TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to provide a report to the City Council within 60 days identifying the fiscal impact associated with installing a looping system in our public facilities such as the City Council Chambers, police stations, senior centers, and public libraries.
DISCUSSION
There are 48 million Americas that are hearing impaired including seniors, veterans, adults, and children. Hearing loss is a barrier to effective communication in daily life. Additionally, it is an invisible and silent disability that has serious impacts on overall health, well-being, and safety of those in our society that are unable to hear. There is a state ofthe art technology, known as a looping system, which is a wire that circles a room and is connected to a sound system. The loop transmits the sound electromagnetically directly into the hearing aid via the telecoils. The loop signal eliminates the background noise in the environment and allows the hearing impaired person to clearly hear. One of the major advantages of a looping system is that it is a universal technology and does not matter what brand hearing aid a person is wearing because the looping system works with all hearing aids with telecoils.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no significant fiscal impact for the delivery of the report. The report from the City Manager is required to determine the fiscal impact associated with installing a looping system in our public facilities.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
SUZIE PRICE
COUNCILWOMAN, THIRD DISTRICT
DEE ANDREWS
COUNCILMAN, SIXTH DISTRICT
REX RICHARDSON
COUNCILMEMBER, NINTH DISTRICT