TOHO Water Authority

Discover our solution for the TOHO Water authority's request to design, install, program and commission high-end video conferencing hardware.

Client: TOHO Water Authority
Location: Kissimmee, FL
Industry: Government
Scope: Broadcast Center
Completed: 2023

25% Less Setup Time

6 75" Monitors

12-Ch Wireless Mics

Project overview

Bringing a Public Utility's Civic Meetings Into the Modern Era

Civic Meeting Broadcast Center — Live Stream, Public Access TV, Automated Speaker Tracking & Unified Cisco/Crestron/QSC Control

TOHO Water Authority, a public utility serving the greater Kissimmee and Osceola County area, engaged Crunchy Tech to design, install, program, and commission a high-end AV and broadcast solution for its public civic meeting facility. The authority needed a technology upgrade that would raise the professionalism and capability of its civic meetings, board sessions, and public presentations, while extending access to residents watching from home by live stream or public access television.

The existing AV infrastructure could no longer keep up with the demands placed on it. Board members, presenters, and the public deserved a modern, reliable system, one that made the mechanics of running a meeting invisible, so everyone in the room could focus on the work rather than the technology. Crunchy Tech delivered exactly that: a broadcast-capable civic meeting center built around enterprise-grade Cisco, Crestron, QSC, and Shure technology, unified into a single system any staff member can run with confidence.

Project challenges

Serving the Room, Remote Participants, and the Viewing Public Simultaneously

The TOHO Water Authority project brought a multi-layered set of technical challenges, each one rooted in the demands of a public civic meeting environment:

The facility had to serve three audiences at once: participants in the room, remote attendees on video conference, and members of the public watching by live stream or public access TV. Every component had to perform at broadcast quality to serve all three reliably at the same time.

The Cisco Codec Pro, chosen as the conferencing and broadcast core, provides only three HDMI outputs, yet the chamber needed content across six large-format 75-inch monitors. That constraint called for a creative distribution solution using Crestron digital media amplifiers to extend outputs to all displays without signal degradation.

Camera operation had to be automated. A civic utility does not keep dedicated AV or broadcast staff to run a camera during board meetings, so the system needed to track and frame active speakers on its own, delivering professional broadcast output with no camera operator.

Audio coverage took careful engineering across a complex signal path. Board members on wireless microphones needed to be heard clearly in the room via voice-lift and by remote participants and broadcast audiences, all managed across analog and Dante pathways at once.

The whole system had to be operable by civic staff with little or no AV or video-production background, with automation handling content routing and camera work so presenters could focus on their material.

Understanding the client's needs

A Transparent, Accessible Civic Meeting Platform

TOHO Water Authority's core requirement was an upgrade that meaningfully improved the experience for everyone in their civic meetings: board members presenting, staff running the room, and members of the public attending in person or following from home. The authority wanted technology that improved the quality and accessibility of public engagement, not technology that added new operational burdens for its team.

The live stream and public access TV requirements mattered most. As a public utility with a mandate for transparency and community engagement, TOHO needed its board meetings accessible to residents who could not attend in person. That meant the AV system had to work as a broadcast production environment as much as a meeting room, delivering clean video, clear audio, and professional production quality to remote audiences every time the board met.

Crunchy Tech worked closely with TOHO's team to understand the full scope of meeting types, audience sizes, and operational scenarios the system had to support. The design process put automation first, so the most complex functions, including speaker tracking, content routing, and audio management, happened without manual intervention during a live meeting.

Technical solutions

One platform, integrated subsystems

Technology partner	Components	Role in project
Video Conferencing Core	Cisco Codec Pro with full peripheral suite, Cisco Touch 10 touchpanel GUI	The broadcast and conferencing backbone, providing high-quality remote participation, live streaming, and public access TV output from a single unified platform
Camera & Speaker Tracking	Cisco TelePresence SpeakerTrack system	Automatically kept the camera on the active speaker, removing the need for a dedicated camera operator and delivering professional broadcast output without technical staff
Display System	(6) large-format 75" commercial monitors distributed as focal points throughout the space	Clear sightlines for all in-room participants and board members, with content visible across all positions in the chamber
AV Distribution	Crestron Digital Media distribution amplifiers, HDMI/VGA wall plates, USB wall plates	Overcame the Cisco Codec Pro's 3-output HDMI limit to distribute presentation content, far-end video, and in-room video to all 6 monitors; supported BYOD laptop connectivity and Cisco USB sync
Audio System	Shure Micro Flex 12-channel wireless microphone system with voice-lift, Crestron in-ceiling speakers (x8), Crestron multi-zone amplifier	Full-room audio coverage for board members, with voice-lift for in-room audience intelligibility and clean mic reinforcement to the codec for remote attendees and broadcast audiences
Audio Routing & DSP	QSC Q-SYS Core 110f	Managed all audio routing across both analog and Dante signal paths, holding broadcast-quality audio for live stream, public access TV, and in-room reinforcement at once
Control & Automation	Crestron 4-Series control processor, Cisco Touch 10 interface	Unified the entire AV system into a single, intuitive interface operable by non-technical civic staff; automated content routing to audience screens without presenter intervention

