I have finally confirmed that the Taos Town Council never voted on the Flock Safety contract to install 18 cameras around town. In my post last week, I referred to being told there was a vote, yet I could not find any records on my own or in public records requests. In a follow-up request, the town clerk clarified that the statement was a mistake, saying that "The Flock system was presented to the Council during a Workshop meeting where there is no action taken and they stated their support but there was not a vote."
The lack of a vote is problematic. While it may have been technically legal to secure the cameras under the then-new procurement policy, the lack of transparency leading up to the contract signing and subsequent annual renewals leaves the public in the dark about using surveillance equipment from a startup tech company without much, if any, governance. As one reader told me last week, the public deserves to see their council members take a vote on the record.
Some good news: Council member Darien Fernandez made a request at the July 14 council meeting to discuss the Flock contract. That could occur as early as the council workshop on July 27 or regular meeting on July 28.
In Other News...
Save the Dates
If you want to get ahead of next week's meetings, should they have Flock on the agenda, the next town council meeting is combined with the county commission this week at 4 p.m. on July 23. While the town has Flock, the county voted last year to bring 20 ALPRs from SoundThinking. While that may be on hold for now, the public should urge clarity on its status.
As mentioned above, the July 27 council workshop and/or the July 27 regular meeting could have Flock on the agenda. I'll make an update when those are available.
AI Data Center Bans
It's worth noting that data centers and the growing surveillance state are intertwined. So it's interesting that Taos County could soon be sandwiched by two counties that have temporarily banned new data centers. Santa Fe County approved an 18-month moratorium on July 2, followed by the Costilla County (CO) planning commission's July 15 recommendation of a year-long moratorium, which goes next to the county commission. Will Taos County and its various municipalities do the same?
Taos News Op-Ed
Many new readers found this burgeoning project via my op-ed in last week's paper (thank you for signing up!). But just in case you came here by other means, check it out: Say no to surveillance capitalism: 'DeFlock' Taos.
Questions? Reach out to me, Zach Behrens, at [email protected].