Malden’s police chief and the detective who administers the department’s Flock Safety license plate reader system told the City Council on Tuesday, October 13 that 37 members of the department can search the system, that every search requires a lawful reason and a dispatcher-issued case number, and that search data held in Malden is retained for seven days, according to the minutes of the Committee of the Whole posted this week. The presentation answered Paper 421-26, the order the council passed on September 8 demanding “a complete review of the Flock Safety program” covering every contract, exhibit, amendment, renewal, purchase order, policy and related agreement.
Council President Amanda Linehan called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. with ten councillors present and Councillor Chris Simonelli absent; Councillor Jadeane Sica stepped out at 8:26 p.m. Presenting with Chief Marc Gatcomb were Solicitor Alicia McNeil, Controller Charles Ranaghan, Flock administrator Detective Steve Mulcahy, Captain Paul Hopkins, members of the department’s executive board and Brittany Torelli of the Police Community Advisory Council, whose fall question-and-answer document was attached to the paper along with the department’s slide deck. The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m. on a motion by Councillor Carey McDonald, seconded by Councillor Ryan O’Malley.
What the department said
The evening opened with a statement from Gatcomb and continued with an on-screen walk-through of the camera system and a demonstration of how a search works; the minutes direct readers to the full recording on Urban Media Arts’ YouTube channel. Of the department’s staff, the minutes record, only 27 superior officers and 10 detectives have access to search the system. A limited number of cities are allowed to share data with Malden when investigating crimes. For every search there is what the minutes call a breadcrumb trail and an accessibility audit to account for who ran it and why. McDonald asked Gatcomb whether he would ask Flock whether the company has the ability to use any city’s data for company-wide analysis and whether its terms of use allow that kind of data collection; the chief said he would come back with an answer. The minutes record no vote on the paper.
The review places Malden alongside its neighbors in a regional argument over the cameras. In Melrose, residents demanded removal of the Flock cameras at a special meeting two nights later and the mayor asked for a pause.
Rules and Ordinance: the use table splits in two
An hour earlier, in Room 105, the Rules and Ordinance Committee chaired by Councillor Stephen Winslow took up Paper 327-26, the rewrite of the zoning use regulations table in Section 12.12.030 sponsored by Councillors Ari Taylor, Winslow and O’Malley. Staff from Inspectional Services and the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development reviewed the proposed changes with the committee, and of 18 line items there was agreement on 14, according to the committee’s minutes. Four were in dispute: motel and hotel, fast food restaurant, all other restaurants, and supermarket. For those four the Planning Board had recommended disapproving the amendments and creating a site plan review committee to address the particular needs of the uses. After what the minutes call much debate over whether other restaurants should require site plan review, the committee decided they would not, and that line was ready to go forward.
To avoid holding up the 14 uncontroversial categories, the committee split the paper. The 14 items plus the restaurant line stayed in Paper 327-26 and were recommended favorably to the full council, on a motion by Councillor Karen Colon Hayes seconded by Councillor Peg Crowe, unanimous, with a vote to enroll expected at the October 20 meeting. Motel and hotel, fast food and supermarket became Paper 327A-26 and were tabled to return to the committee later, on a motion by Colon Hayes seconded by Linehan, also unanimous. Linehan, who had been attending the Economic Development Committee, stepped in at 6:21 p.m. for the discussion. A comment from a towing company about highway business zoning and the planning office’s October 13 recommendations were attached to the record. Winslow also gave notice that, as a result of the ongoing zoning discussions in Papers 335, 335A and 337, he will introduce new papers on additional use regulation and dimensional controls in Title 12, including the hotel, supermarket and restaurant questions; that item was not taken up on October 13.
Assistant department heads: two years of back pay
The committee then took up Paper 415-26, Winslow’s ordinance adding Section 2.24.075, an assistant department head salary schedule, to the city code. Ranaghan handed out the schedule, which had not been included when the agenda was posted and which has since been attached to the paper, with the salary amounts written into the body of the ordinance. The amounts go back two years retroactively, the minutes say, because the city had been negotiating with the assistant department heads’ bargaining unit for some time; on September 10 the city signed an agreement with the Teamsters that included a 3 percent cost of living increase for fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026. A companion financial paper transferring money from the salary reserve account was expected on the October 20 agenda for referral to the Finance Committee. Speaking from off the committee, Finance Chair McDonald said the Finance Committee favored moving the ordinance forward but would need to review the financial obligation before saying whether it supports the transfer. The committee recommended the ordinance favorably, on a motion by Colon Hayes seconded by O’Malley, unanimous, and adjourned at 6:58 p.m.
Where the papers went next
The salary ordinance had been referred to the Rules and Ordinance Committee at the council’s October 6 meeting. The council’s October 27 meeting advanced the separate inclusionary zoning rewrite; the October 20 meeting, at which the use table enrollment and the salary transfer were expected, has not yet had its minutes posted. Also present at the committee were Michelle Romero, Zach LeMel, Dan Grover and ADA coordinator Maria Luise, and Councillors McDonald and Crowe attended as non-members.
