Public can view Chippewa County meetings online

By Julia Wolf

Those looking to keep up on what is happening at the county level, now have another way to do so. Chippewa County is set to transition to livestreaming county board meetings on YouTube, in 2022.

County clerk Jackie Sadler explained, during an update at a regular county board meeting Dec. 14, that the decision to switch to YouTube came, after some technical issues with the county’s current program, Civic Streaming through Granicus, and an increase in costs for the system.

Sadler says they have tested the You-Tube channel the past few months. Some older meeting recordings, from the past two years, will also be uploaded to the channel.

“What’s really nice about the YouTube channel, is now we will also get some statistics,” said Sadler. “With the current system, we have no idea how many people are watching those.”

Andy Bauer, Chippewa County information technology director, also added that they can do high definition streams, without having extra cost, like they would under the old system.

“There’s no cost with YouTube,” said Bauer.

Bauer says there is also a lot of familiarity with YouTube and it is compatible with many different devices.

The link to the monthly meeting is available at the top of the agenda, which is published on the Chippewa County website, since it will change for each meeting.

The YouTube channel can also be accessed directly by going to youtube.com and searching Chippewa County, Wisconsin. Click filters, at the top of the page and select channels under type. To see livestreams, or past meetings uploaded to YouTube, click on the Chippewa County, Wisconsin channel.

Sadler also reminds everyone that the public is welcome to attend meetings inperson, if they want to. The meetings generally take place the second Tuesday of each month, at 6 p.m., in Room 302 of the Chippewa County Courthouse.