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ST. LOUIS — The ӣ����Ƶ Board of Police Commissioners, in its first meeting since the state took over the city police department, approved a $6 million contract for police body cameras with a company that wasn’t the chief’s choice.

, out of Decatur, Georgia, beat out Axon Enterprise Inc., of Scottsdale, Arizona, following months of controversy over the contract. The three-year deal is for 800 body cameras and 275 in-car cameras.

Police Chief Robert Tracy didn’t comment about the contract during the board meeting, and declined to speak about it with a reporter afterward.

The focus, he said, should be on the new commissioners. “Can we let it be about their day?” he said.

Utility has provided body cameras to ӣ����Ƶ police since 2020. Utility’s previous five-year contract was up at the end of June, but it has been extending its services week-to-week this month.

The Board of Police Commissioners voted to go with Utility on Thursday after the Police Board’s attorney Christopher Graville indicated their “backs are against the wall” because the latest extension with Utility is up on Friday. Graville also said there was concern about getting the data from the videos stored over the last five years if the Police Board chose a competitor.

“The greatest fear,” Graville said, “is that we don’t have access to our data.”

He also worried accessing it could be costly.

Extending the contract with Utility would give the board time to investigate if the city could have its own storage, for example, he said. “We do not have an exit strategy for our data,” Graville said.

Changing from Utility could also mean switching uniforms because the Utility cameras are sewn into the current officer uniforms.

Police in the spring complained publicly that the Utility gear wasn’t working well: Utility’s cameras have overheated, officials said, and officers sometimes have to leave patrol to return to the station to swap out batteries. The video quality wasn’t as good as Axon’s, officials said. And the camera is in officer’s shirts at a spot where the view can be blocked.

Graville said he gave the chief his word that he would hold Utility accountable for any issues with their products. And extending the contract gives the board time to evaluate the technology that is an emerging market, he said.

Tracy had pushed for Axon, and, with Tracy’s influence, Axon was awarded the contract twice since September. But after Utility complained, those contracts were voided, auditors in the ӣ����Ƶ Comptroller’s office began reviewing the deal — and now the federal government is investigating the bid process.

Utility claimed Axon got one of the them through a no-bid process, and that the second was rigged to favor Axon.

The city and police department received federal subpoenas for information related to the body camera contract and bid solicitation several weeks ago, according to people familiar with the matter.

KMOV (Channel 4) first reported in March that the state auditor received a whistleblower complaint that process to award the bid was rigged.

The Police Board commissioners didn’t mention the federal investigation. When Utility executive Jason Dombkowski answered a question about whether equipment would be upgraded at no cost when newer technology comes along, Dombkowski used his time at the podium to say that he took issue with contracts that were no-bid. But he was cut off and Graville directed the conversation back to the technology topic.

The board on Thursday elected as president board member Chris Saracino, who owns Bartolino’s Hospitality Group, and co-owns a private security firm that employs police officers.

The board also adopted board objectives. Mayor Cara Spencer said she wanted them to “prioritize and center our work around the community.” The board agreed.

It voted unanimously on every issue except one: making Graville the board attorney.

Fifteen days ago, Graville was hired as interim board attorney by the transition director of the Police Board. The new Police Board at Thursday’s meeting agreed to make him their attorney, no longer interim. Only the mayor voted to abstain. Spencer had said she thought it was important to have somebody in that role who represents the city of ӣ����Ƶ.

Graville was born and raised in Ballwin and is a Mizzou law school graduate. He is the city attorney for Chesterfield and Des Peres. He started his career as an assistant prosecutor in Warren County trying cases of crimes against children.

He told Spencer he’d like to meet with her so she could learn more about his background.

Afterward, surrounded by reporters, Spencer said it wasn’t too late to file suit to restore the police department to local control.

The new board includes Saracino, Sonya Jenkins-Gray, Eddie McVey, Brad Arteaga and Don Brown. They will serve along with the mayor under the new state law.

The Police Board was appointed by Gov. Mike Kehoe, who made reimposing state control of ӣ����Ƶ police one of his main priorities when he was sworn into office in January. The state Legislature moved swiftly to approve a plan in March.