Additional cameras to give Rec Center full coverage

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A recently completed Manchester Recreation Department project to replace the ailing security cameras at the Rec. Complex will require an additional $6,392 in equipment to cover blind spots at the center.

A change order was approved by the Manchester Finance Committee on May 21 that will cover four exterior cameras and an additional five-year maintenance with contractor Bankpak will add $1,000.

All together the project will cost $70,392 and will include 47 cameras in the system.

Manchester Parks and Recreation Director AJ Fox said that when the project was bided out each contractor came and toured the facility to plan coverage.

“I even walked (the contractor) out there and showed him this was an area we needed coving,” Fox told the committee.

Bankpak, a bank security system provider out of Woodbury, submitted the lowest bid by $20,000. All the bids contained a similar number and layout for the cameras. Fox said that one reason the Bankpak bid was less was that the other contractors subcontracted conduit instillation, while Bankpack did the work in-house.

Vice Mayor Mark Messick suggested the city negotiate with Bankpak to get the maintenance fee waived for the first five years.

Alderman Donny Parsley said that the project could not be left partially finished.

Fox did confirm that the department is satisfied with the overall quality of the camera system and the installation.

The city will next publish a bid request for additional cameras to cover areas of Rotary Park. Those cameras will connect to the current system via Wi-Fi.

The Rotary Park camera project is expected to cost about $23,000. That project will likely be proposed in the 2024-25 fiscal budget.