MADAWASKA, Maine — Madawaska officials approved multiple equipment purchases during an Oct. 23 Select Board meeting, including $23,749 for a camera system at the town’s public safety complex.
The complex includes the town’s police, ambulance and fire departments.
The town had budgeted $42,000 for the project, and accepted the lone bid of $23,749 from Third Eye Global.
Before the project went to bid, the company had quoted a price of around $21,000, Town Manager David Daigle said. He said the new amount is likely higher because the specs the town put out in its request for proposals may have differed from those in the initial quote.
The project, according to the town’s RFP, involves a complete CCTV security camera system. Each of the 18 units will have turret-style housing, a minimum resolution of 4 megapixels and will meet federal security standards. The system includes six outdoor cameras covering driveways, parking areas and entrances, along with 13 indoor models, with about half of these cameras including audio.
The town also approved two purchases that will be funded via the fire department’s capital reserve account. The first was a 40-foot used shipping container from Dionne Construction in St. David for $4,500.
Fire Chief Jim Soucy said the container will be located behind Station 3, which is behind the town garage, and will store fire department equipment. Employees at the town garage also helped the department move out the old containers, which were in rough shape, he said.
“We had old storage containers that were from box trucks or tractor trailers, and they were all in bad shape,” he said. “They were falling apart.”
Prior to taking out the $4,500 for the container, the fire department’s capital reserve balance was $125,490.79.
The town also approved allowing the ambulance department to take up to $8,200 out of its reserves to cover ice water rescue equipment.
Madawaska Emergency Medical Services Paramedic Captain Kris Albert told the board that he had an opportunity to attend ice water rescue training in Portland earlier this year. While it had been understood that the town of St. Agatha exclusively covered incidents on Long Lake, it actually falls within four fire and three ambulance jurisdictions.
This prompted the discussion of adding ice water rescue capabilities in Madawaska.
“We’ve never done anything like that before, and we don’t have any equipment, so we’re looking to purchase some equipment,” he said.
The money will cover an inflatable boat that can be used by two people to rescue someone on the lake. This type of boat, which resembles a canoe, makes it easier to paddle out and rescue someone, Albert said. The purchase also includes suits, rope, helmets, and other safety equipment.
“Moving forward, once we have the equipment, any training expenses will be absorbed in our training budget, as one of our monthly trainings,” he said.
The department had not gone out to bid for the equipment yet, but town officials authorized the transfer of up to $8,200 from the reserve account.
The transfer will let the department make a purchase as soon as a bid is selected instead of needing to go back to the Select Board later for authorization, Select Board Chair Jason Boucher said.
