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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN- CPB-2022-06-22CITY OF ITHACA COMMUNITY POLICE BOARD MINUTES Regular Meeting 3:30 p.m. June 22, 2022 Present: Chair: Kane Commissioners (5) Beem-Miller, Rogers, Korthuis, Onyejuruwa, Wright Excused: Commissioner Simons Others Present: Acting Police Chief – Joly Common Council Liaison - McGonigal Public Information Specialist – Faraday Approval of the April 27, 2022, Community Police Board Meeting Minutes- Resolution: By Commissioner Korthuis: Seconded by Commissioner Beem-Miller RESOLVED, That the minutes of the April 27, 2022, Community Police Board meeting be approved as published. Carried Unanimously Approval of the May 25, 2022, Community Police Board Meeting Minutes- Resolution: By Commissioner Beem-Miller: Seconded by Commissioner Wright RESOLVED, That the minutes of the May 25, 2022, Community Police Board meeting be approved as published. Carried Unanimously Chair Kane reports that the Community Police Board will be involved in the interviewing process for the next Police Chief. Explains that the Board works together to formulate questions. Who from the group would be interested? Commissioners Korthuis, Onyejuruwa, and Rogers offered to assist. The group expressed interest in seeing the job listing(s) and descriptions for the Police Chief position. Report from Common Council: Alderperson McGonigal reported that tonight is the City Administration meeting, that they will be discussing the Reimagining Public Safety Suggestions. The position of “Commissioner” has been tweaked a bit, there may be civil service issues with the current language and structure of that position. Considering creating a “Deputy Chief of Staff” position in addition to the Police Chief. Hinges partially on the City Manager position and how that pans out. Commissioner Korthuis asks if there has been any consideration for ending the war on drugs in the context of this Reimagining work. Where is the money coming from for these additional positions (City Manager). Expresses concern for lack of access to public meetings for those without internet access. Chair Kane asks what IPD thinks about the “Deputy Chief of Staff” position. AC Joly states that he sees a benefit with the position of City Manager, as a specialized position that could offer consistent oversight and management. He hopes to continue down the path of leaving “Police Chief” at the head of the Department. Provided that the individual that is hired into a Deputy Chief of Staff position is responsible for overseeing aspects other that the IPD alone, AC Joly opines that this could be beneficial to the department and the city overall. Alderperson McGonigal calls back to mind that the initial drive for Reimagining was spurred by prolonged racial tension, especially regarding Law Enforcement, that Ithaca is not impermeable to these issues and the desire is to address this. A conversation about the reimagining process and progress, how IPD is involved, and community relations. Report from the Police Department: Acting Chief Joly reported that he has been working on some internal restructuring at IPD: Records Sgt is now Records & Community Outreach Sgt, position is held by Mary Orsaio and they have done a lot of events with the community. Really kicking up community engagement. Signed on with Lexipol to do policy and procedures. All policies will be accessible via the website within 9 months. Signed on to Police One Academy for online training options for IPD. The Dashboard is up and running on the city’s website, please take a look at it if you haven’t already. Very robust database of Police activity. Continuing to work with the County to see where there are opportunities to work together on utilizing technology in law enforcement. 2 resignations were just handed in. Working on eliminating barriers to applicants such as fees and residency restrictions. Struggling for personnel. Commissioner Korthuis asked how the Community Police Board can be made aware of the various events that IPD is participating in. Chair Kane asked that the events/ engagements be sent to cpb@cityofithaca.org so that we may track them for our annual report. There was a Zoom promotion ceremony recently. There are a number of retirements coming up, AC Joly will reach out to the group to be sure they are aware of any ceremonies that are open to the public. Commissioner Rogers asked who would be hiring the individuals that are to serve as unarmed responders, and who would be responsible for funding these positions. AC Joly shared that he and Chief of Staff Vavra worked together on a grant application that would assist with hiring and funding 2 crisis intervention workers. More resources are badly needed for responding to mental health emergencies. This is an area of great need to support the community and the Police Department. Alderperson McGonigal expresses to the group that mental health is the county’s department, so there is a lot of overlap. There is an element to the response outlined by Reimagining that maintains a separation of IPD and the Community Solutions Officers, that they would not always be responding together, there are examples from other cities of how this structure benefits the community. Commissioner Onyejruwa asks, in regard to the Dashboard- what does “total incident interaction” mean. AC Joly responds that this is a metric for all the interactions- initial response, any follow ups that occur, essentially the workload created by cases that were initiated that day. Introductions- Faith Vavra Members of the Community Police Board introduce themselves and give their background with the board and in the community at large. Chief of Staff Vavra thanks the group for their service, shares her background and experience with the group. Asks the group to think about what their vision is for the Board, and their place within the scope of the Reimagining work and the future restructuring of the charge of the Community Police Board. Chair Kane welcomes Faith to join any time, states that they would like more interaction with the city, shares previous difficulty in gaining access to the mayor. MOTION TO ENTER INTO EXECUTIVE SESSION TO DISCUSS ACTIVE INVESTIGATIONS: By Commissioner Rogers: Seconded by Commissioner Beem-Miller RESOLVED, That the Community Police Board enter into Executive Session to discuss active investigations. Carried Unanimously RECONVENE: The Community Police Board reconvened into Regular Session with no formal action taken. ADJOURNMENT: On a motion the meeting adjourned at 5:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Melody Faraday, Public Information Specialist