Saginaw Council OKs five-year Flock surveillance contract amid privacy and access questions; Birch Park license-plate reader amendment also approved

Saginaw city council approved a five-year purchase and service arrangement with Flock Group Inc. for intersection surveillance equipment and accepted a third amendment allowing Birch Park Preservation to install license-plate readers, after extended debate over contract access, data retention and privacy.

The council voted 8-1 on the Flock purchase, with Councilwoman Carly Rose Hammond the lone no vote. The purchase total listed in the agenda was $152,950, with installment payments of $35,350 planned for fiscal 2025 and anticipated annual payments of $29,400 for fiscal years 2026 through 2029.

The Flock items and the Birch Park amendment were discussed together in public session, during which council members requested copies of contracts and questioned where retained camera and license-plate data would be stored, who could access it and how long it would be kept. Council members also noted an ongoing federal lawsuit mentioned in public correspondence about Flock but were told by the city attorney that the referenced case does not have jurisdiction over Michigan.

City staff said the city is the contract customer and the contract language requires customer ownership of “customer data,” with a limited, licensed use by Flock to provide the service. Staff also said the contract includes a 30-day data-retention window and that retained data are anonymized for certain internal uses; the publicly posted purchase and payment schedule was explained by staff as part of continuing a deployment begun in April 2024.

Several council members urged caution and asked for full contract review before approving new purchases. One council member sought to postpone the Birch Park amendment to allow time to read the full agreement; that postponement motion failed on a roll call vote (3 in favor, 6 opposed). After that vote the council moved to accept the Birch Park amendment during the same consent process and approved it (voice vote; roll-call tally for the final acceptance was not recorded in the meeting minutes). The Flock purchase then passed on a recorded vote, 8-1.

Public safety advocates and Birch Park residents spoke in favor of the equipment, saying gate cameras and plate readers could deter nonresident criminal activity at the housing complex. Other council members and at least one public commenter raised civil-liberty concerns and pointed to public correspondence from community groups requesting contract review and stronger data safeguards.

City Manager Tim and members of the police department explained that Saginaw has used several grant sources for camera programs in prior years and that the Flock deployment continued a federal grant-funded effort that began in 2024. Staff said multiple vendors were reviewed before recommending Flock, and that some cameras in the city remain owned by other entities (for example, the DDA). The manager told council that the Birch Park amendment is a contract amendment with the Birch Park property association to permit installation of the readers and to provide security services to the department.

The meeting record includes an explicit explanation from city legal counsel that the federal case referenced in public correspondence does not apply in Michigan and that surveillance of public places has a different standard than tracking in private. Counsel said the jurisdiction of the lawsuit cited by critics does not control here.

Votes at a glance: Flock purchase (consent agenda item 10) — approved, 8-1 (Hammond opposed); Birch Park third amendment to security detail (consent agenda item 9) — initial motion to postpone failed (roll call 3-6), amendment acceptance approved by council (voice vote; roll-call tally not recorded).