By Bob Balgemann

City council has approved spending $20,600 on equipment it hopes will improve communication during council and Committee of the Whole meetings at city hall. That includes communication among city officials as well as followers in the city over Comcast Channel 20 and You Tube.

During discussion at the June 8 Committee of the Whole meeting, and at the June 15 city council meeting, it was advanced that problems with broadcasts were due to the equipment and the elected and appointed officials themselves.

First the background, as explained by City Attorney Mike Drella.

The city has been broadcasting and re-broadcasting its meetings since the mid-2000s, after the last renewal of the franchise agreement with Comcast. “In that agreement,” he said, “Comcast fronted the money for the purchase of equipment including a video recorder and head-end camera, etc.”

That money was paid back through a fee that was placed on Comcast bills, for a period of time pursuant to federal law, he continued. As part of that fee, additional money was collected and placed in a city account for replacement of equipment and upgrades. Currently, the city has $26,666.16 in that account, dedicated to those improvements.

From there he recounted a number of problems with the city’s audio/video capabilities, while offering some possible solutions.

Among them was a recent degradation in the audio quality of not only meeting broadcasts, but in the council chambers as well, he said. Attempts have been made to repair the older amplifiers, but that could not be done. “In order to resolve our issues, (contractor) Audio Engineering indicates they (amplifiers) should be replaced,” he added.

The city only has one camera for recording its meetings. The attorney said it is not easy to use in the field, if officials wanted to record something like the Heritage Days parade. “Further, if it fails, we have no backup,” he said. “It would be wise to obtain another camera to expand capabilities and serve as a backup.”

Ultimately, his recommendation was to replace the audio amplifiers, along with replacing and upgrading the video recording and broadcasting capabilities. He said he contacted seven different companies for proposals, but found many of them were either closed or had been bought out by one of the others.

He recommended KeyCode Media in Burbank, Calif., at a cost of $20,650.

Discussion

Most of the comments at the June 8 committee meeting came from Attorney Drella.

In addressing ongoing difficulties with broadcasts, he said, “A lot of the problems can be solved by using our microphones and speaking up. You’ve got to remember to use the microphones. If you don’t speak into your microphones, no system we buy is going to solve the problem. I’m guilty of that as well. That’s quite frankly user error on our part.”

There was no follow-up discussion from aldermen who recommended approval in a unanimous voice vote.

One week later Alderman Dan Snow revisited a problem that had been discussed in the past, regarding internal communication.

With meetings continuing to be held remotely, he asked, “So, did we say this upgrade will not fix the fact we (alderman) can’t hear anybody when we’re on the phone? I’ve gotta tell you, we on the phone can hear each other great, but we can’t hear the mayor, (Public Works Director) Brent (Anderson), the clerk, or anybody else who chimes in. It’s very difficult.”

Interestingly, Drella replied he was addressing that very question last week when his phone cut out. “That was very strange and coincidental,” he said. “No, it (upgrades) will not address that issue at all. It has nothing to do with the phone system. The issue you’re having is with the fact we’re trying to use the conference phone to address everything.”

Mayor Mike Chamberlain said he hoped many of those issues would be solved soon, with all aldermen and staff being back in the same room for meetings.

“Is this a one-time thing or will there be ongoing charges with the installation?” Alderman Marsha Freeman asked.

“It is a one-time cost,” the attorney answered. “There is a five-year warranty on the electronics equipment, which is the bulk of the cost and the backbone of the system. The rest of the equipment will have a one-year warranty.” When the possibility of getting an extended warranty was raised, he said, “It may be cheaper to pay (for repairs) as we go. We’ll look into that in a year or two.”

Alderman Snow addressed his question of hearing council/committee discussions by asking if the proposed upgrades “will make it so people can hear it when they’re watching it? Obviously, we all get complaints from people who can’t hear what’s going on, when they’re watching the video.”

Drella attributed part of that problem to when aldermen talk directly into the microphones – he provided an example of that and his voice was badly distorted – or to the other degree, when they’re too far away from the equipment.

“That causes horrible static in the system, or not picking it (voice) up,” he said. “Also, it’s not turning the microphone on. Usually, it’s user error on our end.”

 
 
 
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