R2010-63 AWARDING BID BEATTY TELEVISUAL, INC.

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COUNCIL MEMORANDUM NO. 2010-OS TO: Honorable Mayor McElroy and City Co ncil FROM: Ryan P. McCrady, City Manager ,�-- Billy Tyus, Assistant City Manager � ,� SUBJECT: City of Decatur Public Access System Upgrades DATE: March 31, 2010 SUMMARY RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the Decatur City Council adopt the attached resolution awarding a bid to Beatty TeleVisual, Inc. for an amount not to exceed $119,336.00. We would expect that the final project cost could be significantly less than the bid amount depending upon the final equipment list selected and the project will be funded through an agreement with Comcast to provide funding for public access broadcasts. By federal law, this funding can ONLY be used to purchase equipment to broadcast via the access channel and the city has a mandated deadline to utilize the funds in the next 5-6 years. BACKGROUND: The City has made a concerted effort to better communicate with Decatur residents about their city government, a large part of which involves the use of ACCESSDecatur, or public access channel 18. This project will involve upgrading the audiovisival equipment in the City Council Chamber and equipment for broadcasting meetings and other city information over the channel. As you may know, we've had some problems with the equipment over the last several months as it has not been upgraded or repaired in years. One of the Council microphones would not work at the last meeting while two of the mixers would not work two weeks prior which meant that the meeting could not be broadcast to the general public. Additionally, residents on many occasions call or email the city to complain about picture quality or not being able to hear channel audio while much of the equipment is so outdated that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to repair if necessary. This project would provide improved lighting, audio and video, mounted cameras, video recording and playback, a new presentation system and all associated wiring. We would also be able to schedule our own video programming for specific dates and times ' and broadcast meetings of other city boards and commissions in an effort to be more transparent. Residents tuning in to channel 18 would receive regularly updated news and j weather information in addition to city programming and the channel would contain a �,