Collegedale officials are beginning to eye funding sources now that they have an approximate price tag for outfitting Veteran's Park, as well as City Hall and Imagination Station, with surveillance cameras.
"We have a decent goal now. We know we're going to need $55,000 to $60,000," City Manager Ted Rogers said following a site analysis and price estimate from Excalibur Integrated Systems.
But unless funding for the system comes from a donation, the work will have to be formally bid out to all interested companies.
While the city is looking for local partnerships to help with costs and possibly even share infrastructure, an outside source will begin searching for grants.
"He has vast experience on how to build these things and get the biggest bang for your buck," Excalibur senior project manager Derrick Whitfield said in regards to one of his associates. "He wrote the [surveillance] business plan for the city of Chattanooga."
Once this first phase is complete, the sticker shock will be greatly diminished as the actual hardware costs an average several thousand dollars per piece. The majority of the initial cost is to establish an online video management system which would allow 24/7 access in live time to those authorized.
"We want to start right from the very beginning," Collegedale Police Chief Brian Hickman said. "This gives us a base to expand further."
The plan is to eventually outfit the entire local Greenway system with surveillance. The server will be able to host up to 100 high-quality cameras with constant live streams. Although video will be constantly rolling, alarms can be set for various criteria like movement during a particular time of day.
Laptops in police cars, at the station, home, or wherever can then be used to see problems and perpetrators in real time.
"It's going to be quick; nothing choppy or pixilated," Whitfield said of the reception, which should allow for positive identification in cases where it doesn't lead to on-the-spot apprehension.
He added that the network is completely secure and that those who try to hack into it could lose their entire operating system.
"I'd like to see them get started on it as soon as they can," said Commissioner Katie Lamb.