The Kansas City, Missouri City Council held a business session on September 15, 2022, presided over by Mayor Pro Tem Kevin McMahon. The meeting included approval of previous minutes, a presentation on recruiting a diverse police force, and a comprehensive update on youth suicide prevention efforts by the Health Department in partnership with Youth Ambassadors. No public comments were heard.
Well, Kevin says he's on his way. Careful what you had. That's the heart. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Kevin McMahon, it's Mayor Pro Temp filling in for our mayor who's out of town. And uh this is the business session for the uh City Hall September 15, 2022. First item on our agenda is approval of minutes for business session of August 25th, 2022. Is there a motion? So moved. Second. It's been moved and seconded. All in favor of approving the minutes from last business session, please respond by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed? Hearing none. Uh the next item is recruiting and hiring a diverse police force scope statement. Um please come forward. Mr. Auditor, thank you for joining us. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mayor Pro Tim McManus, mayors of City Council, City Manager Platt, Doug Jones, City Auditor. I'm here to present the scope statement for our audit of recruiting and hiring a diverse police force. Today's presentation will outline why we are doing the audit, the audit objective, the work we'll perform, and the anticipated release date. Pass various tests, screenings, and evaluations, and complete a seven-month training course at the Kansas City Regional Police Academy. A police force that represents the diversity of this community helps citizens believe that law enforcement represents, understands, and responds to them, which builds trust with the community. This trust is essential to diffuse tension, solve crimes, and create a system which residents view the police force as fair and just. And we will also be presenting this at the police board's next meeting on the 27th of September. Wonderful. Further questions about this audit. Saying none, thank you for being here. Thanks for that update. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is youth suicide prevention presentation from our health department. Thank you all for joining us. Please come forward. Good afternoon. Thank you all for having us. Um have me be here to present to you today. As you all know or you may know, this is Youth Suicide Prevention Month. And as I did my one-on-ones with you all several months ago, so many of our council folks mentioned the importance of mental health. And so I know that that's something that folks are interested in, and it's definitely something that we at the health department are interested in furthering the work on. And so we want it to, in honor of the month, but also uh an honor of the opportunity to give you an update. So I am Dr. Marbia Jones, the director of the health department. Again, greetings. With me, I have Dr. Alex Francisco, who is our senior population health scientist. And then who will be coming up shortly to replace me shortly is uh Dr. Monique Johnston, who is the executive director of youth ambassadors, one of our key partners. So what I'm gonna cover today, we'll do a quick sort of data review, sort of a snapshot of where we are in the city when it comes to youth mental health.