BOARDMAN — The Boardman Police Department will move forward with purchases to update electronics.

During the township trustees special meeting Tuesday, officials approved the purchases of a mobile message board and trailer for $15,735, online training platform for $4,392, remote online policy management software for $23,244, laptops for $29,920, 21 mounts for the laptops for $1,900, and monitors with cameras for $14,260.

All funds are through the CARES Act money.

“Anything we can do to kind of make our productivity off-site, keeping people from congregating together, whether it’s training, operations” or otherwise, that is what the department is trying to do, said police Chief Todd Werth.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Werth said operations were reassessed, with the decision to ultimately keep offiers, dispatch and records department employees on the road or in the building.

“As a whole, we looked at how we can do that in a safe manner to facilitate” training and operations remotely, Werth said.

It’s a move to keep the employees and public safe, he said.

Laptops will help keep officers on the streets rather than going to and from the government building located on Market Street, keeping contact with other employees to a minimum, Werth said.

The software will be utilized department-wide, keeping contact low, Werth said. Training will be done virtually rather than having up to 50 people in a room with a trainer.

During his time to speak, fire Chief Mark Pitzer said a training video was put together for fire prevention week, going to the preschool and school students.

Unable to work with the students at the stations due to COVID-19, Pitzer said the video, made in collaboration with Boardman Schools Television Network, is a training guide.

Included are what to do in the event of a fire as well as a tour of the stations, Pitzer said.

The video is available on Youtube or on the BTSN website.

Also discussed was a recent mask handout by the township.

Adminsitrator Jason Loree said that more than 44,000 masks were handed out over the weekend, and more will likely be distributed toward the end of the month.

Masks were purchased with CARES Act funding.

afox@tribtoday.com