Township Council — August 11, 2026

What was decided

At the roll call the minutes list Mr. Anbarasan, Ms. Francois, Deputy Mayor Kharazi, Mayor Kramer, Mr. Onyejiaka, Mr. Singh and Ms. Uddin present and Mr. Vassanella absent. Mr. Wright is not listed at the roll call; the vote records list him among the ayes on some motions and absent on others, as shown below.

• Ord. 4515A-26 adopted, rescinding and replacing Chapter 92, Cannabis, with no public comment at the hearing (mover Anbarasan, second Francois). 7-0: ayes Anbarasan, Francois, Kharazi, Kramer, Onyejiaka, Singh and Uddin; absent Vassanella and Wright.
• Ord. 4516-26 adopted, creating Chapter 315, Short Term Rentals (mover Anbarasan, second Francois). 7-0, same roll call. At the hearing, a speaker recorded as Nelson supported the regulation but asked that it allow a principal and one bona fide secondary residence. The Township Attorney and Manager addressed late correspondence from Airbnb asking that the ordinance be modified or tabled; the Attorney recommended adopting it as written, saying that because it takes effect 20 days after adoption and publication, the Council could review specific concerns and make “tweaks” at the next meeting.
• Ord. 4517-26 introduced, amending Chapter 112 “to Make Various Updates Regarding Cluster Subdivisions as Well as Related Ordinance Updates” (mover Anbarasan, second Uddin), with the hearing set for September 8, 2026. 6-0: ayes Anbarasan, Francois, Kharazi, Kramer, Onyejiaka and Uddin; absent Singh, Vassanella and Wright. The minutes’ heading for this item prints the cannabis ordinance’s title; the ordinance text below it, and the agenda, give the cluster-subdivision title. See master plan reexamination.
• Ord. 4518-26 introduced, authorizing the private sale of township-owned lots at 56-58 Main Street, 29 Kossuth Street and 168 Churchill Avenue (Habitat for Humanity) (mover Anbarasan, second Singh). 7-0: ayes Anbarasan, Francois, Kharazi, Kramer, Onyejiaka, Uddin and Wright; absent Singh and Vassanella. The minutes list Mr. Singh as both the seconder and absent on this vote.
• Consent agenda (Res. #26-322 to #26-352; mover Francois, second Wright). 8-0: ayes Anbarasan, Francois, Kharazi, Kramer, Onyejiaka, Singh, Uddin and Wright; absent Vassanella. It included:
  • Randolph Road Area resurfacing, Fischer Contracting, not to exceed $1,175,869.19 (#26-338), and Golf View Drive Area resurfacing, Fischer Contracting, not to exceed $622,499.09 (#26-339);
  • timber guiderail emergency repair, J. Fletcher Creamer & Son, not to exceed $325,000.00 (#26-328);
  • snow plowing of 22 routes, RJM Landscaping & Design, year 2, not to exceed $450,000 (#26-329);
  • water meters, Core & Main LP, not to exceed $3,000,000.00 (#26-340), and competitive contracting for water management software (#26-342);
  • Axon body-worn cameras, year 1, not to exceed $195,000.00 (#26-333); Axon Tasers, not to exceed $160,295.20 (#26-334); a police UTV, not to exceed $26,462.78 (#26-335);
  • Republic Services contracts for the convenience/recycling center (not to exceed $175,000.00) and municipal-building trash removal (not to exceed $40,000.00) (#26-330, #26-331);
  • a stormwater maintenance agreement with 500 Atrium, LLC for 500 Atrium Drive (#26-349);
  • a body armor grant application (#26-352).
• Res. #26-354, voted separately: award of the East Millstone water main installation (B26-005-ENG-R) to Your Way Construction, not to exceed $1,064,962.00. Carried 8-0: ayes Anbarasan, Francois, Kharazi, Kramer, Onyejiaka, Uddin, Singh and Wright; absent Vassanella. The minutes leave the mover and seconder blank.
• Executive session on “Litigation – Warehouse and Williams Transco Litigation” (Res. #26-353). Carried 8-0, same roll call; the minutes leave the mover and seconder blank. See warehouses and NESE pipeline.
• Also approved, 8-0: the July 14, 2026 minutes (mover Francois, second Uddin) and warrants of $33,076,833.10 (mover Kharazi, second Uddin).

