Select Board raises police detail rate, accepts highway-safety and camera grants

The Lee Select Board on Monday approved several actions to support police operations: it increased the hourly police detail rate to $70, accepted an amended New Hampshire Highway Safety grant that raised the award from $21,908.75 to $31,135.99, and approved a Department of Safety reimbursement grant (not to exceed $5,100) to purchase body-worn and dashboard cameras.

The Police Chief (introduced in the meeting) told the board that neighboring municipalities’ detail rates had risen and requested the town raise Lee’s detail rate from $60 to $70 per hour to align with the local average. "So I'm requesting that we move it up to 70 and we'll be in with the average of all the municipalities around us," he said. The Chief noted that the vehicle-borrowing rate would remain $15 per hour.

On the highway safety grant, the Chief said the amendment bundled additional patrol funding, an extra radar unit and a mobile data terminal so new cruisers would have equipment when purchased. The board accepted amended agreement number 25-102, increasing the award from $21,908.75 to $31,135.99.

Separately, the board approved a reimbursement grant not to exceed $5,100 toward body-worn and dashboard cameras; the Select Board acknowledged in the meeting that the grant is a 50% reimbursement and that expenses above the grant amount will be covered from the police department’s operating budget.

The transcript records these approvals as voice votes with "Aye" responses; the meeting did not include a detailed roll-call tally for each item in the provided excerpt. The meeting record does not show the name of a seconder for the detail-rate motion in the transcript.