Why the Tiny Council Meeting Was Closed: Technology

Interestingly, Mayor George Cornell was ill and attended virtual committees throughout the conference through a remote hybrid process from home to bring up the discussion.

At a recent meeting, Tiny Council asked staff why their meeting rooms hadn’t been open to the public since the COVID-19 pandemic changed how local governments handled in-person meetings.

“Technical issues stem from the parts we ordered,” said Finance Director and Treasurer Haley LeBlond. “It is the motherboard that allows the system of the council meeting room to participate electronically, and also enables participation in the council without the need for additional laptops or headsets. The podium. This particular part. are very difficult to get due to COVID and coming from China,” she added, citing delivery issues.

Without disclosing the cost of the component, the staff simply stated that replacement would be costly.

A hybrid workaround was discussed, but Leblond notes that, in addition to the requirements of technology such as laptops and headphones, one example is the training period for civil servants to use chamber equipment for parliamentarians, and between official duties. I advised that it also included a cleaning procedure. challenge.

Cornell went on to ask if the normal state of the live-streamed pre-pandemic meeting could return.

CAO Robert Lamb said:

“It’s the part that stopped working when they were updating and changing the system a year ago.” explained that it was further delayed by the method of “At this time, we cannot live stream anything other than the way we are currently doing it.”

Lamb noted that the vendor hadn’t provided an estimated arrival time for the parts he ordered, and after looking at various solutions, it could be double what he originally expected.

“There will be an impact on the budget, hopefully not over the lame duck threshold that we have to consider, because this sort of thing is going to cost more than repairs that are currently in our budget. “We didn’t budget for the technology,” Lam said.

Earl. Cindy Hastings asked if there was similar equipment available for temporary rental in the interim.

“I haven’t considered that option,” LeBron admitted. “That’s a great question. I would certainly ask the vendor. If there was a solution offered, they would have thought they would provide that solution.”

Earl. Gibb Wishart, while sympathetic to the in-person attendance, urged safety above all else. I asked if live streaming could be removed from the Chamber of Commerce process, similar to the .

Walton said the official record of councils and committees comes from recorded minutes, but said he needed time to consider policies regarding live streaming. Walma backed off by saying the trade-off for his streaming live would be public access to the conference. CAO Lamb suggested extending the conversation across the following committees for a complete update.

With local government terms coming to an end and many committees having almost only one meeting left before next month’s elections, parliament has also asked various commissions, as a gesture to those who want to see, to Approved giving the option to return to face-to-face meetings at its discretion. Maybe one last time face to face.

Archives of council meetings can be found on Tiny Township’s YouTube channel.