Lacey eliminates red light camera – maybe

At its Thursday night meeting, the Lacey City Council voted not to renew its contract to keep its red light camera on Pacific Avenue at Sleater Kinney.

Lacey mayor Andy Ryder said the camera is not stopping accidents at the intersection and pointed to statistics which show the rate of accidents is nearly the same as when the camera was first installed in 2006.

In 2006 there were 14 collisions and 3 injuries at the Sleater Kinney Pacific Avenue intersection.   In 2014 there were 12 collisions and 6 injuries.

The vote not to renew the contact with the private company was not unanimous.  Councilmembers Jason Hearn and Virgil Clarkson were concerned that the city could lose as much as $150,000 in revenue by the elimination of the camera.

Councilmember Jeff Gadman pointed out  that the camera should not be a revenue generator.

Elimination of the contract calls for a 90-day notification to the company.  The camera  will stay in use through August.

But, the council said it wasn’t opposed to looking at another camera at a different location and authorized staff to look at a new contract for a different location.