The current sound system is so bad Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said it turned a December meeting into a ‘complete gong show’<\/p>\n
It’s going to cost more than a third of a million dollars to replace\u00a0the played-out public address system that delivers live-streams from city council meetings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Next week, councillors are expected to award a\u00a0$355,497 (plus HST) contract to an Etobicoke company to buy and install an upgraded audio-visual virtual meeting system in the council chambers.<\/p>\n
“The proposals were reviewed and evaluated by a committee comprised of staff from IT services based on the technical nature of the system and involved consultation regarding usability of system with staff from clerk’s department and communications,” says Karen Marlow,\u00a0the city’s manager of purchasing.<\/p>\n
“It is the consensus of the evaluation committee that the proponent scoring the highest in the evaluation process is ET Group,” Marlow\u00a0said in a report prepared for Monday’s city council meeting.<\/p>\n
As SooToday\u00a0has previously reported,\u00a0the current public address system was installed 13 years ago, replacing the original 1974 system.<\/p>\n
“The 2013 system was designed for in-person meetings in the council chambers,” said\u00a0Frank Coccimiglio, the city’s manager of information technology.<\/p>\n
“However, the necessity for virtual meetings arose during the COVID pandemic. To meet this demand, IT implemented a temporary non-integrated solution, replaced in 2023 with an integrated system featuring cameras and Zoom capabilities,” Coccimiglio said in a reported prepared earlier this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“While the system has generally performed adequately, it has begun to fail after 12 years of service. It has reached the end of its useful life, necessitating replacement with a modern, fully integrated solution.”<\/p>\n
The condition of the city’s paleolithic sound system was painfully evident during a council meeting last Dec. 15.<\/p>\n