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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 3 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