Sewickley Council to livestream its voting sessions starting in September

People who want to observe a Sewickley Council meeting soon may not have to leave their home.

Council voted 8-1 Tuesday night to livestream their voting sessions.

Councilman Todd Renner dissented and did not explain his decision at the meeting.

The proposed setup is a NexiGo conferencing camera and stream via Zoom.

Borough Manager Donna Kaib said the equipment cost lest than $300 and the Zoom membership is $199 per year.

It’s unclear if the camera would be solely focused on council or would show some of the audience.

Councilman Tom Rostek said they are still looking into positioning the camera.

“We purchased it. We just need to get it set up,” he said. “I think it’s just going to be us, but I’m not certain. I think it’s going to be fairly simple at first. We’re trying to keep it fairly inexpensive and learn as we go. It’s a first step.

“We’ll see how it goes and find out what’s good and bad about it as we go. Hopefully, we’ll learn what’s the best way to go about it.”

Rostek also explained why he supports the livestreaming.

“We’re looking to increase the transparency of our deliberations at council,” Rostek said. “There’s a lot of people who want to participate, but can’t make it for one reason or another. We want to increase participation, increase visibility. Let people see how we go about our business. We thought this would be a good way to increase citizen participation and increase democracy.”

Livestream policy

Council President Cynthia Mullins read aloud the new livestream policy prior to the vote.

Video recordings of council meetings will remain accessible for a period of three months before being removed. They and will not be permanently archived by the borough.

“The approved minutes of each respective meeting will continue to serve as the official record of the meeting pursuant to the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act,” according to borough documents.

Public comment will only be available to in-person attendees.

Mullins said they were advised by Solicitor Nate Boring to not broadcast workshop meetings and to limit livestreaming to voting meetings only.

“The voting meetings are where we actually take the actions that are going to affect our residents,” Mullins said. “That’s why we want to livestream those meetings. So our residents have more engagement in the legislative process. People want to engage more, but sometimes it’s difficult for them to get away from home. This way they’ll be able to look at it live or look at it archived on the borough website so they can see what’s going on.”

A Zoom link to the livestream will be posted the night of the meeting at sewickleyborough.com.