Among other typical business such as approving business license applications and a report from the city manager, the Watertown City Council is expected to approve a grant at its Oct. 7 meeting for the Watertown Police Department so it can receive a new digital forensics computer valued at over $18,000.
The grant is funded through the Underground Railroad to purchase an $18,195 computer (at no cost to the city) which is a specialized computer made by the HTCI EDAS FOX corporation that is made to digitally comb through the devices and computers of offenders.
This is a mega-storage computer with six data drives (solid state and mechanical) totaling 24 terabytes and features multiple card readers and evidence drives to find out what data is on the drives and when it was accessed. It also has 12 front-facing USB 3.0 ports and many rear-facing ports for additional storage and networking to the departments computer systems. It is able to scan a gamut of mobile phones, tablets, memory cards, and computer storage drives.
Running Windows 11, the computer uses Intel Xeon W9 processor, featuring 56 cores running at 1.90 GHz, valued at $5,889 and comes with two 27-inch monitors and a three-year warranty.
It comes with the recommendations of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, The Tarrant County, Texas, Criminal District Attorney’s office, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, and INTERPOL.
The computer will primarily be used by the Internet Crimes Against Children division of the police department. It will replace the current forensics computer purchase 13 years ago in 2011.

Nelson Park Improvements
In other business, the council will also vote on a construction contract in the amount of a little over $112,000 for improvements to Nelson Park.
The Watertown Parks & Recreation Department moved this project forward which will construct a new concrete basketball court to replace the current asphalt one, with striping to allow it to also be used as two pickleball courts. It will also replace some sidewalks and curb and gutters to bring the park into ADA compliance.
The project was expected to cost $150,000 by the city engineer, so the low bid from Timmons Construction, of Brookings, is 15% lower than the approved maximum.
The city council meets at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 7 in the council chambers at City Hall.