Submitted By
Dan Yopchick, Chief Communications Officer
Reviewed By
A.M. Zayyad
Agenda Item Title
Title
A Resolution Approving a Professional Services Agreement with Technical Design Services, Inc. to Design the Village’s Audiovisual Technology Systems within Existing Public Meeting Spaces in an Amount Not To Exceed $48,505, Authorizing its Execution and Waiving the Village’s Bid Process for the Agreement
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Overview
Overview
Technical Design Services, Inc. (TDSi) will produce a design document package that will allow the Village to issue an RFP to contractors/vendors of its choosing. The package produced by TDSi will contain design documents that will bring the Village’s conference rooms and meeting spaces up to ‘state-of-art’ in audiovisual presentation and collaboration technology. The spaces within Village Hall to be included in the design effort have been identified to be defined as: Council Chambers (201), Conference Rooms 101, 102, 124, 130, 215, and the Video Production Room (226).
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Recommendation
Recommendation
Adopt the Resolution.
Background
The need to move all equipment from analog to digital is essential to the future of municipal government transparency through livestreams and archiving of public policymaking. The existing control room at Village Hall contains equipment that is approximately two decades old which dates to when the operation was initially established for cablecasting. As existing equipment has failed, the cost of replacing it has grown due to the engineering often required to make it compatible with current systems.
The Village Board approved funding as part of the Capital Improvement Plan for a multi-year project to upgrade the Village’s audio/visual (A/V) equipment that allows for the recording and/or streaming of Village Board and commission meetings. Some of the existing equipment has been replaced over time, but it was established that a more comprehensive plan is needed to meet a growing demand to make meetings more accessible to the public and to better accommodate remote meeting participation.
Staff determined that an A/V consultant was needed to guide the Village through that process. In 2022, staff met with three (3) consultants and agreed that Technical Design Services, Inc. (TDSi) is best equipped to assist the Village in achieving its goal.
During Phase 1, TDSi assisted with initial planning and concept design in late Q3 and Q4 of 2022. The cost for services delivered in Phase 1 was $4,375 and approved in August 2022 under the Village Manager’s authority. It was paid for by the CIP Equipment Replacement Fund. Work included several meetings with Village stakeholders to define the required design criteria and capture user experience expectations.
Fiscal Impact
The approved Capital Improvement Plan allocates $500,000 in FY23 toward replacing computer equipment. Moving forward, approximately 90% of the allocated funding for the project would remain for vendor services, purchase of equipment, installation, etc.
DEI Impact
The services of TDSi will assist in addressing equity issues when it comes to accessing Village meetings and public events. Closed captioning services will be improved and available through multiple outlets and channels. Additionally, one of the pieces of equipment will enable closed captioning of meetings to be available in an additional language of the Village’s choosing (i.e Spanish). Improved technology will also make recordings more accessible and equitably available for those unable to attend in person.
Alternatives
The alternative to this recommendation is to delay action and direct staff to engage with other providers to gain additional information. Any delay, however, puts the Village at further risk of equipment failure which could lead to interrupted or lost services.
Previous Board Action
Adoption of the 2023-2027 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) on November 21, 2022.
Citizen Advisory Commission Action
N/A
Anticipated Future Actions/Commitments
Approval of an RFP written by TDSi to move forward into Phase 3 which will likely include a professional services agreement with additional vendor(s), the purchase of equipment, installation, etc.
Intergovernmental Cooperation Opportunities
N/A