Okay, thank you.

All right.

Welcome to the March 17th Boards and Commission subcommittee meeting.

The minutes will be taken by my assistant Ken Hempel.

And calling the meeting to order during roll call, who's here in Council Chambers, myself, Dee Durham, Chair of the Committee, Kevin Kaneko, George Smiley, Janet Kilpatrick, Brandon Toole, David Carter, Valerie George, and online we have John Cartier and Dave Tackett.

That's all I can see right now.

If there's anyone else online, please.

Is that yeah, that's just Dave's name there.

Um approval of the minutes from February 17th.

Motional approval is posted.

Second.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Any opposed?

Okay.

Minutes are approved.

Moving on to uh boards and commissions for new appointments.

Um the first up is actually just the um recognition of the appointment of Robert Snowden as chair to the Newcastle County Planning Board.

So he's he's already on the planning board, but um from the county executive's office.

Uh this is uh resolution just to recognize his appointment as chair from acting.

He's the current acting chair.

Are there any questions or comments about that?

I was trying to see the name on the bottom next attack it.

I think it's just it's Dave's name.

I think it's just his name on the left of the book.

Yeah.

Because his name, his picture is vertical for some reason.

Uh okay.

Anyway, comments, questions about um Robert Snowden as chair of the planning board.

Okay.

Moving on to the next one.

We have uh the appointment of Maria Ushery to the Newcastle County Police Accountability Board in Mr.

Smiley's district.

You're welcome to come up too.

And Mr.

Smiley, you have any.

Any comments?

Councilman?

I I'm assuming that's you.

Yes.

Okay.

I did stop by your home the other day.

You weren't home.

I left my card in the door.

Oh, I'm sorry.

But they are collector items.

Count yourself lucky to I'd like to thank you very much.

Appreciate you stepping up and uh I apologize for the fact that they're being compensated for this, right?

I know most people don't want to be.

But thank you very much.

And let the minutes reflect.

Uh Council President Monique Williams Johns is now present.

So we'll turn the mic over to you to say a few words about uh your interest in serving on this board.

My name is Maria Arshri, and I am a citizen of Newcastle County.

I'm interested to serve on the board so we can bridge the gap between the public safety in the community and the citizens that we serve.

Mr.

Kineco.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Ushery.

And I appreciate it as one of the co-chairs with uh Councilman Toole of Public Safety.

I ask the same fundamental question every single to every single person who wants to serve in the police accountability board.

Just please tell me about your background background of why you feel passionate about criminal justice reform and anything else you'd like to add.

I feel passionate because I've worked in a nonprofit sector for years.

I worked in as an HR professional with Connections Community Support Program some years back, as well as Aquilla, and just being a member of the community.

I am a pastor in a church in Newcastle County.

Um in Woman's actual old Capitol Shell Road.

So because I work with a population of people who are always in need and want to need a voice to help them, you know, express ourselves in different things like that.

I think it's important for us to bridge that gap.

Thank you, ma'am.

You're welcome.

Mr.

Smiley.

I just gotta say.

I find your speed of speech very refreshing.

I know you can get a meeting done quickly and get your point across.

So I appreciate that very much.

Thank you.

Any other comments, questions from counsel?

Ms.

Kilpatrick.

Can I just say you have to appreciate his sarcasm?

I wasn't sarcastic.

I don't want you to get the wrong impression here.

We're in a very interesting body.

It's okay.

Take it as a compliment.

Thank you.

Okay.

And no further comments, questions.

We appreciate you being with us today and your willingness to serve on this board.

And um, just so you know, the nominations on the agenda today won't be voted on until next week.

Um you don't have to be here.

You're welcome to attend or listen online or or not even do either of those, but someone will be in touch with you after next week.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, everyone.

Thank you so much for being here.

The next appointment is Jessica Jordan to the Newcastle County Diversity Commission in Mr.

Sheldon's district.

Okay.

Ms.

Kilpatrick.

Thank you.

Mr.

