MIDLOTHIAN – The Midlothian City Council passed an item to allow the city’s Police Department to purchase Flock Safety License Plate Reader Products and services for a cost to the city not to exceed $209,100.00.
The item, 2024-320, passed 4 – 2 with a caveat by councilmember Place 5 Ross Weaver, which had been originally suggested by Councilmembers Place 1 Allen Moorman, to create a subcommittee overseeing the oversight process of the FLOCK cameras until there could be a way to flag inappropriate use of the system.
Weaver said that he agreed with Councilmember Place 3 Anna Hammonds when she said, “The expectation of privacy in the public sphere died when the iPhone was born. Everyone has a camera, everyone has a listening device in their hand and you can’t walk anywhere in this world without the expectation that someone is videoing you at any point in time,” and said; for that reason, he was making a motion to approve this item with the caveat that there be a council subcommittee on oversight that meets regularly with Midlothian’s Commander Hart and the city’s Police Chief to ensure “we are using the system in a manner that is not detrimental.”
Councilmembers Moorman and Place 2 Mike Rodgers voted against the item with strong comments as to their reasoning. Mayor pro tem Clark Wickliffe was not in attendance to vote.
Weaver pointed out the idea of accountability with this product and asked, “Who is watching the watcher?”
The discussion began with resident Lisa Healy during public comment, who said there are currently no state or federal laws that apply, which opens the city up to abuse.
“While they state they will only hold the data encrypted for 30 days, they can decide not to. It is a cloud-based system that could be hacked. That data while they say they won’t share it, they could share it. It opens us an opportunity for abuse and that has concerns for me especially when you are having the taxpayers pay the bill.”
She said her other concern is current legislation regarding these systems and investing the money if legislation prohibits their use. She suggested waiting to purchase might be better after new legislation is determined.
“My other concern,” she noted, was “the overreach of the federal government. As you can see right now, the developer of Telegram was arrested in France because he refuses, absolutely refuses to give away data. I don’t think this Flock will have that fortitude, and also, there have been abuses in Midlothian for overreach with the police department.”
She said she could say this because she has had personal experience, “and I want to ensure they do not have that ability to do that with the Flock system. If you do decide to put this in Midlothian, I ask that you not have the taxpayers flip the bill. I don’t want to live in this state and a lot of people don’t realize it is the slow creep that takes our freedoms away, this is a slow creep and it will not be all at once. Have we forgotten COVID, we lost a lot of freedoms during COVID and this is another one right there knocking at our door.”
It was revealed that there are 146 cameras currently operating in the city of Midlothian, minus the number that will be increased with the Flock cameras. The data is saved for 120 days, and there are about 40 or 50 pointed toward roadways, but it was said, “We try and avoid roadways aside from the few we are testing for specific purposes.”
Midlothian Police Chief Carl Smith emphasized that these cameras are all about solving crimes, and the FLOCK system deletes the information, not the Police Department. As Weaver said, “Who is watching the watcher?”
As to his reason for voting no, Moorman asked who in the department had access to this information, and Smith said all the officers. When Moorman asked if there was a way to limit that access, Smith said every officer has access to TCIC on the PCs they use in the car, too, and they can do more damage with that than the FLOCK system.
Moorman also voiced his concerns, noting it will likely catch the bad guys, but he also said in 2020 the stay-at-home order, which took place, was a shock that many did not believe could happen, but it did due to COVID. He said his primary concern is not if the city’s PD will do their job, but in the event, as in 2020, if there is any type of emergency top down from the state to restrict movement as they did during COVID, and they say “you have a camera system that will tell us where people are going and if they are out, I don’t want to be part of setting up that kind of overreach.”
Moorman read a comment for the record from former Midlothian Mayor Richard Reno, “I advise the council to be slow to act and delay this decision until the community has had the chance to fully discuss and consider. Benjamin Franklin said to trade liberty for safety you have neither.”
Reno went on to write that he fully supports the police. He said the police are in the community to make citizens safer; citizens are not here to make their jobs safer by the passing of this ordinance.
“I favor limited government and once steps are taken over time the intrusion to our lives will only become more so,” Reno’s letter read.
Moorman suggested using this $200,000 budget to invest in more personnel or at least create a subcommittee to assure FLOCK accountability.
Rodgers voiced his reason for voting no stating “Where is our society headed, that is the part that scares me. The other part that scares me is an undesired momentum that moves forward in more of a controlling manner even within our own city ordinances, code systems, all that works in a forward momentum.”
Rodgers said what concerns him the most about the FLOCK cameras is, “We are headed to a point living in a state in the latter point of my lifetime, we already know we are tracked by our cell phones, I’ve been told there are already computer algorithm systems which can tie what we touch on Facebook or do on the internet that the CIA or other governmental agencies can decide what makes us tick and I believe there is only one thing left to make that complete and that is to be able to have a literal video system attached to that in another 10 to 20 years so that no matter what we do we are living in real-time all the time from the time we walk out our front door. Once we pass onto our sidewalk, we will be tracked in real-time.”
Rodgers went on to say that everything that has been said makes sense from an application and money-saving standpoint. Yet, he said there is “a side of me that does not say yes to the allowance of…” he recalled being in Europe and people walking down the street had a camera on everything they did, and he said wow, look at that. He said now he does not think he can bring himself to say that is the life he wants to live along with the Midlothian citizens, and he said for that reason, he did not know if he could support this.
Rodgers also commented that, overall, the world is about watching people, without even having to touch them these days.
Place 6 councilmember Wayne Shuffield asked, “How can we assure the privacy of the citizenship at the same time keeping their freedom while also considering the criminal?”
