Auburn appears headed toward ending its contract with Flock Safety after City Council members said Thursday they want to move away from the company’s automated license plate reader system and develop local rules governing how similar surveillance technology can be used in the future.
The Aug. 13 meeting also brought a warning that the city’s electricity supply costs are likely to rise sharply when its current contract expires this fall, a detailed look at a new wastewater treatment process that could eventually turn biosolids into a reusable product, and an extensive postmortem on a budget process council members repeatedly described as too long, too contentious and in need of major changes.
No formal resolutions, ordinances or local laws were on the agenda. Instead, the nearly three-hour session was built around three presentations and discussions: the city’s electric and natural gas supply contracts, the future of automated license plate readers and changes council members want before beginning another budget cycle.
The license plate reader discussion drew the most public attention and produced the clearest direction from council: prepare a resolution for consideration that would begin the process of terminating Auburn’s Flock contract.
Council moves closer to ending Flock contract
Residents have been appearing before City Council for months to raise privacy concerns about Flock Safety, whose camera system uses automated license plate recognition technology and broader data networks to help law enforcement track vehicles.
Several speakers returned Thursday to ask the city not only to cancel its Flock contract but impose a broader moratorium on AI-based surveillance technology.
Their concerns centered on who can access license plate data, whether information can be shared beyond Auburn police, the use of artificial intelligence and the risk that moving from Flock to another large technology company could simply reproduce the same concerns under a different name.
Councilor Terrence Cuddy, who led the council discussion, said he has become convinced Auburn should stop using Flock.
Cuddy said he trusts the Auburn Police Department and does not believe local officers have misused the technology. His concern is the city’s inability to fully control what happens to information once it enters a third-party platform.
He also cited the process through which the system was obtained. Council members have said the city never formally accepted the state grant used to acquire the technology, a step required under the city charter.
Cuddy proposed two tracks: end Auburn’s relationship with Flock and develop a local law governing future use of automated license plate readers.
That distinction became important throughout the discussion.
Cuddy said he does not support a blanket moratorium on license plate readers and believes the technology can have legitimate law enforcement uses. Instead, he wants future systems to be locally controlled, with strict rules governing data access, retention and permissible searches.
Possible alternatives could include self-hosted systems where data remains under the control of Auburn police rather than being stored in a nationwide cloud network.
Councilor Christina Calarco agreed the Flock contract should end, saying city procedures were not followed when the technology was acquired.
She said she does not believe that failure was intentional but argued the city cannot overlook its own rules simply because the underlying technology may be useful.
Calarco also opposed a broad moratorium, saying she does not want to unnecessarily limit police officers’ ability to use technology that could help solve crimes.
Councilor Craig Diego was more cautious about immediately shutting down the existing system.
Diego said he is willing to replace Flock but wants another system ready before Auburn loses its current license plate reader capability.
He also argued the council should consider information from Flock and law enforcement, not only opponents of the technology, and said the public discussion has gradually expanded from objections to one company into broader opposition to surveillance technology.
Diego said he would support ending Flock if the city can identify a replacement that addresses privacy concerns.
Mayor James Giannettino also supported developing a local law and acknowledged the city made a procedural mistake.
Giannettino said state funding helped push rapidly evolving technology into communities before municipalities had adequate policies governing its use.
He compared the need for local ALPR rules to privacy protections surrounding medical records: technology may have legitimate value, but access must be strictly controlled.
The mayor said he supports a local law establishing what license plate reader information can be used for, who can access it, how outside agencies may request information and what auditing requirements should apply.
He does not support a moratorium.
City Manager Jenny Haines said the existing Flock agreement contains a provision requiring 30 days’ written notice before termination.
That means even if council approves a resolution ending the contract, the system would not necessarily shut down immediately.
Giannettino said the city also plans to contact Flock and explain that the grant acceptance process did not comply with Auburn’s charter. He hopes the company may agree to refund at least some of the unused portion of the contract.
Funding could complicate how quickly a replacement system is installed.
Giannettino said Auburn does not currently have money identified for another platform, although the city intends to apply for another round of state law enforcement technology funding. He said state officials have indicated canceling Flock should not prevent Auburn from seeking future grants.
Council members directed staff to continue working on the resolution, with a possible vote coming at a future meeting. They also want a timetable for developing the local law and choosing any replacement technology.
Electricity rates could jump when city contract expires
Before turning to Flock, council heard a lengthy presentation on something likely to have a direct effect on future city budgets: electricity prices.
Auburn’s current supply contract expires this fall, and representatives from NextEra Advisors told council the city should expect significantly higher prices regardless of which supplier it chooses.
The city currently pays a weighted average of roughly 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity supply.
Preliminary fixed-rate offers reviewed Thursday were closer to 9 cents or more per kilowatt-hour, depending on contract length and supplier.
NextEra representative Eric Michaelowski said electricity supply prices have been climbing as New York moves toward its climate and emissions goals while electricity demand increases.
He said natural gas generating capacity has declined or attracted less investment while wind and solar generation have not expanded quickly enough to offset all of that capacity.
At the same time, electricity demand is growing faster than it historically has.
Michaelowski warned that those forces are likely to continue producing higher baseline prices and more severe spikes during periods of extreme cold, heat or other disruptions.
The city has largely avoided those spikes because it locked in its current rate.
According to NextEra, Auburn avoided approximately $352,000 in electricity supply costs over the last 15 months compared with what it could have paid on variable market rates.
The question now is how long Auburn should lock in its next contract.
