On January 20, 2005, the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners adopted Resolution R-84-05, sponsored by Commissioner Dennis C. Moss, District 9, directing the County Manager to provide live webcasts of Miami-Dade TV to include meetings of the Board of County Commissioners. At that time, the Board allocated roughly $285,000 for the acquisition of a webcasting solution. With the passage of this resolution, the Board intended webcasting to serve the public by

• providing members of the public residing in Miami-Dade County an alternative method to view Board and Committee proceedings;
    
• allowing residents of Miami-Dade County who are traveling outside of Miami-Dade County, including government officials and members of the public, to follow these proceedings while they are traveling;
   
• permitting persons who reside outside the boundaries of Miami-Dade County access to these proceedings.

On January 31, 2006 – just 12 months after the passage of Resolution R-84-05 – Miami-Dade County launched its webcasting system to the public. The system is capable of serving about 1,500 concurrent users and offers interactive features such as live chat for technical support, polls and links to supplemental resources.

Currently, meetings of the Board, its Committees and Subcommittees and limited Miami-Dade TV programming are being webcast. Plans are in the works to webcast additional Miami-Dade TV programming.

Today, Miami-Dade County continues to lay the groundwork that will enable video and audio streaming 24 hours a day, seven days a week, adding an exciting new chapter to our continuing e-Government story.