City commissioners will soon decide on the installation of a new sound system for downtown Emporia.
Emporia Main Street Executive Director Casey Woods spoke to the city commission about the proposed project during a Wednesday morning study session. The system would be used to play music and relay messages downtown. It could also be used to announce emergencies during events.
“The downtown speaker system is a project we have been working on in Emporia Main Street for a number of years,” Woods said. “We initially worked on a speaker system with Ed Rathke, the former facilities manager, and the technology didn’t quite work out.” The initial purchase and installation would be paid for by Main Street, with an additional $25,000 coming from LifeTime Fitness, which owns the Dirty Kanza. Woods said he was not asking the city for money for the project, but wanted to have a conversation with the commission to make sure it could move forward. Under the current proposal, Woods said the sound system would be donated to the City of Emporia, but maintenance and repair would be handled by Main Street.
(Read more: Emporia Gazette)