Three Newburyport city councilors on Feb. 22 expressed concern about how funds obtained by the city through grants are spent. The concern is mostly springing from the recent installation by the Newburyport Police Department of security cameras in the city’s downtown.

In the “Good of the Order” portion of the City Council meeting, At-large Councilor Barry Connell stated his displeasure with the three cameras installed around the downtown business district without the knowledge or approval of the City Council. Connell said he had a long discussion with City Marshal Thomas Howard – a discussion that did not resolve his concerns.

Read more about the cameras here, from the Newburyport Daily News. Update March 1: Read the latest on the security cameras here, also from the Newburyport Daily News.

“It seems to be highly inappropriate,” Connell said. He asked the Marshal to delay activating the cameras until there can be a public discussion. The cameras, which cost about $35,000, were bought with funds from a community policing grant. Money received through grants is spent at the discretion of the head of the city department that wrote the grant and do not need City Council approval.

“We should preserve the sliver of personal freedom we still have in public places,” Connell said.

At-large Councilor Tom Jones said he stood “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Connell on this issue but spoke in more broad terms about expenditures of grant money. Jones said department heads are spending grant money without the proper review and oversight under which purchases using other public funds are scrutinized. “There are many inconsistencies between departments,” Jones noted. “Those [departments] that are good at securing grants – and it’s still the public’s money – their budgets are obscured from our vision. It is fair for us to look at this; I should not have to find out about it in the paper of record.”

(In fact, it was a blog post on At-large Councilor Ari Herzog’s official blog that first brought the camera installation to light.)

Ann Ormond, president of the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce, said she does not see this as a “Big Brother” situation. Ormond said: “I see it as protection of property.” Ormond said that she has not received input from downtown retailers one way or the other but someone in a meeting she attended did question what tourists would think of the security cameras.

Ward 3 City Councilor Robert Cronin in a budget and finance committee meeting before the City Council meeting asked that the vote on a request for the mayor to hire a contract grant writer be tabled for one more meeting. Mayor Donna Holaday is requesting $6,300 for a grant writer for the rest of the fiscal year with the intention that the position will fund itself in the future.

Cronin said the request raised more questions than it answered, both on the city side and on the school department side. “I need a little bit more information on what [the position] is doing for the schools,” he said. Cronin also asked if the current policy of city department heads writing and obtaining their own grants will  continue, if the new position will be a clearing house for all new grants or just assist the departments in their ongoing grant writing and “is this a duplication of effort or a two pronged approach? Will there be City Council oversight since we are charged with approving budgets and the City’s finance?  Is there going to be a score card for the $6,300?  Will we be able to quantify how much bang for the buck Newburyport received?”

Holaday said that at 10 hours a week, the proposed grant writer could not write grants for 20 departments. The person would do research, meet with department heads try to match departments with grant opportunities, she said, adding that the city would need “a couple of full-time positions” to write grants for the whole city. Holaday said: “This is just a starting point.”

Backup for the transfer request from Holaday said: “I have put forth a transfer in the amount of $6300 for the purpose of hiring a part time grant writer.  If approved this position would consist of 10/hours a week at a cost of $35.00/hour until June 30, 2010 for the purpose of identifying and developing priority needs funded through grants.  This position would be a contract position dedicated to researching and writing grants for both the schools and the City.  We are missing out in substantial grant opportunities by not dedicating at least a minimal number of hours to this position.  I am confident that the schools and the City would benefit by an increase in the number of grant applications submitted.  As the economy remains in a state of flux, I believe it would be in our best interest to promote any all possibilities in obtaining funding through grants.  Finally this position is anticipated to be self-sustaining through acquisition grants.”

Holaday said in her State of the City Address to the Council that “we need a grant writer. I need the City Council’s support on this issue.” Holaday in her campaign for mayor said that there are many sources of funds the city could tap, if the city had a dedicated grant writer.

“The grant writer position could/should be a great addition to our city. It does however need to be approached carefully,” Cronin wrote in his regular email to constituents on Feb. 23.  “As far as the surveillance cameras go, we need to put community back in community policing and decide as a community how we want to live our lives, the same can be asked about what grants we seek. “