Southborough Select Board approves $105,000 police drone purchase

The Town of Southborough Select Board voted 3–2 on June 29 to allow the police chief to use fiscal year 2026 budget authority to purchase an Axon drone package priced at $105,000, offset by a $20,000 donation from Faith School.

The vote followed a debate over procedure and timing: several board members argued the purchase should go to a special town meeting in October so voters could weigh a large capital outlay, while others said public-safety needs and available budget flexibility justified authorizing the purchase immediately.

Board members said the $105,000 quote covers more than just hardware, with the board noting that core drone hardware was estimated in recent discussions at roughly $50,000–$60,000 and that the remainder covers software, cloud storage, evidence upload, support and replacement cycles. The chair told the board Faith School had committed $20,000 for this year and had been asked to consider another $20,000 for fiscal 2027, which would reduce the town's net cost if confirmed.

The police chief urged the board to approve the purchase now on public-safety grounds, describing nine instances in the past year in which the town relied on outside agencies' drones for searches and other responses, including two missing children and an hour-long juvenile search. The chief said local control would cut response time dramatically: "we get a call, we respond immediately to the address... and I can have the drone up in the air in two to four minutes," and called the acquisition "a public safety issue." The chief also said a recent 911 dispatch grant and unfilled patrol positions freed funds and created budget flexibility this year.

An Axon representative, Spencer Basset, told the board that packaging additional Axon equipment could change cost and scope and that, in some configurations, the company would include an indoor drone at no extra charge: "...we would throw that in for free," he said, while noting the board had not seen the full packaged proposal.

Opponents warned that allowing end-of-year, bottom-line purchases of this size could set an undesirable precedent for other departments. Several members favored waiting for the Oct. 17 special town meeting and any confirmed state earmark or grant money; town staff and counsel explained that state earmarks and grants typically cannot reimburse expenditures incurred before a contract or award is executed, which could limit the town's ability to apply a later-approved earmark to an immediate purchase.

The chair made the motion to permit the police chief to bottom-line spend the FY26 police budget to buy the Axon drone package for $105,000, offset by the $20,000 Faith School donation; a board member seconded the motion. Roll call vote: Sam — yes; AD — yes; AP — no; Tim — yes; Cook — no. The motion passed 3–2.

After the vote board members discussed whether any future $30,000 earmark (previously requested by Kate Donahue and mentioned by staff) could be applied to an indoor drone or other elements of the contract; the Axon representative said the vendor would work with the town to apply future funds as appropriate.

The meeting ended after a brief adjournment vote.

What’s next: The department expects vendor lead times; if the town proceeded immediately the chief estimated procurement and setup could place the drone into service sooner than waiting for a town-meeting pathway, which board members said could delay deployment into spring 2027 depending on contracting and delivery.