Fayetteville aldermen listen while city staffers give instructions on how to use the new touchscreen voting system inside Room 219 of City Hall on Tuesday.
Photos: Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer
Residents will notice some major changes inside City Hall during the next regular meeting of the Fayetteville City Council on Tuesday, April 5.
Crews last week finished the latest phase of a major renovation project that includes a complete technology overhaul and new furniture inside Room 219, also known as the Council chambers.
Custom-built podium from local woodworker Matt Buell.
Audience members will enjoy new seating and wall-mounted flatscreen monitors to more easily view presentations. Aldermen will make use of smaller touchscreen displays when voting and reviewing agenda materials.
Other obvious improvements include new lighting, new carpet, and a custom-built podium and council desk from local woodworker Matt Buell.
City staff and aldermen met last week to tour the upgraded facility, and to learn about the new system. Council members took turns using their touchscreens to place votes and practice speaking into the new microphone system during a simulated meeting following Tuesday’s agenda-setting session.
It was the first time aldermen had met in the room since February when the project began. Two City Council meetings were held in alternate locations while crews completed the work.
The project also includes extensive upgrades to the production and telecast systems inside City Hall and at the city’s Television Center. The old production facilities included a hybrid of analog and digital systems in both high definition and standard definition quality. The new system migrates those signals to a pure digital environment to improve audio and video quality of meetings that are recorded and broadcast to the public.
The work at City Hall is estimated at $186,000. Upgrades to the Television Center are expected to cost about $219,000. Both projects were awarded to The Field Shop, Inc. of Little Rock after a bidding process last year. Aldermen unanimously approved the contract at the Dec. 15 City Council meeting.
Future improvements will include upgrades in rooms 111 and 326.
More photos
