attend in person,” Kaib said via email. “There are many different types of equipment out there, but we chose the Owl Labs due to its cost and its ease of use.”
Quaker Valley School District provides a one-way live Zoom feed of its school board meetings, meaning people can watch virtually but cannot comment through the stream.
The district does have a YouTube page, but does not upload its board meetings.
Familiar system
The long-term goal is to bring about a similar meeting recording system as Aleppo.
Doebler was a township commissioner there from 2014 to 2019 before moving back to his hometown.
During his time in Aleppo, he created its “meeting digest” system, which provides a recap of commissioners’ meetings, including links to meeting videos on YouTube.
That system is still used in Aleppo today. Digests are sent to people’s emails with segments of the digest linking to certain portions of the meeting so residents can get straight to subjects that interest them.
Doebler said he would like to see Glen Osborne adopt the complete process.
“I just don’t think in this modern Zoom world that there’s any close second in terms of encouraging citizen participation to making the meetings available for them to consume at home,” Doebler said. “I’d like to take what we did in Aleppo and take it a step further and use some AI tools.”
Doebler believes AI would be able to create the digest more quickly and be able to catalog past meeting discussions. He is still exploring those options.
Township manager Gwen Patterson said Aleppo does not use AI. She and her administrative team create the digests and add the links.
They have a camera and a projector in the meeting room of the township building.
Aleppo works with a technical consultant who manages the recording and audio.
Cost is about $100 per meeting, which equals about $2,400 a year. It is part of the township’s budget.
People can follow along live on Aleppo’s YouTube page and watch meeting videos afterward at their leisure.
The free digest is sent to anyone who signs up for it via email. Registration is available through the township website.
“It takes a little bit of startup time to get comfortable with the format of doing the digest, but once you’ve been doing it a while, it becomes easier,” Patterson said. “We like that it gets the information out to a broader audience than people who would just be able to attend the meeting in person. We see a benefit and the recipients see a benefit.”
Early support
Livestreaming is not in Glen Osborne’s budget.
Council is expected to discuss livestreaming legalities and logistics with solicitor Anna Jeward of Babst Calland before any vote, which may not come for a few months.
Council meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. at Osborne Elementary.
Council vice president Bill Monski said he supports the idea.
“The time has come, and I think we have to work out the logistics of it, and you know we do it the right way,” Monski said. “It’s 2026. I anticipate that we’re going to get a lot of input as to what the rules are, what we have to follow from the solicitor. I anticipate we’re going to have to basically work up a set of guidelines to handle meetings.”
Monski, who also serves as the borough’s emergency management coordinator, believes livestreaming will lead more people to follow the borough’s actions.
“With as busy as people are nowadays, if it would allow our residents to at least be able to see what’s going on by the elected officials, it’s a good way to do that and it’s an efficient way to that,” he said.
Monski thanked the mayor for his offer to purchase the equipment, but does not believe it should be bought that way.
“I think it’s something that needs to be agreed upon by the borough,” Monski said. “I’m not real keen on setting that precedent of, ‘You buy it and we’ll do it.’ ”