Hammonds said she disagreed with many of the comments and mentioned that, as noted in Weaver’s comment before making his motion, there is far more going on than the FLOCK system.
Coffman said he valued the comments and added he wanted to know if he did everything he could to make the community as safe as possible, so he voted yes on the item.
Other regular agenda items passed, including 2024-312 in a 6 – 0 to authorize the issuance and sale of City of Midlothian, Texas, Tax Notes, Series 2024, in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $6,100,000 approving the sale of the notes for the use of funding road rehabilitation, purchase and refurbish equipment, design the new fire station, and build a reserve apparatus bay for fire.
Item 2024-313 passed 6 – 0 to appoint Terry Blank to the Midlothian Public Library Board to fill a vacancy, item 2024-314 passed 6 – 0 to approve a contract with Motorola Solutions to add three additional radio consoles, upgrade the existing radio consoles and move them to the new Public Safety Facility in an amount not to exceed $454,055.00, item 2024-315 passed 6 – 0 to approve a contract with Motorola Solutions for an In-building Distributed Antenna System (BDA) and Cellular booster for the new Public Safety Facility in an amount not to exceed $298,641.38, item 2024-316 passed 6 – 0 to approve Johnson Technical Services (JTS) to move & reinforce the large communications tower at the Police Department, move all equipment from the small tower to the large tower, and run fiber to the tower for $115,623.43 with a 10% contingency of $11,562.34 for an amount not to exceed $127,185.77, item 2024-317 passed 6 – 0 to for a contract with Johnson Technical Services (JTS) to upgrade the microwave from the Police Department to Water Treatment Plant 1 (Tayman) for $54,163.96 plus a 10% contingency of $5,416.40 in an amount not to exceed $59,580.36., item 2024-318 passed 6 – 0 to approve an agreement with Graphtec, Inc. for signage and wayfinding for the new City Hall & Library facility in a base bid amount of $128,322 plus a 10% contingency of $12,832 for a total amount not to exceed of $141,154 and item 2024-319 passed 6 – 0 to approve the purchase and installation of audio-visual equipment from Infinity Sound, Ltd. for the Council Chambers and Community Room in the new City Hall & Library in the amount of $138,650.00 with a 10% contingency of $13,865.00 for a not to exceed amount of $152,515.00.
Item 2024-321, a resolution to authorize the Midlothian Police Department to apply for a General Victim Assistance Grant Program, Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant (application 4712402, FY 2024-2025) from the State of Texas Office of the Governor, Public Safety Office authorizing the City Manager to accept, reject, alter or terminate the grant passed 5 – 0 with Councilmember Weaver stepping out and not voting.
Item 2024-322 passed 6 – 0 to approve a resolution authorizing the Midlothian Police Department to apply for a Criminal Justice Grant, JAG grant (application 4800702, FY 2024-2025) from the State of Texas Office of the Governor, Public Safety Office, as well as an additional item 2024-323 passing 6 – 0 for an Interlocal Agreement between the Midlothian Independent School District and the City of Midlothian, Texas for the assignment of one police commander, one police sergeant and 16 police officers to MISD for the 2024- 25 school year.
Item 2024-324 was for discussion only with a presentation from the Midlothian Economic Development on the city’s small business training opportunities for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, which will include educational workshops free to the community as well as the Chamber to continue its Business Academy and a new program focused on helping local businesses grow as Primary Job Employers.
Item 2024-325 then passed 5 – 0 with Hammonds not voting to act upon a recommendation from Midlothian Economic Development to approve the program and expenditures outlined in the Economic Development Performance Agreement with Lawson 7th, LLC not to exceed $30,234.00.
All consent agenda items passed in one vote except item 2024-308 to authorize the City Manager to enter into an Interlocal Agreement with the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool (TMLIRP) for Cyber Liability and Data Breach Response coverage, which was pulled for discussion. Place 5 Ross Weaver said he was confused on this item and so it was explained to him the change by doing this is to be a part of the risk pool and has nothing to do with coverage or costs. This item passed 5 -1.
The remainder of the consent agenda items passed 6 – 0 including 2024-307 the minutes from the City Council August 13; 2024-309 an Administrative Services Contract between the City of Midlothian and the Midlothian Community Development Corporation (MCDC); and 2024-310 to award agreements for Everyday Use and Emergency Bottled Water Services to Blue Triton Brands, Inc., dba ReadyRefresh Waters (primary), Simba Logistics, LLC (secondary), and Essence Bottling, Inc. (tertiary).
One Public Hearing was held regarding the proposed FY 2024-2025 Annual Operating Budgets for the City of Midlothian, which did not require action. Discussion was had regarding the operating budget with a conversation discussing the continuation of the budget with a second public hearing to be held at the next city council meeting.
Public comments began with Lisa Healy, who had a question about the Homestead and where it was accounted for in the budget. She also had a question regarding the salary study of $157,000 and wondered if it could be postponed until next year since employees have been given increases within the past years. She also pointed out that staff is receiving a 4% raise, and she requested that anything above that not be approved since staff is one of few groups receiving raises in this economy.
Weaver had a question regarding the taxable value of the properties, asking if there was a way for the assessor collector’s office to provide a footnote statistic to be added to the number that is not to be collected.
City Manager Chris Dick said what complicates the situation with the numbers is the over-65 and the disabled have a ceiling. Coffman also said he wanted to make a point of clarity that “it is budgeted for 4%, and staff members could receive up to 4% pending their evaluation.”
Rodgers also reiterated he would like to see a breakdown of tax burden and tax relief during the year, and Dick said this information should be noted on each person’s tax statement.
