Thread by @socialistdogmom

ok, today’s fourth meeting thread. the police civilian review board meeting. they got a late start & i missed the first few minutes, including the resignation of don gathers from the board. he’s the second board member to resign, leaving the body with 6 members now.

we appear to be in public comment - there’s a man i don’t recognize standing in the middle of the room addressing the board about some kind of programming he says he can provide. it feels like no one wants what he’s offering. i don’t know what’s going on but it’s uncomfortable!

moving right along with tonight’s agenda...

board member josh bowers asks ms rosia what her feeling is about how the community feels about the board.
“it depends on who you ask. this is a confused board. to everybody.”

indeed.

this whole process is so mired in confusion. they don’t have bylaws written & have many roadblocks they say are slowing down that process. it’s still unclear what the board will EVEN DO, due to the lack of bylaws but mostly lack of support from the city.

without access to the data they’ve requested, without cooperation & a commitment to honesty and transparency from the police department, without access to the resources they need, without support of council... what can they hope to accomplish?

and without some idea of what they’ll ultimately be capable of doing, how can they write bylaws governing how they’ll do it?

the board & audience members are trying to piece together their recollections of the similar previous body (the citizens police advisory panel) that was dismantled as part of the resolution that established the board.

one woman was trying to remember an incident surrounding that panel, saying then-commonwealth’s attorney dave chapman said they were doing something unlawful.

there are MAYBE ten people in the audience... and former CA dave chapman is sitting right behind her. small town!
he VEHEMENTLY denies having had anything to do with the event she’s hazily recollecting.

charlene green from the office of human rights clarifies - the city atty at the time suggested that to avoid public meeting laws, a body be created comprising just 2 members of several boards + some staff to review police complaints.

(if more than 2 members of an appointed board meet, it has to be a public meeting. this blended body would be a loophole of sorts. the body was never formed, only suggested.)

i’m a little dismayed that we’re... how many months into this board’s existence and it appears they’ve never researched exactly what the preceding body did. it was a failure, but surely learning from those mistakes is valuable.

board member sarah burke says maybe it would be valuable to get a history lesson, to get the documents & background from the previous body from the city. “how have we gotten to where we are?” both in terms of police/community relations but also re: as a body.

i’m thinkin’ about police accountability but i’m also thinkin’ about how soon i can go home & have dinner and give my tweeting thumbs a break.

mayor walker told members of the board last night that if they want something, they need to be specific in their request. sarah says she feels they have been, but they’ll have to revisit that & try again.

ms gloria is unhappy that only some members of the board will meet with some members of council, but if more than 2 board members are involved, they have to provide notice of a public meeting. if more than 2 councilors were present, it would have to be a joint session

one would assume that by this point i would have a clearer idea WHO this woman is who participates so extensively from the gallery. and yet. she’s a very involved citizen with a lot of input but i have no information about her.

she participates more than most of the board members. there are two empty seats - why doesn’t she just apply for one?
(tons of boards have vacancies, actually!)

charlottesville.org/departments-an…

ms gloria proposes meeting more, even on saturdays.
josh bowers: “i don’t think that meeting more is the answer. i think researching and writing more is.”
he acknowledges that he’s been busy with other things the last 6mo & pledges to spend more time reading about these issues.

josh says the easiest way to get a history of the old citizen advisory panel would be to invite someone who served on it to speak to them. sarah doesn’t look so sure.

we’re actually nowhere close to any agenda item. this is just a freeform discussion about... i don’t know. i don’t know anymore. i want to believe in the mission of this board but i’m struggling with these meetings.

sarah raises an interesting question about how some similar bodies deal with complaints from their jails, but our jail is regional & is not within city limits.

this made me realize there’s been no discussion of the city sheriffs department, which IS a city-based law enforcement agency. they’re going to look into possibly including that in their scope.

here’s a peek behind the curtain: i’m very bored & experiencing meeting fatigue here at the fourth meeting of the day.

“we’re getting closer and closer to march & we haven’t written anything yet,” says guillermo. sarah corrects him - they do have the preliminary bylaws. but they’ve made zero progress on their actual bylaws, which is what they’ve been tasked with producing.

“i’m lost here right now,” ms gloria says. she wants an assignment. everyone needs something they’re working on between meetings if they’re ever going to get anywhere.

oh yikes i forgot i was still sitting in this meeting. just sitting here zoned out looking at my phone and forgot the meeting was still going on.
it’s possible this is the agenda item we’re on, but there’s been no mention of the agenda tonight.

the conversation about how to talk to ten year olds about using deodorant felt like a better and more reasonable use of people’s time than this.

i think i’d rather watch the president’s speech than continue observing this meeting. that’s bleak.

the next meeting will be two weeks from today, the 22nd, at 6. that’s the same time as the city council meeting since that monday is a holiday. i’m not devastated to miss it.

the meeting hadn’t technically adjourned, but it was over. the date of the next meeting is still up in the air - they want community input & worry holding the meeting at the same time as council will have an impact on turnout (it would)