OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Syracuse CRB Budget Review Meeting - April 21, 2026

Public Meetings — Tuesday, April 21, 2026
BodySyracuse, New York
SessionPublic Meetings
DateTuesday, April 21, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
Meeting Thumbnail
⇩ GET FROM SOURCE

STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Transcript — Verbatim
3:02

With me, except for Councillor Williams has had to leave.

3:08

Um, and we're joined by Nalita and Don, who are from the CRB.

3:13

Um, do you guys want to start us off?

3:17

You want to say anything?

3:19

Um, no.

3:20

Well, um, as the um CIB uh chairman, I've reviewed the um the budget.

3:27

It looks very good.

3:28

Um, no real suggestions that I like to make at this time.

3:33

Um, and then from your standpoint, I am in agreement.

3:37

Okay.

3:45

Um with the uh investigations being paused, we're probably going to keep that, I think in the budget, right, just in case.

3:53

Um, okay.

4:02

All right, okay.

4:03

Perfect.

4:04

Um, yeah, I don't really have a lot of questions because it's pretty straightforward what you guys are doing and what the positions are.

4:17

I'm looking at the um temporary services part time, and it's gone from ten to thirty-one.

4:31

I just want to let them borrow my book here so they can look at what you guys are looking at.

4:36

I think it's these two pages.

4:38

Oh, yeah, right there.

4:46

Yeah.

4:50

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

4:50

I gotcha.

4:51

Okay.

5:01

And that's where this budget is coming.

5:03

This is where that money is coming from.

5:05

Okay.

5:06

That's his part-time position.

5:08

And also, I think that's uh part of the um the free land investigation portion of it, uh, because we were using those guys for some of the investigation.

5:19

So some of those uh dollars are allocated to to the free land investigation.

5:24

Okay.

5:28

How has the um attendance been with the board members?

5:32

Are you guys like having quorum regularly?

5:36

Yes.

5:37

Okay.

5:38

And um are all the seats filled currently.

5:42

We are currently still one.

5:46

Um Corey, Corey has uh placed a position for the last remaining seat uh on the board.

5:52

So we are at uh full uh once the um council goes ahead and validate that uh appointment, we'll be at a full 11 men uh person board.

6:04

Um we do have one board member that um we're having uh to take a look at.

6:11

Um they've missed quite a few of the sessions, so uh as you know, one of the requirements is that you need to show up uh on a regular basis whenever there's a board meeting.

6:22

So um, but we'll be discussing that with the council about that board member uh in the near future.

6:29

Um can I just ask about professional services?

6:32

Because that took quite a big jump in the budget this year.

6:35

Do you know what those are for?

6:37

That's also um part of the um free land investigation.

6:43

We had some prior cases that they had been working on that um needed to be uh uh paid this under this uh uh session.

6:53

So what about training?

7:03

Have you guys been taking uh what is it, NACOL?

7:06

Yes, have you guys we actually just came from a conference um in Brooklyn, New York with the CCRB.

7:12

Um and then there's a couple of other trainings that we are uh looking at.

7:16

Our data analysis person has definitely been taking advantage of that, going to the NACO trainings and things like that.

7:23

So yes.

7:24

Okay, and when you say we went, is that the um the paid staff or is the staff and board?

7:29

The this paid staff.

7:33

How many paid staff do you have three?

7:35

I have one, two, three, four.

7:38

Four.

7:38

Okay.

7:39

So uh one of the things that um because the board is very new since January, uh, trying to figure out what training needs to be done.

7:48

Um so that's why we haven't used a lot of the training uh money because everyone's new in the position and trying to figure out what's gonna be best for the board and what training that they need to attend.

8:01

So I want to go back to temporary services.

8:04

So when you have an investigation, is it's is it an outside source?

8:10

It's part of the outside source and part of um the so you know I'm on there as a temporary employee.

8:17

Um so I do some of the investigation.

8:19

Um then some of the investigation is uh uh is actually handled by uh freelan investigation.

8:25

So you go is that like an outside like a security firm or uh someone from the police department?

8:33

No, no, no.

8:34

Freeland uh investigation is an outside security company.

8:38

So thank you.

8:40

But as you know, the investigation now is on pause, right?

8:43

So yeah, we swinging that word around loosely, so we need to be careful.

8:49

Yeah, what word are we slinging loosely?

8:53

Oh, gotcha.