Sheldon is not feeling well today.

And he said, I just want to say, if you can, that Jessica Jordan is a great choice.

She has so much experience in this field that we're lucky to have her on this board.

I'm proud to represent her by putting her name in for nomination.

Sorry that I can't be there.

I'm a little bit under the weather.

Okay, thank you.

And is she on Zoom by any chance?

Or there she is.

I am on Zoom.

Yes.

I'm working to um get my camera rolling now.

There you go.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Good afternoon.

Um welcome and thanks for your willingness to serve.

And we'll turn the mic over to you if you uh have a few words you'd like to say.

Absolutely.

First of all, thank you guys so much for having me today.

This is uh an honor and a privilege, and I really appreciate your time.

Um just to introduce myself, my name is Jessica Jordan.

I'm a uh lifelong uh Delawarean.

I grew up in Kent County.

Um if anyone's uh familiar with the town point um space, that's where I grew up.

My dad was a teacher at Dover High.

Um halfway through my uh education about fifth or sixth grade, I moved up to Newark, Delaware.

Um, and uh have been here ever since.

Um it is a joy to support this great state of ours.

Um and I'll also say that during that transition from moving from Dover to Newark, um, it was clear that I was those in the same state.

I was moving um to a completely different world.

Um that was my first introduction to um what privilege is, my first introduction to socioeconomics.

Um a lot to learn at a very quick time.

Um that led me on the journey to where I am today, which is trying to seek out how to benefit uh environments and communities and populations who um tend to be overlooked or underserved, um, and to find pathways to use the privilege that has been offered to me to use the opportunities um of which I benefit to try to offer an inclusive intersectional space for all Delawareans to be able to reach their potential.

That's terrific.

Thank you so much for that, Ms.

Jordan.

Appreciate it.

Mr.

Toole.

Thank you.

And thank you, Ms.

Jordan, for stepping up.

Uh the diversity commission has been kind of dormant for a little bit, so we're hoping to see um some action taken here.

Um today, Mr.

Street's not here, but he he's highly concerned about the action and activity of the diversity commission, and hopefully you'll help push that forward.

Absolutely.

That's I think it's you know, the time in which we live is um my husband likes to say that everything's on fire.

I like to remind him that um it is our job to be fire extinguishers.

Um the world has continuously been in this place.

Um we just happen to be participants during this time, and um looking through the lens of diversity, equity, inclusion, um, and ultimately through the lens of belonging allows for each one of us to be able to actually be able to participate in the society around us.

Um and so re-establishing this commission, making sure that we are working towards things that are value added to all members of the constituency here in the state of Delaware.

I think it's incredibly important and will actually ease the burden in some other spaces wherein it is difficult at times um to just be able to be.

That's terrific.

Thank you.

Yes, and I think uh Newcastle County Council and the and the county administrator, we are proud to not be shying away from the DEI initiatives that are still needed now, and uh despite what's going on in the broader country.

Um so appreciate your willingness to serve.

Are there any other comments here in count in chamber or online?

Okay, thank you so much for being with us today again.

These won't be voted on until next week.

Um, but someone will definitely be in touch with you to follow up afterwards.

Thank you so much.

I really appreciate your time today.

Thank you.

Okay, the next uh appointment on the agenda is of Margie Lopez Waite to the police accountability board in Mr.

Tackett's district.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I don't know if she's here today or not, but uh I am.

Oh, there we are.

Okay, excellent.

I'm sure you all probably had an opportunity to review the resume and all.

And uh she's coming to us with a lot of experience and enthusiasm.

So we're looking forward to getting her um up and running on this board quickly.

Ms.

Lopez.

Wait, yes, if you I'll turn the mic over to you if you'd like to say.

Sure, thank you for this opportunity.

Um I am a resident of Delaware for 50 years, uh 15 of those years in Kent County, 35 years in Newcastle County, uh graduate of Caesar Rodney uh high school and Delaware State University and Wilmington University.

