The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

Published March 8, 2023

Osage Beach police seeking new in-car cameras

OSAGE BEACH – The city is moving forward with purchasing new in-car cameras for the police department.

According to the report to the Board of Aldermen last Thursday evening by Police Chief Todd Davis, problems with the current cameras have got to the point where they need replacing.

This request (if approved) will be for 14 Fleet 3 in-car video systems along with the necessary equipment and software.

“The Police Department’s current in-car video systems were purchased in 2016 and are currently experiencing failures with body-worn microphones and other components of the system,” Davis said. “The current server has reached its end of life and needs to be replaced. The most recent asset plan shows that we are scheduled to begin replacement of the in-car systems beginning in 2024.”

Currently the police department operates the cameras on two different types of software, one for the in-car cameras and one for body-worn cameras.

Davis said the in-car camera videos are stored locally on a city server along with the software.

The body-worn cameras utilize cloud storage.

Cloud storage is a server (computer) hosted remotely by a “cloud” service provider that customers can access through an internet connection.

“By going with the AxonFleet 3, it works together with our Axon Body Worn Cameras and both cameras will utilize Evidence.com as the software,” said Davis. “All video will be stored in the cloud, which reduces our IT Departments’ workload and the cost of replacing a server and the additional maintenance agreement.”

The city’s IT Department had budgeted $22,122 to replace a server and purchase a service agreement for the current police cameras but Davis recommends not buying the server and rolling over the money budgeted for this year to 2024.

The agreement is a 5-year lease purchase program for hardware, software and services for $163,380  or $32,676 annually.

The board approved the first reading of the request with the second scheduled for the next Board of Aldermen meeting.

If this request is approved and the contract is signed, due to current supply chain problems and demand for Axon cameras, the city will not receive the cameras until January 2024.

In other business at last week’s Board of Aldermen meeting, the first reading was approved for the following bills:

• After a public hearing at which no one spoke, the board approved the first reading of the new water and sewer rates that will be effective beginning May 1, 2023.

• Approved a contract with Capital Paving for asphalt overlay on multiple city streets for an amount not to exceed $909,934.50. Capitol Paving was the only one to bid on the project.

The city had budgeted $1,080,472 for the project so this bid came in under budget, which helps with the next item.

• Approved a related contract with Vance Brothers for the 2023 Pavement Sealing Program in an amount not to exceed $285,767.21.

The city only budgeted $177,335 for this project but the savings from the overlay ($170,538) will offset this amount. The following roads will be sealed if the second reading of this bill passes:

Pogue Hollow Circle, Huff and Puff Lane, Gwen Lane, Cedar Village Road, Castle Court, Hamrock Lane, Ski Drive, Gerrard Lane, Bondard Lane, Ash Lane, Sunset Drive, Dorothy Lane and Rock Lane.

• Approved a contract with Stockman Construction Corp. for the 2023 Drainage Improvement Project for an amount not to exceed $109,765

This project consists of drainage improvements along Hatchery Road under the Highway 54 overpass and near the entrance to City Park. The city received five bids on this project.

• $109,765.00 – Stockman
• $130,300.00  - Rhad A Baker Construction
• $149,411.00 - Don Schneider Excavating
• $208,375.00 - B & P Patterson
• $185,771.41 - Hessling Construction

The City Engineer’s estimate for this project was $220,200

• Approved a contract with Engineering Surveys & Services for Engineering Design and Construction Services related to the Highway 42 Sidewalk Improvement Project for an amount not to exceed $150,589.

According to Assistant City Administrator Mike Welty, this sidewalk is .85 miles in length and will have to cross a creek and the engineers will have to deal with a steep embankment right above Field 2 at Peanick Park.

This has put the project over budget.

“Additionally, in the interest of safety for the children that will use this sidewalk, more safety measures are being put in place than you would normally see because this sidewalk will be adjacent to a highway instead of a city street,” Welty said.

The Assistant City Administrator also stated that it is no longer possible to do both engineering and construction in 2023. The goal is to have plans ready for bid by winter 2023 and then have a contractor in place to begin the work in the spring of 2024.

The second reading of the above bills should take place at the next Board of Aldermen meeting this month.

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