Fayetteville Set to Web Stream City Meetings

Fayetteville, AR -  The City of Fayetteville will start live web streaming of many City meetings beginning tonight with the City Council meeting at 6:00 PM.  Citizens can access the on-line video by visiting our site and clicking on the City Meetings: On-Line Video link on the left side of the home page. During a live video stream of the City Council meeting, the web site offers citizens the ability to view documents associated with the agenda items while viewing the meeting.  When viewing archived items, the system offers a number of conveniences including the ability to watch an entire meeting or simply jump to the agenda item of their choice rather than viewing the full video.   

All meetings held in Room 219 of City Hall including City Council, Planning Commission, and Telecom Board meetings will be available live on-line.  Additionally, many City meetings which are currently filmed by the Government Channel such as ad hoc committees, City Council committees, City Boards and Commissions, etc. can be archived and available for viewing from the web site for one-year.  Each group will have the choice on whether to participate in the service.  Permanent archives of meetings will still be maintained on DVD by the Government Channel. 

The City contracted with Granicus, Inc. (www.granicus.com) to develop this new service for the citizens of Fayetteville.  To view and hear live meetings or archived video, the user’s computer must have a sound card, a minimum 56 Kbps Internet connection, and Windows Media Player version 9 or higher. Users can access more information on the minimum system requirements for watching the Archived video on the City’s web site. 

The video on our site is configured to stream at various speeds from 20 kbps (audio-only) up to 350 kbps. City servers automatically detect connection speed and send the highest quality stream possible. Viewers that are trying to view the meeting over a dial-up connection may experience some issues/delays while watching the video.  

The City anticipates expanding the service with additional time and money saving features that will allow city divisions and departments to use the web site for training and other video related services. 

The City of Fayetteville is the first city in Northwest Arkansas to offer live web-streaming of city meetings and the first City in the State of Arkansas to contract with Granicus for this service.