HomeMy WebLinkAboutMN-COW-2021-02-24COMMON COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS
CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK
Committee of the Whole Meeting 6:00 p.m. February 24, 2021
PRESENT:
Mayor Myrick
Alderpersons (10): Brock, McGonigal, Nguyen, Murtagh, Gearhart, Fleming, Kerslick,
Smith, Mohlenhoff, Lewis
OTHERS PRESENT:
City Clerk – Conley Holcomb
Chief of Staff - Cogan
Human Resources Director – Michell-Nunn
Human Resources Executive Assistant - Malone
City Controller – Thayer
Police Chief - Nayor
Fire Chief - Parsons
Tompkins County Administrator – Molino
Tompkins County Chief Equity and Diversity Officer - Carrithers
Tompkins County Communications Director – Recckio
Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell
Dr. Belisa Gonzalez
SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS:
2.1 A Special Presentation on the Reimagining Public Safety Collaborative Draft
Report
Mayor Myrick shared a presentation of the draft report from the Reimagining Public
Safety Collaborative that focused on:
• Collaboration with Tompkins County and the Center for Policing Equity
• City-related Recommendations
• County-related Recommendations
• City & County-related Recommendations
• History & Process: NYS Executive Order 203 mandated that each County submit
a reimagining public safety report by April 1, 2021, or risk the loss of NYS
funding.
• Create focus groups for community and law enforcement input.
• City – Replace the City of Ithaca Police Department with a Community Solutions
and Public Safety Department
• County – Better align available resources with emergency response needs by
establishing a pilot program for non-emergency calls
• County – Evaluate existing models and implement an alternative to law
enforcement response
• Collaborative Recommendations
• Advocacy Recommendations
• Accountability Recommendations
• Implementation
• What’s next: input, consideration, and approval process
The Mayor and Common Council shared expressions of gratitude to the people who
worked so hard to pull this report together.
Alderperson Lewis asked how the proposals would be funded and about the status of
police officer positions. Mayor Myrick stated that this would be an ongoing and
collaborative process and it is not his intention for any officer to lose their job. He
voiced willingness to work collaboratively with the police department to design the new
agency, noting that there are existing structural issues. He further stated that the
proposed costs and funding streams are still to be determined.
January 15, 2020
2
Alderperson Fleming referenced the proposed augmentation of existing police officers
with community mental health workers to relieve law enforcement from the more minor
tasks. She voiced her concern about budget implications, noting that 1/3 of Sheriff’s
budget is paid by city taxpayers so there should be more collaboration between IPD and
TCSO. Mayor Myrick noted that law enforcement workers, community solutions
workers, and unarmed workers would all be needed to deal with mental health issues.
Tompkins County Administrator Molino stated that he expects to develop the budget
requirements in the next few weeks, but that the alternative response model would take
longer. The County’s recommendation was to hire 3 civil staff to handle non-
emergency/office related calls. They will create a pilot program for a year and re-
evaluate after that time. The alternative response model includes co-response calls,
based on the COHOOTS model, to help assist with mental health calls.
Discussion followed on the importance of commonality in law enforcement response
across all agencies (New York State Police, Tompkins County Sheriff, Ithaca Police
Department).
Path to moving forward with the 1st City recommendation:
• There is an existing labor contract for IPD that is still in effect.
• Common Council will discuss this at the March 24th City Administration
Committee and will hold a Special meeting on March 31st. There will be
community input sessions in between those discussions.
Extensive discussion followed regarding the role of law enforcement, the CAHOOTS
model, the projected cost of the alternative proposals, the role of the Community Justice
Center, the role of the Center for Policing Equity, and the responsibility of mental health
incident response.
County Administrator Molino stated that the Community Justice Center would be putting
the human resources behind the report, noting that public safety is larger than just law
enforcement. An enormous amount of coordination among agencies, and municipalities
is required. He further stated that Tompkins County would be best positioned to help
facilitate what a mental health response would be, noting that not everything needs to
be done in house, a non-government organization could be contracted with.
Police Chief Nayor stated that he has been fully immersed in the process from the
beginning and has been involved in discussions, data mining, and responding to
questions. He voiced his agreement that the police cannot do everything, citing the
increases in mental illness, addiction, and homelessness calls. He stated that as Police
Chief, he wasn’t given the opportunity to share his opinion of what the path forward
should be. He noted that this is a radical plan that has officers fearing job security. He
stated that Ithaca Police Officers are well trained, meet high standards, and are seeking
transparency. The article in GQ Magazine made them feel devalued. He believes that
these recommendations can be accomplished in a graduated way to take advantage of
the important lessons learned along the way. He further noted that the Command
Vehicle was difficult to acquire and is a low frequency, high risk type of tool that is
needed for officer safety. He expressed his hope for continued conversation on this
issue as members of the department want to be involved going forward.
Mayor Myrick voiced his appreciation for the participation of Police Chief Nayor and
Deputy Police Chiefs Monticello and Joly. He acknowledged that this conversation is
not about one agency but the law enforcement discipline in general, noting that very
good departments can also be on cutting edge.
Alderperson Mohlenhoff encouraged people to read the entire report as snippets don’t
adequately represent the comprehensive work that has been completed. She noted
that the system is broken, not the staff working within the system. She addressed the
need for a healing process for the community that is trauma informed.
January 15, 2020
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Alderperson Nguyen stated that this initiative is far more ambitious than those of other
counties across the state. He noted that the reallocation of personnel would keep costs
down. He stressed the importance of rebranding, noting that the SWAT vehicle has
created frustration on both sides.
Dr. Belisa Gonzalez acknowledged the tremendous work completed by Human
Resources Director Michell-Nunn in getting members of the community to provide
feedback. She stated that even though no one trusted the process, they participated
anyway. She noted the success of having drivers to pick people up, conducting
individual focus groups, and sharing resources with people so they could participate.
She stated that people talked most about feeling dehumanized during their day-to-day
interactions with law enforcement and wanted their humanity to be recognized. Most of
these incidents did not rise to the occasion of arrests/data collection.
Dr. Sean Eversley Bradwell stated that the task was to oversample the most
marginalized communities, noting that a large part of community will not come to
meetings, or speak over a portal/online. He commented that there was great
community concern for officer well-being and a recognition that they are over-worked.
He stated that Council will have to find a balance between supporting law enforcement
personnel and the marginalized community, noting that the largest loss will be inaction.
Dr. Eversley Bradwell noted that budget is a reflection of values. This initiative will cost
money and will need to be worked through collaboratively.
Mayor Myrick reaffirmed that this is only the beginning of a series of public input
sessions. The next time Common Council will discuss the report is at March 24th City
Administration Committee meeting.
ADJOURNMENT:
On a motion, the meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM.
_____________________________ _______________________________
Julie Conley Holcomb, CMC Svante L. Myrick
City Clerk Mayor