Interviews and inquiries
Today, the city council in Riverside interviewed seven prospective applicants to serve on the Community Police Review Commission. The interviews began at 1 p.m at City Hall in the Seventh floor conference room.
Art Arrendondo
Steven Simpson
David Baker
Rachelle Merrihew
Sharon Tyrrell
Peter Hubbard
Robert Norton
These individuals were selected from all the applicants at a Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee meeting, but there were no obvious favorites.
Usually what happens is each applicant goes into the conference room where all the city council members and mayor are sitting around a table and is asked one question by each person. Sometimes the questions are fairly good, other times not. Each applicant spends about 15 minutes in his or her interview and it's fairly clear who the city council is familiar with and who they aren't by the banter that takes place.
After the interviews are completed, then the city council usually votes there to decide who will fill the spots on the board or commission in question. Today, those will be the CPRC, the Planning Commission and the Board of Public Utilities. The CPRC's interviews will take place between 1-2:45 p.m.
The city's Web site has been updated with the job description for the CPRC manager, which the city has launched a national search for after the abrupt resignation of Pedro Payne in January.
CPRC Manager job description
Applicants need to have a Bachelor's degree and preferably a Master's in either criminal justice or public administration or something equivalent and have worked five years or longer in a work-related occupation at a governmental agency.
What's more interesting than what is in the job description is what's missing from it, including one major charter-mandated power which will be the subject of a future posting.
The city council meeting last night was as always, good theater.
Councilman Dom Betro shut down public comment after city resident Yolanda Garland began speaking about what she called the "kangaroo court" ethics complaint process including the hearing on the first complaint that was heard by the Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee last week. By coincidence of course, Betro was the subject of that complaint.
Councilman Ed Adkison soon chimed in and both badgered Mayor Ron Loveridge(who runs the floor) to shut Garland up. Loveridge called a five minute break and Betro, Adkison and Loveridge held a impromptu discussion with City Attorney Gregory Priamos who hopefully informed them of the recent Baca v the Moreno Valley Unified School District decision that supported Garland's position. At any rate, the meeting eventually resumed and Garland was allowed to speak on why she believed that the ordinance to limit roosters was too much cluck cluck about nothing, given the laws in place to address this problem.
Betro had already complained on several occasions about people making negative comments about the city government and the city at the mike and on one occasion, even urged people through the television cameras to come to meetings to put a stop to all this negative rhetoric. Here's one word of advice, if you truly have such thin skin that you have to resort to doing that then you probably shouldn't seek higher office. If you are so quick to censor city residents from speaking during the time set aside for them to do so to spare your own feelings or concerns about being reelected, then perhaps politics is not the field for you. Judging by last night's production, I don't think acting is in the futures of any of these elected officials either, but it will make for an exciting election season!
The fate of the 25 staffing positions in the police department is that there likely won't be any additions to the roster in the near future. After listening to Asst. Tom DeSantis try to explain the situation, I was left with the feeling that the city is too broke to hire them. Which is very interesting given that with all the spending going on for Riverside Renaissance, you would think that not only would there be enough money to hire the 25 officers but these hirings would have been included in the Riverside Renaissance as the accompanying infrastructure upgrading which should be part and parcel of any responsible development project. The problem is that the elected officials have got a really, really bad case of "gold fever" and aren't exactly seeing reason right now. You build more buildings including homes, you attract more people, you need more police officers, firefighters, utility projects, public works projects and street work to accommodate this growth. They don't see it that way. They just see the buildings, bells and whistles coming into their wards and in some cases, are using this new accelerated development to dream of seeking even higher office.
Unfortunately, the failure to add positions in the police department to accommodate the growth of this city in size and population puts the department at future risk of violating provisions of both the Strategic Plan and the remaining components of the dissolved stipulated judgement which are still in effect. Why is that? All you need to do is study the text of the law suit filed by then State Attorney General Bill Lockyer against the city and count how many references are made to inadequate staffing leading in some cases to failure to implement programs or even to comply with state law. Why this city even wants to revisit its problems of the past let alone potentially relive them through making the same mistakes can only be written off as "gold fever". The difference is that the city government knows better or should know better this time around.
When past is prologue.
There was an update on the status of video recorders thanks to Adkison, in that the city has 13 of them installed in squad cars. That might be good, except that number has held firm since 2005 when on the eve of the dissolution of the judgement, the city promised to purchase more recorders. In fact, the city council approved a motion to spend $500,000 on this equipment. What exactly is going on depends on who you ask. DeSantis said that the city was still researching three vendors and didn't give a date for purchase and installation. Deputy Chief John DeLaRosa told the city council when prompted that the department was looking at two vendors and installation may begin in several months.
The status of the quarterly reports which the city council had approved through a motion passed last March 28 is less clear. It appeared that the city government and its staff haven't given them much thought lately. Councilman Andrew Melendrez couldn't remember if he was on the council at the time but he was the one who suggested the regular reports. He did step to the plate and ask about them but never really got an answer from City Manager Brad Hudson.
City officials from Atlanta, Georgia took public comment on how to implement its proposed civilian review board. About 20 community members spoke before the public safety committee of the city council on their ideas of what kind of civilian oversight they supported, according to the Atlantic Journal-Constitution.
