The Pahrump Town Board last week investigated the future of communicating to residents by asking Granicus Inc. to present information on using state-of-the-art technology to stream video, archive meetings, take the pulse of citizens via internet polls and much more.

Granicus has been servicing local governments for 10 years. P.J. Schneider, a software salesman from the San Francisco based company, logged onto the Internet to show various aspects of other towns the company services, such as Los Gatos, Calif.

The cost to the town for the services discussed by Schneider would be $24,500 to start up plus $2,134 per month. However, the agenda item was for information only and not an action item.

Schneider said, "Our purpose is to change the way citizens interact with local government by taking audio and/or video (of town or advisory board meetings) and Webcasting it on the Internet so citizens who cannot attend could watch live video" or acquire an archived copy of the meetings.

"You can take that archive and combine it with recorded minutes and the agenda to create an integrated public record that is both indexed and searchable using key words on the Internet," said Schneider. With keyword search, a person could jump to any point in the meeting by agenda item or by word.

Additional services available include the ability to take the pulse of residents' opinions by comments or on polls on the Web site.

Granicus serves about 585 government agencies and according to Schneider is the largest provider of such services for local government in the country. It currently serves five local governments in Nevada, including Washoe and Clark Counties.

Locally, a link could be put on the town's Web site that would pull up meeting minutes, video and agendas. It would look like a town Web page, but actually all the information would be hosted and managed by Granicus. There would be no additional bandwidth required by the town.

Most public comment centered around cost. Residents favored the capabilities and possibilities but said the town could not afford it.

Brian Shoemake, who owns a local Web site development company, told Schneider, "I am very, very impressed. I was highly impressed by how your video streamed. I watched the Burbank City Council meeting and some of the archives from San Francisco. It is extremely well done."

Shoemake asked about how to validate poll results and e-comments.

Schneider said protocols are in place within the system, and the town can designate and customize many aspects of the program. Poll results and comments can be traced back, if necessary, by IP addresses.

Donna Cox said, "This is wonderful ... but I really don't see this being a need right now. To me, this is a luxury and maybe for down the road when economics pick up a little bit."

Harley Kulkin said Granicus could be an action item in the future. He reminded the board members that funds have been drastically cut from Yucca Mountain and the town would see a corresponding lower amount. "You are going to be struggling ... focus on cutting things so we have less overhead, not increasing liabilities."

Vernon Van Winkle commented that Granicus had "a very nice product" that was "sophisticated" beyond what the town needs. He said he considers the town's priorities to be streaming video and the ability to archive meetings. "Those are two things that can be utilized today."

Nancy Lord commented the services "sound rather pricey," adding, "If you are going to do this, the bid should be opened up to find other companies. This is not really high-level software. There are plenty of people that can do it."

Fred Holm, Dave Stevens and Harold Grimaud said the services were too expensive. Grimaud also asked if a survey had been taken to see how many people in town have a computer.

"That don't do me any good because I don't have a computer and wouldn't want one for nothing. I wouldn't want this meeting on the Internet so anybody in the world could look at it," said Grimaud. "That's stupid. We look stupid enough now, but to have it on the Internet so everybody can look at it?"

Board Chairman Nicole Shupp said, "That would be part of our transparency. We have nothing to hide."

Grimaud said, "I think this whole town should be covered up. They have a lot to hide here and the county."

Shupp answered, "Well, let's uncover it."

Sam Jones, who said he's been a taxpayer in the Pahrump Valley for 20 years said, "Apparently these town board members, as the ones in the past, don't know the meaning of the word no. We the citizens run this valley.

"I will be glad to videotape these meetings if you pay for the tape. $24,000 up front will end up costing $50,000 to $60,000 a year. There ain't hardly anybody in the valley makes that much money. All's I am saying is, until you know about the prison, know about Yucca Mountain and know about everything else, listen to us when we say no. No means no."