web1_TTL050217pashinski1.jpg

Pashinski hosts hearing on Marcellus Shale severance tax

web1_Eisenhower_official_photo_portrait.jpg

Our view: Trump travel tame next to Ike golf trips

<p>LKES-BARRE &#8212; The city will contract out for repairs to the former Hawkeye Security Solutions Inc. camera surveillance system as needed, instead of paying to maintain them year round.</p><p>The cost-saving decision came as the monthly contract with Platinum Networks ended on Sunday and after the city interviewed companies that responded to a reissued request for proposals for annual maintenance of the nearly 270 camera system.</p><p>City Administrator Ted Wampole Monday said Platinum Networks will do the work. The company&#8217;s $25,000 annual contract expired at the end of last year. Since then it had been paid $2,750 monthly for the maintenance.</p><p>&#8220;If we need them, we&#8217;ll call them,&#8221; Wampole said.</p><p>He characterized the cost to upgrade the system as &#8220;astronomical&#8221; and out of reach for the city as it faces a deficit of possibly more than $1 million this year.</p><p>&#8220;As of today we&#8217;re going on a case-by-case, or ad hoc basis,&#8221; Wampole said.</p><p>Hawkeye Security Solutions, a nonprofit corporation formed in 2008, built the control center in the Wilkes-Barre Police Department headquarters and the network of cameras mounted on utility poles and in Wilkes-Barre Parking Authority garages with more than $3.6 million in state and federal funds. Hawkeye lost operational revenues and factored in city ownership and maintenance of some of the cameras when it decided to dissolve. The city took over the system at the end of 2015 and has been operating it with general fund revenues.</p><p>Wampole said the system is up and running and used by police, but the request for videos has dropped. Developments in home and business security technology and their increased use could explain the decrease, Wampole said.</p><p>The city is considering copying the CrimeReports Camera Registration program used in Scranton, Wampole said. It encourages registering the location of home and business security cameras with law enforcement so that, if necessary, they can be viewed later to assist in an investigation.</p><p><ins>For other local news stories, <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/category/local" target="_blank">click here</a>.</ins></p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_WB-City-logo.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/web1_WB-City-logo.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Annual maintenance contract for Wilkes-Barre’s camera system dropped