Boynton Beach weighs 6 Flock camera options Tuesday

Boynton Beach commissioners will be asked Tuesday to decide whether the city keeps, pauses or ends its Flock Safety license plate cameras. The city attorney’s office has set out six options, from carrying on as now to ending the camera contract on 30 days’ notice.

The item is 10.D on the City Commission agenda for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at City Hall, 100 E. Ocean Ave. Staff ask the commission for direction by consensus on “continuation, modification, replacement, or discontinuation” of the program.

The commission discussed the cameras Oct. 6 without settling the question. It asked for a summary of its contract options at that meeting, according to a memo dated Oct. 12 from City Attorney Shawna Lamb and Deputy City Attorney Stacey Weinger. Our preview of the Oct. 6 meeting covers the police department’s camera rules and the earlier legal memo.

The six options

The memo lists them in this order:

1. Continue as is. All orders stay in effect and payments continue. The memo says this carries no contract risk but leaves the concerns in its Oct. 2 memo in place, and lets each order renew automatically unless the city gives notice.
2. Continue with changes. The city would ask Flock to write in the seven-day data limit, a data breach notice requirement, breach and privacy indemnity, and advance notice before Flock discloses city data. Flock does not have to agree.
3. Pause use. Police would stop using the system for a set period, such as through the 2027 legislative session. No notice to Flock is needed. The city would keep paying, and the cameras would stay up.
4. Negotiated standstill. The city would ask Flock to suspend both service and payments until the 2027 session and pending federal appeals are decided. Flock does not have to agree.
5. Do not renew. Service would end when the current terms run out. For the main order, that is November 2027. This would not by itself end three later orders.
6. End it now. The contract lets the city stop paying if the commission does not fund it, on 30 days’ written notice and without penalty. That would end the plate camera program.

Options 2 through 4 can be combined with option 5, the memo says.

What ending the contract would involve

The camera money is already in this year’s budget, under the Traffic Safety Fund, according to the agenda item. So option 6 would also need a budget amendment that takes back the money and moves it elsewhere, the memo says.

Other points from the memo:

• Gunshot detection. Flock also runs the city’s gunshot detection system, under the same master agreement. The police department recommends keeping it. The memo says the city could stop funding the plate cameras and keep gunshot detection, but Flock may argue the two stand or fall together, so the split should be put in writing.
• The hardware. Flock owns the cameras and is responsible for removing them.
• No refund. The existing orders have no provision to pay back discounts.
• Later orders. Three more Flock orders were signed by staff in September 2025, without a commission vote, and run into the 2028-29 budget year. Each is tied to the master agreement’s funding clause, the memo says.
• A clean break. Ending the contract would be permanent for the plate cameras. Any return to Flock would mean new terms at the prices of the day. The city could still buy plate readers from another company later, through a new purchase and budget vote.

Also on Tuesday’s agendas

The regular agenda also includes:

• Two performance reviews. Commissioners will evaluate City Manager Daniel Dugger and City Attorney Shawna Lamb, the fourth review for each. The commission may raise either’s pay or benefits, or grant a bonus, under their employment terms, the manager’s item says.
• A preference for veteran-owned firms. A proposed ordinance, up for first reading, would let a state-certified veteran business enterprise match the lowest bid if its own bid is within 10%. It would also get five evaluation points in proposals and win ties. The item says 3,315 veterans live in Boynton Beach, citing Census Bureau survey data.
• Factory-built homes. A second first-reading ordinance would let modular and qualifying manufactured homes go anywhere a site-built single-family home is allowed, as a 2026 state law requires. Homes would need skirting and their wheels removed. Mobile homes built before June 15, 1976, would stay limited to mobile home parks, according to the item.
• Shade at Oceanfront Park. The city would take over two solar canopies at Oceanfront Park, 6415 N. Ocean Blvd., from Florida Power & Light for $10. FPL will remove the electrical parts, so they will serve as shade only, the item says.
• Police grants. The commission will ratify applications for a $299,109 state grant for anti-human-trafficking technology and two $25,000 traffic safety grants for seat belt and work zone enforcement.

A joint meeting of the commission and the Community Redevelopment Agency board is also set for Tuesday. It would approve agreements to remove, donate and store the historic Oyer mural, with the agency paying up to $100,000 toward removal. The Oyer family would sign a consent and release. The board would also make the city attorney’s office the agency’s legal counsel, with an amendment to the city attorney’s contract for the extra duties.

A proposed ordinance on censuring commission members, earlier listed for Oct. 20, now appears under future items with no date set.

What it means for you

• To speak on the cameras, attend in person or join online. Comments on a regular item are taken after a motion and a second, with a three-minute limit. Live comment instructions are under each meeting video on the city’s YouTube channel.
• To watch, use the city’s meeting video page.
• For accommodations, call the City Clerk’s Office at 561-742-6060 at least 48 hours ahead.
• If you drive in the city, the cameras keep running until the commission directs otherwise. Under the department’s current policy, plate data is kept for seven days.

We will report the commission’s direction after Tuesday’s meeting. For police activity, see our Police and Fire log.