September 15, 2020 Page 1 of 3
City Manager’s Office
DATE: September 15, 2020
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Laura Snideman, City Manager
Sal Vaca, Community Services Director
SUBJECT: Update on “Reimagine Public Safety” Conversations
STATEMENT OF THE ISSUE:
On June 30, 2020, the City Council directed staff to prepare a plan to transition from the city’s current community policing model and to return to t he Council by the end of Fiscal Year 2020/2021 with recommendations on how to achieve th is goal. Providing an update as also directed by the City Council and establishing a pro cess to accomplish this work is the focus of this item on September 15.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
RECEIVE an update on the status of the “Reimagine P ublic Safety” process. PROVIDE FEEDBACK on a possible future consultation and faci litation services agreement with CircleUp Education. CONSIDER appointment methodolog y recommendation to form a 21- member task force – City Manager’s Office (Laura Snideman 620-6512).
FINANCIAL IMPACT OF RECOMMENDATION:
The September 15 actions will not directly result i n a fiscal impact, but further facilitation services (subject to City Council review at a futur e meeting) will have a budget impact. The CircleUp agreement would be for an amount not to exceed $19,312.50.
DISCUSSION:
On June 30, 2020, the City Council heard Item I-1 to direct staff to prepare a plan to transition from Richmond's current "community policing" model to a plan conducive to a reduced police force and return to Council with the preferred policing model and a plan for implementation by the end of Fiscal Year 2020/2021.
AGENDA
REPORT
September 15, 2020 Page 2 of 3
Creation of a Task Force
Following discussion on the item, the City Council further wanted to “create a transition accountability task force composed by members of th e public, including community organizations, individuals who were impacted by law enforcement, and law enforcement.” Within a series of friendly amendments, the City Co uncil specifically wanted to include representation from Safe Return Project, RYSE Cente r, members of the Community Police Review Commission, Office of Neighborhood Safety, t he police department, and Contra Costa County amongst possible additional representatives.
Following the approval of this item, there was no f ormal appointment of members, nor was there a clear structure laid out for the function o f the body. Given the formal action taken by Council to create the task force, it was determined that it is within the charter-appointed duties of the mayor to nominate candidates for appo intment to the task force, as is done for the city’s boards and commissions. In lieu of exerc ising his ability to be the sole nominator of candidates for the task force, at the September 15, 2020 City Council meeting, the mayor plans to recommend that each member of the City Cou ncil nominate three members of the public to the task force, thus appointing a total o f twenty-one individuals. Council members will be encouraged to nominate individuals who are active in the various community organizations mentioned in the City Council discuss ions. The City Council may wish to recommend additional components of this process, such as an application process.
It is understood that one or more community groups have formed to begin conversations surrounding this topic and to develop recommendatio ns for City Council consideration. Staff truly appreciates the initiative taken by these groups, and, pending Council direction, believes that there is a way to work collaboratively with th e community groups and/or incorporate members of these groups into the proposed structure of a formalized task force.
Community Conversation Series
Staff is recommending that open community conversat ions be used for additional outreach and input into the process, supporting the work of the task force. On August 27, 2020, the city hosted a virtual community event titled, “A Communi ty Conversation Series, Reimagining Police and Public Safety,” which was open to the pu blic. The goal of this event, which was viewed by more than one hundred people, was to rece ive community input about the topics the community wants to discuss and hear ideas about the best process for furthering these conversations.
The event was facilitated by Tiffany Hoang with Cir cleUp Education, an East Bay organization that specializes in creating strategies to address implicit bias, inequity, and other structural and institutional social issues. By rece iving questions and comments from the public, the city gained an initial understanding of the community’s priorities and positions on changes to police services and public safety in Ric hmond. The city was in “listening” mode and did not present any specific plans or ideas, as those will be developed with the community over the coming months. With the help of the community, the task force, and CircleUp Education, city staff recommends hosting a dditional installments of the Community Conversation Series, likely focusing on a different key topic during each session.
September 15, 2020 Page 3 of 3
Contract with CircleUp Education
To ensure that future public forums are moderated b y a neutral facilitator, staff recommends that the City Council consider a contract at a futu re meeting for $19,312.50 to retain the services of Tiffany Hoang with CircleUp Education. Following recent protests and calls for public safety reform in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and several other Black Americans, Ms. Hoang successful ly moderated public forums for the cities of Concord, Lafayette, and Hercules. Ms. Ho ang is a highly reputable facilitator for cities and other clients, and successfully worked t o facilitate an objective and community- focused forum in Richmond on August 27
th .
CircleUp Education is recommended as a sole source due to their facilitation of similar meetings in other jurisdictions, as well as their m ost recent work that was presented to the West County Mayors and Supervisors Monthly Meeting surrounding re-imagining and restructuring public safety. CircleUp Education can continue to assist coordinating and facilitating the community conversations and assist with key task force meetings, which includes but is not limited to session design, logi stical/technical support, and coordinating follow up with residents and staff. City staff would like to continue using their services in order to accomplish the end goal of providing a plan, rec ommended by the community task force, to City Council on transitioning from the city’s current community policing model.
Next Steps
The next steps include but are not limited to:
• Creation of a 21-member task force and hosting of task force meetings with appropriate City support from the Community Service s Department and possibly CircleUp Education
• Development of a dedicated webpage on the City’s w ebsite to share information about the progress of this work with the Richmond communi ty. Follow-up from the August 27 th community conversation will be uploaded on this site • Hosting of future communitywide conversations, wit h direction from City Council and the task force
ATTACHMENTS:
1 – DRAFT Standard Contract with CircleUp Education
2 – DRAFT Sole Source Justification Form