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Council approves Placer AI subscription after brief privacy discussion; 4‑1 vote
Summary
City Council approved Resolution 25‑173 to purchase demographic/mobility software from Placer AI. Councilman Matthew Slagle cast the lone no vote after raising data‑privacy and resale concerns.
The Bristol City Council on Oct. 7 approved Resolution 25‑173 authorizing the purchase of demographic and foot‑traffic analytics software from Placer AI, after council members discussed privacy and data‑ownership questions.
Councilman Matthew Slagle said he had unresolved questions about what data the product collects and whether that data can be sold or shared. "If that data can be sold, what notifications we need to provide if we're going to have software collecting data from visitors?" Slagle asked.
City staff reported they had held a call with a Placer AI representative. Staff said Placer AI does not collect personal identifiers as defined under privacy laws; it collects latitude/longitude pings from mobile devices and aggregates dwell time and visit frequency. Staff told council the city would purchase use rights to the product and would not own the underlying raw data; Placer AI retains and may supply processed reports to other subscribers.
After discussion, council voted 4‑1 to approve the purchase; roll‑call votes were recorded as Acard, Turner, Fire Robin and Powers voting yes, and Slagle voting no. City staff said they can provide further briefings or a work‑session presentation if council requests additional detail before widespread data sharing with partner organizations.
