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Home My WebLink AboutCRPS-06-111 - Rogers Television Proposal - Installation of Robotic Cameras and Equipment in Council ChamberJ ~- Corporate Services Report To: Councillor B. Vrbanovic and Members of the Finance & Corporate Services Committee Date of Meeting: August 21, 2006 Submitted By: Laurier Proulx, Director of Facilities Management Randy Gosse, Director of Legislated Services/City Clerk Prepared By: Albert TenBruggencate, Corporate Emergency Preparedness Facilitator, (2903) R. Gosse, (2809) Ward(s) Involved: All Date of Report: July 21, 2006 Report No.: CRPS-06-111 Subject: ROGERS TELEVISON PROPOSAL -INSTALLATION OF ROBOTIC CAMERAS AND EQUIPMENT IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBER RECOMMENDATION: That the proposal from Rogers Television to install robotic cameras in the Council Chambers, the construction of a control room and installation of associated equipment for the broadcasting and recording of Council and Committee meetings as outlined in Corporate Services Department report CRPS-06-, be accepted; and further, That the Mayor and Clerk be authorized to sign an agreement satisfactory to the City Solicitor, with Rogers Television. BACKGROUND: Rogers Television has submitted a proposal to install six fixed, robotic cameras with the provision for the future installation of two additional cameras, in the Council Chambers for the purpose of broadcasting council meetings. The proposal includes the provision of space in city hall for a separate control room from which Rogers personnel would operate the robotic cameras and direct the broadcasts. The proposal also includes training City staff to operate the equipment so that all council and committee meetings could be recorded by staff and possibly broadcast over the Internet. REPORT: On September 6 2005, Rogers Television approached Facilities Management with the proposal to install six fixed, robotic cameras in the council chamber of Kitchener City Hall. Rogers Television currently broadcasts 6 council meetings per year utilizing three manned, moveable cameras. Through the proposed installation of the new cameras in the council chamber, Rogers Television intends to eliminate the need for the camera operators and to improve broadcast quality. The proposal includes converting a portion of the existing council chamber cloakroom to provide space for a control room necessary for Rogers personnel to operate the robotic cameras and to direct the broadcast. Camera Installation Details Six fixed, robotic cameras would be installed in the council chamber in the following configuration (see attached floor plans): • Two cameras would be installed to the top of the millwork above the upper row of audience seating on either side of the chamber (provision would be made, in the form of roughed-in cabling, for the future installation of an additional camera at each location) • Two cameras would be mounted at the front of the council chamber at each of the corners where the millwork meets the sandstone. These cameras would be mounted such that the integrity of the millwork or the sandstone is not compromised • One camera would be mounted on the rear wall of the chamber above the media gallery position • One camera would be mounted on the centre table of the chamber to capture delegations at the lectern. There is some concern regarding this camera as it may interfere with the use of the centre table; further discussion will take place. All cameras, with the exception of the wall-mounted units would be housed in tamper-proof, stainless steel domed enclosures. Control Room Details A portion of the existing council chamber cloakroom, located near elevator 5, would be closed-in and dedicated as the Rogers Television control room. The control room would occupy approximately 29% of the current cloakroom space and would measure 73 square feet in area. This would be accomplished by enclosing the rear section of the cloakroom with a wall and a door to allow for a secure and private room from which Rogers personnel could operate the robotic cameras and direct the broadcast of the council meeting. The room would have to be adequately ventilated and wired for camera control, power and communication and be provided with adequate lighting and security to meet Rogers' needs. Wiring Details • Camera control/communication and power wiring would be run to the control room from each of the camera locations • Each camera location would require an electrical outlet • The control room would require a 2 X 15 amp circuit • A VGA to video converter would be installed in the 3rd floor AV room and a cable run to the control room • A 11/2" conduit would be run from the control room to the loading dock • The control room would need to be equipped with a telephone line and Internet line Equipment Provided by Rogers 1 x Rushworks Toastmaster Digital Meeting Acquisition System 6 x Sony