Oakland County Board of Commissioners Chair Dave Woodward and Commissioner Penny Luebs flew to Motorola Solutions headquarters in Chicago one week before casting votes on a $2.9 million grant that benefits the company — and neither included the trip in their September expense reports. The Oakland County undersheriff joined them, with Motorola picking up the tab for that official's overnight stay and meals.
The trip took place September 10, according to a report from WXYZ 7 News Detroit, which found that Woodward, Luebs and the undersheriff stayed overnight in a hotel and flew home the next morning after Motorola hosted a dinner for the group. A sheriff's official confirmed the trip's details to the station. Luebs told the 7 Investigators the trip was meant to see how Motorola does business, though she said she didn't remember exactly when it occurred and would need to check her calendar. She said Woodward invited her along and that, as far as she knew, he paid for her flight.
Seven days later, on September 17, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners approved a $2.9 million Automobile Theft Prevention Authority grant that includes funding for surveillance technologies from Flock Safety and other vendors — with Motorola Solutions set to receive up to $200,000 for a license plate reader investigative database under that grant. The ATPA program itself is funded through statutory assessments paid by auto insurance companies, under a structure managed by the Michigan State Police, according to the State of Michigan. Luebs voted yes on the grant at that meeting.
Commissioners Say They Were Kept in the Dark
Commissioner Yolonda Smith Charles said Woodward and Luebs did not disclose the Motorola trip before the board meeting, and she voted no on the grant specifically because it included surveillance technology. Commissioners Kristen Nelson and Charlie Cavell said they, too, were not told about the trip before the grant's approval, and several Republican commissioners said they were told nothing about it either, per the station's report.
The Oakland County Sheriff's Office said its official joined the trip to compare Motorola products and seek the best equipment and price for deputies and taxpayers. Oakland County taxpayers are currently spending $64,651,484.51 on contracts with Motorola Solutions, and the county has used Motorola radios for police, fire and EMS communications, with sheriff's deputies relying on Motorola body cameras and dash cameras, the station reported — describing Motorola as an important partner to the county for more than 20 years.
Woodward told the station the trip involved a day-long meeting with the undersheriff about potential new equipment, but he did not answer specific questions about the visit and did not return calls or text messages from the 7 Investigators. A Motorola Solutions communications manager ended a phone call with the station when pressed on the matter.
A Pattern Beyond a Single Dinner
This isn't the first time Woodward's travel with a county vendor has drawn scrutiny. The station also reported that Woodward previously organized a trip to Flock Safety's headquarters that was paid for by the company, bringing himself and three sheriff's officials along before the board voted on Flock drones in April. That April 2026 vote approved a $2.5 million Flock drone pilot project, and an investigation by The Midwesterner found Woodward had taken a company-funded trip to Flock's Atlanta headquarters in late 2023 without disclosing it beforehand to the public or fellow commissioners.
That same outlet's audit found Woodward billed Oakland County taxpayers nearly $42,000 for travel, conferences and transportation between 2023 and early 2024, including late-night rides from bars in Lansing and Austin, and reported that Woodward repeatedly declined interview requests about the reimbursements. The fallout from the April drone vote — during which Woodward moved public comment to the end of the meeting only after the 13-4 approval had already passed, per WDET 101.9 FM — helped fuel a recall campaign that ultimately fell short, with organizers from “I Am Oakland County” collecting roughly 3,000 signatures against a required 8,678.
Other Counties Draw a Harder Line
Wayne and Macomb county officials told the 7 Investigators their commissioners do not take this kind of vendor-sponsored travel. Macomb County has an ethics policy barring vendor-paid trips outright, while the Wayne County Commission has no formal policy against the practice but considers vendor-paid travel for commissioners or staff inappropriate. Commissioner Brendan Dunleavy said commissioners should not be allowed to take vendor-sponsored trips at all, arguing that vendor discussions can happen over Zoom instead of through travel and meals.
The episode adds to a broader reckoning over vendor influence in Oakland County's roughly 1.3 million-resident government. Woodward also owns a private consulting firm, Pivot Point Strategies, which has provided services to convenience store chain Sheetz while receiving campaign consulting payments from roughly a third of the commissioners he oversees on the board, as detailed in Hoodline's prior coverage of the ethics cloud over his consulting ties. In October 2025, County Executive Dave Coulter had already proposed an ethics and transparency reform package requiring elected officials and senior appointees to disclose midyear outside income over $10,000, a response to earlier media reports on undisclosed business ties among county leaders.
Meanwhile, local resistance to the surveillance technology itself keeps growing. Independence Township voted 7-0 in September to remove its Flock license plate readers and pursue legal action if necessary, and Madison Heights more recently voted to decline renewing its own Flock contract, reflecting a wider regional pushback against the same vendor relationships now under scrutiny at the county level.
