Every count on this page recomputes from the live record set on each visit.
Of 1,044 records on this site, 582 carry an approval method of Unknown. That is the largest single group in the file, and it is the one most often misread. Unknown does not mean nobody voted. It means no document found states how the contract was approved.
The other 462 split into 339 council votes, 67 grant-driven buys, 46 consent agenda approvals, 4 purchases under a spending threshold, and 6 cooperative contracts. Each of those paths puts a resident in a different position, and it is worth knowing which one your city used before you plan to speak at a meeting.
A council vote
This is the most common documented path. An item reaches an agenda, members debate it, and a tally is recorded. 339 records took this route, and 142 of them list the vote name by name on the officials index.
A council vote is the only path that reliably produces a roll call, which is why it is also the only path where a resident can see how an individual member voted. Warren, Michigan renewed 4 to 3 on July 14, 2026 with all 7 members recorded.
A consent agenda approval
46 records document a consent agenda approval, which makes it the second largest documented path after a council vote. The contract is bundled with routine business and the whole package passes on one motion, so a tally exists but no debate on the camera contract does.
The dollar figures are not small. Dallas cleared $5,738,414 this way and Laredo $4,042,599. Orland Park approved an $88,800 three year contract 7 to 0 on April 20, 2026 on a motion by Trustee Michael R. Milani. Medina passed 17 cameras 5 to 0 on February 13, 2023 the same way.
For a resident this path is the hardest to catch in advance. The item carries a file number rather than a description, and it is read out with a dozen others. Reading the agenda packet rather than the agenda headline is the only way to see it coming, which is what the renewal guide covers.
A purchase under a threshold
Every city sets a dollar figure above which a contract needs council approval. Below it, staff or an executive can sign. 4 records document a sub-threshold purchase.
Denver is the clearest case. The council unanimously rejected a 2-year, $666,000 extension in May 2025. The mayor’s office then signed a shorter extension at $498,500, just under the $500,000 line at which a Denver contract requires council approval. The record names the Office of the Mayor as the approving body.
For a resident, this path removes the meeting. There is no agenda item to speak at and no vote to lobby. The lever moves to the executive office and to whatever the threshold ordinance says.
A cooperative contract
A city can buy on terms another government already negotiated, which skips its own solicitation. 6 records document a co-op contract. Little Rock renewed through Insight Public Sector, a reseller, on OMNIA Partners contract 23-6692-03.
Two things follow. The paper carries the reseller’s name rather than Flock’s, which is a common reason a records request comes back empty. And the price was set in a different jurisdiction’s process, so a local hearing on whether the terms are good has nothing to review.
A grant-driven purchase
67 records document a grant-driven purchase, where money from outside the city budget pays most or all of the cost. Texas shows the pattern through one state office, the Motor Vehicle Crime Prevention Authority.
El Paso runs 150 cameras on a $702,500 MVCPA grant. Prosper had 80 percent of a $205,000 purchase covered. College Station moved on April 23, 2026 to seek the same grant with a 20 percent city match. Bandera had $14,000 of a $17,000 deal covered before its council voted 3 to 2 to end it on May 12, 2026.
Grant money changes the timing as much as the price. When the grant term ends the question returns whether or not anyone asked for it, which is exactly where El Paso landed when its council voted 6 to 2 on March 3, 2026 against letting the program lapse.
No vote at all
Some contracts never reach a body. Rehoboth Beach installed readers as a day-to-day operational decision. Boulder runs 31 cameras through the city manager’s office with no council action on the record. Aurora runs 117 cameras and names no approving body at all.
A consent agenda produces a similar result by a different route: the contract passes inside a package of routine items on a single vote, so a tally exists but no debate on this contract does.
What Unknown means
The 582 Unknown records are not a claim that no vote happened. They are a claim about the paperwork: no agenda, minutes, resolution, or contract found names the path. Some of those contracts almost certainly cleared a council. Some cleared a threshold. The file does not yet say which.
That gap is the most fixable thing on this site. Each one needs one document from one office, and the records request guide names which office holds it. The tracker has a standing filter for records approved without a council vote, and the glossary defines each term above.
Find your city. The tracker lists every documented Flock contract, the vote that approved it, and the renewal date. Alerts email you before the next decision.