Lynn CAM progressing with council project

LYNN – Local residents could be able to view City Council meetings from the privacy of their own homes as early as March 25, according to Ken Kinna, executive director of Lynn Cable Access and Media (Lynn CAM).Originally slated for taping to begin in January, the project’s momentum has stalled, but still remains promising.Kinna said he plans to tour city halls in Salem and Winchester, which are similar to Lynn’s, with Councilors at Large Paul Crowley and Judith Flanagan Kennedy to get a better idea of how to get the project off the ground.”Salem has an old, historic council room like Lynn’s that ended up being quite expensive to broadcast from,” he said. “So I think we need to get a visual first and then the installation will take some time.”Kinna said the cost to broadcast council meetings would fall between $15,000 to $20,000 to install and operate the cameras.”We’re still looking at funding for the project, how much we want to spend and where the money would come from,” he said. “So I don’t see us rolling until the end of March, beginning of April.”In order to hasten the process, Kinna said the non-profit media station is looking into a two-phase approach to the situation.”We could start out with a lot of man-operated cameras and then eventually switch to robotic cameras so that it’s not so in your face,” he said. “But I think we’ll be able to accomplish the short term approach soon.”Other alternatives include paying for the project a little at a time, or soliciting monetary help from local businesses to sponsor the meetings.The next scheduled council meeting takes place tonight at 8 p.m., followed by March 25 and April 8.