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Yorktown Town Hall Board Room Construction Begins

YORKTOWN, N.Y.--The Town Hall board room was busy for a Friday afternoon, and it wasn’t because of a board meeting.

Wednesday, construction began on a project to replace ceiling tiles, and add all new video recording equipment, lights and a PA system to the board room, explained Supervisor Susan Siegel.

The renovations are being paid for in two different ways. Some funding comes from a donation the town received from the Spadaccia family years ago, in the sum of $10,000 to update the board room. Of that money, $6,000 is left and is being used for the room.

The additional funds are coming from “PEG Money,” which stands for Public Education Government. The town receives $35,000 a year in PEG money from Verizon and Cablevision. Verizon has given money to the town for two years, and Cablevision one year, which is where the majority of the money to pay for the project is coming from.

“This will all be state-of-the-art equipment and taping,” Siegel said. “It’s another great way for us to disseminate information to the public.”

Although construction was still underway Friday, improvements could already be seen. Four camera stands had been installed in the room where four robotic cameras will sit, allowing for taping of the various meetings.

Electric work was being done in the back corner of the room, where a small enclosure/room is being built to house all the equipment. Whoever is in the booth at the time will control the cameras from that room.

Siegel said unless there are any unforeseen costs, all the projects have been paid for. She also said there will be a significant cost savings with the new equipment, as the tapes will not be digitized, and will be live cast on the web, and placed on the website like usual, but for a much lower cost. The new equipment will also allow for more programming on the public access channel.

In the meantime, groups who usually meet in the Town Board room have been moved elsewhere. The Town Board usually meets at the John C. Hart Library twice a year, said Siegel, and the schedules lined up perfectly—as the Town Board is scheduled to meet at the library for next Tuesday’s meeting.

“This is something we desperately needed,” Siegel said. “This has been a very long time coming, and I’m glad to see that it’s on its way.”

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