After three bids came in for audio and video upgrades in the council chambers at Seymour City Hall, the Seymour Common Council initially opted to go with audio only since the cost for both was higher than expected.
Mayor Matt Nicholson and Clerk-Treasurer Darrin Boas later discussed the topic and decided funding could come from the city’s American Rescue Plan fund because it relates to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Indiana House Bill 1167 takes effect July 1, 2025, requiring governing bodies of state and local agencies (excluding a state-supported college or university) to provide on a publicly accessible platform live transmissions of public meetings and an archive of copies of the live transmissions with links to any meeting agendas, minutes or memoranda, according to iga.in.gov.
If a governing body does not have internet capability for live transmission of public meetings, the governing body shall record the meeting. Transmissions and recordings of public meetings may be destroyed after 90 days.
During a meeting Monday night in the council chambers, the council unanimously approved the first reading of a $53,602.44 appropriation from the ARP Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund to do audio and video upgrades. The second and final reading will be done during the next meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 23.
Earlier in Monday’s meeting, a public hearing was conducted for the appropriation. No one spoke in favor of or against it.
Councilman Jerry Hackney, chairman of the finance committee, said the city has a balance of $578,475 in the ARP account. The city had received $4.16 million under ARP, and that must be obligated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.
During the Aug. 14 council meeting, January Rutherford, the city’s public information specialist, said three quotes had been received for the audio and video upgrades.
The lowest came from AV Designers of Indianapolis at $29,982.50. The next bid was $38,117 from Innovative Stage Solutions of North Vernon. The highest came from AVI Systems of Columbus at $53,602.44.
Rutherford said for two of the quotes, she broke up the cost for audio and video in case the council wanted to just do one or the other. Audio was the most expensive. For the other quote, the company didn’t provide a breakdown.
After that discussion, the council agreed to send the matter to a committee to bring back a recommendation at the Aug. 28 meeting.
Councilmen Chad Hubbard, Matt Wheeler and Drew Storey made up that committee. Hubbard said they agreed AVI would be the best solution despite being the highest bidder.
AVI’s quote for audio only was $38,872.19, and the council voted 6-1 to move forward with that plan. Councilman Bret Cunningham cast the lone nay vote. Hubbard said the hope would be to add video later if funding could be secured.
Boas said he needed the committee to validate going with the highest bidder so he could share that with the State Board of Accounts.
“The proposals were very clear in their scope of work except for one,” Storey said. “With House Bill 1167 requiring streaming services, we thought we could easily justify with the requirements coming out of that bill. We’re not recommending any video service at this time, but the House bill says it has to be streamed, so (AVI) was the only one that really fit that bill.”
Nicholson said the committee could make the recommendation to the council, and the Seymour Board of Public Works and Safety has to approve the contract.
Since the mayor and clerk-treasurer determined ARP money could be used, the city is moving forward with doing both audio and video upgrades.
While the House bill says the recordings must be kept for 90 days and then can be purchased, the city’s ordinance states they will be kept for two years.