Town Manager’s Update on Town Cameras

From town manager’s office, June 14, 2025.:The town manager and security company representative met to discuss video cameras at the Visitors Center, Wilmer Park and the marina with a follow up on site scheduled for June 12th .

• June 9, 2025 – Town manager emailed Delmarva Power liaison to discuss expedited power hook up to existing security cameras.
• June 10, 2025 – Following concerns expressed about the town marina being dark after 11:30 pm, when the lights are turned off, the town manager and the marina manager met to discuss this and have set the lights timer to 5:00 am, current and future camera siting at the marina was also discussed ahead of the June 12th scheduled site visit.
• June 10, 2025 – Mayor Foster conveys to the town manager the willingness of two downtown property owners to locate cameras on their property under a town-full cost or cost sharing plan. These properties will be included in the scheduled June 12th site visit.
• June 10, 2025 – Camera location and Delmarva Power pole location overlap mapping begins.
• June 12, 2025 – site visit rescheduled one day until June 13th .
• June 13, 2025 – town manager and security company representative conduct scheduled site visit of town-owned locations for future camera installation.
• June 13, 2025 – new cameras ordered for several locations around the downtown area and the waterfront able to provide electricity and internet, installation pending.
• Ongoing from May 22, 2025 – town manager makes the following comment to the local media: “Moving forward in the next few weeks the town will work within the available funding to connect existing cameras to electric power and internet service. All locations will be assessed and those cameras readily able for connection will take precedent, while other camera locations are made ready as needed. The several years’ worth of delay is not acceptable, and all should hold me accountable for concluding this activity in a timely manner. Moving forward the simple lesson learned is when even responsible parties are playing out of position effective execution suffers as a result. Public safety measures belong in town hall in the town manager’s office and not outsourced to our destination marketing and economic development organization. This kind of mistake will not happen again.”