The Town Council was updated at its Feb. 25 planning retreat on a project to update and replace the audio/visual technical equipment in the Town Council chambers.

Staff has earmarked $125,770 for the project with financing from the Facilities Replacement Fund.

Councilman Dennis Brown said he had urged staff to pursue this program after receiving comments and complaints from constituents regarding difficulty in hearing speakers within the chamber itself, as well as reports of difficulties with rebroadcast on Cox Channel 11 and online streaming.

Mike Ciccarone, information technology administrator, told the council the existing equipment has not been updated since it was installed with construction of the building in 2005. He said recent multiple equipment failures have included the sound mixer, video production system, control system and livestream video encoder. The video production system was installed in 2008.

While temporary repairs have been made there are limitations on compatibility of existing equipment and newer configurations.

Ciccarone also said newer encoding equipment will allow for quicker turnaround time between the live meeting and replay on YouTube.

Staff said the normal lifetime of such equipment is 15 years, not considering advances in technology that contribute to obsolesce.

The project is expected to replace the audio rack, microphones, projector and screen, video production system and camera.

Currently the project is in the bidding process. Town Manager Grady Miller said they expect good pricing on an entire package, but he said if they find they can save money by purchasing some equipment such as video monitors on their own, they might do so.