Order.

Uh we'll do roll call.

Um Alice Baker.

Okay.

Uh Linda, not here.

Um Ada.

Ada?

Ida.

Here.

Um, myself, Don Johnson here.

You here?

Um Mike Kern.

Here.

Um, Harry.

Not here.

Peggy Chase.

Uh Samya?

Yeah.

Octavia?

Present.

Desire?

Present.

Okay.

So we have six.

Board members, so we do have quorum for tonight.

Um, so uh first part of the agenda that we need to do.

Um is a has everyone looked at the amendment uh the um minutes from last month.

Yes.

Okay.

We need to get a motion to uh accept the meeting uh minutes from last month.

Uh accept the meetings from December twenty twenty-five.

Okay.

We need a um second, Peggy second it.

Um any discussion.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed?

Motion carries.

Um minutes approved for last month meeting.

Um, the chair report, chair has nothing to report at this session.

Um there's uh on the updating on the staff, we are still uh lacking the investigator.

Um from the last meeting we had.

Um, the one that we had uh brought on board decided that um he wasn't gonna take the position, so we're back to um doing research and um coming up with some alternatives to how we're gonna handle that vacancy for the administrator.

Um I have a couple of ideas that I will be floating around to the board to see if uh the board wants to to look at any of the other options.

So um and then uh the administrator report.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Hope you guys had a great holiday.

Um so we've been busy still.

As always.

Um, in December, my main focus was on reporting and community support.

Um, Don and I met with the council, as you know, for uh safety meeting providing the quarterly progress report.

And the Manion Senior Fair with Adonia to support the community during the holidays.

The CRB collaborated with the West Calvin Post Office.

We donated $300 towards the Christmas baskets.

We ended up serving 15 families.

And then we delivered them to the homes themselves.

Yes.

So community engagement.

Adonia has uh led several community engagement efforts, including a networking event at Harvey's Garden, where she had the opportunity to hear Senator Rachel May, and also the opportunity to discuss the CRB's functions to others who attended.

She also represented the CRB at the on-point career slam, answering resident questions and getting information regarding those who inquired who inquired during an um an internship, doing an internship with the CRB.

And so we're still looking at that.

David has also inquired to come back to do more internship with us.

He really has enjoyed interning with us, and we're looking into that as well.

Hopefully, we'll have two interns for the winter.

Following these events, the Center for Community Alternatives requested for us to come back and present again.

So I think we must have done a really pretty good job if they are asking us to come back to present again to some of their other constituents.

And so we are looking forward to doing that as well.

Um as the data analysis.

Chris has improved an organizational transparency by creating new ways to track cases by location and specific officers.

He has organized historical data from 2012 to the present and to um new spreadsheets.

So he's been pretty busy himself uh creating different maps and things like that.

And I am excited that I will be able to share some of those things with you guys on our next meeting so that you can see how he has mapped out things that we've been doing not only in the community, but um how the how the changes have changed from 2012 up until the present time under different administration and how we are actually getting the cases done.

So I look forward to sharing that with you guys.

Julie, our legal secretary, has been consistently staying on top of our correspondence and intakes in the month of December.

We have inquired 35 new cases.

Letters have been prepared and sent.

She has also sent out six letters regarding cases that were closes that were closing, and 11 letters for new complaints, totaling 52 letters of correspondence while continuing to refine the office organization workflow.

So she's been a little busy herself, um, but making sure that we are being transparent and that we have everything that we need, the materials and things.

And of course, the phone is ringing non-stop.

We have people that are calling every single day, sometimes two and three times a day for just advice and to vent, pretty much.

So uh she's been catching the button of that.

Um Johnson, of course, he is trainer, assistant, everything, all-around guy.

Don uh serves as the trainer and assistant across all departments, attending community events to distribute informational material regarding the CRB's mission, the process and services.

He provided direct answers to residents' questions and continue to lead training sessions for both staff and board members.

So he's been a little busy B2, as far as uh getting around and making sure that we are all trained and cross-trained on how to do uh various things within the office.

Um the case progress and vacancies, as Don has spoken to you.

We are still looking for an investigator.

Um I think we're gonna be successful at finding one eventually, very soon, hopefully.

