Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety Surveillance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rio Vista council approves five‑year Verkada camera contract; council requires ALPR policy
Summary
The council approved a five‑year agreement with SafeHouse/Verkada to install a 12‑camera system for up to $56,396, and directed staff to return with required license‑plate‑reader (ALPR) privacy and training policies before any ALPR features are activated.
The Rio Vista City Council on Nov. 4 approved a five‑year agreement with SafeHouse Corporation to purchase and install a 12‑camera Verkada surveillance system, with the contract capped at $56,396. Staff said the proposed deployment covers City Hall, the airport, the public works yard, the police and fire stations and the intersection of 4th and Main; the system is scalable for future additions.
Staff said two bids were received; SafeHouse’s bundled five‑year price was lower than the competing Flock Safety proposal. Vendor representatives explained technical differences between systems, hybrid cloud storage and the vendor’s automatic firmware‑update model. ‘‘Within your five year software agreement, you have upgrades and automatic firmware updates that come at no extra cost,’’ Greg Milligan, SafeHouse integrator, said.
Council and the city attorney discussed automatic upgrades, backup power, and the potential use of automatic license‑plate‑reading (ALPR) features. The city attorney said ALPR use requires a council‑approved policy, mandatory training and public posting of the policy; the city would need to bring those documents back to the council before activating ALPR. Police leadership urged that ALPR capability improve investigations if authorized. ‘‘Anytime that you can capture a license plate, it’s always an investigative advantage,’’ the police chief said.
Public commenters asked about data sharing, power‑outage resilience and privacy risks; staff said most camera locations will have backup power (generators providing roughly 48 hours of operation) and acknowledged statutory requirements for transparency and limitations on prohibited uses. Council members directed staff to include policy language and city attorney revisions in the final contract form and approved the resolution on roll call.
The contract includes hardware ownership with warranty terms and a five‑year licensing model; staff noted discounted pricing was valid through Nov. 30. The council approved the agreement and required a follow‑up policy and training plan before enabling any ALPR functionality.