The camera presentation

Public Safety Director Lloyd Fredericks and Flock Safety representative Carl Block presented the automated license plate recognition (ALPR) system. The minutes record that they said:

• solar-powered cameras take point-in-time images of the rear of vehicles on public roads, recording make, model, color and plate; the system is for criminal investigations only and does not continuously track vehicles;
• it has no facial recognition, no connection to DMV databases, and does not capture images of drivers;
• the Township owns the data, the vendor is contractually prohibited from selling it, and data is encrypted in transit and at rest;
• the vendor’s default deletion is 30 days, but New Jersey Attorney General guidelines mandate a three-year retention period for law enforcement;
• access is limited to sergeants and above, and every search requires a case number, offense type and user ID, creating a permanent audit trail; the state requires annual audits, and Franklin also runs quarterly and random monthly audits;
• the system cannot be used for harassment, profiling or personal purposes, and New Jersey law prohibits sharing ALPR data for civil immigration enforcement;
• it was funded by a $339,000 state technology grant and was publicly bid; a public portal on the police website shows 30-day aggregate detections and searches.

The township record shows the $339,000 as an ARP “2021 Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund Gunshot Detection Technology Initiative” grant accepted by Res. 23-285 on July 11, 2023, and the contract awarded to Flock Group Inc., the sole bidder, by Res. 25-436 on October 14, 2025, not to exceed $339,000. See license-plate cameras.

Public Discussion

The minutes record these speakers and points.

• John Litrakis of Arlington Avenue, asked whether ALPR data could be used for profit, the difference between 30-day and three-year retention, why the system was put in without public notice in 2022, and whether municipal vehicles carry cameras.
• Leslie Primo of Phillips Court, said the system was not publicly advertised and that the potential for surveillance outweighs the benefit of catching criminals.
• El Rampador raised accessibility for disabled people at dispensaries, police stations and post offices, the end of Zoom access to Council meetings for homebound residents, and home-grown and affordable medical cannabis.
• AJ Hoffman of Greenhill Manor Drive, said Franklin’s rules are better than average but that ALPRs treat citizens as potential criminals. He cited the 1st, 4th, 5th and 14th Amendments, data security and environmental impact, and called for cancelling the Flock contracts and an independent inspection of the camera installations.
• Christopher Rios said the state becoming a “bad actor” is the greater concern, questioned whether the benefits justify the infrastructure as AI advances, and objected to spending public resources on private companies rather than public goods such as housing.
• Derek said residents were not told about the installation of the poles, and contrasted the volume of hits (60,000 a month) with the number of arrests over 23 months.
• Shenique Davis of Blake Avenue, asked which retention period applies, asked for annual aggregate data to judge the program, and asked who leads the internal audits.
• Jim Johnston of Norwich Place, disputed that Flock does not sell data, citing an April 2026 ACLU article on changes to Flock’s legal terms, and said Flock now controls data access.
• Jason Rand of Gates Road, asked the system’s total cost and suggested other uses for the money. He recommended MFA and SSO for access, asked whether Flock employees have “demo access”, and suggested requiring more than one officer to sign off on searches.
• Sanchi Sharma of Cherrywood Drive, cited ALPR misuse elsewhere, such as tracking partners and searches related to abortion travel, and false-positive rates reported in other cities.
• Jonathan White of Gary Court, asked whether Flock indemnifies the township, when warrants are required to access data, and how the township avoids data density that could raise Fourth Amendment issues. He also asked about a “Don’t Tread on Me” flag at the municipal complex.
• Lois Kahagi of Girard Avenue, asked who authorized the system, why there was no public information, and whether ALPR data is available under OPRA or treated as investigatory.
• Karin Bennett of Cedarbrook Drive, said finding missing persons does not justify the surveillance, and questioned Flock’s security against hacking.
• Zoey, recorded as an FHS student, cited documented cases elsewhere of ALPR misreads leading to wrongful stops and detentions.
• Michelle Peterson of Wilson Road, pointed to Flock’s acquisition of a drone company as a sign of expanding surveillance and said policies can be changed by software updates or company policy.
• Michael Hampton of Shilling Drive, said the cameras are placed disproportionately in Black and Brown neighborhoods, naming Hamilton Street and Franklin Boulevard, and said the Council was avoiding a dedicated meeting on the subject.
• Joycelyn William of Burns Street, asked which retention policy governs, cited studies on ALPR concentration in Black neighborhoods and misuse for immigration enforcement, and called for independent outside oversight of the audits.
• Marcelle Costanza of Bayberry Drive, asked whether the township plans to use “Signal Trace” technology alongside the cameras.
• Javahn Walker of Kuhn Street, asked whether the system is worth the political and financial liability, such as replacing damaged cameras, and suggested a referendum.
• Linda Powell of Buffa Drive, raised the potential for abuse, including tracking protesters, and cited a Texas case in which a family was held at gunpoint after a misread.
• Erin Conner of Manville, asked why Flock representatives were told before residents, how the audits are run and whether outside agencies have access, and raised stalking concerns in domestic-violence cases.
• Frank Sciara of Cheshire Court, who started a petition, said the police department was misled by Flock’s marketing, cited hardware flaws and the company’s statements on encryption, and said Flock’s new terms give it control over data for AI training.
• Alex Straus of Hazlitt Way, cited Carpenter v. United States on the expectation of privacy in physical movements and a scorecard that rated New Jersey’s ALPR policy 2 of 7.

