City of Bolivar, Mo., votes unanimously to terminate Flock contract

BOLIVAR, Mo. (KY3) - Tuesday night, the Bolivar Board of Aldermen voted unanimously to terminate their contract with Flock, approving the language that will be used in their notice of termination.

In its July 28th meeting, the board had voted unanimously to look into ways out of the contract and have the cameras removed.

“They listened to the constituents, called the meeting, heard what we had to say, and then are now acting on that,” said Bolivar native Tanner Isenberger. “And that’s the way a democracy is supposed to work. Our elected officials are supposed to represent us”​

The termination letter requests that the cameras immediately discontinue license plate detection, video capture, and all data sharing; and that the city intends to place bags over the cameras until they’re taken down. It is up to Flock to remove the cameras, and the city isn’t exactly sure when the cameras would be taken down.

“The primary concern was the fact that we don’t know what information is being collected and who it’s being distributed to currently, and that continues to be the case until they’re physically obstructed or removed,” said Alderman Alexis Neal. “My understanding is that the concerns from the constituents and from the board are that information may still be being collected and may be being accessed by other parties.”

A part of that contract was a $54,000 Missouri Blue Shield grant that helped the city of Bolivar put the Flock cameras up. Now that they’ve decided to take the cameras down, the city may now need to pay back that $54,000 grant.

“As crazy as it sounds. I’ve actually had people reach out to me, citizens, they’re like, ‘Hey, we’ll donate to it,’” said Alderman Dusty Ross. “I don’t think we necessarily need to go that route, but we have some options”

“I think any price that we have to pay to ensure our privacy, we should pay,” said Isenberger. “Any funding that they get to get us out of this, I’m perfectly fine, and I support them in getting us out of this contract any way, shape or form that we have to.”

The city will send the termination notice to Flock first thing Wednesday morning. Per the letter, Flock then has 48 hours to respond.

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