County Board meetings to be shown on cable TV

Hutchinson Community Video Network will soon add a new reality show to its lineup — the McLeod County Board meetings.

County Commissioner Sheldon Nies said the County Board supports telecasting of their meetings, with HCVN’s help, beginning Feb. 19.

The local cable channel already airs Hutchinson City Council meetings, but HCVN Board Member Barry Anderson said the channel received many requests to see the County Board in action.

Until now, the County Board has declined to air its meetings. “Nobody objects to access, it’s just the cost,” Anderson said.

Nies concurred the board encourages anyone who wants to videotape its meetings.

According to Anderson, HCVN’s technical staff believe the meetings can be telecast at minimal expense. As an experiment, the channel wants to videotape the meetings for six months and distribute them to other cities in the county.

Anderson said HCVN and the County Board are still working out logistics. For the initial six months, HCVN will foot the entire bill for telecasting the meetings. “Over the long haul, we might have to assemble a consortium for cost-sharing,” Anderson said. “For now, we’re willing to bear that expense.”

Though he hasn’t lived in Hutchinson for some time, Anderson is still active with HCVN. He was formerly a city attorney, then appointed a judge in 1998. He’s now a State Supreme Court justice. Though he lives in the Twin Cities, he still cares about the quality of Hutchinson’s local cable programming.

“I have been committed to public access for many, many years … ” he said. “I really do believe that (HCVN) is among the finest in greater Minnesota.”

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)