CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Weeks after declaring the city should start over again with its enabling ordinance of a Police Civilian Review Board, Executive Director Inez Gonzalez has resigned as of August 15 after participating in her last meeting Thursday evening.
That last meeting lasted about 25 minutes as there could be no action on any items because there are only four members left on an eight-position board after those occupying those other four positions have resigned over the last few months.
Acting chair James Fracher presented a resolution to former chair and former member Bill Mendez for his service, after which Mendez shared that as one who was involved in drafting the enabling documents for a Charlottesville PCOB, he recommends drafting new documents in some form as Gonzalez has suggested.
“What it will take to fix those documents is 80-to-100 hours with an experienced attorney or public policy specialist with expertise in drafting legislation, and also a consistent set of directions from the city.” Mendez said.
This panel was first constructed, for example, as a Police Civilian Review Board after some objections from city residents over some police actions in the summer of 2017, as well as complaints prior to and after that event of how police on the street had been treating minority residents.
As the city was putting the board together and discussing issues about what residents wanted to see in this board, the General Assembly began taking up the issue of such boards and changing state laws about what authorities and limitations they have. Resultantly, Charlottesville has had to change its ordinances as those laws have changed.
City Councilor Lloyd Snook participating in Thursday’s meeting noted, “When we drafted the documents originally, we didn’t have a police union we had to take into account, there are a number of other things we have to take into account we didn’t know we had to take into account when we were drafting them.”
“I anticipate when Council and the City Manager and whoever all else is going to be involved in that process… my recommendation is going to be it be something that involves you all in the decision making and drafting,” Snook said. “One of the reasons I wanted to put you on the board in this most recent tranche of members is because of your expertise, and I hope to pick your brain even if I have to drag it out.”
Gonzalez in her final message Thursday evening before her resignation took effect Friday said her suggestion of redrawing the ordinance is not a criticism of those who drew up the founding documents.
“Again without those documents, we would have had nothing, and so we needed them,” she said.
“And so I’m grateful to everyone that was involved in that for having put that together for me to have something because I would not have had a job here had it not been for that, so how about that, selfishly speaking.”
City Council is preparing in its closed session this coming Monday to interview candidates for two vacant at-large positions on the board. Snook shared there were four people seeking the two positions and two will be interviewed Monday after which Council could make a decision.