Um, but we are doing the work and we're making sure that the cases are still getting done.

Um there's no lack, of course.

We've been busy.

I've been busy, I'll say, and completing the case.

Um the CRB successfully completed 21 cases in December and remains on track to meet its goals for the backlog cases while the invest while the investigator position remains vacant.

So we are still um getting cases done.

So we are still um getting cases done, and we will be caught up by our deadline, which I believe we said would be February.

So we will be all caught up with 2024's backlog by February.

And that is my report.

Linda has now joined us, so uh we need to update the attendance uh and include Linda.

Um says one of the members attending okay.

Um the next thing on the agenda um do we have any old business that need to be discussed?

Yes.

Okay, so I just want happy near everyone, by the way.

Yeah, yeah.

So I just want to remind that our uh our next CRB meeting is gonna be in my constituents at the North Side Learning Center.

Okay.

I'm saying that the next CRB meeting for the month of February, it's gonna be in my constituency at the North Side Learning Center.

And I already talked to Mark and I sent an email to Adonia.

We we scheduled it and we're gonna send a reminder to everyone.

And if if we could get uh some of the additional board members to attend, that would be great.

Uh we'd like to get as many board members out there in the community so people know who we are, and so uh we'll definitely be getting that information out to everyone to make sure that you know, and you can put it on your calendars uh for that upcoming event.

And then any other events that we may be having, we'll make sure that we get out to the board members.

So um if you do have time that you can attend, we would truly appreciate that.

Umia is doing a phenomenal job.

Um, but it's always good to have more faces so people know exactly who you are.

So um we probably need to talk about a second um educational training.

We went through the first one, we didn't get through all the process when we did the first one.

So we probably need to think about um when we can schedule a second one and probably uh we can look at some time in February, uh early March for having that additional training uh on a Saturday at the CRB board so we can get everyone uh fully up to staff and and and uh fully trained on the things that we need to be taking care of for the citizens of Syracuse.

Um still working on putting together the committees, and I do apologize.

I've just been extremely busy lately uh with some other stuff that I've been working on.

Um what I'm doing now is drafting up the different committees.

Um and then I'll be sending that information out to each of the board members.

Some of the committees um I don't think this plays an important part for the board, so they probably won't be coming up.

Um so I'll be listing those committees, and then I'll be soliciting people who want to uh join those committees.

And uh so within the next two weeks I should have that done, have that drafted, and have that out to each committee member, and then you can decide what committee you want to get on.

And then um what I would like to see done is that for um once we have all the committee staff to have a meeting with each of the committees and then select the chairman and a secretary for those committees, and then uh outline some of the things that we need to have done um to make the board more effective and to also service the uh the residents of Syracuse.

Um so right now um do we have Mike.

I think you your committee and Linda and Elise, the police um police relation.

You guys have you guys met yet, or is that coming up next week?

Coming up next week.

Tuesday is the first quarterly meeting of 2026.

Okay.

And you guys are gonna be meeting with the new chief.

I expect that we'll have a chance for that.

But uh all I know is that we're gonna be there at 1.30 on Tuesday the 13th.

And um I'm hoping he'll be there.

Who's coming and who's going yet?

There are the first deputy chief.

There are probably three other deputy chiefs.

I'm assuming I think the first deputy chief Rich Schaff is has left as well.

Um but there are other people that may have stayed.

Um Rish Trudell.

I'm assuming he's staying out as a deputy chief, but there are that would still leave at least two vacancies, maybe three.

Okay.

Uh so I I don't have maybe we'll find out on Tuesday how they're filling out.

They have to be approved by City Hall.

Okay, fantastic.

The mayor essentially, I think approved.

They don't have to be approved by county council.

The mayor just agrees to meet up.

So that's gonna be Tuesday at 1 30.

A week from today.

Okay.

Is there is there a possibility that you guys could meet in the office prior to the going over?

I don't know about your schedule, Michael.

I know you're pretty busy.

So that way at least we can talk about some of the cases that we've been that's coming across our our desk.

And um we can let then address those to the uh chief of police and to to his staff members.

So it's about noon, Dan?

Yeah, about noon.

Okay.

Okay.

Fantastic.

So you want to put that on our calendar for now.

Okay.

Which brings us to our next section, which is public comment.

