Chambana Sun

City of Urbana City Council Met Jan. 11.

Here is the minutes provided by the council:

The City Council of the City of Urbana, Illinois, met in regular session at 7:00 p.m. via Zoom. Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 South Vine Street, Urbana, IL 61801

ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Diane Wolfe Marlin, Mayor; Phyllis D. Clark, City Clerk

ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA ZOOM: City Council Members (CM) Bill Brown, Bill Colbrook, Shirese Hursey, Jared Miller, Dennis Roberts, Erik Sacks, Maryalice Wu

ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT: None

STAFF PRESENT VIRTUALLY: Wendy Hundley, Jason Liggett, Carol Mitten, Andrea Ruedi, Bryant Seraphin

OTHERS PRESENT VIA ZOOM: Allan Axelrod, Tracy Chong, Danielle Chynoweth, Rita Conerly, James Corbin, Brian Dunn, Christopher Evans, Christopher Hansen, Justin Hendrix, Jaya Kolisetty, Drake Materre, Meghan McDonald, Sarah Nixon, Minnie Pearson, Eddie Pratt Jr., Peter Resnick, Frances Rigberg, Carol Spindel, David Wesner, Grace Wilken

A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL

There being a quorum virtually present, Mayor Marlin called the meeting of the Urbana City Council to order at 7:06pm, following a Cunningham Township Board meeting.

B. APPROVALOFMINUTESOFPREVIOUSMEETING

CM Miller made a motion to approve minutes from the January 4, 2021(Rescheduled Meeting). Seconded by CM Colbrook and carried by roll call vote as follows:

Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Sacks, Wu 

Nay: None

C. ADDITIONSTOTHEAGENDA

Mayor Marlin asked for a motion to move the appointments under New Business after additions to the agenda and before presentations and public input. CM Roberts moved to accept the changes to the agenda as mentioned, seconded by CM Colbrook and carried by roll call vote as follows:

Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Sacks, Wu 

Nay: None

D. PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLIC INPUT

1. Presentation

a. Use of Force Policy

City Administrator Carol Mitten began with a PowerPoint presentation illustrating background information. She said that following the Aleyah Lewis incident the City hired Hillard Heintz to conduct an independent review of the incident, and one of the outcomes of that review was to revisit the use of force policy and make changes. The policy needs to be in alignment with the recently adopted Ten Shared Principles. The City conducted listening sessions to receive feedback from the community. She acknowledged the efforts of the public and the following staff members: Lemond Peppers for facilitating the listening sessions; Willie Wilcock for scribing the listening sessions; Will Kolschowsky for developing the comment matrix; Police Chief

Bryant Seraphin and Police Deputy Chief Rich Surles. The time and investment was warranted, because of the local and national concerns regarding the use of force by police. This revised policy reflects not only what was heard from the local community, but reflects model policies and best practices of other communities.

Police Chief Bryant Seraphin provided additional context about the changes made to the use of force policy. The following items were provided with the most changes and clear guidelines.

Duty to intercede and report clarified and expanded – section 300.2.1

De-escalation section – greatly expanded – section 300.3.5

Termination of use of force – section 300.5

Medical consideration – section 300.6

Supervisor use of force field investigations – section 300.8

Use of force review procedural changes – section 300.10

After presentation, Chief Seraphin addressed questions from council. Some of the questions addressed were: the importance of emphasizing de-escalation in section 300.3 Use of Force; disciplinary policy correlation in regards to the misuse of force: when is it reasonable to put someone on administrative leave; maintaining open lines of communication; de-escalation definition should be added to section 300.1.1; provide example scenarios for each section related to the policy; what does the de-escalation training entails; can the policy be amended later; clarify the intention of paragraph three in section 300.3 Use of Force; add complete statute to section 300.3.1 Use of Force to Effect an Arrest; was the policy review by officers; what type of feedback was received.

2. Public input via zoom from the following people: Allan Axelrod, Tracy Chong, Danielle Chynoweth, Rita Conerly, James Corbin, Brian Dunn, Christopher Evans, Christopher Hansen, Justin Hendrix, Jaya Kolisetty, Drake Materre, Meghan McDonald, Sarah Nixon, Minnie Pearson, Eddie Pratt Jr., Carol Spindel, Grace Wilken, some of the comments included: Use of Force Policy failed to provide clear definitions for force, deadly force; the use of force policy must go beyond shielding the city and police for litigation; the policy must mandate de-escalation in all cases where it can safely be done, which is the vast majority of interactions; the policy must include a prohibition on use of force when resistance is passive (verbal, walking away); officers using deadly force shall shield the impact on bystanders; the policy should clearly prohibit blind shooting into houses or cars; the policy must include “pain compliance is strictly prohibited to be used as punishment or retaliation.”; the policy should clearly state that brandishing of a weapon is a use of force and prohibit sexist, racist, or disrespectful language; provide racial bias training; police accountability and consequences need to be made explicit; this draft needs more work to align with the community’s wants; comprehensive plan needs to be presented prior to final approval; drop the charges and apologize to Aleyah Lewis; freedom of information act (FOIA) issues and denying access to records; continuous issues with open meetings act violations (OMA); water shutoffs; defund police.

Champaign ACLU and NAACP Champaign County Branch are deeply disappointed in the City of Urbana Police Department’s draft for a new use of force of policy, because it failed to accomplish the purpose of protecting the public from excessive use of force or other misconduct by police officers. Nor it is designed to substantially diminish the number of incidents in which force is used.

Public Input via email from Anne Marie Esposito asked City Council push for the UPD to prioritize de-escalation in their use of force police.

E. UNFINISHED BUSINESS

There was none

F. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES 

Committee Of The Whole

1. CONSENT AGENDA

2. REGULAR AGENDA

G. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES

There were none

H. REPORTS OF OFFICERS

Mayor Marlin made the following announcements:

Martin Luther King (MLK) will be held virtually, Sunday, January 17, 2021 at 3pm. She announced that Ricardo Diaz is being presented with the James R. Burgess, Jr., Susan Freiburg Humanitarian Award.

COVID-19 activities update about vaccination process, saliva test from the University of Illinois, and employees affected by COVID or related to COVID.

Community Development staff will provide an update next week about the financial assistance program provided through block grants and CURES funds to local businesses.

An Urbana bar had its health permit taken due to the lack of compliance during current mitigation restrictions.

Restaurants and bar have been very supportive and compliant with mitigation changes and restriction during COVID.

I. NEW BUSINESS

1. Mayoral Appointments to Boards and Commissions

a. Human Relations Commission – term to ending June 30, 2023 

1. Julie Robinson Schaeffer

2. Megan McKissack

Mayor Marlin presented the appointment of Julie Robinson Schaeffer and Megan McKissack with the recommendation for approval. She read a brief summary of their qualifications, also noting the involvement of HRC Chairperson Frances Rigberg and board member Peter Resnick during the interview process.

There being no objections to the appointments, CM Roberts made a motion to approve both appointments as presented. Seconded by CM Hursey and carried by roll call vote as follows:

Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Sacks, Wu Nay: None

b. Sustainability Advisory Commission – term to ending June 30, 2023 

1. James E. Corbin II

Mayor Marlin presented the appointment of James E. Corbin II and read a brief summary of his qualifications.

CM Wu made a motion to approve the appointment as presented, seconded by CM Hursey and carried by roll call vote as follows:

Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Sacks, Wu

Nay: None

J. ADJOURNMENT

With no further business to come before the council, Mayor Marlin adjourned the virtual rescheduled meeting at 10:01 p.m.

https://urbanaillinois.us/sites/default/files/attachments/01-11-2021_Minutes.pdf