Work being done while the St. Louis Board of Aldermen is on summer break will bring its meeting spaces into the 21st century.
Electrical upgrades in the Kennedy hearing room and board chambers will allow for the installation of cameras and TV monitors. The chambers will also get new microphones at each desk.
The cameras and monitors will allow for both aldermen and members of the public to participate in meetings remotely, said Jay Nelson. He spearheaded the upgrades as chief of staff to Board President Megan Green.
“A lot of things stand in the way of people having the opportunity to have their voices heard,” he said. “We feel like having the monitors gives them the opportunity at increased public engagement at the Board of Aldermen.”
The upgrades to the electrical system would have been needed even without the new technology, said Terry Kennedy, the clerk of the board.
“Today it is like there's a ghost in the machine. When you click on one of the switches and turn your back it automatically pops off,” he said. “That's primarily because it can no longer carry the load of the electrical appliances that need to be used in 2023 that were not even available in the past.”
Before he became the clerk of the board in 2019, Kennedy spent 31 years as the alderman of the former 18th Ward. The meetings were not even recorded when he first arrived, he said, and the height of technology was a Selectric typewriter.
“As that has evolved, it has allowed the legislative body, I think, in some ways to be more accessible, and certainly in other ways to be more efficient,” he said.
The board is covering the $570,000 cost using money that was budgeted for salaries last year but never spent. There is also funding available for a meeting management system that will show amendments and votes in real time.