Uh worked for 16 years with MBA, uh, which was the biggest employer in our state when I was graduating college.

Um had 16 great years there, but then transitioned into my uh career of passion, which is education.

Uh I was um the founder of the first dual language immersion charter school in our state, um, Aspita Academy.

We started as a K-8 school and have grown to a K 12 school uh in Newark.

Um but we were recently approved to open a school in Georgetown.

So we're working on that and looking forward to opening up that school in uh September of 27.

Um and yeah, that's that's my background.

I have two sons who have graduated from the Apple Quintonic School District.

My husband is an educator as well.

He works in the Brandywine School District.

Um so we are, although I was born in New York originally, I have to consider myself a Delaware at this point and proud to serve.

Thank you so much.

Mr.

Kaneko?

Thank you, Mr.

Lopezway.

As a fellow uh former New Yorker, uh I I appreciate you uh stepping up.

And I I do have to ask the standard question that I've said I'll ask everybody that serves or uh I want to serve in Police Accountability Board.

Please tell me about your uh you know dedication to criminal justice reform and what that looks like.

Sure.

So um in education, uh one of the things that uh I feel is very important is that our students, our community really learn how to um work with um law enforcement and and how to to navigate their communities um successfully.

Um I I mentioned in a previous interview that you know at our schools we did not have CRO SROs or constables for many years until most recently, and we've seen quite a difference in how having that presence in our schools and having students who develop a positive relationship with law enforcement um has really is really benefiting them because they need to understand that these public servants are there to protect them and to make their communities better.

Uh they're not to be feared.

Um I think in every profession, unfortunately, we have bad apples.

We have them in education as well.

Um but we need to be sure that we're not uh judging an entire profession with a broad stroke.

Thank you, ma'am.

Yes, thank you so much.

It seems uh you'll definitely be bringing in uh valuable perspective to this board.

So we appreciate your your willingness to serve on it.

Uh are there any other questions or comments from council?

And recognizing Mr.

Street and Mr.

Hollins have joined us.

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Street, did you have a question?

No, I'm just doing what Councilman Potts Smiley said when you get in, let somebody know you're here.

Okay, gotcha.

Yep.

Just wanted to make sure you didn't also have a question.

Um so thank you again, Margie, for being here.

And uh again, the votes will be next week, and someone will follow up with you after that.

Great, thank you.

Thank you for joining us today.

Um the next agenda item for a new appointment is Dr.

Christopher Curry to uh the police accountability board as well in Mr.

Tackett's district.

Thank you.

Uh thank you, Madam Chair.

Um not sure if uh we have him with us today or not, but again, we are he's going.

Oh, okay, great.

Thank you, Mr.

Street.

Um, you know, uh again, sure you've had an opportunity to review the resumes and again another um very well qualified individual um coming to us here um for our consideration this even this afternoon okay Mr.

Curry, thank you for being with us.

Uh would you like to say a few words about your interest in serving on this board?

Before you do that, can I see you?

Yes, Mr.

Street.

I um Pastor.

I um Pastor I guess we've been working with each other for the last 20 years, and I appreciate everything that you do in the community, everything you do in your church, everything you do in South Bridge.

And in my opinion, given your experience, Dr.

Curry, um, and what I know is your commitment.

You'll be a major, major asset uh to the accountability commission, and I'm looking forward to watching you serve and and participating with you where I can.

And uh, you know, I think your your resume speaks for itself and you have great respect and admiration in in the community in in not only the community that you work in, but throughout Newcastle County, and and I appreciate it.

And I'm glad I got on in time to catch your presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, uh, Councilman Street, and to all who are present.

Uh I my name is uh Chris Curry, I'm pastor of EZN Fair.

I came to Delaware 27 years ago.

Also, I do consider myself now the Delaware and I came to Delaware at the request of Dr.

Delaware, who was the president of Delaware State University.

I was doing a presentation on higher ed in higher education on school balance.

