Martins Ferry working to bring council meeting livestreams back online
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MARTINS FERRY -- Martins Ferry City Council’s livestreams are expected to return soon after a computer failure interrupted the city’s ability to broadcast meetings online.
During Wednesday’s council meeting, Second Ward Council Member Spencer Echemann, who serves as the city’s public relations and communications chair, provided an update on the status of the livestream system.
“I want to give everybody an update as far as the livestream goes,” Echemann said. “I’ve had a number of comments where people have asked me, ‘Where is the livestream at? What about the livestream?’ I get it.”
He said the problem stems from the laptop that controls the city’s livestream camera.
“The issue with the livestream is that the laptop there is dead,” Echemann said. “The IT came in and looked at it and nothing. In order for the camera and the livestream, that was the laptop that was connected to the camera. Basically, you just got to push a button and then it would automatically go on YouTube.”
Echemann said city officials, including Service Director Andy Sutak, worked with Chris Baker of ITT Services to resolve the issue.
“Mr. Sutak did a great job getting us in touch with Chris Baker and getting the new laptop,” he said.
According to Echemann, the replacement laptop was expected to arrive by Friday. Once it is installed and configured, the camera and livestream system can be reconnected.
“From what Chris Baker told me, the new laptop should be in by Friday,” Echemann said. “Once we have that new laptop, we will go through the steps of getting everything set up and getting the camera up and the livestream should be back to working.”
While he hopes broadcasts can resume by the council’s next meeting, Echemann stopped short of guaranteeing a timeline.
“I’m never going to keep promises I can’t keep, but I hope to have the livestream up by the next meeting,” he said. “I will be honest, I can’t promise that, but know this is in the works and this is not being put on the backburner.”
The city previously streamed council meetings on Facebook but has transitioned to YouTube. Once restored, meetings will be available through the city’s website and official YouTube channel.
The interruption comes several months after council permanently changed the start time for its regular meetings. Beginning in March, regular council meetings were moved to 5:30 p.m. from the previous 4:30 p.m. schedule.
The 4:30 p.m. start time was adopted in February 2025 to accommodate the college class schedule of Echemann. Before that change, regular council meetings began at 6 p.m.
Council meetings are held on the first and third Wednesdays of each month.