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Letter to the Editor: More women able to access health care since passage of Affordable Care Act

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Traffic stoppages on I-81 Luzerne County

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The maintenance contract for the former Hawkeye Security Solutions Inc. camera surveillance system runs out at the end of the year and the city is looking at whether it can get a better deal.</p><p>City administrator Ted Wampole said the city has a $25,000 annual professional service contract with Platinum Networks LLC. By issuing Request for Proposals, the city is attempting to answer, &#8220;Is there a way that we can improve on that?&#8221; Wampole said Monday.</p><p>The RFP covers the annual maintenance of the system, including approximately 290 cameras, equipment and hardware. The responses due Nov. 4 are not to include prices and, instead, must list previous projects and contain resumes of key personnel and consultants. The city will negotiate with the contractor it determines is most qualified to provide the professional service at a lump sum cost.</p><p>&#8220;The lowest bidder doesn&#8217;t make it the best bidder,&#8221; Wampole said. The city took the same approach with its insurance contract, he added.</p><p>The system that went online in 2010 and was built with more than $3.6 million in state and federal grants has not been fully operational since the beginning of the year, shortly after Hawkeye handed it over to the city in December. The control center in police headquarter has been locked and no one has been monitoring the camera feeds. Officers must make a request with police chief Marcella Lendacky to view video.</p><p>The Wilkes-Barre Police Benevolent Association, the union representing city officers, and Mayor Tony George, a former police chief, have expressed support for the cameras. The mayor said he backs the concept, but questioned the existing setup. The union has pushed for continued use of the system as an investigative tool.</p><p>The city assumed ownership of the system when Hawkeye, the non-profit corporation created in 2008 to oversee it, dissolved. The transfer would not create a burden for the city, officials said, because it already owned more than half of the cameras and its information technology department had been doing repairs and updates.</p><p>Outside funding to operate and maintain the system ends Oct. 31 with the expiration of the $100,000 annual contract with the Wilkes-Barre Parking Authority. The authority&#8217;s board last week decided to let the contract expire and not to renew it after learning no one was at the control center monitoring the camera feeds from the parking garages.</p><p>The monitoring issue is unsettled at this point. &#8220;We have not made that determination yet,&#8221; Wampole said.</p><p>The city maintains two other contracts for the system - an $11,000 software contract in effect until July 2017 and the Wi-Fi contract with Frontier Communications that runs through 2019, Wampole said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">The city of Wilkes-Barre is accepting Request for Proposals for maintenance of the former Hawkeye Security Solutions Inc. camera surveillance system. Old and salvageable equipment from the system is piled in the control center at police headquarters. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/web1_hawkeye2-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>The city of Wilkes-Barre is accepting Request for Proposals for maintenance of the former Hawkeye Security Solutions Inc. camera surveillance system. Old and salvageable equipment from the system is piled in the control center at police headquarters. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag file photo | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>Surveillance camera system maintenance RFP contact and due date</p><p>&#8226; Deadline for submissions is 9:30 a.m. Nov. 4</p><p>&#8226; Questions should be directed to Ted Wampole, city administrator, at 570 208-4133 or twampole@wilkes-barre.pa.us. Email correspondence is preferred.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Request For Proposals issued for maintenance of Wilkes-Barre’s camera surveillance system