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The installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in the Wagga CBD is likely to begin within weeks after Wagga City Council awarded the contract for the million-dollar project on Monday night.
The decision to enter into a contract with Schneider Electric Buildings Australia Pty Ltd to design and construct the CCTV network was made behind closed doors at council's supplementary meeting.
The move comes after a decision last month to momentarily press pause on the $1,005,623 deal while negotiations of contract liability issues were held.
Mayor Rod Kendall told The Daily Advertiser on Tuesday work would "get under way at the earliest possible time", but an exact construction start date would be unclear until the contract was signed.
"The community can be very confident CCTV in the Wagga CBD will be complete and operational early in the next calendar year," Councillor Kendall said.
"It (the contract being awarded) is an outcome expected by the community and I think the community will be pleased a final decision has been made."
At last month's meeting, council also decided to create a reserve to fund the ongoing maintenance and renewal of the CCTV network.
The reserve will be funded from savings from the design and construction of the project and an annual reallocation of $10,000 from the information services hardware purchase budget.
COMMITTEE 4 Wagga (C4W) has zoomed in on metropolitan camera systems as part of fact-finding mission to "road test" other CCTV networks.
C4W recently teamed up with council representatives to visit the City of Sydney's CCTV "nerve centre" and inspect the recently updated camera system in the Sydney CBD.
Committee chief Chris Fitzpatrick said the "road test" of Schneider's proposed system for Wagga was a "very valuable experience".
"It gave us the hands-on experience required to have confidence in the decision to recommend the Schneider proposal as the preferred option," Mr Fitzpatrick said.
Despite differences being evident between the Sydney program and what is proposed for Wagga - particularly in the management of the system - the cameras would fundamentally be the same, Mr Fitzpatrick said.
Chairwoman Judy Galloway said C4W was looking forward to being involved in "turning the switch on" when the installation project is complete.