City of Urbana Updates: Council, Human Relations and Police Review

This post is a follow up on a previous overview of City Council meetings in January available on the Cheat Sheet here. In addition to one final regular meeting of the City Council there were meetings by Urbana's Human Relations Commission and Civilian Police Review Board. This included a listening session by the CPRB for public input.

This week there were headlines for the upcoming City Council meeting on February 1st and a proposal that's been in the works for a long time to address structural racism in Urbana. From WCIA:

It focuses on ending structural racism. Councilmember Sherise Hursey introduced it. She thought of it over the summer and realized it was time the City was focused more on equality and equity.

Mayor Diane Marlin said this is long overdue. “This resolution again is the first step, which is saying, ‘Okay, it exists. It has existed. It has just negatively impacted people’s lives for hundreds of years, and it needs to end.'”

This resolution, it does not have any specific policies in it. It is more of a framework for City leaders to base their decisions.

That WCIA blurb is available here. More from the News-Gazette coverage:

The four-page resolution calls out the city for a history of Jim Crow laws, White supremacy, segregation and racial oppression...

According to the resolution, the Ku Klux Klan operated out of the Illinois Theater in Urbana and held “events with upwards of 3,000 members at a time when the County’s population was less than 60,000.”

As more Black residents moved to Champaign-Urbana after World War II, the resolution states, “Black citizens were systematically and illegally excluded from White neighborhoods through subdivision covenants, developer, Realtor, landlord, seller, and lending practices and were de facto confined to the ‘north end.’”

That full article here. Full text of the resolution is available from the City's website here.

Below is coverage of other meetings by the City Council, the Human Relations Commission, and the Civilian Police Review Board in January:

Human Relations Commission 1/13:

The HRC meeting (agenda, video) began with a conversation with Daniel Wilson, Project Manager and equal employment opportunity (EEO) officer at Duce Construction. It was listed as a "presentation" on the agenda and moved up to just after public comments. The discussion focused on workforce statistics and Duce Construction, a contractor with the City of Urbana and clarifying what the HRC's expectations and process were for ensuring diversity with contractors.

Commissioner Resnick explained the process and how they compare workforce statistics to local demographics to work with employers on areas where diversity could be improved. For example, a contractor with no significant diversity issues might get a full 2 year approval from the commission that the city would take into consideration. If there were problematic signs, they might approve for a 1 year or 6 months with a request for more data, information or follow up on diversity plans. Later in the meeting when explaining the process to new members Resnick noted that the Commission has never voted against approval altogether yet due to willingness of contractors and employers to work with them on any perceived issues. He also noted that smaller companies with 15 employees or less are generally too small for much scrutiny unless they are severely lacking somehow.

Wilson appreciated the clarifications and highlighted the pool of unions he works with for labor on projects and their own efforts on diversity. He pointed to a local Buildings and Trade Council working with the University of Illinois on similar goals. The HRC noted interest in reaching out for more information and collaboration.

Most of the meeting involved the nuance of recommendations on whether or not the City of Urbana should be subject to the Human Rights Ordinance and the process for reporting complaints through the HRC. The decision is ultimately up to the City Council and the commissioners passed a resolution asking the Council to clarify its wishes. They recommended two options to consider, covering how complaints or reports of discrimination under the HRO might be dealt with whether the City clarified one way or the other. This became the subject of contention in the following City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on 1/19 after City Staff forwarded only one option for the Council's consideration, believing the other wasn't feasible.

Other business was conducted without controversy, including agreeing to the meeting calendar and letting new members introduce themselves at the next meeting when more commissioners who haven't already met them might be in attendance.

Civilian Police Review Board 1/15 and 1/27 meetings:

The January 15th Review Board meeting (agenda, video) started out by highlighting a listening session planned at a meeting later this month (covered below) and public comments with a concern about board members possibly being threatened or intimidated into silence. Local police reform activist, Christopher Hansen, noted concerns on a variety of issues including delays on starting meetings on time, a new appointment's reasons for joining the board, a previous speaker presenting propaganda, and the closed process for hearing complaints. The concern about threats or intimidation got a response from the entire board, none reporting any threats or intimidation. Chair Ricardo Diaz explained the serious and personal nature of the work they do in close session deliberations and the necessity for discretion. He defended the rules for closed session deliberations.

Member Dossett explained the appointment process ultimately ends with the Mayor's appointment decision, but noted that the last few appointments included board participation in the selection process. He argued they weren't looking for people with a bias one way or another on policy issues so much as upstanding community members with problem solving skills and a sense of fairness.

After closed session there was a bit of a discussion on procedure that involved a parliamentarian being brought in to vote on the deliberations in the open meeting. The voting was mixed, but all had a majority sustaining the Chief's findings in each of the three appeals considered by the Board.

The January 27th meeting (agenda, video) was mostly a listening session that allowed more public input. The format allowed the public to respond to board comments and follow up on previous remarks. Comments included and referenced those in a list of recommendations posted on the City's website here (categorized by changes with or without requiring an ordinance change and changes to the oversight model). There was some regular public participation early on that focused on issues with outreach and notification of the listening session and concerns about the format and who might have control of muting participants.

The listening session itself began around the 35 minute mark of the video with board comments and responses interspersed between groups of speakers. A lot of the discussion focused on the 45 day limit for submitting a complaint, exceptions, possible exceptions, and concerns about trauma and retaliation.

There were also issues raised on representation on the board, concerns about the appointment process and how applicants might be screened by the Mayor. There's currently a vacancy on the board and already some applicants, but they encouraged more people to apply.

Urbana City Council Meeting 1/25:

There was a lot of public participation at the beginning of the meeting, including several potential City Council candidates weighing in on police reform, applying the Human Rights Ordinance to the City, complaints about city staff, housing affordability, and the need for an ethical city attorney replacement. The Mayor responded to a couple of the comments, noting her work with the ACLU and NAACP on the Use of Force policy changes and working with Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen on rapid testing through the University of Illinois as soon as that becomes available. She also promised a follow up with someone having difficulties with a housing program application.

Someone also noted their concerns about a local hate group spreading white nationalist messages in the area again and wanting to know the City's communication policy after such incidents. He noted that community members have been left in the dark with spotty and delayed news coverage and many not hearing any updates from the City.

Other City business passed without controversy except a couple resolutions for a project at 602 South Lincoln that needed more time and was sent back to the Committee of the Whole. Council member Wu encouraged people curious about this CCH Development project to check out the last couple hours of the Design Review Board meeting (agenda, video) for more details about it.

Mayor Marlin gave updates on COVID vaccinations and the continued need to take precautions like wearing a mask, social distancing, and hand washing. She pointed out that vaccinations are free and anyone charging is likely engaging in fraud. Council member Hursey pointed out that vaccinations may also be available from your doctor in some cases and to be on the look out for any outreach from them.