Naperville property owners won't be seeing 270 new surveillance cameras at parking decks, public buildings and Naper Settlement after the City Council rejected the plan.

The council voted 6-2 on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to reject an $8.29 million contract with SDI Presence LLC. The three-year deal would have overhauled the city's aging camera network, added 270 new cameras and introduced an AI-powered search tool for police investigations.

Mayor Scott Wehrli and Councilman Ian Holzhauer cast the only votes in favor. Councilman Patrick Kelly was absent.

Council members who voted no cited the price tag, privacy concerns and what they described as an overwhelming scope. The plan would have replaced about 200 of the city's 442 existing cameras, added the new ones and installed 98 new access-control readers across city buildings, NCTV17 reported.

The existing cameras date to 2013 and run on three separate systems for security, traffic monitoring and building access. Police Chief Jason Arres told the council much of the hardware is at or nearing the end of its useful life.

Naperville's mid-year 2026 crime report showed motor vehicle thefts surged 82%, with 84% of those involving unlocked vehicles, according to city data cited by Hoodline. Fraud reports rose 58%, even as overall property crime held stable.

The newer system would have included an AI feature capable of scanning all city camera footage for a specific vehicle description, according to the Chicago Tribune. Arres said cameras were proposed around Naper Settlement, in downtown parking decks and at the municipal center. All footage would have been deleted after 30 days, and access would have been restricted by department and job role.

Six council members disagreed.

Councilman Josh McBroom called the request for additional cameras "a shocking number" and questioned whether the money could instead go toward hiring more police officers. Councilwoman Mary Gibson questioned why 60 additional cameras were needed at the municipal center, noting the city had already added a nighttime security guard and limited public access to the building.

"I think this warrants a larger conversation, and some policies, on the front end," Gibson said at the Sept. 1 meeting.

Councilwoman Supna Jain raised the prospect of hiring a third-party firm to audit camera surveillance protocols independently.

McBroom, writing on Facebook after the vote, said the rushed timeline sealed his opposition. Only five days of public vetting before a vote of that size was too much for him and most of his colleagues, the Tribune reported.

Residents pushed back too. John Doyle told the council Naperville's safety scores are "already world class" and questioned whether the expansion was needed. Karen V. Peck submitted written comments urging a pause, arguing that residents deserve to understand why the spending is the best use of their money and need assurance their rights will be protected.

The vote came one week after Naperville Park District Board members raised separate concerns about a draft agreement that would give city police emergency access to park district security cameras during active threats. No outcome of that discussion has been made public.

The city separately operates a $684,300 contract with Flock Safety for 52 license-plate-reading cameras through June 2028, according to Hoodline. That vehicle-tracking network was not part of the rejected proposal.

Arres said after the vote that he does not consider the project dead. He plans to develop written policies and bring a revised proposal back to the council, though no date has been set.