Clutha District Council chief executive Steve Hill said the investment was the final stage of refurbishments for the council’s Rosebank, Balclutha headquarters, and would help make meetings more transparent and accessible to the public.
The new system will be state of the art, and include a ceiling-mounted, 120-microphone array to pick up speech, alongside four high-definition cameras, five high-definition screens and 12 ceiling speakers.
Mr Hill said a livestreaming platform was yet to be chosen, as testing would continue for a further seven weeks before the technology was used formally for the first time, at the council’s full meeting on September 15.
Some set-up remained to be completed, and training for operational staff — and councillors and others using the equipment — was now under way, he said.
"Councillors are aware of the new system. They’ve been given information about how it works and what that will mean for them in meetings.
"The equipment has been set up in chambers and we’re in the process of testing the hard and software, as well as training the staff who will be running it during meetings."
The system could also be used in civil defence situations, Mr Hill said.
Clutha District Mayor Bryan Cadogan said the council was looking forward to even greater transparency in its democratic activities.
"From a political perspective ... the feedback I have received is that councillors are eager to extend the reach of the democratic process.
"We have alway prided ourselves on ensuring transparency, and the reality is that all councillors want to share the activities we’re involved in, and external scrutiny supports the determination we have always shown to engage with our communities."
However, some elements of meetings would necessarily remain offline and closed to the public, he said.
"We have a legal responsibility to protect individuals’ private details that they may intimate to us, or contractual sensitivities, and so often this is confused with a lack of transparency.
"This new technology will still have to accommodate [those] restraints . . . but general coverage of council’s proceedings will definitely be extended ."
