Select Board Creates Surveillance Tech Subcommittee
Select Board · Meeting of September 29, 2026
Tewksbury Select Board votes 5-0 to launch a nine-member surveillance technology subcommittee. Clerk John Lombardo's plan, modeled partly on a Cambridge ordinance, pulls in representatives from the Planning Board, School Committee and Finance Committee, the schools superintendent, the police chief, the IT director, the town manager and two resident experts to recommend a policy safeguarding privacy while equipping police. The vote followed Police Chief Ryan Columbus's announcement that the department has permanently stopped using its license plate readers and is removing the cameras, saying there is "no intention of bringing back" the technology.
A separate motion by Select Board Member James F. Mackey III requiring advance board notice and a 90-day technology audit failed for lack of a second. The board also approved $125,000 in Article 3 warrant funding for a new FY27 non-union wage plan after a study found town salaries roughly 17 percent behind comparable communities.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,703 words
Source: the Select Board meeting of September 29, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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