Council approves amended authorization for five‑year Flock Safety ALPR contract after privacy debate; amendment passed 3–2

The Clear Lake City Council on Dec. 7 authorized an amended direction to enter a five‑year contract with Flock Safety for automated license‑plate-reader (ALPR) cameras after an extended debate about privacy, data-retention policy and vendor-contract safeguards.

Police Chief Hobbs briefed the council that the department operates 30 stationary ALPR cameras supplied by Flock and currently pays about $55,480 per year for camera operations and software. Hobbs told the council that the vendor had signaled a substantial cost increase for customers not on a five‑year agreement and that entering a five‑year contract would hold the city’s cost near current levels (the chief cited a small $400 adjustment to the currently billed amount) instead of a roughly $32,320 annual increase from new customer pricing.

The chief described operational benefits—alerts for stolen or wanted vehicles, investigative leads, locating missing persons—and legal/audit obligations under state law (AB/Senate Bill 34) requiring periodic audits. He said Clear Lake retains ALPR data for 30 days (city policy reflects the minimum configured retention) and runs monthly audit sampling; he reported roughly 1,655,000 ALPR records over a 30‑day span representing about 82,000 unique vehicles and that 137 agencies are pre‑authorized to query the Flock database.

Vice Mayor Claffey pressed staff on privacy safeguards: whether aggregated/anonymized data could be sold or otherwise used by third parties, how pre‑authorization is documented, whether retention could be reduced (he proposed 7 days; others suggested 15), and the ability to terminate the contract in the event of unauthorized access. The chief said pre‑authorizations are maintained in the vendor portal, that audit trails log who ran queries and why, and that state law and vendor practices constrain some commercial uses. Staff agreed to update written policies to match operational settings (for example, reflecting a 30‑day retention period in city policy language).

Council considered new camera options focused on AI‑based fire detection (different camera siting and analytics) and discussed seeking partnerships with Lake County fire agencies if the city pursues the fire‑detection option.

On the procurement motion, a council member moved to authorize the chief to enter a five‑year contract with Flock Safety and to adopt Resolution No. 2023‑48. An amended motion to add explicit termination-for-breach language passed 3–2 (council members Slooten, Overton and Claffey in favor; Kramer and Mayor Purdock opposed). City staff were directed to contact Flock and see if the company will accept the revised language before the Dec. 31 renewal deadline; council members instructed staff to call a special meeting if the vendor will not accept the amendment.

Next steps: staff will negotiate with Flock on the termination clause and other safeguards, update city policies to match retention and access controls, and return to council as needed.