Televising the council meetings on LynnCam, the local cable TV station, is still in the works, and Councilor Paul Crowley, along with Councilor Judy Kennedy, are at the forefront of pushing along the mandate they say local residents have requested.
“We need to find a way to make this happen. The people in this city want it,” Councilor Paul Crowley said.
Crowley has been working diligently on the issue since the campaign for his re-election ended. 
“When I first ran, people were very enthusiastic about it,” He said, “and I am still hearing from constituents about when it is going to get done.”
A number of issues stand in the way, mainly funding the broadcast.  Council President Tim Phelan, who is in favor of the council meetings being broadcast, said the city has no room in the budget to invest in the operation. Some rough estimates put a figure at $10,000 to broadcast the council meetings for the year.  That is with the current equipment available at LynnCam and a reasonable operating budget to staff the council meetings.
“Funding is not going to come from the city budget,” Phelan said.  “There was no promise to LynnCam that this would be funded.”
Phelan added LynnCam fully understands the current economic crisis the city is facing.
“I would like to see it happen sooner rather than later,” Phelan said.  “However, a lot of this will depend on the funding mechanism.”
Crowley said thinking about how to fund the project is a bit premature.  “A lot of numbers have come out regarding an estimated cost,” he said. 
“If we had the resolve, we could be doing the meetings this Tuesday. I am not of the mind that we should be doing it that way. I want to do it the right way. Questions on how to pay for it are moot at this point,” he said.
Crowley is in the middle of compiling research on various equipment, cost and meeting with other communities who broadcast their government meetings.
“In the coming weeks, we will be putting a lot of energy into this,” Crowley said.  He hopes to have toured the Salem cable facility by the end of the week and begin crafting a proposal.
“This is needed in this city.  It is important to the business community and also for the citizens who can’t get to the meetings on Tuesday.” Crowley said.
“The funding piece of this is not the first order to me,” Crowley said.  “We need to make sure that when we do this, we do it right.”