Spokane Valley City Council meeting plagued by technical difficulties
(The Center Square) – Virtual attendees of the weekly Spokane Valley City Council meeting got more than an earful due to some persistent technical difficulties.
The Tuesday virtual City Council meeting started with a splash screen displaying the City of Spokane Valley logo. At 6:00 pm, the splash screen faded, and the meeting was called to order. Before the first minute of the meeting was over, the technical difficulties began.
As attendance of the council members was read into the record, microphone feedback started oscillating between unbearably loud for some members, and unintelligibly quiet for others.
Someone present appeared to recognize the issue. A gentleman in a blue shirt walked up to someone seated at a computer, and the audio was briefly muted from 1:22 until 1:45, when the issue came back with a vengeance.
One of the most intelligible portions of the first 35 minutes of the meeting came from a public comment on zoom.
After nearly 20 seconds of what could best be described as accidental vocal dub-step feedback loops, a zoom caller chuckled during the opening of the public comment section and said, “I think I have feedback,” before going on to introduce herself as Barb Howard of Spokane Valley.
The meeting continued on like this, with feedback oscillating wildly, as slides were presented and points were made, ostensibly from this week’s agenda, though it was hard to get a clear signal in all the noise.
Around the 35 minute mark, the same gentleman in a blue shirt approached the computer again. This seemed to somewhat ameliorate the feedback issue, though his actions had the side effect of making many individuals speech too quiet to be intelligible.
Seven minutes later, at 6:42 pm, the council adjourned for a closed door executive session to “discuss potential acquisition of real estate,” according to the agenda, before returning to adjourn the session with no further actions at 7:10 pm.
According to the city budget during the 2022 fiscal year, through November 30 which were the latest numbers available, the city had spent $314,327 on “Information Technology.”
The Center Square reached out to Spokane Valley city clerk Christine Bainbridge asking if she was aware of the technical issues, and if a recording without the feedback would be made available to the public. She did not immediately reply to the request for comment.