Police board selection a key issue for Atlanta
To be updated after the interviews...
Art Arrendondo
Steven Simpson
David Baker
Rachelle Merrihew
Sharon Tyrrell
Peter Hubbard
Robert Norton
These individuals were selected from all the applicants at a Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee meeting, but there were no obvious favorites.
Usually what happens is each applicant goes into the conference room where all the city council members and mayor are sitting around a table and is asked one question by each person. Sometimes the questions are fairly good, other times not. Each applicant spends about 15 minutes in his or her interview and it's fairly clear who the city council is familiar with and who they aren't by the banter that takes place.
After the interviews are completed, then the city council usually votes there to decide who will fill the spots on the board or commission in question. Today, those will be the CPRC, the Planning Commission and the Board of Public Utilities. The CPRC's interviews will take place between 1-2:45 p.m.
The city's Web site has been updated with the job description for the CPRC manager, which the city has launched a national search for after the abrupt resignation of Pedro Payne in January.
CPRC Manager job description
Applicants need to have a Bachelor's degree and preferably a Master's in either criminal justice or public administration or something equivalent and have worked five years or longer in a work-related occupation at a governmental agency.
What's more interesting than what is in the job description is what's missing from it, including one major charter-mandated power which will be the subject of a future posting.
The city council meeting last night was as always, good theater.
Councilman Dom Betro shut down public comment after city resident Yolanda Garland began speaking about what she called the "kangaroo court" ethics complaint process including the hearing on the first complaint that was heard by the Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee last week. By coincidence of course, Betro was the subject of that complaint.
Councilman Ed Adkison soon chimed in and both badgered Mayor Ron Loveridge(who runs the floor) to shut Garland up. Loveridge called a five minute break and Betro, Adkison and Loveridge held a impromptu discussion with City Attorney Gregory Priamos who hopefully informed them of the recent Baca v the Moreno Valley Unified School District decision that supported Garland's position. At any rate, the meeting eventually resumed and Garland was allowed to speak on why she believed that the ordinance to limit roosters was too much cluck cluck about nothing, given the laws in place to address this problem.
Betro had already complained on several occasions about people making negative comments about the city government and the city at the mike and on one occasion, even urged people through the television cameras to come to meetings to put a stop to all this negative rhetoric. Here's one word of advice, if you truly have such thin skin that you have to resort to doing that then you probably shouldn't seek higher office. If you are so quick to censor city residents from speaking during the time set aside for them to do so to spare your own feelings or concerns about being reelected, then perhaps politics is not the field for you. Judging by last night's production, I don't think acting is in the futures of any of these elected officials either, but it will make for an exciting election season!
The fate of the 25 staffing positions in the police department is that there likely won't be any additions to the roster in the near future. After listening to Asst. Tom DeSantis try to explain the situation, I was left with the feeling that the city is too broke to hire them. Which is very interesting given that with all the spending going on for Riverside Renaissance, you would think that not only would there be enough money to hire the 25 officers but these hirings would have been included in the Riverside Renaissance as the accompanying infrastructure upgrading which should be part and parcel of any responsible development project. The problem is that the elected officials have got a really, really bad case of "gold fever" and aren't exactly seeing reason right now. You build more buildings including homes, you attract more people, you need more police officers, firefighters, utility projects, public works projects and street work to accommodate this growth. They don't see it that way. They just see the buildings, bells and whistles coming into their wards and in some cases, are using this new accelerated development to dream of seeking even higher office.
Unfortunately, the failure to add positions in the police department to accommodate the growth of this city in size and population puts the department at future risk of violating provisions of both the Strategic Plan and the remaining components of the dissolved stipulated judgement which are still in effect. Why is that? All you need to do is study the text of the law suit filed by then State Attorney General Bill Lockyer against the city and count how many references are made to inadequate staffing leading in some cases to failure to implement programs or even to comply with state law. Why this city even wants to revisit its problems of the past let alone potentially relive them through making the same mistakes can only be written off as "gold fever". The difference is that the city government knows better or should know better this time around.
When past is prologue.
There was an update on the status of video recorders thanks to Adkison, in that the city has 13 of them installed in squad cars. That might be good, except that number has held firm since 2005 when on the eve of the dissolution of the judgement, the city promised to purchase more recorders. In fact, the city council approved a motion to spend $500,000 on this equipment. What exactly is going on depends on who you ask. DeSantis said that the city was still researching three vendors and didn't give a date for purchase and installation. Deputy Chief John DeLaRosa told the city council when prompted that the department was looking at two vendors and installation may begin in several months.
The status of the quarterly reports which the city council had approved through a motion passed last March 28 is less clear. It appeared that the city government and its staff haven't given them much thought lately. Councilman Andrew Melendrez couldn't remember if he was on the council at the time but he was the one who suggested the regular reports. He did step to the plate and ask about them but never really got an answer from City Manager Brad Hudson.
City officials from Atlanta, Georgia took public comment on how to implement its proposed civilian review board. About 20 community members spoke before the public safety committee of the city council on their ideas of what kind of civilian oversight they supported, according to the Atlantic Journal-Constitution.
Police board selection a key issue for Atlanta
To be updated after the interviews...
Labels: City elections, consent decrees and other adventures, CPRC
posted by Five Before Midnight | 3:50 PM
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