HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3D: Appointment to Police Commission
ECC
UGENE ITY OUNCIL
AIS
GENDA TEM UMMARY
Appointment to Police Commission
Meeting Date: September 8, 2010 Agenda Item Number: 3D
Department: Police Staff Contact: Randi Zimmer
www.eugene-or.gov/policecommission Contact Telephone Number: 541-682-5852
ISSUE STATEMENT
This item is to appoint a member of the Police Commission to serve the unexpired term of Brooke
Dodge.
BACKGROUND
Each year, the council makes appointments to boards, committees and commissions. Chapter 2 of the
Eugene Code addresses standing committees to the City Council and the appointment process for these
committees. For most standing committees created in the Code, the council is the appointing authority.
The normal recruitment period for boards, committees and commissions begins in January unless a
resignation occurs mid-term. The Mayor nominates candidates and the council appoints members to this
commission.
Due to the resignation of Ms. Dodge, there is one vacancy on the Police Commission. Ms. Dodge’s
term is set to expire on June 30, 2012, and her replacement will assume the remaining part of this term.
Recruitment for this position yielded three applications. A subset of the Police Commission met with
the candidates and recommended any of the three candidates to Mayor Piercy, who then interviewed all
candidates. However, following interviews with the Mayor, one candidate withdrew his application
from consideration which left two candidates. From the two resulting candidates, Mayor Piercy
recommends appointing Jim Garner.
RELATED CITY POLICIES
The Eugene Police Commission is a 12-member citizen body that acts in an advisory capacity to the
City Council, Chief of Police and the City Manager on police policy and resource issues. The
commission was created by City Ordinance 20136 in December 1998.
COUNCIL OPTIONS
The City Council may:
1. Appoint the candidate nominated by the Mayor.
2. Appoint another candidate after reviewing the all of applications.
Z:\CMO\2010 Council Agendas\M100908\S1009083D.doc
CITY MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager has no recommendation on this item; the appointments are made by the council.
SUGGESTED MOTION
Move to appoint Jim Garner to Position 3 on the Police Commission, the unexpired term of Brooke
Dodge, ending on June 30, 2012.
ATTACHMENTS
A. Police Commission Applications (Jim Garner and Stephen Joers)
B. Letter of recommendation from Police Commission
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Staff Contact: Randi Zimmer
Telephone: 541-682-5852
Staff E-Mail: randi.m.zimmer@ci.eugene.or.us
Z:\CMO\2010 Council Agendas\M100908\S1009083D.doc
Attachment A: Interested Applicants
Interested Applicants 7/16/2010 10:28:19 AM
Police Commission
Evening Phone 541-689-9504 Day Phone 541-744-9407
James E. Garner
Name
Do You Live within the City Limits? Y If so how long? 20+ years
2933 Dry Creek Rd
Address
Ward 7 Neighborhood Santa Clara Community Organization
Eugene OR 97404
Employer Northwest Community Credit Union
Operations Manager
Occupation
Fax 541-744-9779 E-Mail jgarner@efn,org
3660 Gateway St
Business Address
How did you learn of this vacancy? Friend
Springfield OR 97477
M 46-55
Optional Information Gender Age Ethnicity
Disability N Description
White/European American
Additional Languages spoken
English
Job Experience
Education / Training
3+ years of college at the U of O, 5 years as an internal Most recent to oldest: 2.5 years, Operations Manager,
auditor, 30+ years living in the Eugene/Springfield Northwest Community Credit Union (NWCU); 5 years,
community, certified as a Credit Union Compliance Internal Auditor, NWCU; 13 years, ATM Coordinator,
Expert Oregon Community CU; 10 years, Tiffany's Drug Stores,
Sales Clerk to Store Manager
Community Service / Volunteer Personal Experience
Day of Caring - Mt Pisgah Friends of Buford Park, Movies in 30+ years in the Eugene/Springfield community (mostly
the Park, Festival of Trees Eugene), Sheldon High School graduate, attended the U of
O, and a 20+ career with organizations (credit unions) that
place very high importance on the community and
involvement in it.
Interested Applicants
7/16/2010 10:28:19 AM Personal Interest Contribution
Interested Applicants
I am always looking to expand my knowledge base and To use my sense of fairness, policy and procedure writing
learn something new while also using my skills to help. It and review skills, moral values, and longtime Eugene seems
like the Eugene Police are always in the news as resident background to help ensure that both the Eugene either
reacting too harshly or not reacting strongly Police Department and Eugene citizens are treated fairly, enough. It just
doesn't seem they can win. It has made with both having input in the community safety process me interested in what
goes into the decision-making while still maintaining the freedoms we enjoy in Eugene. process when the Eugene
Police respond to situations. Maybe it is just the public's perception. And maybe I can help both the police in making
good, solid decisions and with the public's perception of the Eugene Police.
1 What is your understanding of the role of the Police Commission within the community?
Having read the Police Commission Mission and Goals as well as the Background Information from the website,
neither this question nor #2 is really very fair to answer. I could just spout back what is stated on the website.
However, I will give you my personal perspective. The Police Commission allows the community a voice in the policies
and procedures used by the Eugene Police to enforce safety in the community. In doing this, the Police Commission
should act fairly and objectively, using any relevant feedback or information at their disposal, including community
input, to help provide recommendations to the Eugene Police Department and City Government to help create a safe
environment that also helps keep Eugene still remain Eugene; with all the uniqueness and diversity that is Eugene. In
addition, this is a two way street and the Police Commission should also strive to communicate with the community to
help bridge the trust gap with the Eugene Police Department. Transparency is important to the community, Police
Department, and City government. I do not feel questions #1 and #2 should be separate. They are both interrelated.
