TEMPE, AZ — The Tempe City Council is back from recess, and the new members say they have heard citizens loud and clear.
Councilmembers Bobby Nichols and Brooke St. George spoke with ABC15 ahead of their first regular meeting about what they hope to accomplish.
"My top priority, I would say, is accountability and transparency," St. George said. "I think that's what our residents want, and I think that's the message that they sent through this election."
St. George said she looks forward to offering regular office hours, "and then taking a deep dive into our city budget and what we are doing with our taxpayer dollars," to ensure residents' priorities are reflected in the city's spend.
Nichols maintained a campaign promise to introduce legislation that would create a new office to investigate misconduct by city employees.
"It absolutely is something we're still trying to do," Nichols said, noting that he has brought groups together to start writing the legislation. St. George backed that push.
One big-ticket item that was initially on Monday's agenda: A nearly $7 million, five-year contract with Scottsdale-based Axon for TASERs, body cameras and AI software, Axon Fusus, that streamlines CCTV within Tempe's Real Time Operations Center.
"I support the augmentation of our public safety efforts with technology," St. George said. "We need to make sure that we have safeguards around it, and that is something that I campaigned on."
What was concerning to some Valley residents, including nonprofit East Valley Unite, whose members planned to attend Monday's meeting in protest, was the inclusion of 11 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) for police vehicles. Tempe canceled its Flock contract over privacy concerns less than a week ago.
Immediately before the regular council meeting, Mayor Corey Woods announced to residents that the city was removing the Axon contract from the agenda, citing a “clerical error” that led to ALPRs being kept in the deal.
Woods said the city remains committed to its decision not to seek another ALPR vendor.
Speaking early Monday morning, ahead of the Axon contract being removed from the agenda, Nichols called the provision including ALPRs "completely unacceptable."
"I think we've shown that it's really important to our community that we're protecting their privacy rights," he said. "So we're not going to be, if I have a say in it, moving forward with that particular piece of that contract."
Both members said that residents electing them to city council sent a clear message.
"We are bringing fresh progressive ideas to the table, and the people of Tempe are really excited to see those ideas represented on the dais," Nichols said.
"Our residents are engaged and paying attention," St. George said. "I think they spoke really loudly with this election."
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