On April Fools’ Day, Carmella declared a public safety emergency over license plate reader cameras. The council had let the Flock Safety contract renewal deadline pass while debating privacy protections. The day before, Council President Steele directed the city auditor to pause all payments to Flock. Carmella declared the emergency the next morning to override that directive and authorize a $78,000 payment without council approval.
The council and the auditor sued her five weeks later.
What Happened at the March 19 Finance Meeting
The auto-renewal had already triggered on March 1. The council did not receive the Flock contract until Friday, March 13 at 5 PM, twelve days after the renewal window closed. The council was being asked to ratify a contract that had already renewed without its approval.
The March 19, 2026 Finance Meeting drew more than 150 people, more than double the previous record for a Troy council meeting, with overflow into a conference room. Over 40 speakers testified, unanimously opposing the Flock contract. The council tabled the authorization 7-0, pending information Flock had not yet provided, including a security audit report and technical details about data practices.
Corporation Counsel Morrissey said on the floor that the enforceability of the auto-renewal clause was “a legal question for courts to decide.”
The Auditor Order and the Emergency
On March 31, Steele directed the city auditor to pause all Flock payments until outstanding questions and public concerns were resolved.
Carmella declared the emergency the next morning. She called the council’s interference “just not appropriate,” arguing it created “confusion” and disrupted public safety infrastructure. She called the council’s proposed data regulations “dangerous, misguided and a gift to criminals.”
Steele called the emergency declaration “a very cheap tactic” and an overreach of mayoral power. She also denied that a valid contract existed at all, arguing no renewal was binding without formal council approval.
The Public Safety Argument
Carmella anchored her position in a specific case. Juan Rivera, 27, was convicted of manslaughter in the death of Kevin Hall Jr., killed in April 2025 on 3rd Street in Troy. Flock cameras helped locate Rivera within hours of the crime. Carmella cited it repeatedly, calling the cameras “a critical tool” in investigations.
She also offered to establish a task force and issue a new vendor RFP, gestures the council did not take as a substitute for legislative guardrails.
The Data Questions
At the March 19 meeting and in the weeks that followed, Steele raised a specific concern: Flock data had previously been shared nationally, including with ICE and what she called “other nefarious outlets,” until officials raised objections. Carmella said current data sharing was limited to local municipalities only and that she had already disabled the national search function within the Flock system.
The council was not satisfied with an administrative fix. Council Member Noreen McKee introduced Local Law 3 to put the guardrails into binding legislation.
The Lawsuit
The city council and the city auditor filed suit against Carmella on May 11, 2026. The lawsuit argued she abused her emergency powers, improperly authorized a $78,000 payment without council or auditor approval, and set a precedent for unchecked executive authority.
“Policy disputes are resolved through the democratic lawmaking process,” the council stated, “not at the whims of a single chief executive.”
Carmella called it “frivolous litigation instead of collaboration.”
The Compromise
By late May, the Administration and council announced an agreement on camera use policies: annual audits of Flock data, limits on data sharing to intra-agency requests handled case-by-case, and an explicit ban on using the cameras for immigration enforcement or monitoring First Amendment-protected activity.
The council paused action on Local Law 3 for 60 days. McKee made clear the pause was not a retreat. “Because it is non-binding,” she said of the policy agreement, “it’s no substitute for legislation and the Council will continue to move forward with the law.”
The lawsuit was not resolved by the compromise announcement.
Partisan angle: Carmella’s emergency declaration was not a response to a public safety crisis. It was a response to the city auditor. She used emergency powers to override an administrative check, bypass the council, and pay a vendor while the council was in the middle of drafting legislation to regulate that vendor. The compromise came later. The lawsuit came first.
Sources: CBS6, April 1, 2026; Spectrum News, April 2, 2026; News10, April 2026; CBS6, Lawsuit; CBS6, Rivera conviction; WAMC, May 20, 2026; WAMC, May 27, 2026; Troy City Council Finance Meeting, March 19, 2026 (transcript)