2 What do you see as the role of the Police Commission relative to City government?
See the above response to #1.
3 What community issues, related to the work of the Police Commission, are of interest to you?
The use of force has been a hot topic recently and is interesting to me, but it looks like it is already in the last stages
of being reviewed by the Police Commission. Making recommendations for updating and revising the police policy
manual would also be interesting and also fits in with my skill sets.
Interested Applicants
Interested Applicants
7/16/2010 10:28:19 AM
Police Commission
Stephen G. Joers 541-554-0636 541-342-8455
Evening Phone Day Phone
Name
1766 W 24th Ave. Y 20 years Eugene OR 97405
Do You Live within the City Limits? If so how long?
Address
E-UGB None
Ward Neighborhood
Locksmith Action Locksmithing Inc. 1766 W 24th Ave.
Occupation Employer Business Address Fax E-Mail
stephen@actionlocksmithing.com
How did you learn of this vacancy? Friend
Eugene OR 97405
M 36-45 Choose not
Optional Information Gender Age Ethnicity
Disability N Description
to respond English
Additional Languages spoken
Job Experience
Education / Training
I have worked with the public as a locksmith for 17 years.
I have been a business owner since 1993.
Personal Experience
Community Service / Volunteer
I have been educating the public in one fashion or another
I am a volunteer instructor at Eastgate Kenpo Karate.
for a number of years. I work with people in the area's of
personal safety, security management, and life skills.
Interested Applicants
Interested Applicants
7/16/2010 10:28:19 AM
Personal Interest Contribution
I have a strong martial arts back ground that teaches fair I believe in honesty, integrity, fairness, and personal play,
honesty, and personal accountability. I have a accountability. I enjoy working with others and strong interest in law
enforcement and have been on collaborating on ideas. I have always been interested in law "Ride Alongs" with police
our community.
officers enforcement and I feel I could help to make a difference in
1 What is your understanding of the role of the Police Commission within the community?
The Police Commission works with the City Council, Police Chief, and City Manager. There job is to review police
policies and resources and represent the people in the community they service.
2 What do you see as the role of the Police Commission relative to City government?
To represent the the community in communicating with the Police Department. It is important to take into account the
opinions of the people that you are serving.
3 What community issues, related to the work of the Police Commission, are of interest to you?
They all are. You can not deem one thing to be more important than another. If you take one small part out of an
engine it fails to operate or runs very poorly. The Police Department is a community resource and must be evaluated
to best decide how to make use of it within our community.
ATTACHMENT B
Police Commission
August 2, 2010
Honorable Mayor Kitty Piercy
777 Pearl Street, Room 105
Eugene, OR 97401
Dear Mayor Piercy,
In June of this year, one member of the Police Commission, Brooke Dodge, elected to resign.
Following a two and a half week recruitment process, three members from the community applied to
fill the position. Shortly after the recruitment period closed, the commission learned that member
Marilyn Nelson also decided to resign as of November 1, 2010. Thus, the Police Commission now
has two vacancies. Because we did not announce both vacancies to the public, we request that
another recruitment period be held for Ms. Nelson’s position, and seek a new applicant pool. Upon
your approval, we will begin that process in the next few weeks.
Some timelines for you to note: The candidate selected for Ms. Dodge’s position will begin
immediately and expire on June 30, 2012. The candidate selected for Ms. Nelson’s position will
begin November 1, 2010 and expire June 30, 2011 (Ms. Nelson originally started her position mid-
way through another member’s term).
This past Friday, a team of three Police Commission members (Tamara Miller, Chair; Juan Carlos
Valle, Vice Chair; and Marilyn Nelson) plus one staff member met the three applicants for an
informational meeting. The purpose of the meetings was to develop a recommendation for applicants
who seemed most qualified to take on the important work of the commission, and would help
maintain a membership that is reflective of our community. Some characteristics of interest included
age, gender, ethnicity, location of residence, perspectives/life experience, and connections with other
community groups. Each applicant was evaluated on responses to questions regarding their
experience developing policy and resource recommendations, their opinions on the three most critical
policing issues facing the City, and their suggestions on how they would ascertain what community
values are for Eugene residents.
The panel ranked each applicant on their proficiency in each category by assigning a number of 1
through 7 (7 being most proficient), and produced a composite score for each question. The
following is the results summary of each candidate, as observed by the panel:
Jim Garner: 24.5
Composite score of
Jesse Lohrke:21
Composite score of
Stephen Joers:18
Composite score of
Each candidate represented their community with different qualities, and demonstrated varying levels
of experience in governance. We believe all three are acceptable, however, if you do not concur with
our observations on these candidates, we will support a decision to reopen the recruitment process.
We have attached our notes on each candidate to this letter.
Since its inception, the Police Commission has had a diverse and dedicated membership that is
representative of the community it serves, and we are appreciative of the consideration given to the
appointment process. We understand that this will be a difficult selection for you, and hope that these
We strive to create a climate of mutual respect and partnership between the community and the
Police Department that helps achieve safety, justice and freedom for all people in Eugene.
recommendations will assist in your decision. Please do not hesitate to contact either of us if you
would like further comments on the candidates.
Sincerely,
Tamara Miller, Chair Juan Carlos Valle, Vice Chair Marilyn Nelson, member
686-7198 687-3371 345-1275
Randi Zimmer, Staff
682-5852
We strive to create a climate of mutual respect and partnership between the community and the
Police Department that helps achieve safety, justice and freedom for all people in Eugene.