HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3: Resolution on Charter Amendment on Police Auditor
ECC
UGENE ITY OUNCIL
AIS
GENDA TEM UMMARY
Action: Resolution 4949 Calling a City Election on November 4, 2008 for the
Purpose of Referring to the Legal Electors of the City of Eugene a Measure
Amending Section 15-A. External Review of Police,
of the Eugene Charter of 2002
Meeting Date: July 14, 2008 Agenda Item Number: 3
Department: City Attorney’s Office Staff Contact: Glenn Klein
www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 682-5080
ISSUE STATEMENT
This resolution calls a city election for the purpose of referring to the legal electors of the City a measure
amending the Eugene Charter, Section 15-A, “External Review of Police.”
BACKGROUND
On May 27, the City Council adopted the following motion to direct the City Manager to return with a
resolution to place an amendment to the Eugene Charter on the November 2008 general election ballot:
I move to direct the City Manager to bring forward, asap, for approval by the council, a
resolution that places an amendment to the Charter on the November 2008 ballot. The
resolution, caption, question, and summary shall provide for editing of the Charter
language in Section 15-A, External Review of Police, so that in Section (1) the words “is
authorized to” and the word “may” are replaced with the word “shall,” and, in sub-
paragraph (2) the words “is authorized to” and the word “may” are replaced with the
word “shall.” If approved by the voters, this amendment of Charter language shall do
nothing more than edit the above words, therefore ensuring the ongoing and consistent
functioning of the Independent Police Auditor’s Office and the Civilian Review Board.
In the event it fails to pass, the current language of the Charter, Section 15-A shall stand
as written.
Charter Amendment
Attached as Exhibit A is a draft resolution which calls an election on a Charter Amendment for
November to change the words as proposed in the motion.
Based on the wording of the motion, it appears that the attached draft resolution, if adopted, will have
unintended consequences. The motion states that “this amendment of Charter language shall do nothing
more than edit the above words . . .” In fact, if all those changes are made, the Charter amendment
would require a change in the functioning of the auditor’s office. In particular, the attached charter
amendment would require the Council to authorize the police auditor to become involved in criminal
investigations. With the proposed change, Section 15-A(1) of the Charter would provide, in part, that
"the city council shall authorize the auditor to . . . (c) monitor the city's internal investigations, including
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but not limited to . . . participation in investigative interviews related to such complaints . . . ." In other
words, the council will be required to "authorize the auditor to . . . [participate] in investigative
interviews . . ." Nothing in that provision limits the interviews to administrative investigations, and
consequently, it would include both administrative and criminal investigations. Currently, the ordinance
does not authorize such participation. Instead, section 2.456(2)(c) provides, in part, that the police
auditor will not be directly involved in any criminal investigation, and section 2.456(3)(a) provides, in
part, that the police auditor will not have access to a criminal investigation file until the conclusion of
any such criminal investigation.
Possible alternatives to the proposed resolution that would not have the consequence with respect to
criminal investigations are listed below under Options.
Ballot Title
The council’s motion also purports to specify part of the contents of the ballot caption, question and
summary. Under city code, the ballot title is to be drafted after the council refers a matter to the ballot
and must comply with the requirements of state law. Anyone, including a city councilor, can challenge
the ballot title in circuit court. When the city attorney certifies the ballot title, a copy will be provided to
each councilor (notice of the ballot title also is published in newspaper).
RELATED CITY POLICIES
None.
COUNCIL OPTIONS
The council can adopt the resolution as presented, can adopt the resolution with amendments, or can
reject the resolution.
Based on what appears to be Council’s intent in adopting the original motion, below are three options
that would achieve that intent without the unintended consequence noted above with respect to criminal
investigations:
(1)Revise proposed amendment as follows: (a) continue to replace “may” with “shall” for
appointment of the police auditor and Civilian Review Board; and (b) do not substitute
“may” with “shall” with respect to the powers and duties that the Council can assign to the
police auditor and CRB.
(2)Similar to #1 above (i.e., revise proposed amendment to replace “may” with “shall” for
appointment of the police auditor and CRB but not with respect to the powers and duties that
the Council can assign to the police auditor and CRB), and in addition, include a new
subsection (3) that requires amendments to the implementing ordinance to occur by non-
emergency clause so that the proposed revisions are subject to referendum.
(3)Make the appointment of the police auditor and CRB mandatory (i.e., change “may” to
“shall”); make the authorization of powers and duties mandatory for non-criminal
complaints; and leave as discretionary the authorization of powers and duties for criminal
complaints.
