COMMUNITY INTERVENTION TASK FORCE

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT DIVERSION TASK FORCE ARNITTA HOLLIMAN, CHAIR Ald. Milele A. Coggs, Ald. Nik Kovac, Ald. Chantia Lewis, Nicholas DeSiato. Stephen Hargarten, Cassandra Libal, Aaron Lipski, David Muhammad, Mary Neubauer, Joshua Parish, Jamaal Smith, Leon Todd, Nicole Waldner, Amy C. Watson, and Brenda Wesley Staff Assistant, Chris Lee, 286-2232 Fax: 286-3456, clee@milwaukee.gov Legislative Liaison, Aaron Cadle, 286-8666, acadle@milwaukee.gov Tuesday, August 31, 2021 9:00 AM Virtual Meeting Meeting duration expected to be an hour. This will be a virtual meeting conducted via GoToMeeting. Should you wish to join this meeting from your phone, tablet, or computer you may go to https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/374586189. You can also dial in using your phone United States: +1 (571) 317-3112 and Access Code: 374-586-189. 1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order at 9:03 a.m. 2. Roll call. Present 16 - Kovac, Coggs, Lewis, Muhammad, Parish, Smith, DeSiato, Hargarten, Holliman, Libal, Lipski, Neubauer, Todd, Waldner, Watson and Wesley Also present: Aaron Cadle, Legislative Reference Bureau 3. Review and approval of the previous meeting minutes from July 19, 2021. The meeting minutes from July 19, 2021 were approved without objection. 4. Discussion on ARPA funding allocation and opportunities. Appearing: Dennis Yaccarino, Budget & Management Division Director City of Milwaukee Page 1 MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT Meeting Minutes August 31, 2021 DIVERSION TASK FORCE Director Yaccarino gave an overview. Total ARPA funds being awarded to the City was $394 million. The first payment of $197 million was received in June and the second $197 million payment would be received next June. Allocation of the first payment under the Mayor's Stronger Summer Plan proposal was subject to review and approval by the Common Council. $3.8 million in ARP funding was already spent for summer jobs for youth through the Earn and Learn Program. The Stronger Summer Plan's priorities entailed fiscal sustainability and core City services ($18.2 million), employment and job training ($13.8 million), early childhood education ($1.5 million), affordable and sustainable housing ($30.4 million), community and neighborhood health ($6.6 million), small business and economic development ($10 million), broadband infrastructure and access ($100,000), and COVID-19 pandemic response and public health ($12.6 million). Some specific allocations would include $6.2 to combat reckless driving [$5 million in infrastructure measures and $1.2 million ($500,000 for overtime) to the Police Department],$3 million to the Office of Violence Prevention, $15 million to the Westlawn project, funding to address evictions, $2 million for 2 BLS ambulatory units to the Fire Department, $10 million for street lighting repair, $7.5 million for Restart 3.0 business grants, $2.5 million to the Chamber of Commerces to provide business loans, $2 million for City clean up with the hiring of persons coming out of prisons, and $6 million for job training (including lead abatement certification). There was a section of funds, limited to $53.7 million, that could be used for anything (except infrastructure) such as for disparities in healthcare, activities associated with healthcare, violence, housing, sewer, water, and broadband. Members inquired about funds related to healthcare, ARPA allocation to address calls for service (homelessness and mental health as examples) that did not involve threats to public safety, the process to put in task force requests, violence prevention allocation, and the referenced $53.7 million source. Director Yaccarino replied that $10 million would be allocated to the Health Department and Fire Department to address COVID-19; the total $197 million allocation were primarily to address COVID-19 impacts, stimulate businesses, and for job creation; allocations would also include affordable housing and eviction assistance; there was direct State money to assist with housing rents and utility bills; no direct requests related to the task force priorities were made; allocations can be used to address priority areas of the task force (such as for mental health); Milwaukee County did received $186 million ARPA funds and would best address mental health; requests may require sponsorship by an alderperson; the ARPA process (unknown at the moment) and allocations could possibly be considered soon; there was a $300,000 budget amendment last year to increase the City's CART team by 3; he was unsure about the status of the CART positions; $3 million would be allocated to OVP to augment the southside interrupter program; and the $53.7 million was a pot that could be used for everything under the priority categories (violence prevention included). Member Coggs said that task force ARPA allocation requests would have to be made as soon as possible, the Common Council may consider requests as early as tomorrow, the budget amendment was intended to add 3 CART clinicians and not officers, the positions were to serve the City and not County, and further clarity was needed on the fulfillment of the CART budget amendment. Member DeSiato said that, to his understanding, the budget amendment was being honored to add 3 clinicians only to the Milwaukee Police Department, the officer positions to the Milwaukee County Sheriff were unrelated to the budget amendment, the Sheriff's office were separately adding its own clinicians, and MPD was working on City of Milwaukee Page 2 MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT Meeting Minutes August 31, 2021 DIVERSION TASK FORCE figuring appropriate staff coverage. Director Yaccarino added that 3 existing MPD officers were being used. Member Muhammad commented. DHHS was recruiting for 3 more MPD teams, 1 more West Allis team, and 5 more Sheriff teams. Service would be 24/7 for both adults and children. Other ways to do non-law enforcement response were occurring or being explored outside of the City's $300,000 budget amendment. The Sheriff's office was being expanded separately. 