The Homewood Village Board approved the purchase of a wireless speaker system for the downtown area at its Sept. 10 meeting.
The system will be used for public events and festivals and to share public announcements. It will allow the amplification of live music and speaking at festivals and other functions.
Homewood staff received quotes from Airnetix, LLC of Smyrna, Georgia and AVI Systems Inc. of Arlington Heights. Airnetix’s bid of $35,525 was more than $20,000 lower. The purchase will be paid for by the village’s downtown TIF district fund.
The village is purchasing and will install 15 pairs of wireless speakers that public works staff will mount to existing poles in the downtown area.
Speakers will be placed on Ridge Road from Dixie Highway to Harwood Avenue near The Skate Shop, Van Sipma Jewelers, Advanced Petroleum gas station, Travel Brokers, the Triumph building, POSH Salon and the Redbird Cafe.
On Martin Avenue from Chestnut Road to Hickory Road, speakers will be mounted on poles near La Voute, the Homewood Science Center, the village hall, an electrical cabinet at the northeast corner of Kroner Lane, the midpoint between Hickory Road and Martin Avenue and another on Hickory Road.
Village staff also field-tested the wireless music system from Airnetix and spoke to communities currently using the equipment.
According to village documents, similar speaker systems are used in Tinley Park, Bolingbrook, Naperville, Pontiac and Chicago, as well as Great Falls, Montana; Franklin, Kentucky; Clarkesville, Georgia; Cleveland, Seattle and Sarasota, Florida.