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CALL AND NOTICE OF
SPECIAL MEETING
AT 6:00 PM
OF THE VALLEJO CITY COUNCIL
AUGUST 23, 2022
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
555 Santa Clara Street, Vallejo, California
NOTICE: Members of the Public will be able to participate in-person or remotely via Zoom.
City Hall and the Council Chambers will be open to members of the public 30 minutes prior to the start of the meeting.
PUBLIC COMMENT: Members of the Public may provide public comments during the City Council Meeting in person or via ZOOM (https://ZoomRegular.Cityofvallejo.net), or via phone, by dialing (669) 900-6833.
For additional instructions on how to speak remotely during public comment, please visit, www.cityofvallejo.net/publiccomment
VIEW THE MEETING:
There are four different ways you can view this public meeting:
In Person
Watch Vallejo local channel 28
Stream from the City website: www.cityofvallejo.net/Streaming Join the Zoom webinar:https://ZoomRegular.Cityofvallejo.net
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE VALLEJO CITY COUNCIL:
You are hereby notified that I do hereby call the Vallejo City Council in special session to consider only the matters stated on the agenda listed below.
NOTICE: Members of the public shall have the opportunity to address the City Council concerning any item listed on the agenda before or during consideration of that item. No other items may be discussed at this special meeting.
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Hybrid Options are available for members of the public to participate. To participate remotely:
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3. ROLL CALL
4. REPORT OUT OF CLOSED SESSION
5. ACTION CALENDAR
NOTICE: Members of the public wishing to address the Council on Action Calendar Items may do so in person by submitting a completed speakers card to the City Clerk or via ZOOM
(https://ZoomRegular.Cityofvallejo.net), or via phone, by dialing (669) 900-6833. Enter Meeting ID: 914 0075 0676#. Press *9 to digitally raise your hand from the phone. For additional instructions on how to speak remotely during public comment, please visit,
www.cityofvallejo.net/publiccomment. Each speaker is limited to five minutes pursuant to Vallejo Municipal Code Section 2.02.420. In person speakers will be recognized first.
A. POLICE OVERSIGHT MODEL WORKSHOP
Recommendation: Receive presentation of information from the community engagement meetings and the various oversight model characteristics. Based upon input received, provide direction to staff to prepare a draft ordinance to be presented at a subsequent meeting for additional comment and direction.
Contact: Veronica A.F. Nebb, City Attorney (707) 648-4545 [email protected]
6. ADJOURNMENT
Dated: Thursday, August 18, 2022
Robert H. McConnell, Mayor
I, Dawn Abrahamson, City Clerk, do herby certify that I have caused a true copy of the above notice and agenda to be delivered to each of the members of the Vallejo City Council., at the time and in the manner prescribed by law and that this agenda was posted at City Hall, 555 Santa Clara Street, CA at 1:30 p.m., Thursday, August 18, 2022.
Dated: Thursday, August 18, 2022
Dawn G. Abrahamson, City Clerk
Hybrid Options are available for members of the public to participate. To participate remotely:
https://ZoomRegular.CityofVallejo.net
Option to join by phone:
Dial (669) 900-6833
Enter Meeting ID: 914 0075 0676#
Press *9 to digitally raise your hand from the phone
For additional instructions on how to speak during public comment, please visit, www.cityofvallejo.net/publiccomment
ACTION ITEM 5.A.
DATE: August 23, 2022
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Veronica A. F. Nebb, City Attorney
Randy J. Risner, Chief Assistant City Attorney
SUBJECT: POLICE OVERSIGHT MODEL WORKSHOP
RECOMMENDATION
Receive presentation of information from the community engagement meetings and the various oversight model characteristics. Based upon input received, provide direction to staff to prepare a draft ordinance to be presented at a subsequent meeting for additional comment and direction.
REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION
The City Council, City Leadership Staff and the Vallejo Police Department have made a firm commitment to our ongoing police reform efforts. One of the key aspects of our ongoing efforts is the establishment of a model of independent oversight for the Vallejo Police Department.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Background
In 2019, the City of Vallejo commissioned the OIR Group to do an Independent Assessment of the Operations, Internal Review Systems and Agency Culture of the Vallejo Police Department. The OIR Group produced a report which was released to the public in June 2020. The report outlined 45 recommendations to modernize the Vallejo Police Department and to address reform issues.
In June 2020, the City entered into a cooperative agreement with the California Department of Justice to work with City Staff in implementing the OIR recommendations as well as additional recommendations from the Department of Justice. City staff from the Police Department, the City Manager’s Office and the City Attorney’s Office have been working with the Department of Justice on each of the 45 recommendations.
One of the key recommendations from the OIR Group and from the California Department of Justice is Recommendation 45. Recommendation 45 provides that "VPD should work with City leadership to create a model of independent oversight that is specifically tailored to meet the needs of Vallejo" In March 2022, the Council approved a community engagement plan to receive input from all of the City Council Districts, the City’s youth and other important stakeholders. Staff completed the community engagement plan and is now ready to present those findings along with information from other communities and subject matter experts so that the Council may provide direction to staff on next steps in this process.
The Process to Date
The City Attorney and City Manager’s offices conducted a series of Community Engagement meetings in May of 2022. Meetings were held with the community in each council district. In addition, meetings were held with the Chief’s Advisory Board (CAB), Vallejo youth, the business community and the Police Department.
Each community meeting was held in person in the various council districts and other areas of the
Date: August 23, 2022
Subject: POLICE OVERSIGHT MODEL WORKSHOP
City. Translation services were offered in Spanish, Tagalog and ASL. Each meeting included a presentation on the various police oversight models and their different characteristics. Participants then broke into smaller groups for group discussion and to rate the importance of the main characteristics of the different models. The meetings were facilitated by an overall facilitator who was not a City Employee and each table had City Volunteers present at the table to help encourage open discussion, take overall questions to be brought back and answered for the benefit of all participants at the end of the meeting, and to answer questions or to engage assistance from the City Attorney representatives and City Manager to speak with each group. The City Attorney, Chief Assistant City Attorney and City Manager engaged each of the breakout groups throughout the sessions to answer questions and participate in the discussions. At the conclusion of the breakout groups, the City Attorney, Chief Assistant City Attorney and City Manager answered collected questions from the breakout groups and any additional questions presented from the floor.
Subsequent to the community engagement meetings, the information from the characteristic importance rating sheets was aggregated and the results will be part of the staff presentation at your meeting. The purpose of the characteristic importance rating sheets was to gain a general sense of what is important to the community and was never intended to be a scientific poll.
Attorneys from the City Attorney’s office reached out to 17 different jurisdictions in 4 different states with different oversight models to gain information on their models and their characteristics, what is working well, the challenges, costs, and overall operation of their oversight models. Through this process staff has been able to glean important information on the pros and cons of different models and characteristics and a sense of how that fits with the general community desires expressed in the community engagement meetings.
Staff has also reviewed numerous police oversight models, information published by the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, and has spoken with experts in the field. Staff will present information on what we have learned throughout this process to the Council and the Community as part of the workshop.
Next Steps
The intent of this workshop is to provide the Council and the Community an update on the process and the information obtained on the various oversight models and characteristics, to take Council and Community input on the information presented and to obtain direction on next steps in the process.
Staff recommends that based upon the input received from the Council and Community, a draft model be prepared by staff which would be presented at a subsequent meeting for additional comment and direction. Based upon that comment and direction staff will proceed to prepare a final draft ordinance and will meet and confer with the Vallejo Police Officers' Association and any other affected union(s), as applicable. Thereafter, staff will bring forward a final ordinance for adoption.
FISCAL IMPACT
The Fiscal Impact of the different possible models varies significantly. Information on these differing costs will be part of the staff presentation.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a project which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378.
ATTACHMENTS
Date: August 23, 2022
Subject: POLICE OVERSIGHT MODEL WORKSHOP
None
CONTACT
Veronica A.F. Nebb, City Attorney (707) 648-4545
[email protected]