He wanted me to come to Delaware to Delaware State to help him and his quest to change uh the ethos of the campus.

I served for the I served for about six years under him in that role as Dean of Students, and we did see major, major changes.

I'm very committed to the quality of life of people.

And and saying that I'm a son of a police officer.

Um raised by my father, and I am very much committed to ensuring that community is formed across the board on both sides.

I'll I'll stay I'll leave it there.

Terrific.

Thank you so much.

Uh Mr.

Hollins, I think.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um I would be remiss if I didn't also respond to my relationship with Dr.

Curry.

Uh we've served on boards together before.

He's been an access to this community ever since he's been in Delaware.

Uh he also just happens to be a neighbor of my daughter's.

So I want to welcome him to this board.

I know he'll do an extra outstanding job here.

Thank you.

Mr.

Kaneko.

Thank you, Dr.

Curry, and I I thank you for stepping up as well.

But I do have to ask the same consistent question.

I'll ask anybody that wants to serve in police accountability board.

Can you just tell me a little about your passion for criminal justice reform and what that looks like?

Thank you.

I I am strongly passionate about it on both sides.

I believe that with a healthy with healthy policing and a health and a healthy community, it will give us everything we need to substantiate our place in society.

Um I am very big on holding the community accountable as well as the police department.

And one of the things I'm proud to talk about in this two seconds I have.

It's the city of Wilmington.

I was a very strong critic at one point because I felt they were not a part of the community.

Chief Campos have done that now.

He has become a part of the city.

That's the community.

And our crime is down significantly.

The people are respecting the police department significantly.

So I am just a true believer that when both parties are doing its part, we have a healthy community.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Are there any more comments, questions from council?

All right.

Dr.

Curry, thank you for being with us today.

And again, the votes will be next week.

Uh Council President?

Yes.

Dr.

Curry, hello, how are you?

I want to thank you for adding something else to your plate.

I know that this is important to you and your congregation and to the community.

So we appreciate you adding something else to your plate.

And I know that you will do an outstanding job.

Thank you again.

Thank you.

So thank you for being with us today.

We appreciate it.

And uh don't think there are any more comments or questions for you.

So thank you for your willingness to serve on this board.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh the next agenda item is the the last for a new appointments, and this one is Leslie Palladino to the Newcastle, also to the Newcastle County Police Accountability Board, and I think that Leslie is with us on Zoom, and it's in Mr.

Cartier's district.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just like to uh tell everybody I had a great conversation with Ms.

Paladino, uh a resident of the 8th district.

Uh and I was quite struck by her enthusiasm for willingness to serve on this board.

And I think in the end we had a uh conversation where we agreed on the need for change, but we also agree on the need for our community policing as we've uh done it over the years.

So with that, I'll just uh stop talking and let uh Ms.

Paladino present her uh candidacy.

Thank you so much.

Um and thank you guys for your time.

I appreciate the opportunity.

Uh my name's Leslie Palladino.

I um work for a nonprofit throughout the state of Delaware.

Um I lead the street outreach team.

So we combat overdoses, everything under the sun when it's addiction related, which um really has brought me to an amazing place where I've had the opportunity to work hand in hand with a lot of the officers throughout the state.

Um previously held some contracts for some diversion programs with some of the local police departments.

Um so I'm really just aiming to kind of see how we can best fill gaps in the system and kind of bring everybody to a cohesive place.

I think there's a lot that we can learn from the officers and vice versa.

Um so I'm really excited for even just the opportunity to explore that.

So I appreciate that.

Thank you so much.

Any comments, Mr.

Kaneko.

Thank you, Madam President.

Uh Ms.

Palladino, I I I think you've been listening.

So you're probably I think you know what the question is going to be.

So at this point, I just want to know about why you know what what is your impact to what is your desire to have criminal justice reform in our state and in our county.

Yeah, so um hopefully my transparency and honesty will be well received.

Um being involved in the criminal justice system is what saved my life.

