PEABODY — Members of the City Council expressed their dissatisfaction over the — Could you repeat that? We couldn’t hear you; you need to speak up.
Members of the City Council expressed their dissatisfaction over the recent uptick in technology glitches that have disrupted their ability to ensure adequate public access during its meetings at the Wiggin Auditorium.
The latest incident came Thursday during a Committee of the Whole meeting when councilors were unable to hear the state’s Re-Precincting Community Engagement Director Michael Owens as he began a presentation on the mandatory redistricting process.
The presentation, which had already been delayed 40 minutes due to technical difficulties, was suspended just three minutes in and eventually abandoned completely 15 minutes later when efforts to restore the sound system were unsuccessful.
“We do people a disservice when we can’t hear what they’re saying,” said City Clerk Allyson Danforth. “It’s not just the acoustics but the speakers. Zoom sound comes not to our desks but through boxes which bounce off the walls. Due to the fact that I’m running the meeting, I can’t help people with technical issues at home. We need technical help to do that.”
Most of the council agreed with Danforth, including Council President Mark J. O’Neill, who said it was “somewhat ironic” that the second item on the agenda was a discussion of how future meetings should be conducted.
“With the governor’s suspension of the Open Meeting Law through April, I thought it would be timely to have a meeting and discuss how we would continue future public meetings,” O’Neill said. “While we’ve had our technology difficulties, I am generally in favor of Zoom technology as it’s worked pretty well over the last year and a half.”
O’Neill admitted that Zoom audio at the last two council meetings has been “very difficult, unprofessional and not the way we serve our city.”
Since the onset of the pandemic, Councilor-at-Large Anne Manning-Martin has been an outspoken advocate for residents she feels have been excluded from public participation at council meetings due to a variety of reasons — chief among them lack of internet or computer access.
“This has all been brought full circle,” Manning-Martin said. “Everything I’ve said about the public not having adequate access to these meetings has fallen on deaf ears. We are conveying a cultural message that the perception among members of the public is that we don’t want them to know what we are doing. Unfortunately, perception is a reality.”
Ward 4 Councilor Joel Saslaw said the situation is “almost embarrassing.
“I am concerned that petitioners should show up in person, but at what point do we stop doing that because nobody can hear?” he said. “We can’t hear people speaking from Zoom. We need to take six or seven weeks to figure it out. I am concerned when people can’t hear.”
Councilor-at-Large Ryan Melville acknowledged that recent meetings have been delayed due to technical issues. He said he is fine with the “status quo” (a hybrid of in-person and remote participation) but agrees that something needs to be done to fix the current problems.
“We need to make sure we have a couple of technical people on hand,” he said. “Acoustics is a problem and that needs to be addressed so we are not wasting our time and the applicants’ time. A major part of this is that when I talk into the microphone, everyone has to be able to hear us. If this continues, we need to rethink this.”
Councilor-at-Large Tom Gould agreed with Melville, saying “the acoustics in this hall are awful.”
Councilor-at-Large Tom Rossignoll said he and Danforth have asked Mayor Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. to “have someone here from IT all the time, not just at meetings.
“We need to make sure the bugs are worked out before the meeting, not during,” he said. “Zoom is vital for residents to interact with the council, so we need to maintain the remote Zoom platform.”
Councilor-at-Large Jon Turco said sound issues are preexisting and suggested the city contact the company (Signet) that installed the system.
“That’s a $75,000 system and the sound in concerts is incredible, but they put a secondary priority on meetings,” he said, adding that the city should look into installing additional speakers and also ask Signet to come to the next meeting to explain the technical issues.
