The Select Board has defended its decision to allow the police chief to purchase a high-tech speed detection sign with grant and trust fund money.
The board discussed the matter Monday with three of the over 70 petitioners upset with the potential purchase. After a discussion between the board and petitioners, the board did not reverse its decision.
“I think we will have to agree to disagree,” said board chair Sturdy Thomas. “The new sign will have the same display size as the old one, and it is more mobile and practical.”
Debate over the sign initially came to a head during Town Meeting 2015, when a $4,820 warrant article to fund the sign through taxation was voted down. Police Chief Stephen Sullivan re-approached the board about the sign on April 4, after receiving a grant to cover half of the cost, with the remaining half covered by the Burt Fund, a trust fund left to the police and fire departments for equipment purchases.
The petition states three reasons why the purchase is bad for the town: the board’s vote undermines public trust, the opposition to the sign is more than how it’s funded, and the town already has a working sign.
“Dublin Town Meetings are at risk if our votes don’t matter,” said Steve Baldwin, in an email Wednesday.
Baldwin obtained a quote to outfit one of the cruisers with a trailer hitch for $588.45. It would cost an additional $1,650 to keep the old sign, according to Sullivan.
Wendy White, another petition signer, asked if the town would consider keeping the old sign, as well as the new one. Thomas said the board would urge the chief to keep both, but it wasn’t the board’s decision to make.
“Even if we spend the extra money, we don’t have the man power to cart the sign around,” said Sullivan, who said he was leaning toward not keeping the old sign.
Software costs associated with the sign were also debated. Baldwin was upset with “hidden costs” associated with the sign, but Thomas said the town was not required to continue with the software after the second year. The software would allow the department to collect data gathered by the sign wirelessly, rather than manually. Whether the town continues to subscribe to the software or not, it will still be able to collect data with the sign.