The Gary City Council has agreed to spend up to a quarter million dollars to upgrade its audiovisual technology. City officials had initially proposed allocating $100,000 in American Rescue Plan money for that purpose, but council members unanimously agreed Tuesday to raise that to $250,000.
Council President William Godwin says the goal is to make meetings more accessible, now that they're taking place in a hybrid format. "We know and we've gotten the feedback on social media and in person of how difficult it is, often, to hear and understand and follow these meetings in this particular format. But many of these needs existed — preexisted COVID, and it only became more obvious — our deficiencies in this area — as COVID progressed," Godwin said during Tuesday's meeting.
The ordinance budgets more than $18,000 for cameras, over $9,000 for sound equipment and almost $9,000 for lighting. Almost $15,000 would go towards upgrades to the council studio and almost $134,000 to the control booth.
"Any of that that is not necessary or not needed will not be spent. So we're looking to, of course, be efficient in the use of these dollars," Godwin stressed.
Currently, each council member and any other speakers join meetings via Zoom, even if they're in the council chambers.
