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Austintown approves license-plate readers and reassigns part of police chief's salary to dispatch
Summary
Trustees authorized purchase of six license-plate readers through an MOU with Flock, approved a retroactive 20% salary allocation of the police chief to dispatch, and recorded a $24,900 grant application for genetic genealogy testing for a cold case.
Austintown Township trustees on June 1 approved an MOU with Flock to purchase six license-plate reader (LPR) units for $18,000 and a three-year contract totaling $54,000.
The motion (RES 26-06-01-02) passed with Vice-Chairperson Monica Deavers and Trustee Bruce Shepas voting yes; Trustee Robert Santos was recorded absent. Minutes note the price matched a quote from six months earlier with a $3,900 discount.
During the Police Department report, Chief Delmont presented May statistics and logged a journal entry that Austintown Police, in partnership with Ohio BCI, applied for an Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Genetic Genealogy Grant for $24,900 to fund genetic genealogy testing and research on an Austintown cold-case homicide; the application status is pending.
Separately, trustees approved Resolution #26-06-01-03 to allocate 20% of the Police Chief's salary to Dispatch costs retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026, to reflect the chief’s time monitoring the Dispatch Center and to accurately represent costs for partner agencies. The board directed finance staff to adjust payroll allocations and notify partner agencies of the accounting change.
The minutes do not record public debate about privacy implications of LPRs or any conditions on data retention or access. The Police Department will be responsible for executing the MOU and reporting equipment inventory to the Board following installation.