Um, does anyone who wants to uh speak?

Okay.

Hello, Barry.

Hi there.

Sorry I missed the December meeting.

I had a grant deadline.

Work has to come first.

Um I missed uh on the agenda um the chair referring to board case investigation training.

Um that was kind of skipped over, so I'd love to know more about that.

And I'm also interested in knowing what other board training you're anticipating going further.

Um I'm thrilled that people are calling the office.

That's fantastic.

Um perhaps that means there's increased interest.

Perhaps the outreach and the full staffing means the community is paying attention.

That's one of my wishes.

Um I would suggest that you track from month to month the number of calls and emails that come in to the office specifically separate from the events, because there have been attacks on the CRB in the past, and I think that it's important for you guys to demonstrate your return on investment.

The CRB has only had full positions in the past two years.

Right.

Um, so I think you constantly have to have vigilance in justifying yourselves and what you do and the improvements that you make as you go forward.

So I just urge you to do that.

And I also hope that you'll reach out to the new public safety chair and develop a relationship and educate her about what the CRB actually does, both the benefits and the limitations.

And that's it from tonight.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, and one of the things is is that with our with our data analytics, we let the numbers decide where we're going.

Um as the data's clean, um, it'll tell us where we need to uh put more efforts in or put less effort in.

Um, what do we need to make sure we get out to the community so they understand um the CRB responsibility and in turn their responsibility because it's a two-sided coin.

It's not, you know, we we're here to help you, but you also need to help yourself, and so we want to make sure that everyone understands where we're at and what we need to have done, and so we'll move on.

Shoulding because there's nobody else waiting.

Um, not that many years ago, several years ago, um, during the time that Raynette was uh administrator, I helped the CRB learn how to do presentations in the public about what you need to know when interacting with police, not a know your rights training, but what you need to know so that incidents don't escalate.

When you get your feet on the ground and your committee's established and you're interested in doing that presentation, if you want my assistance, I remain ready to show you what I've done in the past, what I helped the CRB do, and then you take it and make it yours.

But if you need that assistance, please let me know.

Okay.

And we definitely thank you for that.

Um is there any other uh public comments?

Okay.

With that, um we don't have legal counsel tonight.

Um so uh is my understanding that without legal counsel we can't go into executive hearing.

Um so we're going to have to table the uh executive session that we had scheduled for tonight uh for the February uh meeting.

Um I just I I know you mentioned that uh earlier as we started.

I was unaware that we had to have legal counsel during executive session.

I know legal counsel advises us relative to what has to be done in executive session versus what has to be done in public and what votes we have to take to adjourn and that type of thing.

But I was not aware that they had to be present during the executive session.

He has been here.

Um I'm guessing I I'm asking where does that come from?

Okay.

Um and the premise that I'm I'm pulling that from is that like you said, every session we've ever had, we've always had legal counsel there.

So um but well, you know what?

Let's let's do this.

Um the only thing we can do is ask for forgiveness after we've done the the task.

So we could go into executive session uh and do our normal review and vote.

And then the uh the chair, uh the director can determine from legal counsel whether that was appropriate, or we'll have to do the cases again.

Right?

Okay.

That's what would happen.

That's exactly where I was going, Michael.

Oh, we may go into executive session and discuss the cases resulted voting for them and wait.

Okay.

Yeah.

The only problem is, do we have a room that we can go in?

That's a problem.

Because they they're usually the ones that open up the the rooms for us.

Um we've gone downstairs though.

Here's the his is somebody I lab.

Um isn't somebody around the building with the keys?

Um security have keys.

Yeah.

Because that's what we were meeting in the the legal counsel's office.

So we could come back here next month with legal counsel and still not have keys.

We can't let this go on.

Um somebody's got to have a key.

We gotta find a place.

Um, if you guys want to I'll run downstairs and see if uh I can find someone that has a key that we can get into a room and I'll be like you know the desk number downstairs?

Oh I need the exercise anyway.

No, uh you don't want to go.

Yeah, I can't no, you don't want to be there.

Yeah, if you've got a case involving custody or divorce, I could probably advance you though.

Well, the very least we could do is if we can get in, we can review them.

So, we need a motion to go into session?

All in favor?