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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 5/11/2021 - Memorandum From Ginny Sawyer Re; Materials From The Final City Council Community Impact Committee Meeting City Hall 300 LaPorte Ave. PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com MEMORANDUM DATE: May 5, 2021 TO: Mayor and Councilmembers FM: Ginny Sawyer, Project and Policy Manager TH: Darin Atteberry, City Manager Kelly DiMartino, Deputy City Manager RE: Materials from final City Council Community Impact Committee meeting The Community Impact ad hoc committee met from June 2020 to April 2021. Attached are the minutes from the final meeting and the End-of-Term report which includes proposed recommendations going forward. Please note that the final minutes will not be approved through a vote. If committee members wish to edit or correct any items please respond to Ginny Sawyer and changes will be made and posted to materials on the subcommittee website: https://www.fcgov.com/council/ad-hoc- community-impact-committee. /sek Attachments City Hall 300 LaPorte Ave. PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com MINUTES City Council Ad Hoc Community Impact Committee Monday, April 26, 2021, 3:00-5:00 p.m. Committee Members present: Susan Gutowsky, Julie Pignataro, Emily Gorgol Staff Present: Darin Atteberry, Kelly DiMartino, Kyle Stannert, Carrie Daggett, Jackie Kozak- Thiel, Janet Freeman, Leo Escalante, JC Ward, Jeff Swoboda, Greg Yeager, Kristy Volesky, Tim Doran, John Phelan, Ginny Sawyer 1. Approval of March 22, 2021 minutes 2. Discussion Items a. Police Services Follow-up and Discussion i. Mission Statement ii. Metrics and 8- iii. Engagement Opportunities Mission Statement: Police Services took a step back and engaged in deeper more strategic conversations to Conversations resulted in an updated Mission Statement: Safety and service for all. There are numerous national campaigns focusing on improving police practices. Fort Collins has cross-referenced these initiatives to local practices (captured in provided PDF which is available on the Police Transparency page: https://www.fcgov.com/police/transparency.) Police staff are starting to dig into the learnings from Equity Indicator work and asking that criminal justice be the first area (domain) to develop dashboard metrics. Police recognize that metrics need to be community driven and be approached with curiosity not defensiveness as areas of improvement are identified. Engagement: In a year when police needed the most engagement COVID limited the opportunities. Staff is looking forward and starting to identify and implement new opportunities including: Meeting with CSU Black Student Athletes organization; hosting regular Police in the Park drop-ins; conducting business outreach regarding Blue Spruce closing and the Rescue Mission starting operations; other Business Association meetings; work with the Interfaith Council; bringing back neighborhood walk and talks; and encouraging all shifts to brainstorm outreach ideas. Questions: Can we get more police on bikes? Yes. New officers getting certified this week. Bike patrol mostly happens in the D1 area (downtown.) Why is not implementing Broken Window policing on the list of practices? We do want to ensure small crimes or blights are addressed and are not allowed to accumulate necessarily criminalize small acts of vandalism that could derail individuals or youth. What is meant by demilitarization? When equipment was returning from war zones many police departments were acquiring. We and not associated by sight with military operations. b. Off-cycle Appropriation Discussion i. Legal Immigration Fund-Update ii. Eviction Assistance Fund-Potential Option iii. Root Cause Analysis and Inclusive Strategy Design Municipal Immigration Legal Fund: Update- an ordinance has been drafted and is awaiting conversation with new Council. In an effort to -per activity to help understand the investment. This offer could be included in the standard BFO process; however, an 18-month option would be better with the off-cycle considered a pilot. Eviction Assistance Fund: $10-20K would be used for assistance for undocumented residents. Root Cause Analysis and Inclusive Strategy Design: Proposing $50K to identify disparities in the criminal justice domain which will inform work in the other equity indicator domains. Funding would be used identify root causes so we can remove barriers. This would be a collaborative effort between FCPD and the Equity Office with community input needed throughout the process. Team will look to build on relationships form Our Climate Future and Housing Plan. Next Steps: Bundle under one effort 50+20+120= 190K. Bring package forward in May. (Likely the 18th.) This needs to be confirmed with Finance and others. c. End of Committee Report i. Review and feedback ii. Confirm and note any additional recommendations going forward Committee supported the report and requested an addition to consider continuing a Council sub-committee to support this work. The following was suggested: Consider the continuation of a Council committee that could further both the efforts identified in this report and Council related priorities around safety and equity and inclusion. 3. Other Business a. Updates i. Equity Officer/Office Recruitment is about to close and to date there are 67 applicants. Key dates will be determined this week including community forums, interviews, etc. Community Impact Ad Hoc End of Committee Report May 1, 2021 The Community Impact Ad Hoc Committee was established by Resolution 2020-060 on June 23, 2020 with an overall purpose of ensuring that the City is creating an environment that provides safety and addresses equity for all residents. During the 9-month duration of meetings to address challenging community topics, the Committee has accelerated the direction and the groundwork for long-term organizational work in this space and ensured: The off-cycle creation of an Equity Office with a new executive-level equity leader position. Budget process improvements including furtherance of an Equity Lens and a more accessible Budget in Brief document. Additional efforts in communicating Police transparency and the increase in mental health response. The formation of the Committee was driven by national and local concerns and initiatives calling for reallocation of budget dollars from traditional police services. Council was receiving hundreds of emails requesting a review of police use-of-force policies and accountability as well as questioning the proper role and responsibility of the police department compared with other response types. The Resolution policing, community engagement, programming, and social health initiatives through services and programs and called for the Committee to: Develop recommendations for ways to enhance and achieve a safe and equitable community for all through examining policy initiatives, police operations and other municipal programs and services. Provide recommendations to Council for the 2021 budget cycle in furtherance of these objectives. Review higher-level performance indicators for Police Services and other related programs and services to improve the measurement of success in providing