Shelton aldermen open public hearing on stop-arm camera ordinance after informational session

Shelton aldermen convened an informational session and then opened a public hearing on a proposed ordinance to authorize automated stop-arm camera enforcement for school buses, hearing a presentation from a vendor that said the program would be paid from fines rather than city general funds.

Raymond Baldwin Jr., administrative assistant for special projects in Mary Louretti’s office, told the Board that in one week earlier this year Shelton school bus drivers reported "581 violations of the stop school bus law" and said the city’s roughly 60 drivers make about 300 runs per day across a 180-day school year. Baldwin said those counts translate to a high number of dangerous encounters and that the city needs "a plan and a tool" to help bus drivers.

Brad McDowell of BusPatrol described the vendor’s system, which he said uses an automated violation-analysis tool called AVA and a two-person human review at BusPatrol before any potential citation is sent to local review. "We only send tickets to folks that you say yes to," McDowell said, describing an online review dashboard he called AlertBus for local reviewers. He said the vendor would handle mailing and payments and that program revenue can be used for public-safety initiatives under Connecticut law.

Why it matters: Aldermen were asked to consider how the city will implement review and…