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STEUBENVILLE -- City Council spent nearly 20 minutes Tuesday debating the merits of having license plate readers in Steubenville.
License plate readers, also known as Flock cameras, have become a hot-button topic in communities across America.
Councilman Royal Mayo complained at length that the cameras are by nature intrusive and questioned who is overseeing how they’re being used to ensure they’re not being abused.
"I think it’s a clear evasion of privacy," Mayo argued. "I think a lot of communities...have got rid of them for that very reason, and I don’t know that we need (them)...I don’t know that I’m willing to let employees of ours do things without any oversight from us, because one of the major questions that people ask (is) 'What’s the oversight mechanism?' Apparently, it doesn’t come from us because I didn’t even know we had them, so I don’t know how we can have oversight and we don’t even know they exist. I don’t know who has access to it, who can look and see what’s going on."
Mayo also questioned how the cameras were acquired, saying he did not recall City Council appropriating money for them. Councilman-at-Large Joel Walker pointed out that no city funds were used because the police department secured grant funding to purchase them.
Mayo responded that council should have a say in what grants department heads pursue because grant funding is limited and council may have different priorities for the money.
"I don’t know that I want to give up my freedoms like that, or the citizens of this city want to give up their freedoms, for allegedly being safer because what it doesn’t do is stop a crime from happening," Mayo argued. "It may give you an insight on who committed the crime after that, but it’s not going to stop a crime from happening."
Walker said the cameras are used to identify vehicles involved in Amber Alerts, stolen vehicles and serious violent crimes. He added the system records license plates and vehicle information, not who is inside the vehicle.
"They’re pretty much set up...to cover entrances and exits to the city," Walker said. "The way these cameras work, any person that requests anything, there’s a record kept of who requests what and for what reason--so they just can’t type in 'Check Bob Smith’s car,' they have to put a reason why they’re checking Bob Smith’s car."
Mayo countered that people have a right to privacy regarding where they travel.
"People have a right to some semblance of privacy and their movements, and where they’re coming and going, and not reading the license plate every time they ride down certain street in their car. It’s not right, especially when we haven't approved it or discussed it with the citizens."
City Manager Mike Johnson said it would be a mistake for council to micromanage city departments.
"When something first happens, it may not be controversial...nobody objects," Johnson said. "Now people are objecting. You can have a hearing on them or whatever, you guys can put it to a vote (if you do), do you have enough votes to take them out? And if you do, they’ll go out. If you don’t, they stay in. But (people can't) go to council constantly and say, 'I want to spend $25,000 on this item or that item--that’s what you hire a city manager for, to provide oversight, that’s why the city manager has department heads to oversee and that’s why the Ohio Revised Code has a threshold of how much to spend without having to go get approval, without having to go get bids. Because at some point, you’ll just slow everything down (being involved in every decision)."
Walker reiterated that the cameras were purchased entirely through grant funding.
"You keep saying 'it’s in the budget,'" Walker told Mayo. "It wasn’t in the budget. They got a grant for it. City money did not pay for it. Like the city manager says, if you want to vote them out make a motion, see if you get a second and we’ll vote on it. But as of right now they have not violated anybody’s civil rights. You have no expectation of privacy in public. When you’re driving down the street, anybody can take a picture of your license plate, take a picture of your car and you can’t stop them. That’s out in the public. If they come on your property to do something like that, that’s different. But these cameras are a tool."
In other business, council heard the second reading of an ordinance authorizing submission of the city’s fiscal year 2026 one-year action plan to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Council also adopted emergency legislation approving a budget change for the JB Green Team that will allow recycling stations to be established. Members also heard a resolution accepting the amounts and rates determined by the budget commission, authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor.