TOHO Water Authority

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 their publicly used civic meeting facility. The authority needed a comprehensive technology upgrade that would elevate the professionalism and capability of their civic meetings, board sessions, and public presentations, while also extending access to residents watching from home via live stream or public access television.

The existing AV infrastructure was no longer adequate for the demands being 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 that everyone in the room could focus on the work at hand rather than troubleshooting 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 that any staff member can operate with confidence.

Project Challenges

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

The TOHO Water Authority project presented a multi-layered set of technical challenges, each stemming from the unique demands of a publicly accessible civic meeting environment:

• The facility needed to serve three distinct audiences simultaneously: participants physically present in the room, remote attendees joining via video conference, and members of the public watching via live stream or public access TV. Every component of the AV system had to perform at broadcast quality to serve all three groups reliably at once.
• The Cisco Codec Pro — selected as the conferencing and broadcast core — has a hardware limitation of only three HDMI outputs, yet the chamber required content distribution across six large-format 75-inch monitors. This fundamental constraint demanded a creative distribution solution using Crestron digital media amplifiers to extend outputs to all displays without signal degradation.
• Camera operation needed to be automated. A civic utility authority does not have dedicated AV or broadcast staff to manually operate a camera during board meetings. The system needed to track and frame active speakers automatically, delivering professional broadcast output without requiring a camera operator.
• Audio coverage required careful engineering across a complex signal path. Board members equipped with wireless microphones needed to be heard clearly both in the room via voice-lift and by remote participants and broadcast audiences — all managed across analog and Dante audio pathways simultaneously.
• The entire system needed to be operable by civic staff with little to no AV or video production background, with automation handling content routing and camera management so presenters could simply focus on their material.

Technical Solutions

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

To deliver a fully functional civic broadcast center for TOHO Water Authority, Crunchy Tech integrated a comprehensive AV platform combining 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 critical differentiator in the TOHO installation. By automatically detecting and framing the active speaker in real time, the system eliminates the need for a dedicated camera operator during board meetings — delivering the professional broadcast quality that live stream and public access TV audiences expect, while freeing staff to focus entirely on supporting the meeting rather than managing production logistics.

The USB wall plate solution enabled a particularly valuable feature for presenters: by connecting a laptop via USB, the Cisco codec automatically syncs the laptop’s camera, microphone, and speaker inputs to the room’s professional peripherals. This means presenters joining or hosting meetings via their own devices benefit immediately from the room’s full AV infrastructure — without any manual reconfiguration. The QSC Q-SYS Core 110f managed the resulting complexity of simultaneous analog and Dante audio pathways, ensuring clean, consistent audio across every output from in-room speakers to the live broadcast feed.

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, beginning with a comprehensive assessment of the civic chamber’s layout, sight lines, acoustic properties, and infrastructure. The multi-display distribution challenge — driven by the Cisco Codec Pro’s three-output HDMI limitation — was resolved in the design phase by specifying Crestron Digital Media amplifiers to extend content to all six 75-inch monitors, ensuring that every corner of the chamber had clear, consistent display coverage.

Wall plate locations were strategically mapped to accommodate presenter workflows, with HDMI/VGA plates supporting standard laptop connectivity and USB plates enabling the Cisco sync feature for seamless peripheral integration. The Cisco TelePresence SpeakerTrack system was configured and calibrated to the chamber’s specific geometry, with tracking zones defined to cover all board member positions and presentation areas 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, ensuring that connected presenter devices appeared on the appropriate screens without staff intervention. Full system commissioning included broadcast testing, audio calibration, speaker tracking verification, and end-to-end workflow rehearsal before the facility went live.

Results and Impact

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

TOHO Water Authority now operates a fully functional civic broadcast center capable of hosting 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 built into the system means that as soon as a presenter connects their device, content flows to the appropriate screens. When a board member speaks, the camera finds them. When the meeting is called to order, the system is ready.

Meeting setup time was reduced by 25%, reflecting the impact of a system designed around staff workflows rather than requiring staff to adapt to technical complexity. The live stream and public access TV outputs deliver consistent, professional-quality broadcasts of every public session, fulfilling TOHO’s commitment to community transparency and extending civic access to residents throughout the service area.

Finishing the Project On Time

Technology That Serves the Public Good

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

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