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Legislature directs staff to draft termination resolution for Flock Safety contract
Summary
Tompkins County legislators voted 13-3 to direct the county administrator and county attorney to draft a resolution to terminate the county's contract with Flock Group (Flock Safety), with instructions to preserve grant funding where feasible. Supporters cited privacy and security concerns; opponents raised neighborhood safety worries.
The Tompkins County Legislature voted to direct county staff to prepare a resolution that would unwind the county's contract with Flock Group Inc., the vendor that supplies license-plate-reading cameras used locally.
Deborah Dawson moved the directive, asking "that this legislature direct the county administrator and the county attorney to prepare a resolution for consideration at our next meeting, terminating the county's contractual relationship with Flock Group Inc, commonly known as Flock Safety, at the earliest possible time and in a manner consistent with the county's grant funding obligations." The motion was seconded and discussed at length before a roll-call vote recorded 13 in favor and 3 opposed. Chair Black announced, "The motion passes." Supporters said the motion is the appropriate next step to address community concerns about data sharing and corporate practices. Travis Brooks described a working group recommendation and emphasized the need to identify alternatives to accommodate upcoming GIVE grant applications.
Opponents, including some legislators and members of the public, cautioned that some neighborhoods credit the cameras with improvements in safety and urged careful planning so that alternatives or staffing changes could avoid leaving vulnerable areas unprotected. County Attorney Maury Josephson and other staff explained that the requested draft resolution is designed to unwind the contract in coordination with the City of Ithaca and to minimize risk to grant-funded programs.
Next steps: staff will prepare the draft resolution for consideration at the legislature's next meeting, with language intended to preserve the county's eligibility for GIVE and youth employment funds to the maximum extent feasible.
