The Palm Bay City Council voted 5-0 to approve a subscription agreement with CERA, a cloud-based incident notification app intended for schools and first responders.

City officials and the police chief told the council the system is opt-in and geofenced to specific properties, and that data would be stored on a Microsoft Azure government tenant with CJIS-level controls.

The council’s vote followed public comment raising privacy and ownership concerns and a staff presentation that described a cybersecurity review. “It is an application … someone actually could download what is only given to law enforcement agencies,” IT Director Bridal Robinson told the council, explaining the vendor keeps data on a U.S.-based Azure government tenant and encrypts data at rest and in transit. Police Chief (identified in the record as “Chief”) said the app is “not a 24 hour constant monitoring and surveillance” and that a user must activate the app for an incident to be reported to first responders.

The staff report and the city’s IT director said the subscription would be reviewed under existing procurement, legal and IT procedures and that the vendor must meet state and federal compliance requirements. Robinson told the council the city’s standard procurement, IT and legal review process was applied to the agreement.

Council members framed their support around the product’s opt-in design and the potential to shorten response times to school incidents. Deputy Mayor Jaffe said CERA is preferable to always-on cameras because “you have to opt into it.” Councilman Langevin, who moved the motion, noted the system is free to the city and can be piloted with school-district agreement.

The council approved the item after brief debate and a motion by Councilman Langevin, seconded by Councilman Hammer, which passed 5-0.

Council direction and staff notes said the city will continue procurement and legal review steps before implementing the subscription and will coordinate with school district officials if the district chooses to participate.