So what kind of led me to my role and my work professionally is I am a person in long-term recovery from substance use, so I'll be celebrating 14 years this many.

Um and that was not in part to going to a rehab facility or kind of having any of those opportunities.

It was genuinely a um hand-in-hand kind of coordination through the criminal justice system, um, which really kind of led me to an interesting place.

Like when this was even presented as an opportunity, I was like, are you guys sure?

But I I mean it's um it's something that I've always really enjoyed kind of learning more about when I did go to higher education.

My concentration was in criminal justice for my bachelor's.

Um I I think that I can bring something unique to the table just with my experience, but also with a very unbiased approach.

I just kind of live in the space of what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong, and where we can do better.

Let's figure out a process to do so.

Well, thank you, Ms.

Paladino, and as as you bring the perspective, second chances in life are a big thing.

So thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Mr.

Toole.

Thank you.

Um I've met Leslie through uh Impact Life and through Penny's organization.

So uh I I want to thank you.

She taught me all about what Trank was at one point in time.

And um, you know, for us to be educated on on harm reduction and being able to translate that into the police accountability board, I think is going to be really important.

And um I I fully support her advancement.

Thank you, Leslie.

Thank you.

Any other comments from council?

Comments or questions?

Okay.

Yes, it uh it certainly sounds like you'll be bring also bring an incredibly valuable perspective to this board.

So um really strong nominees before us today for the police accountability board.

So that's exciting to see and see where the board might head after you're all on boarded.

Um and the vote will be next week, as you've probably heard.

So um someone will be in touch with you following that.

Thank you again.

Thank you so much for your time.

I appreciate it.

Thank you for being with us today.

Um Madam Chair.

Yes, sir.

One of the things that uh I think it's very important for all of us uh to share concept here with the police accountability board.

When I interviewed Ms.

Paladino, I did say, because it's true, this board has you know completely changed.

We had a lot of people leave, and I think we were as a counsel lot very uninformed about what was causing that or what could people's concerns are we're leaving.

And I instructed Ms.

Paladino and requested that if she felt there was any kind of impediments that were preventing this board from full fully functioning the way it was intended, that she could clearly reach out to me and other members of county council and let us know.

Because we need to make this board, you know, function, provide real recommendations, actionable uh plans that will assist our committee police mission with the county police.

So I just want to make that comment and I hope uh that we can have a productive uh board with a lot of new members.

Thank you.

That that's uh a very good point and probably one that we should um bear in mind for all of all of the appointments that come across the county council for votes from us.

So Mr.

Mr.

Kaneko.

And that's a great comment by Councilman Cartier, and I do want to say that you know Councilman Toole and myself have, since we've become public safety co-chairs, have been making that a priority.

Um prior to what happened before we became co-chairs, I don't know, but you know, ever since we we we got in charge, um there is a lot of progress being made.

And so uh thank you to Brandon uh for your diligent work and working with the county executive office to make sure that we make this an actual board that works for people.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Um moving on to the reappointments.

First on the agenda is Darlene Sample to the Newcastle County Housing Advisory Board from Mr.

Smiley's district.

Welcome back.

Any comments or questions?

Mr.

Hollins?

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Um I also want to welcome back Darlene Sample.

Uh she's been an outstanding member of the Housing Advisory Board.

Uh she may very well be a charter member.

Uh, but she's been critical in the Housing Advisory Board had a very critical role to play for housing.

They review all of the items on our agenda and make their recommendations accordingly.

So I appreciate her coming back again.

Thank you.

Any further comments?

The next reappointment is of Dr.

Dr.

Monica Beard, uh in uh Ms.

Kilpatrick's district for the Housing Advisory Board.

Thank you.

Um and I have two in a row here.

We might as well, since they're both just reappointments, um, I am just happy that they have both decided that they will continue serving on this board.

The second one being Tyler Shade to the Housing Advisory Board.

Any comments or questions?

Anything else under other?

Any public comments?

Motion to adjourn.

Second.

All in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Um personnel will be 305.

305.