Cayuga County is considering aggregating electricity purchasing with multiple municipalities, potentially giving participating communities more buying power.
Auburn could sign a shorter contract and eventually join that effort.
But Michaelowski said Auburn already consumes enough electricity — about 8 million kilowatt-hours annually across 105 accounts — to attract competitive pricing on its own.
He recommended locking in a longer fixed-rate contract rather than waiting two years for the county purchasing group.
Haines said the preliminary discussion suggests a four-year contract may make more sense than a short-term deal intended to align Auburn with the county.
No contract was awarded Thursday.
Council also discussed another strategy for controlling utility costs: using less electricity.
NextEra offered to evaluate city buildings for energy conservation opportunities, particularly lighting upgrades.
Council members asked staff to first compile information about energy-efficiency projects Auburn has already completed and how much those improvements have saved.
The city’s natural gas contract does not expire until next summer. Officials said Auburn is currently paying about $4 per dekatherm, a rate Michaelowski described as highly favorable.
New wastewater dryer could cut landfill costs
City officials also showed council the first extended operation of new equipment at Auburn’s wastewater treatment plant.
Municipal Utilities Director Seth Jensen said the plant’s new biosolids dryer recently operated through the night and into a third shift as city employees continue learning how to run the system.
The process begins by removing water from wastewater solids until they reach roughly 20% dry material.
Those solids can currently be hauled to a landfill.
The new dryer takes the material significantly further, producing a final product that is more than 75% dry.
That reduction means the city could dramatically decrease the weight and volume of material it pays to transport and dispose of.
The longer-term goal is more ambitious.
Auburn plans to seek state approval to classify the dried material as Class A biosolids, which could allow it to be beneficially reused as fertilizer or a soil amendment rather than landfilled.
Jensen said the state certification process could take as long as a year and will require extensive testing.
The city has also tested its wastewater solids for PFAS. Jensen said results received so far have been well below federal standards, although Auburn is still awaiting final state guidance.
If the material receives Class A approval, Jensen said possible users could include farms, industries or the city itself.
Even giving the material away could represent a major financial improvement if Auburn no longer has to pay disposal costs.
The dryer is also designed to use biogas generated at the wastewater treatment plant.
The system currently operates reliably on natural gas, but staff and the equipment supplier are continuing to fine-tune a blend of natural gas and biogas.
If that works as intended, Auburn could reduce another operating expense by using gas already produced through its wastewater treatment process.
Once fully operational, the city expects to run the dryer continuously for about three days each week rather than seven days.
Haines also reported encouraging drinking water results.
Recent testing found no detectable contamination in finished drinking water, including testing associated with harmful algal bloom monitoring.
The city’s latest lead and copper testing also showed no exceedances. Auburn’s highest lead result was 0.004 parts per million compared with a regulatory limit of 0.015, while the highest copper result was 0.178 parts per million compared with a 1.3 parts-per-million limit.
Council wants major changes to next budget process
The meeting closed with an unusually detailed discussion of how Auburn should build its next budget.
There was broad agreement on one point: council members do not want to repeat the process they just went through.
The 2026-27 budget required Auburn to exceed the property tax cap and make personnel reductions after months of public debate over multiple financial scenarios.
Cuddy called the last two budget cycles more contentious than normal and said some of that pressure came from forces beyond Auburn’s control, including inflation, energy costs, health insurance and stagnant state aid.
But he also argued the city made its own process unnecessarily difficult.
One major target was the decision to have departments publicly present multiple budget scenarios, including potential service and personnel reductions.
Council members said the approach was intended to increase transparency but instead created confusion and allowed worst-case scenarios to dominate the public discussion.
Cuddy wants the public portion of the budget process shortened, potentially beginning in early April and wrapping up in early June.
He also wants monthly financial reporting throughout the year and quarterly comparisons showing how actual revenues and spending compare with the previous year.
Calarco suggested an even more fundamental change: determine how much money Auburn realistically expects to have first, then tell departments how much they can spend.
Rather than starting with department requests and trying to cut them back afterward, the city manager and comptroller would establish available resources and distribute those limits across city operations.
Diego strongly supported that approach.
He said council needs earlier access to all departmental presentations and wants a rule that presentation materials must be included with the regular agenda packet. If a department cannot provide its materials on time, Diego said its presentation should be postponed.
He also wants council informed whenever major budget assumptions change, particularly revenue projections.
Diego pointed to the city drawing roughly $3 million from fund balance after previous revenue estimates proved too optimistic and said he would rather underestimate revenue and finish with a surplus than overestimate revenue and face emergency cuts.
Mayor Giannettino agreed the budget process should become shorter and more standardized.
He said departmental descriptions of services are useful but should be separated from budget season. Departments can explain programs and operations throughout the year, leaving spring budget presentations focused on finances.
Comptroller Mary Beth Leeson proposed starting next year with a balanced recommended budget.
Under that structure, she and Haines would work with departments in advance, identify revenue, fixed costs and necessary reductions, then present council with a budget that already balances.
Departments would appear afterward to explain their individual budgets and answer questions about the consequences of reductions.
Council members could still propose additions, but they would also have to identify how those additions would be paid for — through another cut, additional revenue or some other funding source.
The approach received broad support.
Giannettino emphasized that shortening the public presentation period should not mean reducing transparency. The city would continue publishing budgets and supporting documents while providing more regular financial updates during the year.
The objective, council members said, is to make budget season less about competing hypothetical scenarios and more about the actual choices Auburn can afford.
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