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Date: 12/15/2022
BELCHERTOWN – Superintendent Brian Cameron met with the Select Board to discuss the school district’s request for additional American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds at their Dec. 5 meeting.
Cameron said that a couple of months ago, the Belchertown schools put in a request for $300,000 to upgrade the security system they currently have.
He added that the cameras can cost anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 and put in this request to receive some help from ARPA funds and find the other funding somewhere else.
“Our current security system is nine years old and in need of upgrades to improve the safety for our students. It is a priority of mine.” Cameron said.
Belchertown schools currently have an analog security system with their recordings sent to DVRs.
Cameron is looking to increase the imaging of the cameras by switching to IP cameras.
IP security cameras send their signal over a network, allowing greater information transfer than an analog signal sent to a DVR.
IP cameras can record at a higher resolution. When zooming in you would not create a blurry image but rather a very clear one according to Cameron.
Cameron said that the imaging on the current cameras makes it hard to clearly see what is going on and who is involved in certain situations they watch.
Cameron added, “We are spending more money to piecemeal our current cameras then we would spend to get a whole new system in place.”
When Belchertown schools first installed their current camera system, Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical School and Chicopee installed a similar security system.
According to Cameron, both of those schools have since disbanded those systems and upgraded to IP cameras. The funds would go toward replacing the camera systems in each Belchertown school and the central office.
“I think the school infrastructure is too important. Think of how much money, people and everything else we have invested in those six buildings across the town. This goes to the top of my list for projects to be funded.” Select Board member Ed Boscher said.
Select Board Chair Jim Barry added that after meeting with every committee and department, the board will have to pick a day soon to discuss the list of requests they have and decide which ones should be funded by ARPA.
After the ARPA discussion, the Energy and Sustainability Chair Patricia Krebs met with the board to seek approval to install an electric vehicle charging station in the Town Hall and library parking lot or more specifically the Finnerty House.
The Select Board voted unanimously to approve the installation of an electric car charging station in the Town Hall and library parking lot.
Krebs said the committee wanted to improve the town with options for electrical charging stations and narrowed it down to three bids to choose from.
They ultimately chose option one because it checked off a lot of boxes based on their criteria, like the durability, software, transaction fees and ability to repair.
Barry added that the vendor would have to remain nameless for now because they requested confidentiality but will be able to name them during the grant process.
DPW Director Steve Williams added, “They are a reputable company.”
She added that herself and the committee did a lot of research by asking the right questions to figure out the charging station, best place to put it, different vendors, software and cost.
They also conducted surveys to see if residents wanted an electric charging station.
After conducting all their research and surveys, they decided that their proposed location and vendor were the best options for the town.
The idea is to install two level two chargers so that up to four vehicles can be charged at once.
“We want to be revenue neutral to Belchertown between grants and energy costs while also adding an easy software that people can use.” Krebs added.