Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board

Athens-Clarke County Unified Government Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board Meeting Minutes Meeting Name: Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board________________________________ Meeting Date: August 3, 2022______________ Meeting Called to Order: _5:38__ ☐ a.m. / ☒ p.m. Location: Webex video conference ________________________________________________ Virtual? ☒ Yes / ☐ No Public Input Requested or Received? ☐ Yes / ☐ No Voting Member Attendees: ☒ Cassie Evans ☒ Felix Bell ☒ Omar Reid ☒ Sarah Halstead ☒ Jocelyn Crumpton ☐__________________ ☒ Devante Jones ☒ Timothy Pierce-Tomlin ☐__________________ ☐ Kiana Sims ☒ Lane Pratt Voting Members Leaving Before End of Meeting & Time of Departure (if applicable): Jocelyn Crumpton left the meeting early. ____________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Staff / Ex-Officio Attendees: ☒ Commissioner Patrick ☒ Warden Covington Davenport ☐ Chief Mark Pulliam ☒ Harrison Daniel (Police ☐ Chief Jerry Saulters ☒ Sherrie Hines Department designee) ☐ Sheriff Williams ☒ Josh Edwards Motion to Adopt Agenda (if applicable) made by: ____________________________. Seconded by: ____________________________. Result: ____ Unanimous or ____ Yes Votes (list names): ____ No Votes (list names): Items Discussed: 1. Chair called meeting to order._______________________________________________ 2. Introductions_____________________________________________________________ 3. District Attorney Deborah Gonzales gave an overview of the District Attorney’s Office._ 4. DA Deborah Gonzales announced she will be doing a Community Safety Listening Session on August 11, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. at the Athens Regional Library______________ 5. Josh Edwards announced the conclusion of the orientation sessions as well as the Board’s tour of the Corrections Department and the Athens-Clarke County Jail on August 10, 2022 at 5:30 p.m._________________________________________________________ 6. Sherrie Hines stated the tour of the Corrections Department and the jail is not available to the public. She encouraged Board members to avoid discussion about the work of the committee during the tour because under the Open Meetings Act, those discussions with the quorum of the body need to happen where the public can observe them. In addition, anything Board members create during the tour such as notes, emails, texts are all subject to the Open Meetings Act.__________________________________________________ 7. Josh announced Sherrie Hines is developing a training for all Boards, Authorities, and Commissions (BACs) and the Board will have to go through that training as well. ______ 8. Josh Edwards told Board members to let him know first when they have follow-up questions for Athens-Clarke County Government (ACCGov) staff, so that he can facilitate that interaction, reveal the answers to those questions to the entire Board, and ensure the department being discussed has the resources to answer those questions. ____ 9. Sherrie Hines explained that the Board members do not have the authority to direct ACCGov staff. There are 50 BACs with approximately 500 members and allowing all members to ask staff for information can be difficult to manage. She asked Board members to funnel any requests through their staff liaison, which is Josh Edwards for this Board. However, board members have the right as citizens to request information and to file Open Records Act requests, but those may come with costs and must be filed independently. In addition, she reminded Board members that BACs act as a body and no one person has the authority to make decisions on behalf of the BAC. She typically tells BACs, especially when requesting a substantial amount of information from a specific department, to vote on that decision, so that it’s the will of the entity and not of one individual. She will expand on these topics with the training for BACs that she hopes to have by late August or early in the fall. ________________________________________ 10. Josh Edwards announced August 24, 2022 is the Board’s first official meeting as a Board. That meeting will be with the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement, who will be there virtually. Josh stated that he is the temporary staff liaison until there is a permanent position that the Board will help inform. The Mayor and Commission also extended the COVID-19 local declaration of emergency ordinance, so they can vote on holding the August 24, 2022 meeting virtually. In addition, the Board is tasked with creating officers (chair, vice-chair, secretary), and he will resend the ordinance so that they can look at the tasks they were encouraged to do early such as voting for officers and thinking about items on their first agenda. ___________________ 11. Josh reminded the Board to turn in their stipend form to receive $25 monthly for the meeting._________________________________________________________________  12. Commissioner Davenport encouraged Board members to review their notes and emails with documents attached to begin thinking how they want to organize themselves and in which direction they want to go in.___________________________________________ 13. Sherrie Hines informed the Board that they can nominate others or themselves for chair, vice-chair, or secretary positions.____________________________________________ Votes Taken with Motion / Second / Results (Unanimous or Number of Yes / No Votes and names) (if applicable): Timothy Pierce-Tomlin made a motion to approve minutes from July 27, 2022. Felix Bell seconded the motion. Motion was approved unanimously. ______________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Felix Bell made a motion to hold August 24, 2022 meeting virtually. Cassie Evans seconded the motion. Motion was approved unanimously. _________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Devante Jones made a motion to adjourn. Timothy Pierce-Tomlin seconded the motion. Motion was approved unanimously. ______________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Motion to Adjourn made by: Devante Jones_________________. Seconded by: Timothy Pierce-Tomlin________. Result: _X__ Unanimous or  ____ Yes Votes (list names): __________________________________________ ____ No Votes (list names): __________________________________________ Meeting Adjourned at: __7:08___ ☐ a.m. / ☒ p.m. Minutes Drafted By: _________ ______________(signature required)