We consider this stall a failure on the part of all parties to the settlement of US DOJ v. City of Portland to understand, consider or care about the needs of people with mental illness who are harmed by police. – Eds.
60-Day COAB Recess and Cancellation of August Executive Committee Meeting
This note was distributed by the COCL on August 23, 2016.
The City and DOJ have come to an agreement on a 60-day COAB recess. During this period, the City will seek community stakeholder input in evaluating the community engagement and oversight provisions of the Settlement Agreement and propose and discuss amendments with the DOJ team with an eye toward strengthening the community engagement process.
During this period, there will be no full COAB, Executive or subcommittee meetings. Additionally, the COCL-COAB office will not be available, as staff will be detailed to other duties and not available to staff the office.
The COCL maintains that community input and engagement are critically important to the process of implementing the Settlement Agreement and reforming the Portland Police Bureau. The COAB recess signals an opportunity to assess, retool, and strengthen the structure and process of community engagement.
Due to the 60-day recess, the August 24th Executive Committee meeting has been cancelled.
From the Portland Mercury –
If you’re interested in reading more, here’s some behind-the-scenes communication from people involved with the COAB hiatus.
An August 19 letter from Assistant US Attorney Adrian Brown to Portland City Attorney Tracy Reeve:
Dear Ms. Reeve:
In light of the recent difficulties inhibiting the proper functioning of the Community Oversight Advisory Board and the City’s compliance with Section IX of the Settlement Agreement, we agree that a sixty-day recess of COAB meetings is warranted. During this time, the City will be in a position to evaluate the successes and failures of the community engagement and oversight provisions of the agreement. At the end of the sixty-day period, we anticipate an opportunity to review the City’s proposal for conceptual amendments.
The United States will not seek enforcement action against the City during this temporary break. The annual report may reflect the City’s noncompliance, with recognition of the difficulties associated with implementation.
Finally, throughout the next 60 days, we look forward to meeting periodically to share stakeholder input. We will work with you towards a proposal for modifications.
Please contact us with any questions.
Tracy Reeve’s emailed response to Brown on Monday:
Dear Adrian,
Thank you for your letter of August 19, 2016 agreeing that a sixty-day recess of COAB meetings is warranted given recent circumstances. We will assist the COCL in recessing all official COAB business for the next 60 days.
We have already begun to collaborate with stakeholders on how to strengthen the community engagement process. We anticipate that we will have a conceptual proposal for amendments to you by October 20, 2016. We look forward to working with you to develop any modifications to Section IX of the Settlement Agreement which are warranted to improve the community engagement process.
In the meantime, we are more than happy to have informal conversations to update you on the stakeholder input we are receiving. We do request that the City be afforded the opportunity to manage the outreach to stakeholders over the next 60 days to avoid any confusion in the community as to our respective roles.
We are extremely grateful for the collaborative relationship we enjoy with you and your colleagues as we continue our work to fully achieve the goals of the Settlement Agreement.
Best Regards,
Mayor Charlie Hales’ office’s statement on the COAB recess:
Over the past several months, the Community Oversight Advisory Board (COAB), created as part of the City of Portland’s Settlement Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding police interactions with people in mental health crisis, has experienced a number of challenges to functioning effectively. There have been verbal attacks; concern for physical safety; and exclusions from public meetings. COAB is a volunteer board that requires a significant time commitment and several members have resigned. Additionally, remaining COAB members have recommended that the Settlement Agreement be amended to restructure the group. These factors are contributing to difficulties in complying with current legal requirements and organizational mandates.
“Community participation in the police reform process is essential for our Portland Police Bureau to be a productive, trusted community partner,” said Mayor Hales. “We still have a great deal of work to do in building trust and legitimacy within the community. I remain committed to finding a community engagement structure and process that works for all Portlanders.”
The City has already begun to collaborate with stakeholders on how to strengthen the community engagement process. In order to focus the City’s efforts to engage in meaningful discussions, the DOJ and the City have agreed to suspend COAB meetings for a 60-day period, and evaluate how to create a better process that fulfills the intention of community involvement in police accountability. In addition to specific stakeholder outreach, there is a community forum scheduled for Monday, September 12, 2016 at Maranatha Church 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Maranatha Church is located at 4222 NE 12th Avenue, Portland, Oregon. If you prefer to send email comments to the City please use this address: cctestimony@portlandoregon.gov.
The City anticipates having a conceptual proposal for amendments to the Settlement Agreement by October 20, 2016.