a safe and equitable community for all. The Committee convened monthly from July 2020 to April 2021. Early meetings highlighted a few key workplan: This work cannot be impacted by a sub-Committee alone and will likely become the focus of the Council as a whole in the future. The timeframe for strategically impacting the budget was constrained. There was a desire to keep the scope manageable and not take on every topic brought forward (Land Acknowledgement, School Resource Officers, Street Naming, etc.). Based on the topics and understandings, Committee presentations and discussions centered around community engagement and police services. While there were key wins driven by the committee, including creation of an Equity Office, identification and recommendation for funding a Municipal Immigration Legal Fund, and elevated conversation around equity, local policing efforts, and reimagining engagement the Committee did feel lacking in accomplishments and progress in this space. These challenges offer insights and learnings about the importance of establishing clear scope of work with ad hoc committees to ensure success and resource alignment in the future, as well as the continued need to build organizational capacity for systemic equity work. Below are highlights of Committee engagement and future organizational work supported by the Committee. A. Develop recommendations for ways to enhance and achieve a safe and equitable community for all through examining policy initiatives, police operations and other municipal programs and services. Committee Engagement: Agendas included presentations and discussions with consultants and staff regarding the Criminal Justice and Civic Engagement topic areas of the Equity Indicator project. These conversations helped to identify questions and highlight needed learnings, especially in Police Services, to better understand what metrics to focus on, how to interpret what we measure, and how targets and benchmarks should be determined. Panel discussion with staff on community engagement goals and practices highlighted needs and efforts to make feedback easy for residents and to be more holistic in our outreach. Discussion also highlighted learnings and successful efforts of centering the engagement process and outcomes in equity (Housing Strategic Plan.) The Committee reinforced the desire to make outreach assessable and easy for residents while ensuring that feedback loops are in place. Reviewed and provided feedback on the process of developing Principles of Community for the organization. Early presentation and discussion with Police Services staff on programs and operations grounded future conversations on allocations, redeployment offers, and metrics and opened dialogue into current practices, including use-of-force and proactive policing protocols. Police discussion on local implementation of 8 Can Wait and other initiatives (April). Future Council/Organization Activity: Determine how to best implement and utilize equity indicators to gauge progress. Develop and consider budget offers that address this bullet. Partner with other agencies for joint learning and systems impact. Enhance engagement opportunities and ensure residents can provide feedback in a variety of ways and are part of developing strategies/solutions. B. Provide recommendations to Council for the 2021 budget cycle in furtherance of these objectives. Committee Engagement: Discussion of 2021 redeployment offers addressed local efforts to consider best use of budgeting dollars and willingness to shift Committee had early opportunity to learn of police redeployment offers and housing manager and homeless coordinator offers. Presentation and discussion of equity efforts specific to the budgeting process helped guide new equity lens on budget offers. Rapid Response team created budget offer equity lens which will continue in 2021 process. Panel presentation with peer cities and discussion of Equity Office creation provided valuable insights and considerations as Fort Collins looks to create Equity Office. Committee confirmed desire for creation of office, recommend Sustainability model (sustainability practices now embedded throughout City organization), and agreement that position and office need high level support. Presentation and discussion of budget communication improvements. Presentation and discussion of budget and programming ideas that enhance safety and equity in the community. Future Council/Organization Activity: Enhance budget related communication/education/information efforts with focus on equity, enhanced stakeholder communications, and more user-friendly materials. Creation of Equity Office and recruitment of executive-level Equity Officer. C. Review higher-level performance indicators for Police Services and other related programs and services to improve the measurement of success in providing a safe and equitable community for all. Committee Engagement: Presentations and discussion of metrics with both equity project consultants and police services staff started key conversations to help guide metrics and programming Fort Collins may want to pursue going forward. Presentation and discussion of internal Principles of Community effort was supported as an effective program to build knowledge and standards within the organization that will have positive impacts both internally and externally. Future Council/organizational Activity: Additional discussion and learning around use and meanings of metrics and Equity Indicators. Police Services community engagement efforts. The Community Impact Ad Hoc Committee helped set the stage for important equity work going forward and showed local responsiveness to resident concerns. The focus on identifying and resourcing the understanding and addressing of root cause issues that create inequities in resident experience and perception of safety and belonging provide the groundwork to impact programming, services, and metrics to track improvement. Committee Recommendations: Add Council priority statement (s) addressing safety and equity for all residents to guide policy and resource decisions. Examples: o Continue and enhance public engagement that is accessible, easy, and encourages individual story-telling and community participation in developing solutions. o Continue to better understand root causes of disparities in indicators, especially in criminal justice and civic engagement, and develop solutions with most impacted community members. o Embed Equity Lens throughout the organization and into decision making. o Prioritize mental health resources and response options. o Strengthen relationships with indigenous communities and explore priorities that could include development of a Land Acknowledgement. Equity training as part of Council onboarding. Include unconscious bias. Ensure employees receive training and work to embed the purpose and goals of being an equitable organization into all departments. Conduct Ad Hoc after-action to outline learnings that impact the effectiveness of ad hoc committees. Provide to Council. Consider the continuation of a Council committee that could further both the efforts identified in this report and Council related priorities around safety and equity and inclusion.