HOULTON, Maine — A Houlton official has released information about the town’s surveillance cameras that for nearly a year was not made available to the public.
Town Manager Jeremy Smith said on Friday that of the 54 cameras purchased with American Rescue Plan Act funds in 2022, 25 were installed and operational, 13 were installed and not activated and 16 were in inventory and not installed.
The issue came up during a Board of Budget Review meeting earlier this week when board members asked Smith about a new public safety expense of $6,800 for town camera subscription licensing fees in the town’s proposed 2025 budget.
During the meeting Smith said the licensing contract for the cameras would expire at the end of the year and the upcoming licensing fee was for 54 cameras. But since only 25 are operational, the contract would have to be adjusted.
The surveillance camera saga in the Aroostook County town of about 6,000 residents has been rife with inconsistent data and a lack of transparency which sparked a resident’s lawsuit regarding noncompliance with public records requests and a town counter lawsuit against the resident claiming it did not deny his requests.
The information Smith provided on Friday was the first time specifics about the number of cameras and their exact location were made public despite the BDN’s repeated requests for the information.
“I feel like this is an old story and it would be better to focus on something new and interesting to the community,” Smith said on Friday.
In January, Houlton Police Chief Tim DeLuca told the town council that Swallows Electric was installing 50 cameras within a couple weeks.
The town paid $14,891 to Swallows for the installation, according to the town’s’ ARPA budget.
On Friday, Smith confirmed that Swallows actually installed 38 cameras, with 25 activated but that the project was stalled because of insufficient funding.
“The proposed funds from ARPA for that project didn’t cover installation of all the cameras and the project was stopped,” he said.
The $130,000 initial investment for the cameras, originally recommended by former Town Manager Marian Anderson, was paid for with American Rescue Plan Act funds, DeLuca told the BDN in January.
A subsequent BDN search of town council meeting minutes back to 2021 did not indicate a council vote on the cameras.
In response to a May BDN Freedom of Access Act request, Smith said the cameras were purchased in March 2022 with ARPA funds and because of that, the town council did not need to vote on the purchase. There were no bids for the project, he said.
Despite repeated requests by the Bangor Daily News and Houlton resident Craig Harriman, who subsequently filed a lawsuit against the town, neither DeLuca nor Smith revealed where the cameras were specifically installed.
DeLuca told the BDN in January that the town conducted an in-depth overview of municipal properties and potential vulnerabilities to determine locations for the best camera coverage of town assets.
On Friday, Smith shared the camera locations. Twenty five active cameras are installed with five for the police department, three for the fire department, five at public works, three at the town hall, three at the Rec Center, and six at the Civic Center. Thirteen other cameras are installed but not activated — five at the airport, two at Cary Library, three at Just for Kids (JFK) and three at park maintenance. The remaining 16 cameras are in inventory and not installed.
Town resident Harriman filed a lawsuit in Aroostook County Superior Court in April against the town’s police department after his Freedom of Access Act request for information regarding the municipality’s surveillance cameras went unanswered, according to the lawsuit that is pending a Feb. 10, 2025, trial.
Harriman was unable to access, inspect or copy the requested records — he requested access to government records relevant to the installation of the surveillance cameras, the use of ARPA funds for the cameras, and the policies and procedures regarding the cameras’ data — and by failing to provide them, the Houlton Police Department is in violation of the state FOAA mandate, the lawsuit alleges.
In Maine, government records are open to public inspection and a person has the right to inspect any public record within a reasonable period of time after making a request to do so.
The release of the number of cameras and locations does not answer Harriman’s questions about data storage and software as well as policies regarding data.
Due to pending litigation, Harriman said this week that he looks forward to presenting his argument to the court and at this time has no comment. His trial date has been scheduled for 1 p.m., Feb. 10, 2025.
On Friday, following Smith’s release of information, Harriman again said he is looking forward to his February court date.
Currently, Harriman sits on the Board of Budget Review.
Despite the town’s previous discrepancies on the total number of cameras, according to Verkada invoicing, the town paid for 54 Verkada cameras.
The original Verkada paperwork details 54 cameras: two Bullet Series CB61 E; two Bullet Series CB61-TE; 39 Dome Series CD62-6; nine Fish Eye; one Mini Series CM 41; and one Mini Hybrid Cloud CM61. The other items the town paid for related to surveillance cameras are a three-year subscription license and one Verkada VX52 viewing station with 150 channels.
According to Verkada, the mini cloud camera has “Verkada’s People Analytics” which means users can filter people detected on camera based on clothing, appearance and facial matches. The fish eye cameras are equipped with night vision capabilities for dark and low light locations. The bullet cameras are often used as a deterrent because they are large and visible and the dome series are commonly found in high traffic areas.
A July 2024 invoice from the licensing provider, e-Plus , said the town owes $33,696 for a five-year license on 54 surveillance cameras and one license for the viewing station.
e-Plus is a technology solutions company offering artificial intelligence, security, cloud and data center, networking and collaboration services.
During the budget review meeting, Smith said the licenses include cloud storage and management and they have the ability to obtain footage from the cloud.
Harriman asked Smith about the cloud storage during this week’s meeting and Smith said that most people would find the information boring and moved on with the meeting.
The Board of Budget Review will make final recommendations on the town’s budget, next week.
