The council currently alternates its meetings between its Wyong and Gosford civic centres.

The expectation that residents in, say, Lake Munmorah, would regularly travel to Gosford to view meetings is unrealistic.

Similarly, residents in Umina face a hike in travelling to the meetings at Wyong.

Screening the meetings live on the internet would alleviate that problem for many residents.

A spokesperson for the council said webcasting the meetings was also a move “to improve efficiency, transparency and public engagement” with the council.

At the first meeting of the new council on May 25, administrator Ian Reynolds called for a report on the potential to webcast meetings.  That report was presented to council last tonight.

The trial will include the installation of fixed cameras in both the Gosford and Wyong civic centres, with images and audio live streamed via the internet.

Council will continue to alternate meetings between Gosford and Wyong.

A further public exhibition will get under way shortly to gauge community views on webcasting and also a proposal to hold monthly instead of fortnightly meetings. 

Councils are required to hold at least 10 meetings a year.

If council does adopt this strategy it will bring it in line with a number of other councils across the state.

Mr Reynolds said council was seeking efficiencies in staff time so they can focus on community service delivery rather than turning around reports for meetings every two weeks.  

“The reality is we have a big job to do in bringing the two organisations together and I want staff to be getting on with the job of service delivery rather than report writing,” Mr Reynolds said. 

“By moving to monthly meetings, members of the community will be able to see a fuller agenda.”

If a monthly meeting schedule is adopted by council, following the community consultation process, then the first live-streamed council meeting would be on Wednesday, October 26, at Gosford.

Then meetings would be held on the fourth Wednesday of the month, alternating between Wyong and Gosford chambers, until the next Central Coast Council local government elections in September, 2017. 

Mr Reynolds said council was continually engaging with the community about what they want.

“And now, with live webcasting, they will get to see what the final decision is without having to be physically in the chamber which is a great outcome for the Central Coast community,” Mr Reynolds said.