BRC-300 Remote Cameras 6x Pelco Camera Mounts 2 x Marshall MDR-V500DJ Quad LCD Monitors 1 x JVC TM-H150CGU 15-inch Monitor 2 x Viewsonic VP19b 19-inch LCD Computer Monitors 1 x VSC500 Extron Scan Converter 2 x DVD Recorders 1 x Phase 3 - 4x1 Video Switcher 1 x Audio mixer 1 x Servo 120 Audio Amplifier 2 x Reveal 6 Speakers 1 x Headphones • video/audio/control cable • video/audio/control connectors • specialized installation materials including, without limitation, camera mounts, video/audio/control cable, video/audio/control connectors. • control room furniture • installation of cameras and control system BENEFITS: Rogers Television believes the City would benefit from the new camera system for the following reasons: • City staff could be trained to make use of the system to record meetings that are not traditionally covered by Rogers Television. Meetings could be recorded and archived to VHS or DVD. In the event of emergency, the council chamber could be used for emergency broadcasts as there is virtually no set up time required in order to go live. Though Rogers cannot guarantee additional coverage, they claim to be in a much better position from a resource perspective to consider requests for coverage of special meetings (ie., budgets etc). Televised Council meetings could be streamed to the web either via Rogers Television website or the City of Kitchener website. As cameras would already be installed there would be no need to book chambers for technical setup on council days, allowing other meetings to take place earlier that day. • Robotic cameras would eliminate the need for the larger floor cameras and personnel to be stationed throughout the chambers. • This would result in more cameras overall covering the council meetings -abetter on air presentation. In the immediate term, this proposal will benefit Rogers by eliminating their need for a remote broadcast truck, reducing staff and providing better direct broadcast. In return the City will not have to make arrangements with Rogers staff for set up of equipment, Council meetings will no longer have cameras and wires to contend with and live streaming over the internet of the Council meetings would become a reality. In the short term, staff will be able to record Council and Committee meetings, broadcast the meetings over the internet including special meetings such as budget, incorporate the system into the Emergency Plan and provide greater access to the public. In the long term, this proposal presents an opportunity to develop a whole new way of recording and creating minutes of meetings whereby staff time is greatly reduced, the public has better access to meetings and minutes could include the recorded meeting. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: The original proposal from Rogers Television in September 2005 included a proviso that the City pay for wiring the chambers, the construction of the control room and some minor capital costs such as the camera housing units. Since that time, Rogers has revised their proposal so that the City will not incur any capital costs. Any future operating cost to the City will only be for staff to operate the equipment. Any initiatives that may spin off of this proposal such as the idea of using the recordings as part of the minutes and which may incur future operating and capital costs, will be brought forward for Council's approval. CONCLUSION: This proposal from Rogers is part of a province-wide initiative by the company and several municipalities have already accepted the proposal. It is staff's opinion that the proposal presents an opportunity to explore new and better ways of providing a service to the public without any capital costs to the City. L. Proulx -Director of Facilities Maintenance R. Gosse -Director of Legislated Services/ City Clerk Proposed Robotic Camera Locations -Lower Level 1-. T ~ --" _ y _ L ~ l ~~rl I I I I I ~>~ I I I ^~ III I u ~` ~ ~I 4~ IC ~. ~ "~~ ~I i~ _ I i fff f--__ ,l -- - a~ . ~~.r ~t,~-- I , I ` } ~F_ ~~ L-J 5 ~ 11,7 + , II I I . hh - i; ~ -- ~ I ri•t = I I I _ ~; 1-1F~ I '. _ II Y L[,I ~ ___ rl ~~ ~~i o I~ II ; i, 11JCf II; _ _- -- __-- -_-_ T1 ~~ ! Fig !; _-~ {9r IL ~'~11F II 7 ~E1 "' H_.~ I"~' ~ t: C ~~ r------- F ~`,C ~' , 1 I • ~ 1 rti,. /i" ~' ~. y ~k ,t t ~~ fl ~~ 1 ~14~5'~i ~I 1' I I 1 ., II IIIIII 1 V ' ~ '~I III i II I I~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~ I 1 ~ i ~~ i~ Ij i~ )r ~I ~ i l 1 i f f jJ d, I l~ i i~ i I I -Fn_ ~ ' ~,' I i1 ' ~, ~~ ,~ `*:_ _ T"-.~ + Y ~~ } ~ 1~~r ~ ~i' ! - Fr' r r' IIII II Ill y = - k~ ~~ TAR II - y .~ _ . III I - _ III I ~ _- - III I ~ _ - - '~i -. III I ( _~ -- ~---JI I ~- y =- ~ _-. li ~ _ ,7_~s 4-' ~I I i~~:;1'~; ?~. 1 ''~ - -- - I I Y~i :~-~-f____- I / ~~~ F ~~ . 1k.` Proposed Proposed camera Rogers Control locations Room Council Chamber Lower Level s Proposed Robotic Camera Locations -Upper Level F~~ Council Chamber Upper Level Proposed camera locations