Columbia County committee declines to vote on six-month Flock camera moratorium

First reported: October 22, 2026 · 2 sources

The Columbia County Board of Supervisors' Public Safety Committee did not act on a proposal by New Lebanon Town Supervisor Tistrya Houghtling to pause use of Flock automated license plate readers for six months while a task force and public town halls were organized. After Sheriff Jackie Salvatore and the other committee members voiced opposition, Houghtling declined to call for a vote. Committee chairman Robert Lagonia said supervisors will gather questions from residents and seek answers from Salvatore or a Flock Safety representative before another discussion, which he said he hoped would occur by next month.

Why this matters

The outcome shows how local ALPR debates can turn on procurement transparency and audit records, and the meeting's overflow crowd raised questions about public access under New York's Open Meetings Law.

Key facts

The proposal called for a six-month pause plus a task force and public town halls; it was never brought to a vote.
Salvatore said in August that the sheriff's office bought 10 Flock cameras in 2025 without supervisors' knowledge, partly with a state law enforcement technology grant.
The group DeFlock Columbia County NY, citing records obtained through a FOIL request, said 81% of the office's Flock database searches over two years lacked a case number; Salvatore said residents misread the data, which she described as image captures rather than searches.
Roughly 20 residents waited outside the small meeting room and could not hear the first 40 minutes before the meeting moved to the larger board chambers, which the article notes as a potential Open Meetings Law violation.
Salvatore has maintained the sheriff's office cameras record only license plates, not other vehicle attributes.

Sources

This summary was written from the published reporting below and links to it; BlockFlockNow does not reproduce article text.

Columbia County rejects Flock moratorium | Hudsonvalley360 . com (dailygazette.com, October 22, 2026)
Flock camera moratorium rejected by Columbia County committee (Dailygazette.com, October 22, 2026)

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About this record

BlockFlockNow documents reported incidents involving Flock Safety cameras and automated license plate readers: council votes, contract decisions, misuse by authorized users, lawsuits, audits, and community response. Every record is reviewed by a person before publication. New to the topic? Start with What is Flock?, find meetings near you, or learn how to request your town's camera records.

Updated October 22, 2026. Corrections: blockflock@bytebunny.io. See all documented incidents or search the full article archive.