Toledo’s license-plate camera network is staying in limbo. Toledo City Council deadlocked repeatedly on Tuesday, Nov. 4, over whether to end the city’s agreements with Flock Safety, and the question now sits with Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, who could break the tie as early as the council’s Nov. 17 meeting, WBCL reported.
Council took up Resolution R-435-26, which asks the city to end and not renew its Flock agreements, take down or switch off the equipment and delete Flock’s data as far as the law allows, Lake Erie Inquiry reported, citing the city’s Legistar record. A motion to hold the resolution two weeks, until a city audit is finished, drew six votes — one short of the seven needed — the Toledo Free Press reported.
The resolution itself then failed 5-6, with Mac Driscoll, Theresa Gadus, Nick Komives, Erin Kramer and Sam Melden voting yes, and George Sarantou, Vanice Williams, John Hobbs III, Adam Martinez, Cerssandra McPherson and Theresa Morris voting no, the Toledo Free Press and Lake Erie Inquiry reported. Even a yes vote would only have been a request: the contracts belong to the mayor’s administration, and the resolution urges him to end them, Lake Erie Inquiry reported.
The maneuvering did not end there. At-large Councilwoman Brittany Jones arrived late and asked for reconsideration so she could vote; the measure went to committee, and Driscoll’s motion to pull it back out tied 6-6 — pulling an item from committee takes seven votes — WBCL, the Toledo Free Press and Lake Erie Inquiry all reported. “The mayor can break it, but he’s not here today. So we’ll send it to him to take it out of committee,” Council President Vanice Williams said, as reported by the Toledo Free Press.
At the center of the delay is the audit. Council ordered an audit of the camera system on Sept. 22, and City Auditor John Rivalsky needs about 30 more days, in part because he needs law-enforcement permissions to reach some of the data, the Toledo Free Press and Lake Erie Inquiry reported. “It’s not a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when I don’t know, and I don’t have all of the information,” McPherson said, as reported by the Toledo Free Press. Melden was unpersuaded, telling the Toledo Free Press: “We only have one job; it’s to say ‘yes’ or to say ‘no.’”
The system at stake is sizeable. Toledo expanded its Flock partnership in late 2025 through a three-year, $800,000 contract that brought 107 cameras to the city, Public Good News Lab reported, and about seven cameras have been vandalized during the push to end the contract. A companion Martinez ordinance, O-460-26, went to committee the same night; it would bar Flock data sharing tied to reproductive health care, gender-affirming care and immigration status, the Toledo Free Press and Lake Erie Inquiry reported. About 40 anti-Flock activists left the chambers after the first vote, and organizers told the Toledo Free Press they would pursue a ballot measure.
What happens next: the mayor’s tie-breaking decision could come as early as Nov. 17, WBCL reported, while the audit continues and the Martinez ordinance awaits public comment in committee. The Toledo Free Press reported it had sought comment from Mayor Kapszukiewicz and had not heard back at publication.
Photo: Aric Lorton, CC BY