Boynton Beach to drop Flock plate cameras by November 2027

Boynton Beach will not renew its Flock Safety license plate camera contract. The City Commission agreed Tuesday to let the main agreement run out in November 2027 and to have a different plate reader system ready to take over by then.

Commissioners also asked the police department to look at switching off some of its cameras sooner, on smaller streets away from the city’s main roads.

The commission gave the direction by consensus, without a formal vote, on item 10.D of the Oct. 20 agenda. The discussion is in the city’s meeting video, from about one hour and 40 minutes in.

What the commission decided

City attorneys had set out six choices in a memo dated Oct. 12, from carrying on as now to ending the contract on 30 days’ notice. Our preview of the meeting lists all six.

The commission chose nonrenewal. In practice that means:

• The main contract ends in November 2027. Most of the city’s Flock cameras are on that agreement, and they keep running until then.
• The later orders get a push to end at the same time. Three smaller orders run into the 2028-29 budget year. The city attorney’s office and the police chief will ask Flock whether it will end them in November 2027 as well.
• If Flock says no, the city could stop funding those orders alone. A deputy city attorney said that would need a narrowly drawn finding, based on concerns specific to Flock.
• Gunshot detection stays. Flock also runs the city’s gunshot detection system under the same master agreement. The police department wants to keep it, so it will need an amendment or a new order. Those items will come back to the commission later.
• A smaller network may come first. Commissioner Aimee Kelley asked the department to consider an “operational pause” on cameras that are not at major intersections or city entrances.

The police chief said the department has 38 cameras deployed. Most cover the main roads and the city’s entry points on its east, west, south and north sides, including the I-95 ramps. A few sit on smaller streets, and he said the department would review whether to keep them.

Why not end it now

Ending the contract early for lack of funding would not work if the city simply moved to another company, Kelley said, because it would still need money for the replacement.

“If I felt like we could do it and still provide the service that we provide, and still be able to run a realtime crime center that’s become vital to our police department, I would kill it tonight,” Kelley said.

The chief said nonrenewal would give his staff time to compare vendors, buy a new system and plan where its cameras go. He said a new system would take about 12 to 13 weeks to set up if all goes well. The first Flock rollout took 302 days, he said. He added that the vendors the department compared all offered similar core features.

What the other commissioners said

• Commissioner Mack McCray said he would follow Kelley’s lead.
• Another member of the dais called the technology “misleading” and backed Kelley’s approach, while saying the city should not lose the drop in violent crime the department has reported.
• Commissioner Angela Cruz said she agreed with nonrenewal and with finding ways to reduce the number of cameras, possibly with each district commissioner.

Mayor Rebecca Shelton asked for consensus, and staff confirmed it would begin work on the nonrenewal and talk to Flock about the later orders.

Also decided Tuesday

The commission voted 5-0 on three ordinances:

• Factory-built homes, first reading. Modular and qualifying manufactured homes would be allowed anywhere a site-built single-family home is, as a 2026 state law requires.
• A preference for veteran-owned firms, first reading. A state-certified veteran business could match the lowest bid if its own bid is within 10%.
• Personal instruction and consultation services, second reading. The ordinance creates a new zoning use for that kind of business and sets the districts where it is allowed.

Other outcomes:

• The Oyer mural. In a joint meeting, the commission and the Community Redevelopment Agency board approved removing the historic mural before its building is demolished for The Pierce project. The agency will pay up to $100,000. The city will store the mural in one of its own buildings and has made no commitment to put it back up.
• Legal work for the agency. Both boards approved moving the agency’s legal work to the city attorney’s office. A commissioner said the change would return $205,000 to the agency, and staff agreed.
• The city manager’s review. City Manager Daniel Dugger said he was not seeking a pay change this year. Kelley said the commission would revisit his salary after November.
• Spending limits. Commissioners agreed to raise the amount the city manager can approve without a commission vote from $75,000 to $150,000. The limit for emergency construction repairs would rise to $750,000. A resolution comes back at a later meeting.

What it means for you

• If you drive in Boynton Beach, the plate cameras keep running for now. Under the department’s current policy, plate data is kept for seven days.
• Some cameras may go dark sooner. No list has been published. We will report which cameras are paused when the department says.
• The replacement is not chosen yet. A new vendor would need a purchase and a budget vote by the commission, so there will be a public agenda item first.
• To follow it, watch for Flock items on the City Commission agendas, or watch meetings on the city’s meeting video page.

For the earlier debate, read our stories on the police department’s camera rules and the six contract options. For police activity, see our Police and Fire log.