County to rebroadcast meetings on Brainerd community cable channel at no cost
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Summary
Staff proposed and commissioners signaled support for having prerecorded county board meetings rebroadcast on the Brainerd community cable channel. The service would be provided at no cost through a city–college partnership; staff will coordinate logistics and aim to begin rebroadcasts in January.
Jason McCoy told the board the city of Brainerd, working with Central Lakes College and IT director Sean Strong, can rebroadcast Crow Wing County meetings on the Brainerd community cable channel at no cost to the county. McCoy said the city collects a 5% franchise fee from cable subscribers that yields roughly $120,000 annually, about half of which has supported the cable channel’s operation.
McCoy said the channel’s operation would be prerecorded rather than live: county meetings would continue to be streamed to YouTube; staff would download the meeting video and provide it to the college or channel operator for placement into an open time slot for rebroadcast. Sean Strong described the channel’s history – operated through a partnership with Central Lakes College – and said it rebroadcasts city meetings multiple times between scheduled meetings.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about whether meetings would still be available on YouTube and confirmed there would be no cost to the county. The chair and multiple commissioners expressed no objection. McCoy said he and Sean would work together on logistics and anticipated getting started in January.
The board gave direction to staff to proceed with arrangements; no formal vote or contract was presented at the meeting.