Check CU is in possession of records from the City of Urbana which reveal more about the recent hiring of Lemond Peppers as their “Community Engagement Coordinator”. Peppers made his ironic debut as Community Engagement Coordinator when he muted an Urbana resident at a police “listening session” for criticizing Chief Bryant Seraphin’s review of the Aleyah Lewis arrest.
Unsurprisingly, Peppers has close connections to the local police departments. As personal references, he listed a Champaign School Resource Officer on his job application, as well as Champaign Police Chief Anthony Cobb. Peppers indicated that he and Cobb have been friends since they were seven and ten years old, respectively.
Peppers also had a close relationship with retired Urbana Police Officer Preston James, who held the title of Community Relations Specialist (which is effectively the same job position as Community Engagement Coordinator). Before leaving Urbana earlier this year, James and his wife Monique helped run the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB), which they left in a state of significant failure.
Now Peppers is meant to help run the CPRB, but the questions regarding his strong personal relationships to local police powers have residents wondering if he will be any different than his predecessors, who generally obstructed access to the police complaint process. The November 12th incident wherein Peppers muted a female minority resident for criticizing the Urbana Police Department may have already answered those questions. Interestingly, one familiar Urbana resident predicted exactly that type of behavior months before Peppers was hired:
The Facebook post and comment shown above were created on June 12th, 2020, but the comment was deleted by the City of Urbana in less than ten hours. Perhaps the comment was too painfully accurate.
Even after having muted a resident for criticizing the police, Peppers had this to say at the December 9th Urbana Human Relations Commission meeting:
“I think now more than ever, one of the biggest things that’s missing in the conversation piece, is listening. What happens when I begin to and I have to listen to things that I don’t personally agree with?”
Peppers went on to suggest that he needed to keep an open mind to hearing things he may not like, but such a statement is simply not consistent with his own actions.
Curiously, Peppers emailed Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin on May 14th, 2020 indicating his “intent to be assigned” to the new position a month before the City even announced that they were hiring:
“Chief Bryant Seraphin:
Hello I hope this email finds you well during this pandemic. I am writing to you requesting this email be allowed to serve as my intent to be assigned to the position of Community Relations Specialist for the city of Urbana, Illinois….”
It is not clear why Peppers emailed Chief Seraphin about the position, since this is not a police department position and Seraphin would have little involvement in the hiring process.
It would seem that Mr. Peppers somehow had the inside track, which raises even more questions about why he was hired instead of the many other applicants who applied. According to Human Resources Generalist Femi Fletcher, she had already received nearly a hundred applications for the Community Engagement Coordinator position by June 24th. Records supplied by the City indicate that they considered at least 99 applicants.
It is troubling that the applicant with a number of close personal connections, and who knew to inquire about the position long before the City announced it, happened to be the one out of a hundred who landed the job. One has to wonder if the other applicants even had a fighting chance.
The following records are related to this article:
Lemond Peppers Application & Resume – Urbana Community Engagement Coordinator
-Christopher Hansen, Urbana
Mr. Peppers muting a resident during the listening session is of the city mayor.
To Mr. Peppers credit, an item in the job description requires him to recognize a list of “Standardized Essential Duties.” Accordingly, it is incumbent on Mr. Peppers to “Communicate and reinforce organizational cultural and values.” And that’s precisely what he did when he muted a resident during the listening session.
The sooner the recent OMA lawsuit is adjudicated, the better.