Library board ditches A/V upgrade

By NEAL RENTZ

After several weeks of meetings with potential vendors, the Pound Ridge Library Board of Trustees came to a consensus May 14 to no longer pursue an audio-visual upgrade for the room where it meets monthly and where a variety of other events are conducted. 

The board had been considering hiring a company to upgrade the audio-visual systems in the Schaffner Room, the site of monthly board meetings and other events, including musical performances and talks. Board meetings are broadcast live via Zoom and are posted afterwards on YouTube.

The board previously spoke with representatives of two companies and  conducted its final discussion last week with Michael LaVoie, the owner of Unsolicited, which uses equipment from Logitech. 

Technology Committee Chair Michael Clark previously provided the board with a summary of three proposals for audio-visual improvements: DNR Laboratories proposed a room ceiling microphone; Hudson Valley Audio Visual proposing a wireless mic system; and Unsolicited proposed four ceiling microphone pods and mounts. 

LaVoie told the board last week his proposal includes having microphones that would be “mounted from above.” He is proposing a “rally board,” which is a portable conference item that combines audio and video with a 65-inch touchscreen display. The rally bar is the camera, he said. 

“The rally board is meant for a space like this where you don’t have permanent seating, not a real conference room,” LaVoie said.  “It’s a screen and camera combined.” 

“The computer’s built into the board, so you can just touch the screen and start the meeting,” LaVoie said. “You don’t need to tap on the wall.”

The only potential downside to having a rally board is finding a place to store it when it is not in use, LaVoie said.

Board President Valerie Nelson asked LaVoie if there were individuals who were not sitting at the table with the trustees, “Would we still be able to hear them from the microphones on our Zoom?” There could be as many as seven microphone pods that could be set up in various areas of a room, LaVoie said. “I would just recommend if you’re going to do that you try to set them up in the same place.”

His company’s system is intended just for video conferencing meetings, LaVoie said. The cameras detect who is speaking, he noted. 

Later in the meeting the board decided not to go forward with any of the three proposals.

Clark said the proposals from DNR and HVAV required redoing the room with the purchase of new projectors and screens and he favored hiring Logitech and working with it on a “stepped approach.”

Nelson said the bids from DNR and HVAV dealt with not only improving AV for board meetings, but those proposals also addressed other events conducted in the room, such as lectures and musical presentations. The proposals from the two companies that previously met with the board were in the $60,000 to $75,000 range. 

The proposal from Unsolicited just dealt with library board meetings, which would be a fraction of the cost of the other proposals, Nelson said. Library Director Jennifer Coulter originally sought to improve the AV for both the board of trustees meetings and other events, Nelson said. 

Clark recommended hiring Unsolicited and telling the company to take a stepped approach. “I don’t think we have an appetite right now for an entire room redo with new projectors and new screens,” he said, adding that it would cost the library about $20,000 if it hired Unsolicited. 

Board vice president, John Cristiano, asked what audio-visual problems did the library board want to solve. Nelson said Unsolicited is just looking to improve the quality of the Zoom broadcasts of the board of trustees meetings. The Unsolicited concept would allow Coulter to sit at the table with the trustees with an extension cord for her laptop rather than the current setup which requires her sitting away from the table for Zoom to work, Nelson said. 

“Do you spend $20,000 to $75,000 today, when we have a lot of other things going on so that I don’t have to hold a microphone?” Nelson asked.

Coulter added that there is no place to store the rally board, which was proposed by Unsolicited. 

Coulter said she is not aware of a product without potential problems and the board decided to not go forward with the audio-visual revamp.

Facilities manager discussion

Also at last week’s meeting, the trustees discussed hiring a person with the responsibilities of a facilities manager, whose duties would include inspecting the library’s buildings and grounds. The full-time position has been vacant for six months, Nelson noted. 

Instead of having a monthly contract for the services of a person to inspect the library, an hourly fee would be paid to a person to do the review, Nelson said. The responsibilities could be “to walk the entire property and then give us a report of what they feel needs to be done,” she said. By doing so, the cost could be reduced from about $2,500 or $3,000 a month to about $500 a month and relieve the responsibility of walking the facility from Coulter, who is currently doing so, Nelson said.

Coulter said she was supportive of getting some help, but did not want to spend a large sum per month to do so.

A potential candidate for the post could be former board of trustees president, Bonnie Schwartz, who is no longer on the board. Schwartz expressed interest in doing so, Nelson said. “This is something that is near and dear to her heart,” Nelson said. 

“I think that’s a spectacular solution,” Coulter said. “She knows the history and she knows the building.” 

Nelson said the trustees could decide on the frequency of the person doing the work, such as once or twice a week. 

Nelson said the board needed to come up with an hourly rate and could decide to hire Schwartz at its June meeting after Coulter speaks with her.