Town council defends £20,000 spend on new audio-visual equipment

MELKSHAM Town Council has defended its decision to spend £20,000 on new audio-visual equipment to be used at council meetings.

The decision – made by the previous cohort of councillors just over a week before the recent local elections – came under fire from a Melksham-based company that was not given the opportunity to provide a quote for the work.

Instead, the contract was given to a Chippenham-based company, which was one of four contacted by the town council for a quote.

“Nobody is suggesting that any Melksham companies should automatically get these jobs no matter what else they do for the town, but an opportunity to advise and quote doesn’t seem to far fetched,” said the Melksham company.

The amount of money spent on the equipment – which will allow the council to live-stream meetings online, allowing the public to watch meetings from home – has also been questioned and described as “unwise”.

And at the meeting when the spend was agreed, on 26th April, some, now former, town councillors questioned why the decision had to be made so close to the local elections, and instead asked that the decision be deferred for the new council.

However, the motion, proposed by cllr Jon Hubbard, to move forward with the £20,000, was supported by five councilors – two were against, and two abstained.

In response to the criticism, town clerk for the council, Linda Roberts, has explained that the government’s decision to force councils to resume face-to face meetings from 7th May, meant that the council was “against the clock” to replace its existing microphone system, which does not meet their “current requirements”.

The clerk has also said that there is no legislation preventing a council spending a large sum of money close to an election and that if the decision had not have been made, it would have left the new administration in “dire straits in terms of safe meetings”. 

And it is hoped that the new equipment will help encourage and maintain the community’s engagement with council meetings – which has been boosted by online meetings during the pandemic.

“As our economic development manager outlined in his report to council last month,” explained clerk Linda Roberts, “one of the benefits arising from the coronavirus pandemic and the various associated lockdowns has been the increased engagement of people with local governance, where councils have streamed their meetings live onto YouTube, or where members of the public have participated via Zoom.  

“Melksham Town Council has its own YouTube channel for this and other public engagement purposes and have been live streaming key meetings from Zoom onto our YouTube channel whilst we’ve been holding meetings virtually – this is something we wish to continue in spite of being legally obliged to meet physically in our Town Hall or one of our other buildings (temporary legislation – which allowed fully virtual meetings – has not been extended.)

“Melksham Town Council warmly welcomes this increased interest and participation, something we are determined to retain.  It is in this spirit that members of council voted to authorise officers to engage the services of a provider which specialises in the provision of audio-visual solutions for conference meetings, with specific skills in Zoom integration. The provider comes highly recommended from a neighbouring town council and will be installing a permanent, state-of-the-art system that will stand the test of time.  

“Its contactless placement, built into the fabric of the building, will mean that any possible Covid-related measures associated with sharing microphones will be guarded against.  Moreover, because the system involves no pre-meeting setup, this will save time and money in staffing. 

“Most importantly, it was a decision taken to secure the uptick in democratic engagement that we have seen since virtual meetings came into effect.  

“Our existing analogue system is obsolete and cannot be extended to meet our current requirements. In taking this step to upgrade and digitise now by investing in a fit-for-purpose system, set up by an experienced contractor, Melksham Town Council is taking decisive action to underscore our commitment to our meetings being as open and accessible as possible right away.  

“We hope our residents will continue to attend our meetings in increased numbers – and enjoy the convenience that the option of virtual participation allows.  

“This engagement is exactly how democracy is designed to work – it is your chance to hold your elected representatives to account.  We think that is something worth protecting and securing for years to come.”