FARMINGTON — Deputy Chief Shane Cote told selectmen Tuesday night, March 22, the police department has applied for a grant to purchase and install printers for cruisers to be used with the Maine eCitation system.
The grant from the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety would provide up to $600 each for a printer, cables, docking station and paper used for traffic enforcement, Cote said. Seven printers would be installed in cruisers, he noted. There is a 20 percent match required with the total project cost a little over $8,200, he added.
“If we do get the grant, the funds need to be [accepted] by April 1,” Cote said. The next selectmen meeting is after that [April 12], he said.
The match could pay for installation, Cote said. It’s pretty involved to get those connected and working properly, he noted. “If they do it, they can come up, do all seven in a couple hours as opposed to us spending a couple hours per car.”
The printers will help with organization and timely submission of traffic tickets to the violation bureau, Cote said.
“Currently we have 10 days to get summons copied and to the violations bureau by mail, that’s a pretty quick turn around,” he said. “If they don’t get it on time, [the ticket] is dismissed.”
Tickets will be submitted electronically but the person driving the car still needs a copy to know what to do, Cote said.
“Is there an ongoing computer program that we’d need to pay for,” Selectman Joshua Bell asked.
The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety has purchased the licenses, intends to continue paying for it, Cote said. The cost would be minimal should they choose not to, he noted.
“It funnels money to the state,” Police Chief Kenneth Charles said. It gets money to them in a more timely fashion, they will support that, he added.
“One nice thing about having printers in the cruisers, if we had a barricaded subject on Temple Road we would be able to type and print off a search warrant rather than take a resource away from the scene,” Charles said. “It gives us a lot of capabilities.”
Printing witness statements and trespass notices were examples shared.
“It makes you more efficient,” Selectman Matthew Smith said.
Selectmen accepted $4,200 in anticipated funds then approved the expenditure of up to $4,500 from the Police Department Computer Reserve Account once the grant is awarded for the project.
In other business the board:
Approved spending up to $100 from the special events account to go towards the purchase of two dog poop stations. Resident Pam Poisson offered to donate up to $400 towards the stations that would be installed in Meeting House and Bjorn parks. Now that snow is melting, there have been complaints, she said.
Adopted an amendment to the Adult Use and Medical Marijuana Ordinance regarding distance between adult use and medical marijuana businesses. The amendment will allow Blue Sky to relocate its existing adult-use license and lab from Mercer to its Farmington facility on the Wilton Road and add 12 or more new jobs. The downtown will not be affected.
Adopted an amendment to the Adult Use and Medical Marijuana Ordinance stating once a license has been issued by selectmen the holder has one year to begin business activity and become licensed by the state.
Learned of Earth Day activities planned for 1-3 p.m. Friday, April 22. Participants should meet in front of the Pierce House. Prizes for various categories have been donated by downtown businesses.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