Answers and Council discussion

The minutes record the officials’ answers and the Council’s discussion of the system together:

• Retention: the Flock representative said the system default is 30 days but Attorney General guidelines mandate three years for law enforcement.
• Data: the township owns 100% of the data and the contract prohibits Flock from selling it. The cameras cannot do facial recognition, and the system does not use Bluetooth or cell-signal tracking (“Signal Trace” is a different technology).
• Security: MFA is required for all users, and third-party testers probe for vulnerabilities. Flock has no “demo access” to the township’s live cameras, and any access attempt is logged.
• Audits: the Director said the department’s ALPR coordinator runs quarterly and random monthly audits beyond the state’s annual audit, subject to county and state review.
• Placement: the Director said cameras sit at town entry and exit points chosen from statistical data by the command staff, not the Council, and denied that they are disproportionately placed in Black and Brown neighborhoods.
• False positives: the Director said he knew of none in Franklin and that officers are trained to vet hits before acting.
• Records and misuse: the Director and the Attorney said ALPR data is a criminal investigatory record under New Jersey law and not subject to OPRA. The representative said filters block searches related to reproductive health care or civil immigration enforcement.
• Indemnification: the Attorney said he could not review the contract on the spot, but that indemnification clauses generally do not cover a party’s own misconduct, and that civil rights violations are typically borne by the public entity.
• Funding and notice: the Director said the system was paid for by the $339,000 state grant, not local taxes, after public bidding and a Council resolution. The minutes record that the Mayor said he learned of the system’s association with Flock only recently.

Mayor Kramer said the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag belongs to a set replicating Revolutionary War-era flags and is displayed for historical replication only.

Council comments

Deputy Mayor Kharazi thanked residents for attending and sharing their views. The Manager said 2026-27 tax bills were online, would be mailed August 21, 2026, and that the third-quarter grace period ran through September 15, 2026.

Records

• Minutes (approved September 8, 2026) · Agenda · Packet
• Video on Granicus (3:03). Granicus publishes no captions for Franklin meetings; this page follows the Clerk’s minutes.