Aldermen OK funding for new audio system

Aldermen approve funding to replace a faulty audio system in the Common Council chamber at City Hall.

A short time after the majority leader’s speech was interrupted by shrill feedback from the microphone he was using, aldermen approved funding to replace the audio system in the Common Council chamber at City Hall.

The Common Council on Tuesday evening unanimously adopted a resolution to increase a previously authorized information technology bond by $35,000 to pay for the new system. The new system would replace one that has failed to work properly over the past several years.

“We all know that we need a newer or more updated sound system in here, as demonstrated today,” Alderman Tony Davis, D-Ward 6, said just before the vote. He thanked the city’s director of information technology, Kyle McIntosh, for responding to the need for a new system and putting together the bids to purchase one.

Earlier in the meeting, Majority Leader Reynolds Scott-Childress, D-Ward 3, had been addressing the audience when his microphone began to malfunction, causing a shrill squealing noise to temporarily fill the council chamber. That was followed by an echoing noise as Scott-Childress continued his speech.

McIntosh previously told aldermen the microphones the city has for its audio system are at least 15 years old, with the exception of a few purchased more recently. He added that there was an additional urgency to upgrade the system because the Federal Communications Commission has told the city it has to be off its current frequency by July 2020 beause T-Mobile has purchased it for its phone service.

At the time he met with aldermen, McIntosh said he had obtained two bids for a new system and still needed to get a third. One of the bids he presented cost approximately $31,000, while the other was approximately $37,000.