Redmond council authorizes $4.38 million, five-year photo enforcement contract with VeriMobility

Redmond’s City Council on the evening of the meeting voted to authorize a five-year contract with VeriMobility to install a phased photo traffic enforcement system, approving a contract ceiling of $4,375,200 and directing staff to begin implementation.

Chief Devin Lewis, Redmond Police Department, told the council the program will start with a Phase 1 deployment at high-crash city intersections — including Northwest Maple at 6th and at 10th Street by Tom McCall Elementary — and include portable radar cameras to be redeployed where data identifies hot spots. Phase 2 would expand cameras onto state highways (Highway 97 and other corridors) after Oregon Department of Transportation approval.

Lewis said the contract is turnkey: VeriMobility will install, operate and maintain equipment, and the city will own the data. The contract length is five years with an early-termination clause, and staff emphasized a public outreach campaign with signage and a 30-day soft-launch during which citations would not be issued.

On program finances, Lewis said city forecasts expect the initiative to be cost neutral at maturity (about 18 months after deployment) and estimated roughly 30% of citation revenue would flow to the city after statutorily required state shares. Staff described three categories that reduce nominal citation receipts — invalid/disputed citations (estimated ~31.5% of incidents), unpaid citations (an estimated ~25% of the remaining cases), and subsequent municipal-court reductions — and said the county-operated justice court would handle collections, defaults and any eventual recovery.

A VeriMobility technical representative described the system’s data handling: cellular (4G/5G) links to a secure, VPN-protected back office and redundant on‑U.S.-soil storage locations; staff said the city will retain and purge data consistent with statute.

Councilors pressed staff on cybersecurity, court workload, the basis of revenue assumptions, and whether the program would amount to a municipal “cash grab.” Chief Lewis responded that the program’s primary goal is traffic safety and said the city does not plan to profit: “$0,” he said when asked what dollar figure the city hoped to profit. Justice court staff explained that default judgments and collections processes provide a long-term mechanism to recover unpaid fines but that timing and amounts are uncertain.

An audible voice vote approved authorization to proceed and to give the city manager authority to sign the contract and issue a notice to proceed for Phases 1 and 2. Council also directed staff to continue community outreach and to seek required ODOT approvals for highway deployments before Phase 2.

Next steps: staff will begin contract initiation and a public-awareness program in December, pursue ODOT approvals for state highway camera placement, and aim for Phase 1 operations and a public soft-launch roughly in the March timeframe with Phase 2 starting about six months later if conditions permit.