After months of renovations, the anticipated opening of the revamped Laguna Woods Community Center board room arrived at the Golden Rain Foundation meeting on Tuesday, June 6, showcasing its technology upgrades and refurbishments.
GRF Director Tom Sirkel said he thought the first meeting in the renovated board room went well.
“It’s a great room, they did a great job,” Sirkel said. “It’s easy to sit up there, see things and find things, so I’m very happy with it. I think most of the board members did better than they thought.”
Chuck Holland, Village Management Services information services director, said board members, staff and residents alike should enjoy the new technology and added features. He said the project, which used Granicus technology for most components, did not exceed its budget of $301,000.
“The existing board room had technology and features that were probably pretty state-of-the-art back then, but 15 years ago smartphones didn’t even exist,” Holland said. “The technology that we utilize today didn’t exist. Having the existing board room in the state that it was in was not functional for what we want to do in the information age.”
Holland said technology upgrades include visual enhancements with hearing loops for people who need assistance, a new audio system and microphones, high definition cameras and other tools to streamline board meetings.
“Right now, when we have a visitor, or people, to speak at open comments, there wasn’t really any way for board members to control or pay attention to how long they’re speaking,” Holland said, noting the three-minute time limit. “Now when they speak, they will immediately be recorded and be able to see exactly how long they have to speak and how much time there is left.”
Board members can request to speak on queue, so instead of raising their hands they will press a button to be added to the queue. They also will be able to motion and vote on individual screens, Holland added.
“We’re going to be able to efficiently and accurately capture these motions and the things that are being voted on,” Holland said. “I know in the past the board moves so fast, they’re making motions, they’re voting, and the corporate secretary is trying to take notes, roll call – all of this stuff manually – now the system’s going to capture all of that information.”
Features to come “very soon” include an online site for agendas, live-streamed board meetings and archives, Holland said. Residents will be able to make comments on the agenda prior to the meetings and submit a request to speak at the same meeting.
Holland said the technology upgrades are primarily to maintain and improve transparency within the community.