CCMinutes - 07/28/04 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms. Bettman, seconded by Ms. Taylor, moved to authorize expenditure of an amount not to exceed $70,000 to support the Police Commission's re- view of the internal affairs policies and procedures and civilian oversight models. Ms. Taylor opposed the contingency request. She reported that she had reviewed the budget of the Police Commission and the commission had spent $92,000, mostly for staff. She opined that if this would be the only job of the Police Commission, then the staff person could spend all of her time on it. She felt it fortunate that the City had hired a Police Chief who was already familiar with external reviews. She thought it would be possible to easily gather information with the aid of computers. She hoped the council would be kept informed on the commission's work on the issue. Ms. Bettman stated that the commission would be looking at three different aspects of the complaint process: the intake, the investigation, and the adjudication. She said research would be done on each one of those aspects and how different communities treat the processes. She believed the resources to be absolutely necessary because the project would involve an extraordinary effort above the commission's regular workload. Mr. Pap6 asked what the staffing levels were for the Human Rights Commission (HRC) and the Planning Commission. Ms. Ortiz responded that the HRC had 2.5 FTE staff for the program. Mr. Taylor said different planners acted as support staff to the Planning Commission. Mr. Pap6 felt the contingency request was appropriate and that the proposed work could lead to a further request because of the size of the project. Mr. Taylor said that in addition to the Police Commission study and staff's external review, there was a third element to the review. He explained that the department would continue its relationship with external auditor for internal affairs, Howell Lankford, who would provide a similar review in the next year. He added that, based on Mr. Lankford's most recent report, he had asked Chief Lehner to develop some interim reforms, particularly in the area of intake and investigations. He requested the council's support for the continuation of these three phases of the review. He felt no bigger issue confronted the department and the City at this time and stressed the importance of working through the issue and moving forward to put into practice the types of policies and procedures that would guarantee the support of the community. Ms. Solomon echoed Ms. Bettman's comments. She assured the council that the work would be ~$70,000 well-spent." Mayor Torrey stressed the fact that some people felt they could not report abuses of power for fear of retribution was in itself abuse and must be remedied. Mr. Meisner highly recommended providing specialized outreach to the women's community. The motion passed, 5:1; Ms. Taylor voting in opposition. Mayor Torrey thanked Mr. Laue, Ms. Ortiz, and Mr. Brown for participating in the work session. MINUTES--Eugene City Council July 28, 2004 Page 5 Work Session