After the same motion was defeated in the July 17 town council meeting, Battleford is going ahead with a tech upgrade to the Town Hall council chamber.
According to the administrative report presented to council Monday, “the objective of the project is to enable the Council Chambers to support current communications technology and IT.”
Costs, which are estimated to be $7,400 (plus additional SaskTel costs) will go towards installing plugins and microphones in the chamber’s wooden table, wiring work, and installing a phone for conference calls. The cost is largely due to retrofitting the chamber table with electronics.
At the July 17 meeting, Councillor Shelley Boutin-Gervais said the cost “seemed like a lot of money.” The motion was defeated at that meeting.
CAO John Enns-Wind then sought more quotes, although the quote from NRG Efficient Homes Ltd. remained the lowest, and the item was up for decision again at the Sept. 5 council meeting.
Mayor Ames Leslie supported the upgrade, saying that council chambers aren’t only used for town council, but said he also uses the room as an office due to a lack of space elsewhere in town hall. Enns-Wind said the tech upgrades would help day-to-day operations, as currently, conference calls must be held in the Chief Administrative Officer’s office.
Councillor Judy Pruden raised the question of performing the upgrade while the rest ofTown Hall would be renovated. Enns-Wind said it was uncertain when the renovations would take place.
According to the 2017 budget, major renovations to Town Hall ranging between $5 million to $10 million are to take place in the future, although timelines are yet to be determined.
