Public meetings in Durango City Hall’s Smith Council Chambers are not always the smoothest experience.
Phone and laptop chargers on the dais create irritating hums from interference. Poor lighting and acoustics make meetings difficult to follow for city officials and audience members alike. Councilors sometimes struggle to view television screens that display agenda details during presentations.
The COVID-19 pandemic further complicated public meetings, pushing the city to incorporate fully remote and then hybrid attendance models, according to Durango’s Information Technology Department. Since then, the city has been working to improve the functionality of Smith Council Chambers for residents and city officials alike.
City councilors are testing new technology on the dais that may inform how new council chambers, expected to be completed in October 2027, will be equipped for more efficient meetings and to improve the audience experience.
Touch-screen controllers installed in 2023 were updated this year with a queue function to allow the mayor, who procedurally guides public meetings, to call upon councilors. The controllers were updated with the ability for councilors to cast votes simultaneously. The votes are read aloud by an automated voice for the audience and city clerk staff members.
A hearing assistant system is planned to be installed later this year. The system will broadcast audio in the council chambers to dedicated receivers and on the building’s Wi-Fi network for use with personal devices, according to the IT department.
Since 2023, dais upgrades, including microphones and the electronic screens, have cost less than $70,000, Tom Sluis, city spokesman, said. An exact cost wasn’t available due to the piecemeal nature of upgrades.
Councilors are still adapting to the new technology. At the Feb. 3 City Council meeting, city officials smirked at an artificial intelligence voice that read how each councilor voted on agenda items. Someone joked that the AI reader could have a better fitting voice. City Attorney Mark Morgan reminded councilors the vote tally needs to be read aloud and shouldn’t be talked over.
Councilor Shirley Gonzales muttered she did not press “abstain” on her controller during one vote.
Mayor Gilda Yazzie told The Durango Herald the city is thinking about what sort of media technology it needs going forward, and she is satisfied with what she’s been presented with so far.
Councilors have a lot to keep track of when they are on the dais, she said. They aren’t just receiving information – data, financials and facts for consideration – from city staff members. They are looking to the audience and their fellow councilors for cues about how people are reacting to whatever is being considered.
As mayor, Yazzie is responsible for granting the floor to other councilors who wish to weigh in on a subject. Sometimes, it’s difficult to keep track of who is requesting to speak and sometimes somebody is skipped over.
The controllers centralize information in front of councilors. In addition to showing presentation slides, the screens keep track of who has their hand raised, she said.
She said she is left-handed and is naturally facing Councilor Kip Koso to her left. When Councilor Jessika Loyer raises her hand to speak, Yazzie doesn’t always notice her, she said. She has to crane her neck to see the dais to the right of her.
“That really helps with making sure everybody who wants to say something, it comes right up on the screen so we don’t miss anybody,” she said.
It’s a small factor, but having councilors raise their hands digitally helps Yazzie keep her train of thought focused on the meeting’s substance – not procedural elements, she said.
“I try to listen to everybody,” she said. “I look at the audience to see if there’s any key members out there, if they’re agreeing or not to see what the mood is. Because sometimes it’s hard to make a decision on how to vote because you can go either way.”
She said if she doesn’t have to keep track of which councilors are asking to speak, she can focus her attention on the audience.
Oftentimes, her mind is made up before it’s time to vote, she said. But sometimes, somebody raises a salient point that makes her reconsider. Having the technicalities working automatically gives her more time to analyze an issue.
She said future city councils will benefit from the current council serving as the technical guinea pigs.
Gonzales said she appreciates the dais controllers for similar reasons as Yazzie. They help councilors keep track of procedure according to Robert’s Rules of Order parliamentary procedure.
“People interrupt each other a lot, and I hope that this can avoid that problem,” she said.
She said she has a glaucoma and macular degeneration, a common vision impairment, and lighting in Smith Council Chambers is “terrible.” She struggles to see speakers delivering presentations just feet in front of her.
The controller screens are helpful for placing the information being presented right in front of her. Although she wishes the text font were a little larger or the screen brightness was adjusted for her vision needs.
Yazzie said long-term issues like ambient noise inside Smith Council Chambers and foyer noise outside the chambers will be addressed with the opening of the new joint city hall and police station. Smith Council Chambers has a maximum capacity of about 55. The idea with the new chambers is there will be room for larger audiences.
Councilor Dave Woodruff said he is all for better implementing technology to improve communication between councilors and meeting attendees. But he also prefers voicing his vote on matters over punching a screen and having an automated voice read the vote results.
“I’m kind of old school, and I do like the saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when you vote,” he said.
He said vocalizing his vote is more personable.
“You might be the last to vote on something, and you’re the deciding vote. And so whenever you’re putting that into the computer screen, it kind of dampens that stress a little bit,” he said. “Whenever you’re the last one, you’re the deciding vote, there’s a lot reeling through your head in those moments.”
He said removing the “personal” element from casting one’s vote and removing the pressure of having the last vote isn’t necessarily good or bad – but it is different.
