THE CITY OF Benicia’s deal with a company that collects aggregate location data about residents and visitors in town has raised questions for some about privacy and prompted a call for an independent advisory board to oversee technology purchases that utilize such data.

On Dec. 19, the Benicia City Manager’s Office purchased a year-long contract for $20,000 with Placer.ai, a location analytics tech company that tracks foot traffic in any given region. The company gathers data taken from cellphones to determine analytics about how many people visit a location and where they came from.

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Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.