Proposals to upgrade the meeting microphone system in County Hall are to be discussed this week, with the potential for electronic voting in the pipeline.

At Pembrokeshire County Council’s full council meeting on Thursday (December 19) an update will be received from a working group set up to evaluate costs and need of a new system.

It follows a notice of motion from Cllr Joshua Beynon calling for votes to be recorded in the minutes and online.

A working group has met three times, a report to council states, focusing on options available for electronic voting systems, which could be wired or wireless systems, single and dual microphone units or a mixed system.

The current provider of the webcasting system Public-i demonstrated its range and provided a breakdown of costs.

The full financial details of the proposals are not included on the agenda as they are considered exempt information but a previous quote including electronic voting capabilities was for around £80-100,000, the report states.

It adds: “The Head of IT has contacted Public-i regarding the further information requested and a more favourable quotation (£61,605.60) has

been received to the one considered by the Working Group which had been £70,510 plus £850 per annum for the Bronze Maintenance Package.”

This includes buying back the old equipment and only applies to the end of the year.

The Working Group was advised that upgrading the current system of microphones on a like-for-like basis was in the region of £40,000

Improving the microphone system and adding electronic voting for all votes at a later date was the preferred option of the working group, while using it when there was a call for a recorded vote.