The vote came after Mayor Jeff Wright told the council information about motorists' travel patterns collected by the license plate readers would not be kept on file.
At the council's July 28 meeting, Police Chief Richard Mulhall explained that a license plate reader is an automated system that would be placed in a marked police car, and have the capacity to read about 1,500 to 3,000 plates per minute. The system compares the plates to the National Crime Information Center database, looking for stolen vehicles and wanted persons.
Mulhall said the police department will also work with the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles to search for registration suspensions and vehicles without insurance. He noted that the readers would be mounted on two Newington patrol cars, one of which would be shared with the Wethersfield Police Department.
"It could be Big Brotherish," remarked Councilor Thomas Bowen. "As long as the information is discarded, I have no problem with this. I would hope the information would not be stored somewhere."
The plate readers have been a great success in New Britain, replied Wright. He added that Chief Mulhall had confirmed that the information would be discarded after two months.
The readers cost $12,000 each and the tasers would cost a total of $6,000, according to the chief. The grant application has to be filed by Aug. 26 to be eligible for the money under the federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) program.
The council also voted unanimously to defer the town's mandatory revaluation for one year, in time for the Oct. 1, 2011 Grant List.
Last May, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed legislation to allow municipalities a year's postponement.
In other business, Town Manager John Salomone reported that the ongoing Town Hall renovations are proceeding on schedule.
Referring to a project chart from Facilities Director Bob Korpak, Salomone said "you can see we're literally right on the dates. He invited the council members to tour the renovations if they wished.
The project chart showed that demolition, masonry, underground plumbing and other work had been completed during July. Problems are most likely to occur during demolition, said Salomone, "so I think the most difficult part is done."
Later, the council voted to refer the offers of land gifts from Costello Industries and John Scelza of Ramblewood Inc. to the Town Plan and Zoning Commission (TPZ), as mandated by state law.
The Costello gift consists of two parcels of land totaling 1.75 acres located at the unimproved end of Costello Road. The Scelza gift consists of a .428 acre parcel on Lamp Lighter Lane. The parcels are considered undevelopable and would be kept as open space.
Once the TPZ issues its reports on the parcel, the council will be free to accept the gifts if it chooses, according to Salomone.
The council also voted to authorize Salomone to enter into a contract with the Connecticut State Library to accept a $10,000 historic preservation state grant for restoration and preservation of historic documents. The state library approved the grant last week.
The funds are carried over from the previous year, so they're not part of the delayed state budget, said Salomone, "so this is good news for the town."
Director of Finance Ann Harter presented a resolution for transfers within the town's Capital Project Funds, to be voted on at the council's Sept. 8 meeting.
Most noteworthy, she said, was $43,705 appropriated in 2002 for the Town Hall elevator modernization, which was subsequently funded through a different project; plus $13,782 leftover from the now completed library roof repair and $2,970 leftover from the Stamm Road/Liberty Street flood control study.
She recommended the total $60,457 be applied to the New Samaritan Affordable Age Restricted Housing Development, which includes demolition of the building at 90 Welles Drive. She estimated the cost of the demolition at $60,000.
Salomone said demolition would take place in late September or early October.