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2026-05-07 - City Council (special)

Summary

Built from the official approved minutes of the May 7, 2026 special meeting (approved on the May 19, 2026 Consent Calendar). No video or transcript is posted, so there is no timing. The heading of the minutes calls it a special meeting; the clerk's certification calls it the regular meeting.

  • Roll call 5:09 p.m.: all members present except Bartlett, who arrived at 5:17 p.m. Adjourned 11:09 p.m. on a motion by Humbert, seconded by Tregub, all ayes.
  • One subject all night: Public Safety Technology (Item 1a), with the related Peace and Justice Commission item on the Flock Safety contracts (Item 1b).
  • Rules suspended (Mayor Ishii/Tregub) to set a three-hour public comment period, two hours in person and one hour online. Ayes: Kesarwani, Taplin, Bartlett, Tregub, Blackaby, Lunaparra, Humbert, Ishii; Noes: none; Absent: O'Keefe.
  • Meeting extended to 11:15 p.m. (Humbert/Kesarwani). Ayes: Kesarwani, Taplin, Bartlett, Tregub, O'Keefe, Blackaby, Lunaparra, Humbert; Noes: Ishii.
  • The City Manager's proposed Master Services Agreement with Flock Safety (drone, fixed camera, investigative software and license plate reader contract amendments; amounts below) was not approved. Council extended the existing license plate reader contract 12 months for up to 200,000 dollars instead.
  • Resolution No. 72,254-N.S. adopted as amended, approving revised Surveillance Use Policies for drones (UAS) and fixed cameras and the UAS Equipment Use Policy, with several referrals to the City Manager and committee.
  • Item 1b (cancel the Flock Safety contracts) was resolved by the action on Item 1a: no action taken on 1b.
  • 156 speakers; roughly 360 written communications were logged. Certified by City Clerk Numainville.

Flock Safety Contract Extension

  • Staff recommendation (City Manager, continued from March 24, 2026; contact Jennifer Louis, Police): amend the Flock Safety contract to add Drone as First Responder hardware, software and services for three years, not to exceed 750,000 dollars; add Condor PTZ fixed cameras for four years, not to exceed 310,000 dollars (up to 600,000 dollars with a three-year option); add Flock Nova investigative software for one year, not to exceed 75,000 dollars, funded by the Byrne State Crisis Intervention Program grant accepted July 29, 2025; and renew license plate readers for two years, not to exceed 330,000 dollars (660,000 dollars with a two-year option).
  • Main motion (Blackaby/Humbert): do not proceed with the full Master Services Agreement; extend the current license plate reader contract 12 months for up to 200,000 dollars; negotiate the terms in the Humbert and Blackaby supplemental material of March 24, plus explore a penalty of 290,000 dollars per violation; direct the City Manager to start an RFP process, in consultation with the Police Accountability Board and the Police Department, for each MSA component and their integration; and include Lunaparra's license plate reader amendment requiring an efficacy and compliance assessment presented to Council at least 30 days before the extension ends.
  • The motion also took Mayor Ishii's supplemental items 1 to 6, 8 and 9 and asked for no action on Item 1b. Ishii asked that the motion be severed; see the votes below.
  • Written communications came from, among others, Flock Group, Inc., the Police Accountability Board, the Commission on Labor, the Human Welfare and Community Action Commission, SafeBears Inc., the ACLU NorCal, Secure Justice, Visit Berkeley, the Berkeley Neighborhoods Council and Indivisible Berkeley. The minutes list the writers but do not record their positions.

Surveillance Use Policy Approvals

  • Failed amendment (O'Keefe/Lunaparra) to add O'Keefe's UAS Use Policy amendments from Supplemental Communications Packet 2. Ayes: Tregub, O'Keefe, Lunaparra, Humbert; Noes: Kesarwani, Taplin, Bartlett, Blackaby, Ishii. Failed 4-5.
  • Severed portions 1, 5, 6 and 7 of the main motion (the decision not to execute the full MSA, the Ishii items, the Lunaparra amendments and no action on 1b) carried (Blackaby/Humbert). Ayes: Kesarwani, Taplin, Tregub, O'Keefe, Blackaby, Lunaparra, Humbert, Ishii; Noes: Bartlett. Carried 8-1.
  • Severed portions 2, 3 and 4 (the 12-month license plate reader extension, the negotiation terms including the 290,000 dollar per-violation penalty, and the RFP referral) carried (Blackaby/Humbert). Ayes: Kesarwani, Taplin, O'Keefe, Blackaby, Humbert; Noes: Bartlett, Tregub, Lunaparra, Ishii. Carried 5-4.
  • Ishii items adopted: amend the UAS Surveillance Use Policy; refer the Community Video Stream report and policy to the Public Safety Policy Committee; amend the Fixed Cameras policy; amend the UAS Equipment Use Policy; ask the City Manager to quantify the need for UAS; refer the UAS Military Equipment Impact Statement to the City Manager to research alternative vendors balancing privacy and civil liberties; refer an amendment of Ordinance 2.99 adding a violation and termination clause for vendors; and refer contract language requiring vendors to notify the City of any information request on City-controlled data. Item 7 of her list is not in the motion.
  • Lunaparra's UAS amendment: add to authorized uses a response to active violent criminal activity at mass gatherings or special events only with probable cause of a felony and an active threat of serious bodily injury.
  • The resolution was then adopted as amended (no separate vote is recorded in the minutes): the MSA and related contract authority were removed, the first resolved clause was revised to approve the amended UAS Surveillance Use Policy, the Military Equipment Use Policy for UAS and the amended Fixed Cameras Surveillance Use Policy, and paragraph 8 was revised to extend the current license plate reader contract 12 months for up to 200,000 dollars.

Sources