The Ouray County commissioners approved acceptance of a $146,000 grant from the Statewide Internet Portal Authority (SIPA/SEPA) to upgrade video and audio systems in county meeting rooms and voted to move forward with the recommended vendor, High Point Networks, subject to final legal, fiscal and IT reviews.

The grant requires no local match and is reimbursement-based; the recommended High Point Networks bid came in at about $134,000, leaving contingency for minor changes. The county's IT team evaluated two bids and recommended High Point Networks as the best fit to improve remote meeting access and to provide better camera, sound and user controls in the 4-H Events Center North Room and the courthouse boardroom.

Why it matters: County staff described several goals for the project: simplify AV setup for presenters, deliver better audio/video quality for remote attendees, make the system platform-agnostic (Zoom, Teams, etc.) and improve accessibility for the public. The equipment is intended for county meetings as well as other events that use those spaces.

Key details: The county will use the grant to fund new multi-camera setups, improved audio, two 85-inch displays (one for each room), and wall control panels that make the systems "plug-and-play" for meeting presenters. The board approved the interim county manager signing the grant agreement with SEPA and authorized staff to execute a service agreement with High Point Networks after review by county legal, fiscal and IT staff. Commissioners noted the vendor quote’s July 25 pricing deadline and asked that final contracts be circulated to the board when signed.

Votes and direction: The motion to accept the grant agreement and authorize execution of vendor contracts (pending legal, fiscal and IT review) passed unanimously.

Quotes: "We feel that the vendor can provide that for us," Jeff Bacchus said, summarizing the IT recommendation. "This should be kind of plug and play," he added, describing the user interface installed in the rooms.

Next steps: Staff will obtain the vendor master services agreement and statement of work, conduct final reviews and, if acceptable, execute a contract with High Point Networks and schedule installation for October to avoid meeting conflicts.