Dover Select Board Backs License Plate Reader, Plans Public Forum Before Vote

DOVER — September 25, 2025 — Dover Select Board informally endorses a $3,000-per-year Flock Safety license plate reader and rediscovers a $3.5 million family trust dormant for roughly a decade. Police Chief Vincy presented the solar-powered camera system, which would be installed at the town's only traffic light at Walpole Street and Center Street, capturing vehicle plates and identifiers but not driver images, with data purged after 30 days and access limited to three department personnel. The board offered unanimous informal support but directed that a public information session — likely tied to a police open house — precede any contract signing. Select Board member Dave Havlin reported that a new financial working group discovered the Chering family trust, established in 1917, has been sending the town approximately $150,000 annually in distributions earmarked for cemetery, park, trees, and historical uses, with institutional memory of the fund lost for about a decade. The board also voted unanimously to appoint two Dover high school students, Camille Budro and Laya Brandon, to the Sustainability Committee — the first student members in the committee's history — after waiving the town's registered-voter requirement, subject to parental consent.