Troy’s City Council filed an Article 78 proceeding in Rensselaer County Supreme Court on May 11, asking a judge to declare Carmella’s April 1 emergency order unlawful, nullify it, and throw out the Flock Safety contract renewal. The legal complaint is direct: Carmella used emergency powers to authorize a $78,000 payment without council or auditor approval, cutting them out of the process entirely.
“Because we live in a democracy,” the council stated, “policy disputes are resolved through the democratic lawmaking process, not at the whims of a single chief executive.”
Carmella called it “frivolous litigation instead of collaboration.”
The Legal Argument
An Article 78 proceeding is a New York mechanism for challenging government action as exceeding lawful authority. The council’s argument has two parts: first, that the emergency declaration itself was outside the scope of mayoral power; second, that spending $78,000 without council or auditor authorization was an illegal act regardless of the emergency label.
Resident Bex Cahill had laid out the charter argument at the April 23 Law Committee meeting. Troy City Charter Section C-40 defines an emergency as conflagration, riot, storm, earthquake, or other unusual peril to life and property. Continuation of a vendor contract does not meet that standard.
Council President Steele said the declaration “overstepped legislative authority.” The lawsuit made the same argument in court filings.
What the Council Was Already Doing
The lawsuit did not come out of nowhere. A week before it was filed, on May 4, the council introduced a local law establishing standards for license plate reader use in Troy. The DA and police chief opposed it. The Administration had also been unwilling to hold departmental meetings about Flock’s data practices, a point Steele had raised repeatedly.
The council was not simply blocking a vendor payment. It was trying to legislate guardrails on a technology it had never formally approved, while the Administration refused to engage on the merits and then used emergency powers to pay the vendor anyway.
Day 23 and the Tenth Declaration
The April 23 Law Committee meeting fell on day 23 of the state of emergency. Resident Francis Sweet cited the full list of emergency declarations Carmella had issued since taking office. The Flock declaration was her tenth.
What Happened in Oshkosh
At the same April 23 meeting, resident Sylva Menard reported a development from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, that had occurred that same day. The Oshkosh City Council voted unanimously to rescind its Flock contract renewal, reversing a 5-2 approval vote from the night before.
The reason: Flock lied to the council. During the Tuesday approval meeting, a council member asked a Flock representative directly whether the system creates a heat map of a vehicle’s movement using multiple aggregated images. The Flock representative said no. Police Chief Dean Smith had already seen those heat maps. The morning after the vote, Smith told the city manager what he knew. Within one day the council held a special session, rescinded the contract unanimously, and apologized to the community. Smith said all Flock cameras would come down before summer.
Menard said she had transcripts of both Oshkosh meetings available for the Troy council.
Partisan angle: The council filed suit after trying every other option first. It tabled the contract, requested information Flock never provided, directed the auditor to pause payments, and introduced legislation. Carmella bypassed all of it with an emergency declaration. The lawsuit was the only avenue left.
Sources: Spectrum News, May 12, 2026; WNYT; News10; CBS6; WBAY, Oshkosh, April 23, 2026; Troy City Council Law Committee and Finance Meeting, April 23, 2026 (transcript)