Sonora, CA – With a contract now approved a much-anticipated upgrade to a local high school’s long-outdated security camera system is scheduled in the coming weeks.
Tuesday evening the Sonora Union High School District Board of Trustees gave the official nod to award a contract bid from Surveillance Systems Integration, Inc. (SSI) for $147,942, to cover a new state-of-the-state digital camera system. As reported here, the item was at the top of the meeting agenda.
Obviously pleased to be finally moving forward on the project, District Superintendent Pat Chabot shares, “[The new system] includes 59 cameras and the ability to record for two weeks, at least.” He adds that, while SSI is a Rocklin-based company, “They are …subcontracting with a local contractor, John Diehl, a local electrician…we know him – he has worked with Sonora High School before – so we are really pleased we are having local people do the work.”
While it will not be monitored live the system will provide high definition zoom imagery from each of the cameras. “If something happens, we will have the ability to look back and see — and with 59 cameras…we feel we have very good coverage of our entire campus,” Chabot enthuses. Part of the delay in getting to this point, he emphasizes, that the network capability on campus had to be prepared to accommodate the new system, which required replacing and upgrading all network switches to increase bandwidth and speed for the Internet Protocol camera units.
As far as a work timeline, Chabot states, “We are not 100 percent sure but we are doing the paperwork now, signing the documents…we are hoping to start as soon as possible, maybe as soon as July, and within two to three months, have it completed. We really want to fast-track this as soon as we can.” He also affirms that, once finally in place, “I think we are going to have the premier video system in the county.”