I. RECOMMENDATION:
There is no staff recommendation. This item was requested as a Future Agenda Item by Councilman Adkisson.
II. BACKGROUND:
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, council meetings have had to be broadcasted from an online environment. Currently the Coalinga City Council has been utilizing Big Marker Webinar. The City Attorney's office makes this avenue available and moderates the meetings with this service.
Citizens have expressed their concern about difficulties in utilizing this program.
III. DISCUSSION:
Disseminating information in an online format has never been as important as it is now. Thankfully the market has a large variety of options to accomplish this. The concern then becomes ease of use and implementation. Staff has researched different alternatives, and found that Zoom Webinar would be the easiest solution to move to although the City would then need to train the City Clerk in the use of the system which would add to her existing duties of taking meeting minutes.
Zoom (Pro Plan w/webinar feature) would allow you to have 100-10,000 participants, Q & A section, Host Controls, Audio/Video Recording, and other basic functions.
Currently, the City uses Big Marker, a no-cost to the City service that is provided by the City Attorney's office and the City Attorney serves as the moderator.
IV. ALTERNATIVES:
- Continue utilizing Big Marker
- WebEx Webinar
V. FISCAL IMPACT:
Zoom Webinar with 100 participants and the webinar function will cost 154.99/mo. If you wish to have more potential participants, the next step is 500, and the cost will raise to 254.99/mo. This is not budgeted and would come from the General Fund. |