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Electric committee reports camera upgrades and explores centralized dimming for streetlights ahead of Dark Sky Week
Summary
The electric department has brought roughly 11 police‑district cameras online as part of a fiber/camera project and will research the cost and technical steps to enable centralized dimming or wattage reduction of streetlights for Dark Sky Week and demand response.
Councilman Gary Herbert, filling in on the electric committee, reported that recent severe weather produced only two brief outages and that investments in tree trimming and maintenance have improved system reliability. He said the electric department finished installing about 11 cameras on the borough fiber/camera network and expects to have a majority of cameras operational by the end of the month.
Herbert said staff will research what it would take to outfit streetlights with centralized dimming or wattage‑reduction capabilities — a feature the Electric Department is considering for the observance of Dark Sky Week (April 13–20) and for potential demand‑management or event use. The department also is testing relays at the main substation as a final validation step for an ongoing project and has replaced multiple aging poles on a long circuit.
During public comment a resident asked whether the PD cameras use AI or facial recognition; staff clarified the cameras are for intersection monitoring and incident review and said they do not have facial recognition capabilities.