An email to COAB members from the two Chicago-based academics in the COCL (Dennis Rosenbaum and Amy Watson) which, as of now, runs the COAB:
Dear COAB members;
We write to inform you that the City and DOJ have come to an agreement on a 60-day COAB recess (please see below and attached). During this period, the City will seek community stakeholder input in evaluating the community engagement and oversight provisions of the Settlement Agreement and propose and discuss amendments with the DOJ team with an eye toward strengthening the community engagement process.
During this period, there will be no full COAB, Executive or subcommittee meetings. Additionally, the COCL-COAB office will not be available, as staff will be detailed to other duties and not available to staff the office.
The COCL maintains that community input and engagement are critically important to the process of implementing the Settlement Agreement and reforming the Portland Police Bureau. The COAB recess signals an opportunity to assess, retool, and strengthen the structure and process of community engagement.
We thank you for your patience and all of your hard work to date.
Sincerely,
Dennis Rosenbaum & Amy Watson
Former COAB chair Kathleen Saadat’s email to a whole bunch of people this afternoon:
To All Concerned:
I am writing as a private citizen, who has the experience of chairing the Community Oversight Advisory Board from June 1, 2015 until June 24,2016. Because this issue is extremely important to Portland and the communities that make up the totality of Portland residents, I am taking the time to respectfully share my thoughts with you about some of the issues that need to be addressed.
I blind copied about 40 people on this email. They are bcc’ed because I have not asked their permission to share their contact information. At the same time, it is important that as many people as possible, know the status of the COAB.
I applaud the decision to recess. This gives everyone a chance to give thought to what needs to be reconfigured/redesigned to help untangle the imbroglio of thoughts, feelings, policies, missteps, and good intentions surrounding this opportunity. It I s of critical importance to maintain a vehicle that provides for input from a broad spectrum of Portland residents. At this point, that imperfect but still viable vehicle is the COAB.
As you reconsider/reconfigure/redesign this vehicle, I encourage consideration of the following
-develop a clear concise statement re the purpose of the Board and share that with the broader Portland community using a variety of methods
-in you communication with stakeholders talk with people currently and actively engaged in working in/with communities and ask their thoughts on focus/direction and structure of the Board
-establish minimum criteria for selection to the Board and a process that insures implementation of same
-finalize the selection process and publish it, including timelines, responsibilities and who makes final decisions
– insure that EACH appointee goes through an orientation and swearing in as a public official
– explore ways to insure that City entities (e.g. CRC, HRC) are responsive to their obligations to make
appointments or remove their roles as described in the SA
– analyze each and every recommended change in terms of its real or potential impact on the ability of ordinary, non-elected, (but affected) Portland residents to have a voice in the process of PPB reform.
– to promote the Portland City Council’s greater interest in the process and outcome (while avoiding the inclination to shape outcome), the Council should hold quarterly Work Sessions during which they will receive a report from the COAB regarding product and the health of the board
-The city of Portland should identify a person in the Mayor’s office who is responsible for the ultimate success of the COAB, thus leaving the City attorney’s office in its appropriate role as advisor on legal matters instead of decision maker on process or policy.
I am sure that if I spent more time there more things I could think of. This list I believe to be of upmost importance as you consider changes in the SA.
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2016
From: Ashlee Albies – attorney for the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition
To: Judy Prosper, Deanna Wesson-Mitchell, Ellen Osoinach
Cc: Jonas Geissler, Adrian Brown
Subject: AMA Coalition for Justice and Police Reform position on proposed COAB Recess
Dear Ms. Prosper, Ms. Osinach, Ms. Wesson-Mitchell, Ms. Brown, and Mr. Geissler,
As we have already discussed with the DOJ and City, the AMA Coalition opposes the temporary recess of the COAB. For the record, as the AMAC has already conveyed, the AMA Coalition believes that the COAB needs to continue its important work and a recess will be seen by the community as an abandonment of the community component of the Settlement Agreement. The AMA Coalition recognizes, however, that issues with the current COAB structure need to be addressed. Toward that end, the AMA Coalition advocated that the Parties (the City, the DOJ, the AMA Coalition and the PPA) and a representative from the COAB convene a small group to work through these issues together and come up with a plan; these meetings were intended to take place parallel to the COAB meetings. In the meantime, the AMAC advocated that COAB should be able to function and the City Commissioners and the Human Rights Commission should appoint members to the COAB so that it could continue its work, even if these appointments would have been temporary or interim.