Let the Public Safety Review Committee meet?

April 19, 2020 11:53 am

As a committee chair, I have received no communications from the city about the status of our committee and when and if we can meet.

BACKGROUND

I watched the last two Common Council Executive Commitee meetings, where the Council discussed which committees could meet. I testified at the second one and blogged about what they were proposing. I’m unclear what the results of those meetings were, as there were no votes taken. Therefore, I formally requested that our committee meet. The mayor had commented that if committees requested to meet, they were allowing it, just sometimes they were being asked to meet at different times.

Honestly, at this point, we need to hear from the staff and public about the issues they are seeing. Prior to this pandemic, I had discussed with Deputy Mayor Cam McLay about the fact that the city does not have an office of emergency management. That was one of the issues we were going to discuss. Also, our job is to work with the Police and Fire Departments on plants and strategies and goals. The three people in charge of this current emergency at the staff level are the Fire Chief, Police Chief and City Engineer. We have not been able to meet with the police or fire department since the crisis began. Also, we were starting to work on recommendations for the budget, because every year there are fights about new ambulances, how many more police officers to hire and other items that our committee are supposed to make recommendations on. In the past the group did not do that, but we were going to this year.

I’ve been getting questions from community members about how policing has changed during the pandemic and what they are doing to keep the jail populations down, what the police are doing to protect their own safety and general questions about our emergency response. On the Fire Department end of things there are similar concerns about what the fire department staff need to continue to be safe during this emergency.

On Tuesday the CCEC is going ahead on policies that were referred to the PSRC but we were unable to discuss. This is from their agenda:

Accepting the Final Report of the President’s Work Group to Develop City-wide Surveillance Equipment and Data Management Policies.

- - 2/10/20 Finance Committee recommended approval
  - 3/12/20 Equal Opportunities recommended approval
  - 3/11/20 Public Safety Review Committee rereferred (no meeting scheduled)
  - Digital Technology Committee (no meeting scheduled)

Creating Section 23.63 of the Madison General Ordinances to establish Surveillance Technology guidelines for Departments

- - 3/11/20 Public Safety Review Committee rereferred to April (no meeting scheduled)
  - Equal Opportunities Committee (no meeting scheduled)
  - Digital Technology Committee (no meeting scheduled)

We referred so we could hear more from staff about two issues we felt were important. At the time the meeting was running long and we chose to discuss sending police to Milwaukee for the Democratic National Convention – which ended up being a waste of our time.

Also, before this all started, we were discussing the impact of policing policies on the homeless community, including meeting jointly with the City-County Homeless Issues Commission.

Given all of the above and the loss of 2 months of meetings (we were discussing meeting twice a month) and the need to get caught up on what has been going on. I think we should meet soon, if the Mayor and Council President will allow us.

FORMAL REQUEST

Mayor Rhodes-Conway and Council President Bidar:

First of all, thank you for all your hard work and efforts during this pandemic. Although I may be critical of some of the decisions and lack of transparency, I truly to appreciate your efforts.

As the chair of the Public Safety Review Committee I have received no communication about what we are supposed to be doing or expect in regards to our committee. I obviously pay quite close attention and initially understood that we should just be patient and wait, which I did. However, I now see that more committees are meeting and there are various theories about what which ones should meet or not meet and their value.

At this point, I’m unclear what to expect after watching the last two CCEC meetings. I understand that when requested, you are allowing committees to meet. Several issues have been mentioned by our committee members and I believe we should meet as soon as possible. My proposed agenda would be:

1. Police Department Report and COVID-19 Issues and Updates

2. Fire Department Report and COVID-19 Issues and Updates

3. Emergency Operations Center (EOC) Presentation

4. Public Input and Committee discussion on highest needs in COVID-19 emergency and recovery plans.

5. 2021 budget timeline and input

As I said at CCEC I am trying very hard to run the committee in a “small d” democratic manner. I could make decisions about what I think we should discuss without input from staff and committee members and create a more specific agenda, but that isn’t what I have repeatedly promised to committee members.

In order for us to being [sic] our work, we need to have this preliminary information and discussion.

Would it be ok for the Public Safety Review Committee to meet as proposed?

Second, if the proposal to meeting with alders and committee chairs moves forward, please consider adding Public Safety Review Committee to the group that works on housing and homeless issues. Prior to the abrupt halt in our work, we were working with the City-County Homeless Issues Committee on issues around homelessness and I believe that work is more important now, than ever.

Again, thank you for your hard work during this pandemic and for considering this request.

Sincerely,

Brenda K. Konkel

Chair, Public Safety Review Committee

p.s. Police and Fire staff, I included you as a head’s up and if granted the ability to meet, we can talk about what would be included in the first three items. I’ll be looking for your guidance on which issues you believe are most urgent and/or relevant.