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Officials discuss replacing town laptop and buying 'Owl' speaker-camera for hybrid meetings; software costs noted
Summary
Board members discussed replacing a failing town laptop used for Zoom meetings and considered purchasing a 360-degree speaker-camera (often called an "Owl") to improve remote participation; they asked staff to get cost estimates including software and licensing before any purchase.
Officials reviewed problems with the town laptop used for hybrid meetings and discussed purchasing a speaker-camera device (referred to in the meeting as an "Owl") that would follow and pick up speakers during meetings.
A selectperson described a recent planning-board Zoom meeting in which the town's laptop keyboard and microphone failed; as a workaround staff used a mobile phone on speaker to hear a remote lawyer. The selectperson said she had identified a small 360-degree speaker-camera device that would track the speaker and improve audio and video quality for participants on and off site.
The device's combined cost was described as "about 800 and something" for hardware, and staff warned that additional costs for operating system software and Microsoft Office could apply. Members discussed whether supervisors' laptops are locked up and whether multiple laptops could be shared; at least one member said the supervisor's laptop must remain on-site and not shared.
John (town IT contact) was asked to provide recommendations and cost estimates; members asked that he include both hardware and software/license costs (operating system, Office suite, and any conferencing licenses). One member suggested not buying refurbished equipment for reliability.
The board did not authorize a purchase at the meeting. Staff were asked to gather pricing and software-cost information and report back; members noted they have only a small number of Zoom meetings annually, but improving the hybrid meeting setup was considered useful for accessibility and meeting quality.
Ending: Staff to obtain cost estimates (hardware plus required software/licenses) and recommendations from John for consideration at a future meeting.
