BY JIMMY SHOCKLEY, Eastern Shore Post —
A divided Northampton County Board of Supervisors has voted to purchase a new video and audio system to transmit county meetings.
The vote passed, 3-2, to move forward with the installation of audio equipment with an accompanying camera. Supervisors Oliver Bennett and Betsy Mapp voted in opposition.
During the past few months, supervisors have pondered upgrading the audio recording equipment in the meeting room.
County Administrator Matt Spuck recently received a quote from a company to upgrade the microphones and tie in speaker audio to the existing speakers in the board room, and to install a camera that would allow audiences to watch and listen to meetings.
The quote came in at $25,000, only $10,000 of which is budgeted for right now.
John Chandler, the county’s finance director, explained a few ways the county could find the extra $15,000 — just two weeks after the county had to find more than $640,000 to meet increased COLA requirements.
Chandler said there may be some funding available from vacant positions and from the county IT department having some extra money.
If either of those plans falls through, the county could pull from its contingency fund, which began the fiscal year totaling $457,164, but which is now sitting at $183,200 following the budget amendments from two weeks ago.
The cost wasn’t an issue for the board, but having a camera record meetings was a problem for board members Bennett and Mapp.
“I don’t have a problem with the audio, but the visual, I have a problem with that,” Bennett said.
“I do, too,” Mapp added.
Bennett expressed concerns about members of the audience acting out more due to having a video feed, even though Spuck later explained that the lone video camera will be aimed at the five supervisors, not audience members and speakers.
Chairman Dixon Leatherbury said he finds audio feeds with accompanying video easier to pay attention to than purely audio.
Supervisor Jon Dempster said he thinks the board is being more transparent by including video, with Supervisor Ernest Smith agreeing.
