CC Minutes - 08/14/06 Work Session

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Mr. Poling apologized for not attending the onsite interviews in Cambridge that were part of the background investigation for the police auditor candidate. He explained that a booking error and flight cancellations prevented him from traveling. He had an opportunity to discuss the interviews with investigator Jim Gardner and was pleased with the results. Ms. Ortiz reminded members of the community that applications were being taken for positions on boards and commissions and encouraged people to apply, particularly residents of the River Road, Santa Clara, Whiteaker and Bethel areas that were underrepresented on those bodies. B. WORK SESSION: Fiscal Year 2007 Police Commission Work Plan City Manager Taylor introduced Police Commission members Tim Laue, Angie Sifuentez, and Maurice Denner to present the commission’s annual report and proposed FY07 Work Plan. Ms. Piercy thanked members of the commission for their work, especially Mr. Laue as outgoing chair and Mr. Denner as chair-elect. Mr. Laue reviewed the commission’s FY 2005-2006 Annual Report. He said the commission was charged with reviewing policies, resources and issues in the community. He listed several policy reviews completed by the commission during the past year, including the SWAT policy, risk assessment, upgrade of equipment for the crisis negotiation team and in-car video policy. He said the commission reviewed the FY07 budget and revisited the Downtown Public Safety Action Plan, forwarding recommendations on the plan to the council. He said the major issue addressed by the commission during the past two years was the concept of community oversight. He said the commission, at the council’s request, developed recommendations regarding recruitment of a police auditor and those recommendations formed the basis of the council’s recruitment and selection process. He received feedback from a number of sources around the country that the recruitment process was very impressive. Mr. Laue said the commission also worked on mediation alternatives in conjunction with the Human Rights Commission and developed a series of recommendations. He said all of the commission’s recommendations, including the draft oversight ordinance, were presented in framework or outline form with options for consideration when finalized by the council and auditor. He thanked the council and City Manager on behalf of the commission for budgetary enhancements to police services. He said the commission also worked with the police chief and department on a strategic plan and held work sessions on domestic violence and use of the Lexipol model for department policies. He indicated that the outstanding issues requiring attention over the next three or four months were: 1) role of the Police Commission under the new oversight model, 2) determination of the day-to-day supervision of the auditor, and 3) ordinance framework for dealing with establishment of the auditor’s office and the civilian review board. He thanked the council and past councils for the honor of serving on the commission. Ms. Sifuentez referred to the draft civilian oversight ordinance framework included in the agenda packet. She said the commission established two committees: one committee developed draft language related to the auditor and the other developed language related to the civilian review board; the work of those committees was then combined in a final draft. She said the purpose was to create a framework that defined the basic functions of the board and auditor that could then be refined by the auditor. She said the city attorney MINUTES—Eugene City Council August 14, 2006 Page 2 Work Session