Village officials want to expand use of tablets

Having successfully piloted the distribution of tablet computers to Fredonia village trustees about two years ago, the village’s Tech Committee wants to expand use of the technology to the eight non-elected members of the Planning Commission and Architectural Control Board.

“It’s worked out really nice,” Tech Committee member and Trustee John Long said, noting he has participated in meetings remotely from as near as Rhinelander in northern Wisconsin and as far afield as Alaska.

The proposal was made by Long, who estimated that the tablets would cost a little more than $300 apiece.

Based on his own experience, Long noted that tablets would be of particular help for non-elected commission and board members who travel often, allowing them to participate in village business “when they’re not in the community.”

“We could throw it in the budget for next year — that’s the idea,” Long said.

Tech Committee Chairman and Trustee Richard Abegglen agreed.

“It’s definitely worth discussion at budget time,” he said. “Obviously, there’s not a lot we can do at the moment unless other funding becomes available. I agree it makes sense to bring everybody up to the current technology level.”

In other developments on April 15, Tech Committee members agreed to move ahead with plans to explore purchasing a sound system for village-sponsored outdoor summer movie nights, as well as other large community events.

The village has been using a 20-year-old public address system owned by Abegglen, whose Village Board seat is up for re-election in April 2022.

“We want something that’s village-owned,” said Abegglen, who noted that approximately $1,000 has been budgeted by the village for such a purchase. He said it is likely a new system will cost less than that.

“We can start looking at options, doing external research, before our next meeting,” Abegglen said.    

Tech Committee member and Trustee Dan Gehrke said Abegglen’s sound system will serve as a good baseline for a new system.

“I think we should build off of what we have been using, which works fine,” Gehrke noted, saying he would “not necessarily require but would strongly advocate for” the purchase of speaker stands “so they (speakers) are up in the air and not just sitting on the ground,” in part to help amplify the sound.

In other news, Tech Committee members  voted to present to the Village Board a not-to-exceed $7,000 quote from Milwaukee-based Conference Technologies for the installation of a security camera system at the village water tower site in the industrial park.

The firm installed a security camera system at Fredonia’s wastewater treatment plant two years ago.

Long said approximately $7,500 has been budgeted for security camera installations, noting Fredonia is in the midst of a multi-year program to install security cameras to monitor village properties.

Long called the water tower site the village’s top priority for planned future security cameras, followed by the Department of Public Works garages, Fredonia Police Station and well building, Fredonia Village Hall and well building, and the Fredonia Fire Station.