By: Mary Beth Almond | Shelby-Utica News | Published October 20, 2025
SHELBY TOWNSHIP — New audio and visual systems are coming to the Shelby Township board room, which municipal leaders say will enhance township meetings for all attendees.
On Oct. 7, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted to hire Advanced Lighting and Sound, the only company to submit a proposal, at a total cost of $39,291 for both the audio system replacement and projector upgrades. The funds will be taken from the township’s capital improvement fund.
The township’s current audio system has reached the end of its life, according to Township Supervisor Rick Stathakis, who said it has become increasingly “unreliable and unpredictable” during township meetings.
“This directly impacts the quality of our public proceedings, as both trustees and attendees depend on clear, consistent audio to follow discussions and decisions,” Stathakis said. “An updated system will ensure that our meetings remain transparent, accessible and professional.”
Community Relations Director Brad Bates said the audio feed of the live broadcast for the board meetings on Shelby TV often fails.
“As we’re trying to fix that audio feed, we pause the whole meeting and pick it back up once the audio is back in, but you never want to interrupt the official broadcast of a meeting,” he said. “This will allow us to ensure that audio feed doesn’t cut out, so we don’t have to pause the meeting while we fix it.”
While Stathakis said updating the township’s video system is not an urgent necessity, he stated the current projectors often produce images that are “too dim” for the public to view comfortably, particularly during presentations with detailed text or graphics.
“Upgrading the projectors would significantly improve the public’s experience and engagement during meetings,” he said.
Bates agreed that updated video projectors will allow for clearer presentations within the board room.
“If you’re in the board room, sometimes you can’t see the fine details that go up on the projector screens, so it’s a way to make sure we make that experience as good as possible for the residents that come to the board meetings.”
Stathakis said the improvements will “enhance the functionality of the board room and support the township’s commitment to effective communication and transparency.”
“These images will be brighter and the audio will be clearer,” Stathakis said. “Hopefully this will be done sometime in November.”