After substantial public pushback and the discovery of “misleading” City documents, the Urbana, Illinois City Council decided tonight at their Committee of the Whole meeting to delay decisions regarding an expansion on police hiring.
According to Finance Director Elizabeth Hannan, the plan to hire four additional police officers would cost the City $542,000 per year. One of those four positions would be a second deputy chief, resulting in a substantial change to Urbana’s command staff flowchart, since Urbana has previously only had one deputy chief.
The hiring proposal came in the form of a budget amendment, and it is just the beginning of Police Chief Larry Boone’s larger plan to hire fifteen additional police officers over the next three years. These positions would add on to Urbana’s current roster of approximately forty five officers.
The vast majority of public input at the meeting was against the expansion of the police department and the related spending. It didn’t help matters that at the same meeting there was also a hearing on increasing property taxes.
Members of the public attending the meeting pointed out the $1.34 million in police bonuses approved by the Council less than a year ago, plus the nearly $1 million in additional police pay approved in March this year. Some questioned the reasoning for expanding the police department even though crime rates have gone way down in the last two years.
Much of the public input focused on alternative methods to serve the residents of Urbana, particularly low income residents, individuals suffering from mental illness, those suffering from drug problems, and otherwise vulnerable residents. Champaign resident Martel Miller urged the Council to invest in programs designed to address those issues directly, arguing “you get more for your buck” versus spending the same funds on police hiring.
Derek Briles, an Urbana resident of Ward 4, heaved heavy criticism on the City Council for repeatedly ramping funding for the police department while failing to improve police accountability. “I’m just completely gobsmacked by this”, said Briles about the police expansion proposal, as he described one failure after another of the Council members to pursue meaningful policing reform in recent years, noting that several Council members campaigned on police reform before being elected.
Tom Roth, the President of the Homeowner’s Association for Stone Creek, an upscale Urbana neighborhood with home prices pressing seven figures, spoke in favor of the police expansion proposal. He expressed concern about alternative policing models, such as sending unarmed social workers to do wellness checks. “The moment you need that person to be armed, that person needs to be armed.” Roth said that he pays quite a bit in taxes now, but he’s willing to pay a little more so that Urbana can hire more police officers.
Several members of the public pointed out that the City appeared to be taking substantial action on altering the Police Department before receiving any portion of the long awaited BerryDunn review. BerryDunn was hired by the City of Urbana (after more than a year of failed attempts to locate a firm) to perform a public safety review at the cost of $186,000. The review has been in-process for nearly a year already, but thus far BerryDunn has produced no reports.
BerryDunn was mentioned in the City Council memo regarding tonight’s police hiring proposal in such a way which made it appear that BerryDunn had issued police hiring recommendations, but it turned out that no such advice had been issued. After questioning Chief Boone and City Staff, City Council Member Jaya Kolisetty called the memo “misleading”.
Further questioned about the BerryDunn review, particularly the timing of their initial feedback, Chief Boone said “originally it was scheduled late November. It’s been modified, obviously. To be honest, I don’t know at this point”.
New Police Chief Larry Boone gave a lengthy slideshow presentation, mostly focusing on his public relations activities at his prior Police Chief position in Norfolk, VA, such as winning a National Lip Sync Challenge with an Uptown Funk sing-a-long video. Boone expressed such charisma about public engagement that he went as far as to recite his phone number (217-974-1954) for any member of the public to utilize to give him feedback. However, Boone also spent several minutes admonishing members of the public who spoke tonight against the police expansion, calling them “feeble”.
Ultimately, the Council decided to delay action on the matter, voting to keep the issue in Committee until City staff could determine when BerryDunn might produce their public safety recommendations.