Selectboard approves $127K in technology upgrades for Gilford police, fire depts

GILFORD — The Gilford Police and Fire departments will be upgrading their technology after the selectboard approved more than $127,000 in combined purchases during Wednesday’s meeting.

The Gilford Police Department purchases were originally going to be included in the proposed budget voters will decide on at the March Town Meeting, but Chair Kevin Hayes said the police department was able to find money in this year’s budget to pay for the $31,970 quote by Ossipee Mountain Electronics for communications upgrades. This bid beat out Motorola’s bid of $46,234.

According to the purchase order provided by the town, $9,650 of the quote is for a GPS clock, the largest part purchased. Labor is about a third of the cost at $9,500.

The selectboard had discussed draft six of the proposed Town Meeting warrant, which included the proposed budget, earlier in the meeting. It included $78,205 for the police department upgrades, which the board voted to eliminate, since it will be paid for in the 2025 budget instead. This was the only change to the budget since the selectboard reviewed it two weeks ago.

“That doesn’t affect the tax rate at all, because we are planning to use the fund balance,” Dunn said on Dec. 17. “However, that is $78,205 worth of fund balance that would be available for future use."

The selectboard also followed the recommendations of the fire department and the town’s board of fire engineers, and voted to upgrade the fire department’s aging radios for $95,643.

A memorandum dated Dec. 16, sent from Deputy Brad Ober to Chief Steve Carrier and the Gilford Board of Engineers, states a bid of $95,643 by Kenwood, through Ossipee Mountain Electronics, was recommended for radio upgrades.

An Assistance to Firefighters Grants application was submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to buy 25 new portable radios, but the application was denied. Ober wrote the denial was received after the budget process started, so it was not calculated into the 2026 budget request.

That grant would have replaced the 25-year-old Motorola XTS 2500 inventory, which Ober stated are not manufactured, nor supported, any longer. There are several radios that aren’t working at all.

Ober reviewed both the Motorola APX 6000 EX and Kenwood VP8000 portable radios specifically designed for public safety use. Ossipee Mountain Electronics provided the quote for Kenwood, which was chosen over Motorola’s figure of $145,612.

Ober recommended the board of engineers approve the purchase of the Kenwood portable radios, which come with chargers and spare batteries. He also recommended disposing the aging Motorola XTS 2500 technology.

The department will be using $75,000 from the Ambulance Fund, and $20,643 from the Special Detail Fund, for the purchase.

Hayes asked why two funds are being used for the radios, and Carrier said the department was looking for opportunities to find money for the project, and wanted to take money both, so they didn’t deplete the Special Detail Fund.

“We have never tapped into that Special Detail Fund, and we certainly didn’t want to draw it down to a point where it wasn’t usable, for example, for the police department if they had something,” Carrier said. “We wanted to take a smaller amount out of that.”

The selectboard approved both upgrade requests by a 3-0 vote.