8:55

Um I don't have any other questions.

8:57

Does anybody else have any questions?

8:59

Thank you guys for what you do for the community.

9:01

Yeah, what one of the things I'd like to just add to to this meeting is that the the CRB board really appreciate the way the council has been uh supporting them over this last year.

9:13

Uh it has made their job, our jobs a lot easier, and I just like to say publicly thank you very much for your effort and time.

9:21

Thank you.

9:22

Okay, good job.

9:23

Thank you.

9:24

Have good days.

9:26

So this meeting is adjourned.

9:29

Motion to adjourn.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Personnel Matters█████████████████████████████████████████████79%
Budget Equity Analysis████████████21%
Summary of Proceedings

Syracuse CRB Budget Review Meeting - April 21, 2026

The Syracuse Common Council held a budget review session with the Citizen Review Board (CRB) on April 21, 2026. The CRB chairman presented the budget, which was generally supported by the council. Discussion focused on increases in temporary services and professional services, training expenditures, board attendance, and the status of investigations.

Discussion Items

  • Budget Overview: CRB Chairman stated that the budget looks very good and he had no suggestions, agreeing with the council's approach.
  • Temporary Services: A council member noted an increase from 10 to 31 units. The chairman explained that some of these funds are allocated to the free land investigation portion, as temporary employees (including himself) conduct investigations. Another council member clarified that free land investigation is an outside security company.
  • Professional Services: A significant increase was noted. The chairman stated this is also part of the free land investigation, covering prior cases that need payment under the current session.
  • Training: The chairman noted that the board is very new (since January), and they have not used much training money while determining the best training for board members. The data analyst has attended NACO trainings, and paid staff attended a CCRB conference in Brooklyn.
  • Board Attendance and Seats: All 11 board seats are filled pending council validation of the last appointment. One board member has missed many meetings, and the council will discuss that member's status soon. Quorum is regularly achieved.
  • Investigation Pause: The chairman confirmed investigations are currently paused, but the budget keeps funding allocated just in case. A council member cautioned about loosely using the term "investigation" in public discussion.

Key Outcomes

  • No formal votes or motions were taken during the budget review. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn, which was approved.
  • CRB Chairman publicly thanked the council for their support over the past year.

Meeting Transcript

With me, except for Councillor Williams has had to leave. Um, and we're joined by Nalita and Don, who are from the CRB. Um, do you guys want to start us off? You want to say anything? Um, no. Well, um, as the um CIB uh chairman, I've reviewed the um the budget. It looks very good. Um, no real suggestions that I like to make at this time. Um, and then from your standpoint, I am in agreement. Okay. Um with the uh investigations being paused, we're probably going to keep that, I think in the budget, right, just in case. Um, okay. All right, okay. Perfect. Um, yeah, I don't really have a lot of questions because it's pretty straightforward what you guys are doing and what the positions are. I'm looking at the um temporary services part time, and it's gone from ten to thirty-one. I just want to let them borrow my book here so they can look at what you guys are looking at. I think it's these two pages. Oh, yeah, right there. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotcha. Okay. And that's where this budget is coming. This is where that money is coming from. Okay. That's his part-time position. And also, I think that's uh part of the um the free land investigation portion of it, uh, because we were using those guys for some of the investigation. So some of those uh dollars are allocated to to the free land investigation. Okay. How has the um attendance been with the board members? Are you guys like having quorum regularly? Yes. Okay. And um are all the seats filled currently. We are currently still one. Um Corey, Corey has uh placed a position for the last remaining seat uh on the board. So we are at uh full uh once the um council goes ahead and validate that uh appointment, we'll be at a full 11 men uh person board. Um we do have one board member that um we're having uh to take a look at. Um they've missed quite a few of the sessions, so uh as you know, one of the requirements is that you need to show up uh on a regular basis whenever there's a board meeting. So um, but we'll be discussing that with the council about that board member uh in the near future. Um can I just ask about professional services? Because that took quite a big jump in the budget this year. Do you know what those are for? That's also um part of the um free land investigation. We had some prior cases that they had been working on that um needed to be uh uh paid this under this uh uh session. So what about training? Have you guys been taking uh what is it, NACOL? Yes, have you guys we actually just came from a conference um in Brooklyn, New York with the CCRB. Um and then there's a couple of other trainings that we are uh looking at.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI
TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com