Lake Forest City Council decides to keep broadcasting meetings on cable tv channel

Chicago Tribune

4 hours ago

Lake Forest residents who prefer to watch city meetings on cable television will continue to have that option as the City Council did not approve a staff recommendation to suspend the channel.
Council members received an overview of the state of the local cable TV channel at their June 2 meeting with staff suggesting it should at least be temporarily discontinued. However, a split emerged among the aldermen, and no vote was taken.
The cable channel airs over channel 17 for local Comcast subscribers, and the city receives it at no cost through its franchise agreement with the cable provider, Assistant to the City Manager Keri Kaup said.
The city airs City Council, Finance Committee, and Plan Commission meetings on the channel that has been available to residents since the late 1980s, according to a city spokeswoman.
The rest of the time, informational slides are supposed to be aired.
City staff cited a lack of use in the channel, plus technical reasons for why the city should move away from the channel.
Regarding viewership, Kaup said Comcast did not keep statistics on how many residents watched the meetings, but she pointed to a 2023 community-wide survey where only one percent of respondents, translating to 14 people, used the channel to get information.
She contrasted that with 54 % of residents using the city's website and 59% reading the electronic newsletter, which has approximately 12,000 subscribers. She added the city did not receive any complaints from residents after the city did not broadcast the May 19 City Council meeting.
Kaup added the city is responsible for the costs of maintaining and upgrading the equipment associated with the channel and mentioned a December 2024 upgrade of the audiovisual system at the City Hall's Council Chambers. Still, technical issues remain in place.
'What it didn't do was improve the quality that goes out on the cable broadcast,' Kaup said. That is because we don't have control of the quality that goes out on the broadcast. That is a Comcast issue.'
She added that some connection issues have now emerged, and the city would have to replace some equipment to keep the channel going. That was a reason why the city has not aired the informational slides recently.
The equipment replacement costs would be about $3,360, according to city documents.
Kaup added the city staff would assist residents in demonstrating how to access the livestream of meetings through a computer, either from the city's website or its YouTube channel.
'We believe that making this change would enable us to direct our resources to communication mediums that are most utilized by our residents and maintain transparency while we are eliminating that redundancy,' she said.
However, JoAnn Desmond, a member of the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Senior Citizens Foundation Board, advocated for the city to keep the channel in place.
'I am aware of many seniors whose only access to watch city meetings is through cable TV,' she said.
Desmond added that some older residents are not comfortable using computers.
'I know there are many seniors unable to enjoy active lives and do not have adequate technology skills,' she said. 'Many of these seniors enjoy the company of cable TV and would feel further disenfranchised from our city government if they did not have access to these meetings in a way they are most comfortable. This is a small price to pay for our seniors.'
City Council members differed among those wanted to keep the channel in place and those who agreed with the staff recommendation.
Alderwoman Nancy Novit, 1st, labeled the channel as an important tool, and she watches it personally.
'I think it is easier for people who know how to turn on Channel 17, to turn on Channel 17 than to go to the website and look for the stream and take extra steps that are not intuitive steps,' Novit said. 'Especially for the seniors who know the way they know and don't want to have to go through the machinations of learning a new way to do it.'
Alderman John Powers, 2nd, also preferred to keep the channel in place.
'If there are a handful of people that still use this and want to stay connected, I think it is worth the investment,' he said.
Seeing it differently, Alderman Edward 'Ted' Notz, 1st, supported a discontinuation, stating he liked the staff proposal to train people to use the livestream.
'I think that is a great solution to bridge that gap,' Notz said.
That sentiment was echoed by Alderman Richard Walther, 4th.
'This will allow us to train our community to use the livestream solution,' he said.
With the differing viewpoints, City Manager Jason Wicha indicated the cable TV broadcasts would continue.
'This is not a strong staff recommendation so if there doesn't seem to be a strong consensus on the council to remove it, it is a fairly immaterial expense,' he said. 'This will effectively keep the lights on.'