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CITY MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager recommends that the council choose one of the three alternatives described above,
rather than the resolution that is included as Exhibit A. The Police Commission and the City Council
previously had decided that the police auditor should not participate in or review criminal investigations
until after the criminal investigations are complete. Adopting the Charter amendment as contained in the
draft resolution would require the council to allow the police auditor to become involved in those
criminal investigations.
SUGGESTED MOTIONS
Move to adopt Resolution 4949 calling a City election on November 4, 2008 for the purpose of referring
to the legal electors of the City of Eugene a measure amending Section 15-A. External Review of Police,
of the Eugene Charter of 2002.
Alternative motion: Move to direct the City Manager to revise the proposed resolution consistent with
Option __ listed above and bring it back to the council not later than July 28 for action.
ATTACHMENTS
A. Proposed Resolution
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Staff Contact: Glenn Klein
Telephone: 682-5080
Staff E-Mail: glenn.klein@harrang.com
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ATTACHMENT A
RESOLUTION NO. _________
A RESOLUTION CALLING A CITY ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 4, 2008
FOR THE PURPOSE OF REFERRING TO THE LEGAL ELECTORS OF
THE CITY OF EUGENE A MEASURE AMENDING SECTION 15-A.
EXTERNAL REVIEW OF POLICE, OF THE EUGENE CHARTER OF
2002.
The City Council of the City of Eugene finds that:
A.
At an election held on November 8, 2005 the electors of the City of Eugene
approved an amendment that added Section 15-A to the Eugene Charter of 2002. That section
provides for the external review of the City’s police and Subsection (1) authorizes the City
Council to hire, supervise and specify the salary of an independent police auditor and Subsection
(2) authorizes the City Council to appoint a civilian review board. The City Council has hired an
independent police auditor and has appointed a civilian review board.
B.
Both Subsections (1) and (2) of Section 15-A contain the phrases: “The city
council is authorized to * * *” and “the city council may authorize * * *.” The City Council has
determined that a proposed amendment to Section 15-A of the Eugene Charter of 2002 should be
referred to the electors of the City which would in both instances replace that language in both
Subsections with the mandatory phrase: “city council shall * * *.”
NOW, THEREFORE, based upon the above findings,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EUGENE, a
Municipal Corporation of the State of Oregon, as follows:
Section 1.
A city election is called for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors
of the City a Measure amending Section 15-A. External Review of Police, of the Eugene Charter
bold italics
of 2002 (deleted language shown in strikeout and new language in ) to provide as
follows:
Section 15-A. External Review of Police.
shall
(1) The city council [is authorized to] hire, supervise and specify
the salary of an independent police auditor to oversee investigations of complaints
involving police employees. Notwithstanding section 16 of this charter, the city council
shall
[may] authorize the auditor to: (a) receive, classify and route complaints about
sworn police officers and civilian police employees; (b) contract with persons or entities
to perform outside investigations of such complaints; (c) monitor the city’s internal
investigations, including but not limited to access to all evidence developed as part of the
investigation and participation in investigative interviews related to such complaints, and
require the city to undertake additional investigation; (d) make recommendations to the
city manager or designee following the investigation; (e) prepare reports on complaint
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trends and police practices in general; and (f) act as a liaison to and provide staff support
for the civilian review board.
shall
(2) The city council [is authorized to] appoint a civilian review
board of not more than seven members to review investigations of complaints involving
sworn police officers. Notwithstanding section 16 of this charter, the city council [may]
shall
authorize the civilian review board to: (a) review the completed investigation and
adjudication of complaints filed against sworn police officers; (b) require that the city re-
open an investigation; (c) provide comments on an investigation, including
recommendations to the independent police auditor, city manager or designee about the
investigation; (d) review trends and statistics of complaints against sworn police officers
and civilian employees, and provide reports and recommendations to the city council; and
(e) oversee and evaluate the work of the independent police auditor.
Section 2.
The City Council orders this City election to be held in the City of Eugene,
th
Oregon, concurrently with the general election on the 4 day of November, 2008, in accordance
with the provisions of Chapter 254 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, and the ballots shall be
counted and tabulated and the results certified as provided by law.
Section 3.
The City Recorder is directed to give not less than ten days’ notice of the City
election by publication of one notice in the Register Guard, a newspaper published in the City
and of general circulation within the City.
Section 4.
This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its adoption.
The foregoing Resolution adopted the ____ day of ______________, 2008.
_____________________________________
City Recorder
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