Closed circuit TV is coming to Waitsfield. Waitsfield town clerk Jennifer Peterson received a $5000 grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life and asked the town select board for permission to install cameras and other equipment at the town offices on Main Street.
The board, at its November 11, 2024 meeting okayed the $2200 project.
Peterson told the board via email in advance of the meeting, that the grant is to be used for “the public purpose of planning and operationalizing reliable and secure election administration.”
“One idea I had was to have security cameras installed to keep an eye on the drop boxes, especially when they’re used as ballot boxes. Although I don’t believe I need select board approval to spend the funds, the installation of the cameras will mean there will be conduit piping on the exterior of the building, which can be painted to match the siding, so I’m asking permission from the select board to make this change to the building,” Peterson wrote in her November 7, 2024 email.
The cameras can also view the front and back doors, the street, the driveway and parking lot and sidewalks. The footage is saved on the server for so many weeks and then overridden with new footage,” she pointed out.
Black Dog Electrical Services in Georgia, Vermont provided an estimate for the cameras and equipment which comes to $2170. How the balance of the grant funds is used has yet to be determined.
Select board chair Christine Parisi said that it was possible that some of the funds might be used to address some of shortcomings identified by a recent accessibility audit i.e. ramps or something similar.
