By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — It was a big day for the Claremont Police Department, who received unanimous approval from the city council for three grants, including the much-needed communication system through congressionally directed spending.
“It’s a happy day, your honor,” Chief Brent Wilmot said during Wednesday’s city council meeting. “We’ve been talking about this for a long time. As the council will remember, a few years ago in COVID, Chief Chase came before you with the former city manager and talked about funding for the communications upgrade. Originally this went out for a competitive bid and came back with a price tag of $2.4 million dollars.”
He continued, “Shortly after I arrived, we looked at some different options and different ways we could fund this so it would have less of an impact on taxpayers here in the city. Through some hard work of our federal delegation, specifically Senator Shaheen and Congresswoman Kuster, we were awarded a congressionally directed spending grant of $1.3 million to do this project.”
This is on the city’s Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and will include the following: Two dispatch consoles that Wilmot called “the guts of the radio;” new mountaintop transmitters for Green Mountain; repeater sites at various locations, such as Walmart, for optimal communication; portable and mobile radios for both the police and fire departments; mobile radio terminals for the fleet; and costs to pay a consultant.
“The equipment we have right now, we received in a grant after 1997 tragedy in the North Country with Carl Drega,” Wilmot said. “The efforts to make everything in are operable. That equipment has been end of life more than a decade ago at this point. We’re working on borrowed time.”
Wilmot said there are buckets of spare parts in the basement of the police department, and he hopes they will never need to be used, because if something breaks they can’t get parts. He said this grant was critical, and he is grateful and humbled by the efforts of the federal government officials.
With the acceptance, Wilmot said, “I click a button and we get $1.3 million bucks.”
The life expectancy of the new system is between 10 and 15 years, Wilmot said. He noted that down the line they will need to seriously consider a reserve fund, or savings account, so the department doesn’t need to go through this process in the future.
Wilmot said the hope is this to all be in place by the summer.
The Highway Safety grant amounts to $16,518.25, spanning seven different projects. Six of the projects include extra enforcement for things like DUI checks, speed traps, distracted driving and “click it or ticket.” The final part is for speed equipment, and Chief Brent Wilmot said this past year they put in a request for the grant money to be used for radar signs on major arteries coming into the city.
The hope was to have this as a program and add them over the years as they seem appropriate, so they do not become an eyesore.
The grant ends on Sept. 20, 2025 and has a $4,822.75 matching requirement. Wilmot said there is $2,050 of in-kind funding, and $2,772.75 as a cash match. The money to cover the cash match has already been set aside, so there is no impact on the operating budget or tax rate.
Mayor Dale Girard asked how this has worked out for the department in the past, and if they have been able to use the grant. Wilmot said “most of the time,” and that they are popular for officers to take these jobs.
“In general, year after year, our folks at the police department love to take these extra jobs and go out and just stop cars, and not have to be a slave to the radio,” Wilmot said.
Also approved as a resolution involving a Small, Rural, Tribal, Body Worn Camera (SRT BWC) Grant of $40,000, with a required match by the city. This is a grant through the Department of Justice, and Wilmot said that body camera replacement is among the top priorities this year.
He told the council that the current body worn cameras were implemented in 2018 and are at the end of their life and failing. Wilmot said there is a steep price tag for body cameras, so he decided to see grant funding. He was grateful to receive the grant as it was highly competitive, with 880 applications and 170 grants awarded, totaling $6 million across the country.
The town has three fiscal years to use the funds, and they don’t need to use the whole $40,000. While his department doesn’t have $40,000 budgeted in this year’s grant, he said he will be asking the city council in the future budget process for appropriations or other avenues.
This grant was huge, as Wilmot said the cameras currently used are “consistently failing day by day.” He said the department stretched out the service as long as possible. The cameras need to be up to par in this day and age, as a failed body camera presents difficulties in court. Wilmot said he doesn’t want to degrade public confidence because the department lacks working technology.
Rep. Hope Damon asked if body cameras are worn by officers all the time, or if it is situational. Wilmot said that uniformed officers on patrol are always using body cameras, but detectives in plain clothes are not required. Wilmot said when he is at his desk, he would not have his camera on, but if he went on the road to stop the cars, it would be.
“Performing police functions, you’d be wearing a body worn camera,” he said.
Mayor Girard asked how many units could be bought for the $80,000 that they are hoping to spend over the next three years. Wilmot said they have been quoted 24, but this depends on the vendor.
Girard also asked what the life expectancy here would be, and Wilmot said it is estimated to be about five years. There are plans to have a refresh cost incorporated right into the contract with the vendor.
