WHEELING, W.Va., Feb. 6, 2017 — Wheeling City Council approved a resolution at its January meeting to employ West Liberty University in the filming and televising of its council meetings in an effort to keep the public informed about city business.
“Increasing the transparency of our municipal government has been a high priority for this City Council,” Mayor Glenn Elliott said. “Wheeling residents deserve the opportunity to see their elected leaders in action, and it is our hope that providing this service will serve to increase civic engagement and keep us more accountable.”
Theresa Gretchen is the executive director of WLU-TV 14, which will film the meetings. She also serves as programming director and producer at the television station.
“We are thrilled to film the council meetings and look forward to providing area residents with a delayed filming of the meetings. The first meeting we will film meets at The Linsly School at noon, Tuesday, Feb. 7,” Gretchen said.
Council meets at noon on the first Tuesday, and at 5:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday, of every month. Council is holding six of its 24 meetings this year in different schools in each of the city’s six wards. After the Linsly meeting, the next meeting taking place at a school will be at Wheeling Central Catholic High School at noon, March 7.
Two WLU students will operate cameras at every meeting, but the students will change according to availability, according to Gretchen. The first meeting will be taped by WLU students John “Marty” Engle and Kyle Lindsey.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to get different filming experiences under my belt. I’ve enjoyed all of the different opportunities that working for Channel 14 has presented me, and I think tomorrow will be a lot of fun,” said Lindsey, who is a senior broadcasting major.
The Feb. 7 meeting will air at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 9 and will repeat at 7:30 a.m., Friday Feb. 10. All other air times will be posted on the WLU website at westliberty.edu/wltv/wlu-tv-14-schedule.
WLU will be paid about $2,000 per year to tape and air the city’s twice-monthly meetings on the University’s television station. The city will own the footage, however.
Gretchen and Senior Producer/Engineer Jared Thompson, both WLU graduates, work full-time as the staff members of WLUTV.
Besides the television studio located in the WLU Media Arts Center, WLU-TV 14 also includes a full high definition production studio truck for travel.
WLU-TV 14 is part of the College of Arts and Communication and offers five communication majors and two minors. For more information on WLU, please call 1.866.WESTLIB or visit westliberty.edu.