Published: September 05, 2007 08:10 am      

Ordinance changes approved

Board waits for approval from City Commission

Richmond’s Citizens Advisory Board approved changes Tuesday night to an ordinance changing its membership that will be sent to the Richmond City Commission for final approval.

The board continues efforts to re-establish itself after last year’s resignation of several board members.

The active ordinance calls for a board of nine members ˆ one member of the legal profession, one human relations expert, two from the field of social services, corrections or a related field, two sworn police officers (one patrolman and one detective) and three at-large members.

Board chairman Thom Gibson, along with board members Chuck Fields and Det. Rodney Richardson, recently met to collaborate on any changes the current ordinance may need after the board has re-grouped after several members resigned last year.

They are proposing to the Richmond City Commission that the ordinance establishing the citizens police advisory board be amended to call for only one member of the social service field and four at-large members, with one being a young adult 17 years or older.

The amended ordinance also will call for more specifications about the positions: “The legal representative may be nominated by the Madison County Bar Association. The sworn officers may be nominated by the chief of police. All persons interested in volunteering to serve on the board, regardless of the profession, field or area of representation (including at-large members) may be nominated from the public directly to the mayor.”

The board also is recommending that the ordinance include the following language: “Voluntary resignations shall be treated as unexpired terms or vacancies to be filled by the same selection process in order to maintain the composition of the board as designed and approved by ordinance.”

The board is now operating under chairperson Thom Gibson and vice chairperson John Black.

Aaron Thompson, who has served as a facilitating, non-voting member of the board since its inception, announced Tuesday that he would no longer be serving the board.

“It’s been an honor being with you guys and I think what you’re doing is great,” Thompson told board members Tuesday. “Where we’re come with the Richmond Police Department in the last few years has been phenomenal. I feel good as I move on and I feel good about being a part of the process.”

Board member Russell Lane, who also has been with the board since its inception, spoke highly of Thompson and voiced his appreciation for his service on the board.

“The board would not be what it is today if you hadn‚t of some on board and helped us decide what kind of board we wanted to be,” Lane said. “We would not be here around this table today if you hadn’t of kept us focused and lead us through some tough times.”

In other business:

The board will begin focusing on ways to get the community involved and methods of reaching out to the public for its input.

Several ideas were brought to the table Tuesday, such as taking the monthly meetings out into the public, conducting them at various places around the city and having a community meet-and-greet with new Richmond Police Chief Larry Brock.

“This is one of the key elements that this board stands for,” Thompson said.

He urged the board to continue the discussion and bring forth some “actionable” items at the next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 2, at 6 p.m. in the conference room of City Hall.

Much time was given to a discussion about how often the board should meet. Board secretary Pam Hall said the board was supposed to meet on an on-call basis. “Anything less than once a month, to me, takes away the importance of what we‚re trying to do,” said board member Charles Walker. Gibson agreed that the board should meet a minimum of once monthly. “It’s not something we can do quarterly or monthly and still keep an eye on the strategic plan,” he said.

Black asked about how much diversity training Richmond Police officers had been receiving. Thompson has assisted the police department in providing several types of training in the past several months including: racial and ethnical differences, social issues, use of force and racial profiling — how to avoid it and what not to do and sexual harassment training.

Ronica Shannon can be reached at rshannon@richmondregister.com or 623-1669, Ext. 234.