Lame duck Council votes to advance Flock license plate reader expansion

Lexington, Ky.–The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council voted Tuesday to advance a resolution quadrupling the size of the Flock license plate reader from 25 cameras to 100. The current council is considered a “lame duck” body–six new council members will be joining in January, following November’s election.

The resolution is officially titled “A Resolution authorizing the Div. of Police to purchase Automatic License Plate Reader Program from Flock Group Inc., a sole source provider, and authorizing the Mayor, on behalf of the Urban County Government, to execute any necessary Agreement.”

Hannah LeGris, Jennifer Reynolds, Steve Kay, and David Kloiber all voted against the resolution. All other Council members voted “Yes,” except Richard Moloney, who was absent.

It’s still possible the incoming Council could kill the program before the additional 75 cameras go up. Specifically, the Mayor and Police Department agreed to hold a meeting before the 26th camera goes up. CM David Kloiber broke it down like this in an email:

The second reading on that resolution has officially given the administration full authority to execute a binding contract with the vendor for the expansion of the FLOCK camera program.

Now if the new council wishes to come in and reconsider the issue, they could look at the program for early termination, but depending on the contract signed by the Mayor, there may be no way out of the deal until a certain time has passed, or we pay money to break the contract. 

CM David Kloiber

Flock expansion Council documents 1. Cover Memo – Flock Group Inc, 2. Flock Group Inc, 3. SOLE SOURCE CERTIFICATION – Flock Group Inc., 4. 00769202.pdf

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the step of the process the resolution was in. Last night was the resolution’s second reading.