Maitland Town Hall renovations

The government committed $2 ­million to council last September for town hall renovations, which included an upgrade for the hall’s ­public address system.

A Maitland City Council spokesman said they had called for tenders to complete improvements to the interior of the hall and work would begin in 2015.

Guest speaker at the Mai-Wel Gala Ball Hayley Bracken was barely ­audible through council’s PA system on Saturday night, while other ­speakers’ voices carried well. 

Mayor of Maitland Cr Peter Blackmore said the PA system had been an ongoing problem.

“When Mrs Bracken was speaking first it was extremely difficult to hear her,” he said.

“People were also there to have a good time and not listen to speeches so a lot of people stood up the back and talked through them, which was bad manners.”

There were reports that ministers on stage could not hear questions from the community through the fold-back speakers during NSW community cabinet meeting at the town hall in February, Cr Blackmore said.

“The sound system has been a ­problem for as long as I can ­remember,” he said.

“First and foremost we need to get a sound expert to design something.”

Cr Blackmore said he would like to have a system that could be locked so that only experts could use the sound board. 

He said part of the problem was that people without expertise who hired the hall often changed the controls.