15 new clinicians were hired separately for Crisis Mobile. Member Muhammad added that he would like to present at the next meeting mental health related developments, impacts and opportunities; the new access center; CART team; Crisis Mobile; expansion to the satellite locations at the community health centers; community partnerships; creative enforcement responses; and advocacy points. 5. Review of task force enabling legislation and mission statement. a. Extension of final report submission Mr. Lee said that the 6-month deadline for a task force final report submittal would be this September, the task force had just been meeting, the task force could request to extend the deadline, and changes should occur administratively via legislation through Common Council process. Members were in favor of extending the deadline. Member Lipski moved to extend, seconded by member Neubauer, the task force final report submittal date by another 6 months. There was no objection. b. Task force name change Members discussed the proposed names of Alternative Response Task Force, Community Intervention Task Force, Community Response Task Force, and Milwaukee Crisis Response Task Force. Member Lipski moved to remove from consideration, seconded by member Smith, the proposed names of Alternative Response Task Force and Milwaukee Crisis Response Task Force. There was no objection. Member Lipski moved approval to change the task force name to Community Intervention Task Force. Seconded by member Todd. There was no objection. c. Development of a mission statement Member Lewis offered the following mission statement, "To find new solutions to provide safe engagement to the public, while utilizing the resources we have to the highest and best use, while building public trust for the residents." Members said that the proposed mission statement was a good starting point but needed further review for possible amendment. City of Milwaukee Page 3 MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT Meeting Minutes August 31, 2021 DIVERSION TASK FORCE Member Lewis moved to hold approval of the proposed mission statement until the next meeting to give members time to offer amendments. There was no objection. 6. Review of task force structure, decision-making, and recommendations processes. a. Adding a prevention component Member Lipski said that prevention was an effective option, would save costs, and be a main focus. Member Parish commented. An emergency response model usually was a last ditch effort to mitigate emergency situations. Milwaukee County has built support systems to prevent customer subsets from occurring from an EMS and law enforcement standpoint. Reliance on and support should be given to those institutions specializing in those prevention efforts. There should be assessment of those efforts, and investment should be given to those efforts that would yield the most dividends. Member Muhammad commented. Prevention was worth spending money on, was not cheap, cost much less than emergency responses, should be advocated, was more beneficial. There was an emergency response system that was built, and stats show that 80% do not result in arrests. Of importance was to look for upstream measures not necessitating law enforcement responses. Accessibility to and acceptability of high quality mental health services would have to be prioritized. The CAHOOTS model and its practices should be looked at and instituted in Milwaukee. Other major cities with similar demographics have implemented those practices and were working collaboratively with the same partners representative of Milwaukee. Member Lipski moved to add a prevention component to the task force. Seconded by member Hargarten. There was no objection. Member Lewis commented. Prevention would be key for community intervention, building community trust, and creating a more holistic, safer city. She would put forth legislation to the Common Council to make changes to the task force regarding its final report submittal date, name, mission statement, addition of a prevention component, and other aspects mentioned from previous meetings. b. Review and approval of outward communications This item was not discussed. c. Other This item was not discussed. 7. Review next steps. a. Set next meeting date(s) and time(s). To be determined. b. Agenda items for the next meeting To include review of outward task force communications, mission statement, and City of Milwaukee Page 4 MILWAUKEE POLICE DEPARTMENT Meeting Minutes August 31, 2021 DIVERSION TASK FORCE DHHS/BHD mental health developments. 8. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 9:59 a.m. Chris Lee, Staff Assistant Council Records Section City Clerk's Office Meeting materials can be found within the following file: 210555 Communication relating to findings, recommendations and activities of the MPD Diversion Task Force. Sponsors: THE CHAIR City of Milwaukee Page 5