Implementation methodology

Coordinated Design-Build Execution for a Live Public Facility

The TOHO Water Authority installation was executed through Crunchy Tech's integrated design-build methodology, starting with a thorough assessment of the civic chamber's layout, sight lines, acoustics, and infrastructure. The multi-display distribution challenge, driven by the Cisco Codec Pro's three-output HDMI limit, was solved in the design phase by specifying Crestron Digital Media amplifiers to extend content to all six 75-inch monitors, giving every corner of the chamber clear, consistent display coverage.

Wall plate locations were mapped to fit presenter workflows, with HDMI/VGA plates for standard laptop connectivity and USB plates for the Cisco sync feature and clean peripheral integration. The Cisco TelePresence SpeakerTrack system was configured and calibrated to the chamber's geometry, with tracking zones set to cover every board member position and presentation area accurately.

The Shure Micro Flex wireless microphone system was deployed across all board member positions, with the QSC Q-SYS Core 110f programmed to manage the full signal path, routing audio to in-ceiling speakers for voice-lift, to the Cisco codec for remote participants, and to the broadcast output for live stream and public access TV. The Crestron 4-Series processor was programmed to automate content routing, so connected presenter devices appeared on the right screens without staff intervention. Full commissioning covered broadcast testing, audio calibration, speaker tracking verification, and end-to-end workflow rehearsal before the facility went live.

Conferencing, Broadcast, Automated Camera Tracking, and Unified Civic Control

To deliver a fully functional civic broadcast center for TOHO Water Authority, Crunchy Tech built a comprehensive AV platform: enterprise video conferencing, automated speaker tracking, large-format multi-display distribution, professional wireless audio, broadcast-quality DSP routing, and centralized Crestron control.

The Cisco TelePresence SpeakerTrack system was a key differentiator at TOHO. By detecting and framing the active speaker in real time, it removes the need for a dedicated camera operator during board meetings, delivering the broadcast quality that live stream and public access TV audiences expect while freeing staff to focus on the meeting instead of production logistics.

The USB wall plate solution added a valuable feature for presenters: connect a laptop over USB, and the Cisco codec automatically syncs the laptop's camera, microphone, and speaker to the room's professional peripherals. Presenters hosting or joining on their own devices get the room's full AV infrastructure with no manual reconfiguration. The QSC Q-SYS Core 110f managed the resulting mix of simultaneous analog and Dante audio, holding clean, consistent sound across every output, from in-room speakers to the live broadcast feed.

Results & impact

A Fully Operational Civic Broadcast Center, Run by Anyone, Trusted by Everyone

TOHO Water Authority now operates a fully functional civic broadcast center that can host board meetings, public hearings, and community presentations at a professional broadcast standard, all managed by staff with no AV or video-production background. The automation does the heavy lifting: as soon as a presenter connects a device, content flows to the right screens; when a board member speaks, the camera finds them; when the meeting is called to order, the system is ready.

Meeting setup time dropped by 25%, a direct result of designing the system around staff workflows instead of asking staff to adapt to technical complexity. The live stream and public access TV outputs deliver consistent, professional broadcasts of every public session, meeting TOHO's commitment to transparency and extending civic access to residents across the service area.

Finishing the project

Technology That Serves the Public Good

The TOHO Water Authority project demonstrates Crunchy Tech's ability to bring broadcast-grade AV to civic and government environments where operational simplicity and public accountability are non-negotiable. Combining Cisco's conferencing and speaker-tracking technology with Crestron's distribution and control, QSC's professional audio management, and Shure's wireless microphones, Crunchy Tech delivered a unified civic meeting center that performs at broadcast standard every session, without exception.

The result honors TOHO Water Authority's commitment to transparent, accessible public governance: board members can focus on serving their community, presenters can focus on their material, and residents watching from home follow along with the same clarity as those seated in the chamber.

Upgrading a council chamber or civic broadcast facility? Schedule a discovery call with Crunchy Tech to map a broadcast-capable system your staff can actually run.