By Kim Siebert MacPhail
A project that’s been years in the making—the installation of a videotaping system in the Town Hall’s Selectmen Meeting Room—moved a giant step forward on October 7 when the Selectmen awarded contract to perform the work to Valley Communications of Chicopee.
Town Manager Rick Reed said that the design portion of the project had been already been funded through an earlier Town Meeting appropriation. The only bid for the project itself came from Valley Communications for a total $61,568.49, to be paid by Bedford’s accumulated PEG [Public, Educational, and Governmental] Access funds— a contractually-designated percentage of residents’ monthly cable television subscription fees.
Reed described the video system as a roll-away console at the back of the room that will allow a technician to record any meeting held in the room. When the equipment is not in use, the console can be pushed back against the wall to reclaim seating space.
Facilities Director Richard Jones added that a total of four cameras and multiple microphones are included in the project.
The Selectmen were unanimous in their approval to award the contract.
As usual, Bedford is letting obviously incompetent people make decisions on things they don’t understand.
For that amount of money you could get all of town hall hall wired for TV transmissions, not just the selectmen’s room.
Was the cable board and Bedford TV even involved in this project? Were their expertise ever considered? Who wrote the RFP and what does he/she know about the technology?
It is simply ridiculous how much of Bedford’s money is wasted.
You are so right, Rick. $60,000+ for a videotaping system??? Government waste at its best. And just think, we all paid for it through extra charges on our cable bills! I wonder how much the Selectmen and Rick Reed would have paid if the money had to come out of their own pockets. I would bet that if this project was given to Bedford High, some enterprising students could have done it for a quarter of the cost, while picking up some valuable practical experience and community service hours at the same time. Come on people, think outside the box!