Stay informed about local government. Write, call or email with questions, or to offer feedback that might help form policy and/or to hold elected officials accountable. Attend public meetings. Or – and this is easy – watch City of Lake Charles and Calcasieu Parish Police Jury meetings, including Planning and Zoning meetings the following day on C-GOV from the comfort of home.

C-GOV is a Government Cable Channel operated by the CPPJ. In a few months, delivery services will be expanded, and give the public more ways to watch.

All municipalities and other boards may utilize C-GOV to air their meetings. Lake Charles City Council Meetings are recorded by a professional video production company at City expense and provided to the CPPJ to air. Iowa and Sulphur have done this in the past, but are not doing so currently, Hoefer said. City of Sulphur resident Sheila Tony Broussard attends the Sulphur City Council meeting and videos it for streaming on the Facebook site, Concerned Citizens for Sulphur GROUP.

“We also utilize programming from outside sources such as NASA and the University of California Television System on C-GOV and continuously seek government programs from State and Federal sources as well as local municipalities and agencies,” Hoefer said.

The University of California provides shows about the latest medical treatments available (though not necessarily in Southwest Louisiana). Last month, it covered glaucoma and Parkinson’s, for example. Some of the programs show the latest NASA aircraft technology.

To watch C-GOV on TV via cable, Carlyss, Grand Lake and portions of Westlake and Moss Bluff can tune in to Fastwyre on channel 99. Optimum serves Lake Charles, Sulphur, Iowa and most of the eastern part of Calcasieu on channel five. Vyve TV serves Westlake, Moss Bluff, Vinton and
DeQuincy on
channel five.

“Police Jury meetings occur on Thursday evenings,” Hoefer said. “C-GOV changes its programming schedule the next day at noon to include the new meeting, which will air four times daily for the following week. Police Jury meetings are streamed live  not only on C-GOV, but also on social media.”

The CPPJ social media sites offer much information, and has more than 22,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter).

“While social media has enhanced our ability to reach residents with important information, our commitment to C-GOV has not changed,” Hoefer said.

He wants to make sure government meetings are available to those who are interested. That’s why the CPPJ is currently working with other delivery services such as Roku and Amazon Firestick to deliver C-GOV programming. Stay “tuned” to find out more.