The Town of Edson is looking to upgrade its online streaming capabilities.
At the Town of Edson’s April 5 meeting, Town council approved another $35,000 to upgrade the audio visual equipment in their council chambers.
The Town began conducting its council meetings over Zoom during the pandemic. While the Town is conducting meetings in person again, they are continuing to stream the meetings to give the public more opportunities to participate.
In the current set-up, the Town only has one camera and one microphone in Council chambers to broadcast the proceedings. The Town is wanting to add additional cameras and microphones to improve the quality.
The Town had originally budgeted $50,000 for the endeavor. Administration received three quotes, with each one coming back at $85,000. According to administration, the increase was due to supply chain issues, and unique challenges in their council chambers.
Administration found another $35,000 in the budget that could be shuffled over to the project, so it will not affect taxes or reserves.
Councillor Peter Taylor was in favour of the project. As for supply chain issues driving up the cost, he said that is just the cost of doing business these days.
“Obviously we have to put another $35,000 into it, so be it. Because if we wait, the costs are only going to increase,” said Taylor.
Mayor Kevin Zahara was also supportive, saying how COVID-19 had shown the importance of this technology.
“When you go back to the live streams, it is sometimes hard to hear the conversations in council, especially with presentations where delegations might be a little quieter, and then sometimes you get a lot of background noise,” said Zahara. “I think this is really necessary in this day and age.”
Council voted for the additional funds.
