WATERVILLE — The City Council will soon consider spending $171,000 to buy cameras for the city’s police to wear.

Police Chief Joseph Massey has asked councilors and Mayor Jay Coelho if they would view a demonstration by a company that sells the cameras, as he and others have determined that WatchGuard Technologies body cameras are “probably superior to the rest, specifically in technology.”

“It’s really an amazing product and it’s long overdue for us — it really is — so I’ll set that up,” Massey said of the demonstration at Tuesday’s council meeting, which was held in person for the first time in months, in the basement of The Elm at 21 College Ave.

Massey said having body cameras would not only help protect the city from liability and lawsuits but also exonerate officers from baseless claims. Having such cameras would also help provide transparency for the community and instill confidence that officers are doing what they are supposed to do, he said.

Currently, Waterville police also do not have dashboard cameras in police cruisers, either, and those would not be part of the body-camera proposal.

After councilors and the mayor view the WatchGuard demonstration, the council will consider purchasing the body camera technology.

“I think we would then have another discussion and everyone can share what they watched on that demonstration,” Massey said.

City Manager Steve Daly said Wednesday that the proposed body camera purchase would cost the city $171,000 and be paid for through a bond the council will consider approving in the next month or two.

The idea of purchasing police body cameras arose earlier this year after a city review committee investigated the Feb. 11 fatal shooting of Eric J. Porter, 32, of Hartland, by 26-year-old Waterville police Officer Paul Heath. At the time, most city councilors interviewed said they support the idea of buying body cameras for police.

In April, Massey released the Incident Review Team’s report, which determined Heath acted within policy when he fatally shot Porter.

The review team also concluded that “it might be beneficial for future investigations for the department to pursue the purchase of body cameras. However, it was noted that body cameras would not have made a difference in the outcome of this incident.”

Massey said at the time that he could bring the idea before the City Council, but he wanted to make sure he did due diligence beforehand in ascertaining the cost for body cameras that would be of good quality. He also said he would want to pursue grants or other funding that could help pay for body cameras before going before councilors.

Massey said it is critical to have cameras that provide good quality video footage that would be appropriate for Maine’s cold winters. Having body cameras for officers is something the police department and city have discussed over the last several years.

Members of the Incident Review Team, appointed by Massey on Feb. 23 were Deputy Police Chief Bill Bonney; Chief James Willis of the Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Police Department; Lt. Jason Madore, commander of Maine State Police Troop C; Jerald Hurdle, a doctor of osteopathic medicine at Kennebec Medical Consultants; and Greg Marley, clinical director of NAMI Maine, a support, education, and advocacy group dedicated to building better lives for the one in four Mainers who are affected by mental illness.

Massey told councilors Tuesday that the city had two shootings in the last couple of years and in one, an officer was seriously hurt. He was referring to an incident Dec. 22, 2019, where Officer Timothy Hinton was shot while pursuing a suspect in a shoplifting incident at Walmart. Hinton received the police department’s Medal of Valor in February 2020 for his bravery.

BROWNTAIL MOTH PLANNING

In other matters, Daly reported that Councilor Thomas Klepach, D-Ward 3, is working on a presentation to city staff and hopefully, to area town managers, about browntail moths. Daly said the city has had differing levels of interest from surrounding towns, but will try to get all the officials into one room to hear the presentation as a kickoff for addressing the issue on a regional scale rather than having Waterville address it on its own.

Last month, Klepach presented a browntail moth mitigation plan to other members of the council and Waterville officials. The plan is intended to interrupt the increase this year in the moths’ presence, which has caused many people to suffer skin rashes and respiratory problems.

Klepach, a faculty member in the biology department at Colby College, brought news of the browntail moth infestation to the attention of city officials on June 1 when he said many people were being affected by the problem and he had received calls and emails from constituents.

The council on Tuesday also took a first vote to authorize a municipal referendum election for Nov. 2 and must take a second, final vote. The council also voted to designate Waterville Junior High School as the polling place for the regular and special municipal elections that day.

Voters Nov. 2 would consider changes to the city charter to clarify the process of filling a vacancy in the mayor’s position.

The City Council also voted 7-0 on Tuesday to spend $36,983 to buy and install an alarm system for the council space at The Elm, City Hall and the Public Works office building, and a video security system for City Hall. Councilors voted 7-0 to award a contract to Wright-Pierce, a Portland environmental engineering firm, to serve as a consultant for the city’s road and sidewalk rehabilitation projects.

Daly said the city will use the firm to lay out a 30-year plan for improving all roads and sidewalks in the city, which includes an initial inventory check of road and sidewalk conditions.

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