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Public commenters urge transparency after county's Flock surveillance vote, call for county-drafted oversight law
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Summary
Speakers representing Flock Off Ithaca told the legislature the recent Flock surveillance vote occurred without prior public notice and urged drafting local oversight legislation and wider public engagement; they called the process opaque and damaging to trust in public safety decision-making.
Speakers representing Flock Off Ithaca addressed the legislature during public comment, criticizing a recent vote related to surveillance (the Flock contract) and arguing the agenda change and vote occurred without adequate public notice. Josh Dolan read a statement saying the vote "happened a full week before the legislators had announced that it would" and described the change from an executive-session agenda item to a public vote as an "optics" problem that erodes trust.
A second speaker who identified himself as Jared joined the reading and urged the county attorney to begin drafting legislation modeled on ACLU-backed CCOPS proposals to give the public formal oversight over surveillance use. The speakers asked the county to review how the public safety committee is constituted and to consider more direct public-engagement tools such as polling. "Public safety is built on trust and trust is built on transparency," the statement said.
Chair and staff acknowledged the comment and said the public's input would be considered as the county moves forward on surveillance and related policy questions. No formal action on the Flock contract was taken at this meeting record beyond the public comment.
