Soon, you can again tune into Channel 14 to see board meetings
Hales Corners — Coming soon to your living room: Village Board meetings.
Well, not literally. But the Village Board on Monday put the wheels in motion to again begin broadcasting its semi-monthly meetings on local cable access channel 14.
Officials said now is the right time, while the Village Board's meeting room is under renovation as part of the project to overhaul Village Hall. That project will make it much easier to install the proper wiring and sound equipment in the meeting room.
The board is temporarily holding meetings next door, in the Ben Hunt Room of Hales Corners Library.
The original Village Hall project did not include plans for video equipment in the meeting room, so trustees are now awaiting formal bids. The expected cost of installing two cameras is around $5,000.
Reaching the public readily
During Monday's board meeting, Trustee Dan Besson said spending that money would be a good investment if it gets more residents involved in their local government.
"I think it's a win-win for the community," Besson said.
Many of Hales Corners' neighbors already broadcast local government meetings, and Oak Creek will also soon begin showing meetings out of City Hall on its local cable access channel.
Necessary updates
With or without meeting coverage, the village's cable access system is in dire need of upgrades, said Roger Brinkmeier, a resident volunteer who has been involved with the cable channel for years.
He told trustees that some of the equipment from when the channel launched in 1982 is still around and almost useless. Much of the other equipment is faulty and going unused.
Brinkmeier plans more research and return to the board in the coming weeks with ideas and cost estimates.
"Village leaders need to consider the future of the cable channel, our needs and uses for it and our commitment to in the future," he wrote in a report to the board.
Who's listening
Where does channel 14 fit in with officials' efforts to communicate to the public?
Many residents turn to the Web site, and to a lesser extent the Hales Corners newsletter, for messages from village leaders, Village Administrator Mike Weber noted.
Trustees and administrators will have to determine where resources should best be spent and how the cable equipment competes with other upgrades that are needed, Weber said.
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