YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County commissioners for months have tried to fine-tune their technology to conduct successful remote meetings so they can communicate with department heads and the public without lots of people attending in person.

The efforts have frequently been marred by problems with people being able to dial in or be heard.

But the commissioners appeared ready Thursday to declare their technology issues resolved, after the county information technology department nearly finished installing all components of a $51,000 system.

The money for the so-called Zoom Room came from federal CARES Act funding.

“Thanks for this ‘war room’ of technology,” Commissioner Anthony Traficanti said to the county’s information technology department Thursday during the weekly commissioners meeting.

The new system includes Zoom software, new cameras and microphones that are motion activated, better lighting and large monitors to provide a clear image of those participating remotely.

Information technology director Jacob Williams said a key to the new technology is that it will no longer require someone from his department to run any of the equipment, such as pointing a camera at the person speaking.

“The cameras pan the room to see who is talking,” Williams said.

The technology is intended to help the commissioners carry out remote meetings, but it is expected to have a useful life of five years, Williams said.

The new equipment is a big step forward from the “mish-mash of technology” that Administrator Audrey Tillis has been running along with an IT staff member on meeting days.

“This is a single-platform automated system,” Williams said.

It typically took Tillis and a technician quite a lot of time to get people hooked up to participate in meetings, but this system will involve pushing one button to turn on the lights, the cameras, and TV monitors and Zoom meeting software.

The last step before the whole system is complete is to replace the two monitors being borrowed with two new 86-inch monitors.

One more button will start the meeting, Williams said.

“We wanted something that a basic user could use without lots of training,” Williams said.

Personnel from the Domestic Relations Court, real estate Board of Revision and sheriff’s sales have already used the system.

In other business Thursday, the commissioners allocated another $500,000 in CARES Act money to the nonprofit Valley Economic Development Partners, formerly known as Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp., to distribute in increments of no more than $10,000 per business.

The money is intended to help companies such as restaurants, hair salons and hotels make it through COVID-19 by helping with expenses.

Tillis said the rules on using the money have changed for this round of funding. A company can now have sales of as much as $2 million annually to be eligible.

It is the commissioners fourth allocation of money to Valley Economic Partners.

The commissioners also allocated another $100,000 of CARES Act funding to Direction Home of Eastern Ohio, formerly known as the Area Agency on Aging, to aid the agency in creating clear, plastic barriers at the Direction Home offices on North Meridian Road.

Another use will be to provide personal protective equipment for senior citizen congregate programs.