Council reviews capital plan; members press police on drone use and privacy, discuss rail-trail funding

City staff walked the council through elements of the proposed 2027–2031 capital plan on July 6, highlighting a police drone program and a placeholder amount of roughly $5,400,000 for a 3.3-mile rail-trail project. Staff said Axon — the cloud platform used for the city's body-worn camera program — would also store drone footage, the Axon subscription runs through 2029, and the drones themselves were expected to have approximately a five-year lifespan. Staff and council emphasized the department's stated policy that drones would be used for execution of criminal warrants, search-and-rescue operations and not for proactive policing; questions remained about mutual-aid video retention and whether external providers aggregate footage for model training.

Council members pressed for clearer policy provisions around when drones record (en route vs. on-site), retention limits for mutual-aid footage, whether footage is identifiable as police equipment, and agreements preventing vendors from aggregating municipal data for other uses. Separately, council members asked whether the roughly $5.4 million entry for the rail-trail would come from state funding; staff said sources have not been identified and the finance director conservatively included the full amount as a placeholder while staff pursue government or private sources and grants. Members approved the capital plan by voice vote after discussion, noting annual budgeting and bond approvals remain steps before expenditures occur.