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Proposed $600K equipment upgrade aims to improve live video of Rochester council meetings

Apr. 20—ROCHESTER — A $592,000 upgrade to audio-visual equipment in the shared Rochester and Olmsted County chambers of the city-county Government Center will be reviewed Monday. The Rochester City Council will be asked to approve funding $346,000 of the cost, using the majority of the $390,000 the city has collected through quarterly cable franchise fees from Charter Communications, which provides service through the Spectrum brand. The county would also pay for about less than half the cost. The dedicated public, education and government funds can only be used for specific expenses, which include the cost of technology needed to share videos of government meetings "We have a pretty limited universe of alternatives that we can spend that money on," Deputy City Administrator Aaron Parrish told the council in March as the council discussed seeking proposals for the upgrades. Originally estimated at $600,000, Parrish said the last time the chamber's audio-visual system was completely upgraded was in 2014. "Most of it is beyond useful life and the period of time where we can service it," he said. The work proposed in a bid by Eden Prairie-based AVI Systems calls for $328,000 in equipment costs and nearly $210,000 for engineering and other services related to installation, with an added $54,000 to cover shipping equipment from various vendors and system support. Jeremiah Baumann, the Rochester Public Library's communications and engagement manager, said some existing equipment in the chamber will be repurposed, so recent upgrades are expected to be integrated into the project. "Most of our cable equipment is more than likely going to be reused, because it's newer, because it did all die before," he said, pointing to ongoing challenges to provide a live video of meetings to the local cable provider. Baumann said some of the past struggles have been tied to the inability to ensure equipment is compatible in a system that has mixed analog and digital components over the years. It's resulted in needing to reset the existing system weekly and concerns that some connections could fail. "This is a chance to unify a lot of equipment, so it's the most compatible," he said. In addition to improving the livefeed and streaming quality of meetings, the upgrade is expected to enhance options for remote participation in meetings, improve captioning of meeting video, upgrade hearing — assistance options in the chamber and support future integration of meetings held in other locations. While the full $592,000 upgrade is expected to be proposed Monday, the council requested options be presented to scale back the project once a final bid was received. "I'd like to see it done with what we have to have, not what we want," council member Shaun Palmer said of the upgrades, pointing to a desire to review potential project cuts to reduce costs. City staff identified roughly $59,000 in potential project cuts. They include: * Replacing a planned LED display with a projector for viewing in chambers to save $5,700. * Starting with a one-year subscription for captioning services to cut the $50,000 initial cost in half but potentially adding $200,000 to expenses over 10 years. * Opting for a wireless hearing-assisted system, rather than an integrated system, to save up to $21,000. * Cutting a planned $9,600 ADA-accessible lectern from the project. Parrish said the entire project is proposed to increase accessibility to council and county board meetings into the future, with technology that will be able to meet future demands. While the local government bodies are not required to provide livestreams or cable access to the meetings, he said they have decided to fund the service to meet the expectations of residents. "We're trying to get us to a great spot, where we can deliver a high value and do good production with council meetings," he said. While the county is expected to pay for less than half of the project — $246,000 — Parrish said it plans to spend an additional $50,000 to update lighting, carpet and drapes in the chambers while the new equipment is installed. Parrish said the project installation is expected to take two months, which will require moving meeting locations. No specific date for the work has been provided. Meetings scheduled to be held during the week of April 21 include: Rochester —City Council, 6 p.m. Monday in council chambers of the city-county Government Center, 151 Fourth St. SE. The meeting will livestream at and be available on Spectrum cable channel 180 or 188. —Heritage Preservation Commission, 5 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers of the city-county Government Center. —Planning and Zoning Commission, 5 p.m. Wednesday in council chambers of the Government Center. —Citizens Advisory on Transit, 4:30 p.m. Thursday in room 104 of City Hall, 201 Fourth St. SE. Olmsted County —Rochester-Olmsted Council of Governments, noon Wednesday in conference room 186, 2122 Campus Drive SE. —Soil and Water Conservation District Board, 8 a.m. Thursday in conference room 109 at 1188 50th St. SE Rochester Rochester Public Schools —School Board, 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the boardroom of the Edison Building, 615 Seventh St. SW.