Here’s why $220,000 plan to upgrade Muscogee County School Board room failed in split vote

The proposal to hire Camelot Education, an Austin, Texas-based private, for-profit company to run three alternative education programs for $6.4 million annually wasn’t the only expensive recommendation from superintendent David Lewis that the Muscogee County School Board rejected last week in a split vote.

One hour before voting 4-5 against the controversial Camelot plan, a majority of the board also blocked, with a 3-4-2 vote, Lewis’ request to approve a contract with Atlanta-based Unified AV Systems for as much as $220,894.87 to upgrade the audio-visual technology in the board’s public meeting room at the 8-year-old Muscogee County Public Education Center.

Board chairwoman Pat Hugley Green of District 1, Naomi Buckner of District 4 and Cathy Williams of District 7 voted yes on both proposals. John Thomas of District 2, Vanessa Jackson of District 3, Mark Cantrell of District 6 and Frank Myers of District 8 voted no on both proposals. County-wide representative Kia Chambers, who voted no on the Camelot proposal, and Laurie McRae of District 5, who voted yes on the Camelot proposal, abstained on the boardroom technology upgrade proposal.

The board debated the Camelot proposal during several meetings the past two months, but the boardroom technology upgrade proposal wasn’t discussed when it first appeared on the agenda at the May 8 work session. The board did, however, engage in a 10-minute discussion about it during the May 15 meeting. And the questions and objections focused on the cost in money and people.

Money

Cantrell started the inquiry with this declaration: “$220,000 is the cost to build a home. That seems like a lot of money for audio-visual equipment.”

MCSD chief information officer Ron Pleasant told the board, “Right now, we have two cameras that are in this room that are controlled in the back room. That’s part of this proposal. That would be increased to six cameras. You might have noticed earlier in the evening, our microphone at the podium kept coming out, turning on and turning back off. We’re really talking about a replacement of every single microphone that you see in here. … We’re replacing the monitors. Earlier this evening, I was noticing that there’s a color problem in one of them; it’s looking like it’s black and white.”

Pleasant continued, “There are hardware elements in the back room, the amplifiers, the actual loading apparatus that is used, the software that’s used in there, all of that’s going to get replaced and upgraded, primarily because it’s a proprietary system, so you can’t really just take the component away. For instance, I can’t switch out the microphones unless I switch out the system that runs the microphones. So it’s kind of a package deal.”

The new equipment would enable MCSD to stream the meetings live on its website and possibly archive them for further public access, Pleasant said.

Cantrell asked whether the meetings still would air on Columbus Consolidated Government’s TV channel.

“We’d still have to do it with a disc because none of this project provides any provision for us to connect up our networks over to the building next door (the City Services Center),” Pleasant said. “I have aspirations to be able to accomplish that at some point, but that’s not part of this project.”

Myers also balked at the cost of the proposed boardroom technology upgrade.

“The idea that this is going to take $220,000 to fix this issue is ludicrous,” Myers said. “I used to be in radio. I’ve produced TV commercials. I’ve been in studios. I’ve done a lot of stuff. I’m not a technical guy, but just because you have a couple bad monitors doesn’t mean you fill up the room with brand-new monitors.”

Myers suggested MCSD could save money by getting monitors at Sam’s Club instead. Someone in the audience hollered, “Amen,” and a few others applauded.

“Look, we’re on Facebook Live right now with like 50 people watching, and this is from my computer, on an iPad, so don’t tell me we can’t go live,” Myers said.

Myers noted that growth in the property tax digest is expected to generate ($1.1 million) more revenue for MCSD next fiscal year than this year. “So I guess we know where the first 200 (thousand) is going; it’s going to this deal. But we’ve still got these kids that don’t have their football outfits. They’re having to pay to participate in sports. Books are a problem. Teachers are having to bring their own supplies. But we’ve got all this money to put 200 grand in this thing? Let’s start again. Please, friends, let’s just say no to this and start over.”

Green asserted, “I think it’s important also to know that infrastructure that would support any kind of modern technology was cut out of the budget of the original construction of this building.”

People

Earlier in the discussion, Cantrell also asked, “I’d like to know what happens to the people who are working for us now, Jim Anthony and his people?”

Anthony is the owner of Affordable Productions in Columbus. The school district pays his company $13,785 per year to videotape the board’s meetings, MCSD chief financial officer Theresa Thornton told the Ledger-Enquirer in an email Tuesday.

“With regard to Mr. Anthony,” Pleasant told the board, “I don’t manage that contract. It’s really not a part of what we’re doing in the boardroom, and it’s really not a part of what this project is.”

According to the agenda, MCSD emailed a request for proposal to 26 vendors and posted the RFP on its website March 1. The administration recommended Unified AV Systems over Innovative Collaboration of Winter Park, Fla., and Summit Systems of Buford, Ga., the two other companies that submitted proposals.

Myers complained that Anthony “got left out of the bidding process. … We don’t treat people like that in our society.”

Myers acknowledged Anthony standing to the side of the board table and told him, “Thank you for the work you’ve done. I get that some of your equipment may be a little antiquated, but you should at least have a chance to be involved in helping us fix the problem. It’s a black eye on this board for you not getting that opportunity – not even being given notice.”

Green asked Pleasant to clarify, “Did you say that this item is not about Mr. Anthony? This is about refreshing the equipment in our boardroom?”

Pleasant: “Yes.”

Myers interjected, “Because he’s been fired. That’s why it’s not about him.”

Pleasant countered, “Mr. Anthony, with all due respect, I don’t want to say whether you had a chance or not. … It was an open bid that was communicated via our website. I don’t believe anyone was excluded.”

The L-E hasn’t reached Anthony for comment. In an email Tuesday to the L-E, MCSD communications director Valerie Fuller said, “The RFP was not developed for, nor intended to replace the current video/production company, which handles our monthly video recordings, which are under contract with Affordable Productions. The RFP was for the current operations and responsibilities and board room functions for audio/visuals, which are currently handled by our board room tech support team. The two are not connected.”

Thornton added in her email, “As for Mr. Anthony, he was not registered on Vendor On-line for the equipment that was being solicited. Therefore, his company was not included in the vendor list that was generated from Vendor On-Line.”

McRae, foreshadowing a reason she abstained, said during the meeting, “I wish some of these issues had been raised last week so we had a chance to really address them.”

This story was originally published May 24, 2017 at 12:53 PM with the headline "Here’s why $220,000 plan to upgrade Muscogee County School Board room failed in split vote."