It's official. State College Borough Council accepted a bid last night for the purchase of surveillance cameras in Beaver Canyon.

In a 4-3 vote, council accepted the low bid from Wacor Electronics in the amount of $24,409.05. The price includes the cameras, video recorder, software, installation and training. Three cameras will be purchased at a cost of $4,500 per camera. Not included in the bid is a rack to hold the cameras, which will cost an additional $3,089.

The university will provide $10,000 for the project, making the initiative more cost effective for the borough.

State College Mayor Bill Welch said despite rumors of Penn State pulling its funding from the camera project, the university will still provide the money.

"It's clear to me that they will follow through on their commitment," Welch said.

Cameras will be under warranty for the first year and maintenance is estimated at a total of $2,000 for years two and three.

The cameras will be installed and operable within 90 days, or possibly sooner. If the cameras can be ready for the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in July, State College Police Chief Tom King said he would welcome it.

Cameras will mounted on poles near the intersection of East Beaver Avenue and Locust Lane and will have pan, tilt and zoom capabilities to record images from McAllister Street to Hiester Street.

The cameras will focus on the street, but could potentially capture images of lower-level balconies. A special feature of the cameras, which prevents the recording of images through glass, will be utilized in order to ensure the privacy of residents.

Footage will be transferred via a fiber-optic network to the police station in the State College Municipal Building, 243 S. Allen St., where it will be stored on a digital hard drive for a maximum of 14 days. After that period, images will be overwritten unless they are needed for a criminal investigation.

For the most part, cameras will be in recording mode, but may be subject to live monitoring during special events such as Arts Fest and home football weekends, King said.

A committee will be established to ensure implementation takes place in a public and professional manner. Undergraduate Student Government President Ian Rosenberger will serve on the committee with two council members, a member of the police department and Teresa Sparacino, executive director of the Downtown Improvement District.

The committee will review the use policy during the first year of operation and determine if the policy should be amended. Any amendments will require approval by council. In addition, all camera footage to be publicly released will require council's consent unless laws already require its dissemination.

Council member Elizabeth Goreham, who voted against the cameras, requested that King provide council with an estimate of the cost to create and staff a police sub-station in Beaver Canyon.

"I think that would be a much more human and preferable solution to the problem that we all know exists," Goreham said.

Mayor Bill Welch, who has come out in support of council's action to install cameras, chimed in with his opinion.

"I would be willing to bet there isn't a police department in America that has a sub-station within two blocks of the police station," Welch said.

A handful of residents voiced opinions at the meeting, while very few students showed up.

"I think this is an approach that criminalizes and profiles the young people in our community," said borough resident Laura Silver.

But some local residents applauded the council for voting to install the cameras.

"It's only going to be an impediment to people who are immature and want to cause trouble," said borough resident Gloria Thompson. "We've got to get that street back."

The idea to install cameras was one of many generated by a riot prevention committee formed in the aftermath of three destructive disturbances in the Canyon between 1998 and 2001. Riots occurred during the 1998 and 2000 Arts Festivals and most recently, in 2001, following the Penn State men's basketball team loss to Temple in the NCAA tournament.