Michelle Moyer, director of the Bureau of Communications, told Harrisburg City Council on Dec. 8 that bringing the website work in‑house yielded substantial annual savings compared with previous third‑party contracts. "What we're charged for them to host our website... is $6,400 a year," Moyer said, adding that in prior years the same level of support could have cost the city $40,000 to $60,000 annually.

Moyer highlighted expanded bilingual communications — two translators handling 3‑1‑1 walk‑ins and calls — and said the bureau produced over 120 original videos and 70 live‑streamed events in the most recent year. She noted the bureau earned a regional Emmy for a city‑produced documentary.

On capital needs, Moyer told council the bureau’s full WHBG studio upgrade estimate is about $202,000; Comcast has offered a grant that would amount to $95,500 over 10 years (with $40,000 available immediately), leaving a funding gap she calculated at approximately $106,859. She proposed spreading a capital request across two years and asked council to consider a $13,000 audio upgrade for chambers and the MLK atrium to address recurring audio failures.

Council members raised repeated concerns about broadcast reliability and the failure of cablecasts and audio during meetings. Asher, the studio lead, explained that aging hardware used to pass the signal from chambers to the offsite studio — the Cablecast unit and related components — is failing and that replacing it should materially improve reliability. Moyer said she would pursue grant opportunities and collaborate with the finance and grants teams to close the gap.

The bureau also discussed user‑testing and navigation issues on the new site after several council members said items such as the trash/pay bill link were harder to find than on the prior site. Moyer said she would add a pay‑bill shortcut and perform further usability checks.

Council did not vote on communications capital requests during the hearing; Moyer was asked to provide more detail and coordinate with grants staff on external funding prospects.