RIVERSIDE — City council is again considering broadcasting its meetings on Dayton Access Television.

Although the topic has been discussed for several years, it has never come to fruition.

Riverside resident Joe Loy, a DATV volunteer, said during a work session earlier this month that there would only be a minor cost to the city to broadcast the meetings.

Loy said he would volunteer his time and utilize DATV equipment, most likely two cameras to set up in the council’s chambers. The city’s only expense would be purchasing a podium microphone for public comment.

“This is a good way for residents to see what’s happening,” said Councilman Steve Fullenkamp, who invited Loy to the work session. “We do have minutes, but being able to view how council does its business is helpful also. It gives you more context to what the conversation is about. It’s pretty common in most communities, and it’s a positive.”

City Manager Bryan Chodkowski said the primary concern is limited space in the chambers, which seats about 25.

“There are a lot of things to consider, like how to do it and what the rules are. We’re not reinventing the wheel,” Chodkowski said.

Councilman Ed Schock suggested the city examine the operations of Fairborn and Huber Heights, which both broadcast their meetings on Time Warner Cable access channels as well as stream and archive them online.

Fairborn pays a videographer $50 per meeting and $300 per month for online services, while Huber Heights budgets $2,500 annually for the videographer’s contract.

“The benefit to the city is transparency of information from the government to the citizens,” Huber Heights Clerk of Council Anthony Rodgers said. “I just see an opportunity for people to have access to information in a way they haven’t been able to have previously.”

DATV is public access channel 5 on Time Warner Cable in Dayton, Riverside and Butler Twp.

Details such as how often the meeting will be replayed, policy requirements, training back-up videographers and archiving meetings on the website would need to be worked out, city officials said.

“I don’t want this to happen once in a while,” Fullenkamp said. “I want it to happen every time. The fact that it’s free makes it easier. If the city had to put money into it at this point, it’d be a longer shot. But there’s no argument for that at this point. I think there would be people in the community excited about this.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2281 or smatthews@coxohio.com.