KENT, CONN.—The Kent Board of Selectmen delayed action Tuesday, Feb. 18, on its request for nearly $40,000 for upgrades to the Zoom Room at town hall.
First Selectman Marty Lindenmayer presented a proposal for new equipment and installation that would replace the current system, which is woefully unsatisfactory.
All meetings in the room are hybrid, allowing residents, board members, and other town officials to attend without being physically present.
The system functions poorly, however, making it difficult for listeners to understand what is being said.
Lindenmayer and his administrative assistant, Joyce Kearns, have been gathering data about a new system over the past year. The first selectman presented his findings to his board—$11,800 for installation and $28,000 for the equipment itself—but selectmen Lynn Mellis Worthington and Glenn Sanchez concurred that the item should go through a formal bidding process rather than just being taken to the Board of Finance and then to a town meeting.
“I am asking for an exception on this one because of the extensive amount of time we have put into it,” Lindenmayer said, but Worthington said she was “so uncomfortable” with not having comparative costs for the system.
Kearns said that they conferred with Zoom about the acoustics in the room and that the firm suggested the separate entity, the Zoom Room Company, for the installation. “They assessed the room,” she said.
Kearns said they had two quotes for the equipment, but that the second firm, CDW, had not completed its quote. Its estimate had been higher than Zoom Room’s and it did not offer “white glove” service, she reported.
Zoom Room ships all the equipment at once, while the other firm ships piecemeal, raising the possibility that something would be missing and would halt installation.
“Did you consider getting away from Zoom Room and trying to do a different system?” asked Worthington.
Lindenmayer said they had consulted with the town’s IT firm, Yucatech, but that firm cannot provide the equipment. Similarly, they reached out to a local “stereo company,” but that firm was not equipped to tackle the project.
“If we bid again, no one could provide the same equipment as Zoom Room,” he asserted. “This will be state-of-the-art equipment. I don’t think we will do better. I went to Newtown to observe their system. Their room is even bigger, and it works really well.”
“I understand you talked to other companies, but it doesn’t sound like you’ve done apple-to-apple comparisons. It sounds like you went to one company,” said Worthington.
“We had other companies we talked to, but Zoom Room took the time to tell us what the equipment was. CDW came out, looked at room, but never really gave us lists. I didn’t have confidence in him,” Lindenmayer replied.
Kearns asked if Worthington was asking for quotes on different systems. Worthington replied that Zoom is “solid software to use, but that committing us to use Zoom Room is very limiting.”
“The town has already spent $25,000 on this room and it didn’t work out, and now we would be spending another $39,000,” she said.
“This could open us up to criticism,” agreed Sanchez. “Based on our last meeting, which was difficult for people to hear, we owe it to the taxpayers to hear us clearly–and I have heard that clearly. Let’s give a little more time to get quotes, but do it as quickly as possible. If it means another bid is going to take three or four more months, I don’t want to do that. This is very important, but it behooves us to get another number.”
Lindenmayer agreed to postpone his discussion with the Board of Finance on Wednesday night.
