diff --git a/balancer/mist/mist_balancer.go b/balancer/mist/mist_balancer.go
index 7f30fe8b..b4017781 100644
--- a/balancer/mist/mist_balancer.go
+++ b/balancer/mist/mist_balancer.go
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/golang/glog"
 	"github.com/livepeer/catalyst-api/balancer"
 	"github.com/livepeer/catalyst-api/cluster"
-	"golang.org/x/sync/errgroup"
 )
 
 var mistUtilLoadSingleRequestTimeout = 15 * time.Second
@@ -50,14 +49,12 @@ func NewBalancer(config *balancer.Config) balancer.Balancer {
 
 // start this load balancer instance, execing MistUtilLoad if necessary
 func (b *MistBalancer) Start(ctx context.Context) error {
-	group, ctx := errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
-	group.Go(func() error {
-		return b.execBalancer(ctx, b.config.Args)
-	})
-	group.Go(func() error {
-		return b.waitForStartup(ctx)
-	})
-	return group.Wait()
+	b.killPreviousBalancer(ctx)
+
+	go func() {
+		b.reconcileBalancerLoop(ctx, b.config.Args)
+	}()
+	return b.waitForStartup(ctx)
 }
 
 // wait for the mist LB to be available. can be called multiple times.
@@ -245,6 +242,49 @@ func (b *MistBalancer) formatNodeAddress(server string) string {
 	return fmt.Sprintf(b.config.MistLoadBalancerTemplate, server)
 }
 
+// killPreviousBalancer cleans up the previous MistUtilLoad process if it exists.
+// It uses pkill to kill the process.
+func (b *MistBalancer) killPreviousBalancer(ctx context.Context) {
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "pkill", "-f", "MistUtilLoad")
+	err := cmd.Run()
+	if err != nil {
+		glog.V(6).Infof("Killing MistUtilLoad failed, most probably it was not running, err=%v", err)
+	}
+}
+
+// reconcileBalancerLoop makes sure that MistUtilLoad is up and running all the time.
+func (b *MistBalancer) reconcileBalancerLoop(ctx context.Context, balancerArgs []string) {
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(1 * time.Minute)
+	defer ticker.Stop()
+
+	for {
+		b.reconcileBalancer(ctx, balancerArgs)
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return
+		case <-ticker.C:
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// reconcileBalancer makes sure that MistUtilLoad is up and running.
+func (b *MistBalancer) reconcileBalancer(ctx context.Context, balancerArgs []string) {
+	if !b.isBalancerRunning(ctx) {
+		glog.Info("Starting MistUtilLoad")
+		err := b.execBalancer(ctx, balancerArgs)
+		if err != nil {
+			glog.Warningf("Error starting MistUtilLoad: %v", err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+// isBalancerRunning checks if MistUtilLoad is running.
+func (b *MistBalancer) isBalancerRunning(ctx context.Context) bool {
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "pgrep", "-f", "MistUtilLoad")
+	err := cmd.Run()
+	return err == nil
+}
+
 func (b *MistBalancer) execBalancer(ctx context.Context, balancerArgs []string) error {
 	args := append(balancerArgs, "-p", fmt.Sprintf("%d", b.config.MistUtilLoadPort), "-g", "4")
 	glog.Infof("Running MistUtilLoad with %v", args)
diff --git a/cluster/cluster.go b/cluster/cluster.go
index 2c39d340..f9d83dc6 100644
--- a/cluster/cluster.go
+++ b/cluster/cluster.go
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ type Member struct {
 	Status string            `json:"status"`
 }
 
-var mediaFilter = map[string]string{"node": "media"}
+var MediaFilter = map[string]string{"node": "media"}
 
 // Create a connection to a new Cluster that will immediately connect
 func NewCluster(config *config.Cli) Cluster {
@@ -272,7 +272,7 @@ func (c *ClusterImpl) handleEvents(ctx context.Context) error {
 			return nil
 		}
 
-		members, err := c.MembersFiltered(mediaFilter, "alive", "")
+		members, err := c.MembersFiltered(MediaFilter, "alive", "")
 
 		if err != nil {
 			glog.Errorf("Error getting serf, crashing: %v\n", err)
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 0fbcf0e2..b55776b6 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ import (
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"log"
-	"math/rand"
 	"os"
 	"os/signal"
 	"strings"
@@ -111,7 +110,7 @@ func main() {
 	fs.Float64Var(&cli.NodeLongitude, "node-longitude", 0, "Longitude of this Catalyst node. Used for load balancing.")
 	config.CommaSliceFlag(fs, &cli.RedirectPrefixes, "redirect-prefixes", []string{}, "Set of valid prefixes of playback id which are handled by mistserver")
 	config.CommaMapFlag(fs, &cli.Tags, "tags", map[string]string{"node": "media"}, "Serf tags for Catalyst nodes")
-	fs.IntVar(&cli.MistLoadBalancerPort, "mist-load-balancer-port", rand.Intn(10000)+40000, "MistUtilLoad port (default random)")
+	fs.IntVar(&cli.MistLoadBalancerPort, "mist-load-balancer-port", 40010, "MistUtilLoad port (default random)")
 	fs.StringVar(&cli.MistLoadBalancerTemplate, "mist-load-balancer-template", "http://%s:4242", "template for specifying the host that should be queried for Prometheus stat output for this node")
 	config.CommaSliceFlag(fs, &cli.RetryJoin, "retry-join", []string{}, "An agent to join with. This flag be specified multiple times. Does not exit on failure like -join, used to retry until success.")
 	fs.StringVar(&cli.EncryptKey, "encrypt", "", "Key for encrypting network traffic within Serf. Must be a base64-encoded 32-byte key.")
@@ -343,15 +342,25 @@ func main() {
 // Eventually this will be the main loop of the state machine, but we just have one variable right now.
 func reconcileBalancer(ctx context.Context, bal balancer.Balancer, c cluster.Cluster) error {
 	memberCh := c.MemberChan()
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(1 * time.Minute)
 	for {
+		var members []cluster.Member
+		var err error
 		select {
 		case <-ctx.Done():
 			return nil
-		case list := <-memberCh:
-			err := bal.UpdateMembers(ctx, list)
+		case <-ticker.C:
+			members, err = c.MembersFiltered(cluster.MediaFilter, "alive", "")
 			if err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("failed to update load balancer from member list: %w", err)
+				glog.Errorf("Error getting serf members: %v", err)
+				continue
 			}
+		case members = <-memberCh:
+		}
+		err = bal.UpdateMembers(ctx, members)
+		if err != nil {
+			glog.Errorf("Failed to update load balancer from member list: %v", err)
+			continue
 		}
 	}
 }