After weeks of delay, the Denver City Council narrowly approved a one-year $150,000 contract with Axon for 50 automated license plate-reading cameras and the necessary system hardware, replacing the city’s former vendor, Flock.

The 7-6 vote came during Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting, where councilmembers weighed in on the risks of approving the contract before the city’s surveillance task force and other stakeholders could craft guardrails and an associated ordinance.

Councilmembers Stacie Gilmore, Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, Paul Kashmann, Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis and Jamie Torres cast the dissenting votes.

City officials confirmed that Flock cameras were removed Tuesday, in compliance with the Flock contract end date.

“Keeping Denver safe means giving our officers effective tools to combat crime while ensuring our rights are protected. This contract does both,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said in a statement. “We’re proud to have Council’s support to move forward with this common-sense technology that has helped drive historic reductions in crime while protecting residents’ privacy. And with these strengthened privacy and data protections, we are ensuring that no federal agency or federal agent can access this data—now or ever.”

Several councilmembers expressed concerns that approving the contract without a city ordinance and guardrails would open the city up to further expansion of the camera system citywide.

“If we continue to authorize these technologies without a contract in place, this contract makes the executive branch and the police department the decision makers (regarding expansions),” said Parady, who is one of two at-large Denver City Council members.

“I really think that we made a mistake when we allowed Flock to expand in the city without our oversight.” Parody added. “And I think the people in the city agree with that, and we really need to not make that mistake twice.”

Tim Hoffman, policy director for Mayor Johnston, assured the City Council that there would be no expansion of the contract or the number of cameras during the next year.

While the City Council will bring forth an ordinance on the matter at some point, Councilman Kevin Flynn said he was comfortable approving the contract before the legislation is passed.

“I believe the contract has stronger safeguards and recourse than an ordinance will have,” Flynn said. “With high-level policy, the contract has the most controls, and with those controls that are written in this contract, I’m very comfortable with it.”

City officials tout that the Axon contract has “stringent protections and ensures Denver’s data cannot be accessed by federal authorities or used for any purposes other than those set forth by the city. Any request for data from outside agencies will go through the City Attorney’s Office, where they can be challenged in court.”

Councilwoman Lewis questioned Axon’s ties to federal agencies.

“I’m not comfortable with approving this kind of technology offered by this contractor in this current political moment, Lewis said. “Axon has open ties to the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. They are a multi-million dollar company that has a variety of commitments it has made to various institutions that may be in conflict with one another.”

Privacy and civil rights advocates argue that ALPRs, regardless of the vendor, pose certain risks for the unintended use of data for the enforcement of federal immigration laws and identifying women seeking abortions.

Limited time to review the contract was also cited by the council as a challenge.

The Axon contract was not shared with Task Force members until March 19, and shared with the City Council on March 13, just five days before the committee vote, according to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union.