Sikeston embraces transparency with new city council meeting livestreams

SIKESTON — The City of Sikeston has officially started livestreaming its city council meetings.

Beginning in January, the city had its first livestream of a council meeting, and David Jenkins, communications manager for the City of Sikeston, said every council meeting from now on will be livestreamed via Facebook page and available for viewing later on the city’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Jenkins said the livestreaming has been a success.

According to Jenkins, since they had their first livestream in January, they are averaging about 6,000 views, according to Facebook numbers.

“Since we started the livestream at the Jan. 6 meeting, and it has done well, we’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from it, Jenkins said.

As of right now, Jenkins said the city is working out all the kinks. The livestream can be found on Facebook, and once the livestream has ended, it can be found on the city’s YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@cityofsikestonmissouri5921.

The video will also be stored on Facebook, however, after 30 days the video will be removed due to a new policy by Facebook that starts later this spring.

Jenkins mentioned the city has been eager to implement livestreaming for quite a while.

“We have been wanting to do this for a long time,” Jenkins said. “It’s one of those things where it adds to transparency. We want to be transparent with the public.”

Jenkins elaborated on the significance of maintaining transparency with the public.

“We want the people to be involved,” Jenkins said. “We don’t want the public to think we are keeping anything from them. We want them to know what’s going on.

Jenkins continued: “A lot of people can’t come to the 5 p.m. meeting, and we understand that. So, the livestreaming allows them to know what’s going on and allows for everyone to be involved.”

According to Jenkins, the cost of the livestreaming estimates around $34,199, but the city was able to use American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds for it.