Legislature fast-tracks camera system’s departure vote
by Robert Lynch; April 15, 2026
Sometimes the truth comes out when a politician lets down her guard and forgets first to calculate politically. And that’s what happened Tuesday, April 14 during a suddenly-called, 15-minute meeting of the Tompkins County Legislature.
Convening a session otherwise purposed for a private discussion of a personnel matter never revealed, the Legislature slipped onto its public agenda the termination of a multi-year contract with Flock Safety, the company that’s provided license-plate reading security cameras along local roadways. The resolution passed. Flock’s contract would terminate at the end of May.
“Resolved, that the County Administrator and County Attorney are directed to provide timely written notice to Flock terminating the Flock Contract prior to the auto-renewal date,” the adopted resolution states.
The flash of unguarded candor came through the words of Legislature Chair Shawna Black, a recent driving force behind the removal of Flock surveillance. And while Black and the Legislature’s other dozen Democrats have supported the controversial cameras’ removal, leaders in local law enforcement, most notably Tompkins County Sheriff Derek Osborne, have staunchly defended Flock’s presence. Osborne has maintained the Flock cameras deter crime and save lives.
“We made Sheriff Osborne’s job very, very hard whenever we decided against the Flock cameras,” Black stated from the podium Tuesday, truth admitted in that most unguarded of moments.
“And I want to apologize for taking away one of your tools,” Black continued her candid apology to the Sheriff. “I know that it was effective at times,” Black said of Flock. “And Derek was about to kill me a few weeks ago,” the chairwoman acknowledged in jest, “but I think we’re friends again.”
Maybe Shawna Black believed the public wasn’t watching or listening Tuesday night. The gallery appeared empty. Yet by the next afternoon, YouTube reported as many as 92 people had viewed the meeting’s video stream.
Critics, both on and off the Legislature, have criticized the Flock cameras as an invasion of civil liberties and privacy. They’ve also accused the parent company, Flock Group, Inc. of colluding with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the surveillance of undocumented immigrants.
Any critic of what the Legislature’s been doing lately may have sensed a touch of remorse in Chairwoman Black’s unscripted words; sudden second-thoughts, maybe fleeting deference to conscience, Shawna Black’s honest recognition of right versus wrong, of responsible governance versus slavish obedience to the small, yet vocal cadre of activists who’ve pummeled the Legislature at meeting after meeting to urge Flock’s banishment as a bad actor.
But too late. Tuesday’s decision was, effectively, a foregone conclusion. Its outcome became certain one week earlier when Black’s ally, Lansing Democrat Deborah Dawson, had sprung onto the agenda—and won quick passage—of the motion directing the County Attorney and County Administrator to write the resolution that unwound our county’s involvement with Flock.
“I’m super appreciative and supportive of this,” Caroline/Danby legislator Irene Weiser said of the unwinding resolution. Other than Black, Weiser was the only legislator to speak to the Flock resolution prior to its adoption at the special meeting. “So thank you all, and especially Sheriff Osborne, for being flexible here in the community and still looking for ways to protect the areas that are wanting and needing protection.”
The April 14 resolution passed on a vote of 12 to one. No votes had changed since Dawson’s motion had passed one week earlier.
Sentiment again split along party lines. Each of the dozen Democrats present supported canceling the contract. Newfield/Enfield’s Randy Brown, the only Republican in the room, opposed it. A second Republican, Lansing’s Mike Sigler, attended remotely, but was advised the circumstances of his virtual attendance prevented him from voting. The third Republican, Lee Shurtleff of Groton, didn’t attend.
When Dawson’s test vote cleared the Legislature one week earlier, Dawson and others had signaled the final vote on Flock would occur at the Legislature’s next regular meeting, April 21. But the timetable would have proved tight in meeting the April 28 deadline for notifying Flock of the contract’s termination. Otherwise, the agreement would have auto-renewed for two more years.
County Attorney Maury Josephson told Tuesday’s meeting that the move-up of legislative action provided the county some “breathing room.”
But sadly, the accelerated adoption schedule did something else. It precluded additional public comment.
Supporters of Flock could not have anticipated Dawson’s motion of April 7. They wouldn’t have been in the Legislature’s chambers to speak that night or to have pre-filed written comments. And the rules of the Legislature do not allow for public comment at special meetings. So by accelerating this latest vote, the procedure silenced Flock supporters again.
On Wednesday, April 8, the Enfield Town Board had considered a Resolution titled, “Providing Tompkins County Guidance in the Continuation of Flock Safety Services.” The resolution gained support from two out of five Enfield Town Board members (including this Councilperson/writer, the resolution’s author.) The resolution, as drafted, opposed Tompkins County’s impending contract termination with Flock and had argued that the termination would be “premature and unwise” and “would endanger public safety.”
Given the absence of any public comment opportunity, neither an Enfield representative nor sympathetic legislators could easily air Enfield’s (minority) municipal viewpoint before the contract termination vote had occurred.
Neither of the two attending Republican legislators, Randy Brown nor Mike Sigler, offered opinion before the resolution’s adoption Tuesday. Asked by Shawna Black to speak to the resolution before it passed, Sheriff Osborne declined comment. Osborne did address next-steps after the vote was taken.
Money for the Flock program had come through a state-sponsored $220,650 “Gun Involved Violence Elimination” (GIVE) grant. Local law enforcement officials, principally Ithaca Police Chief Tom Kelly, wrote for renewal of the GIVE grant last week. Pressed for ideas on deadline and given the Legislature’s newfound opposition to Flock, Osborne said grant writers plugged in a request to buy dash-mounted license plate readers for police cars as a substitute. It would serve short-term as a placeholder.
“We’re getting quotes now on camera trailers,” Osborne reported. “They look nice, but they’re extremely expensive,” the Sheriff cautioned. Each trailer costs about $73,000. The GIVE grant money might buy at most two, Osborne said. He also questioned the trailers’ feasibility.
But then, again, if the public objections lie in surveillance, might camera trailers themselves resurrect the central issue that terminated Flock?
“Are we prepared for the backlash when one of these things shows up, and people say, ‘Well, now you’re not watching the whole county, you’re watching a specific area or a specific group of people?’” legislator Sigler asked.
The Sheriff acknowledged Sigler’s scenario could be true.
“Yeah, for sure,” Osborne said. “These are cameras that do similar work,” he said. “”But I’m hoping that if we just deploy them to areas where need arises, that maybe that’ll be the difference, at least I hope.”
That could be more easily said than done. Public opinion is seldom unanimous. One neighbor’s crime fighting tool is another neighbor’s peeping intruder.
The Sheriff has another worry. It involves timing.
“There’s certainly probably going to be a time frame when Flock goes away before we purchase and have these devices, if we even move in that direction,” Osborne advised legislators, referring to the trailers. “So I’m more worried about that, about what happens in-between with gun crime and violent crime. So time will tell,” Osborne concluded.
Clearly by his words, Derek Osborne is not pleased with the hardline position against Flock that the Tompkins County Legislature has chosen. A repopulated and more progressive table of lawmakers this year has struck a new path that pleases some, but not others. Last fall, legislators had approved Flock’s continued presence; but not now.
In early-March, the Ithaca Common Council, also tilting liberal, canceled its contract with Flock.
“I’m afraid we are letting a few strong voices really take away the common sense,” Randy Brown told the Enfield Town Board earlier his month as he gauged the new legislative environment.
No doubt, Tuesday’s action underscored Brown’ impression, Shawna Black’s spontaneous second thoughts accepted or not.
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