September 3, 2020 | All Minutes
1. Attendance
● Terry Johnson – Volunteer Committee Member
● Jennifer Bliss – Volunteer Committee Member, Chair
● Ted Dixon – Volunteer Committee Member, Vice Chair
● Josh Baron – Volunteer Committee Member, Secretary
● Jessieca McNabb – Volunteer Committee Member (left at 5:57 pm)
● Marc Cassidy – Volunteer Committee Member
● Rich Wright – Volunteer Committee Member
● Chief Scott Schaffrick – Chief of Police, Rosendale Police Department
● Councilman Matt Igoe – Rosendale Town Council Member (non-voting member, Police Commission liaison)
● Councilwoman Carrie Wykoff- Rosendale Town Council Member (non-voting member, Town Council liaison)
ADA Blackmon was unable to attend but will be at future meetings.
Before ratifying the prior meeting minutes, Chairwomen Bliss made a motion to have Josh Baron become permanent secretary. Vice Chairman Dixson seconded the motion and a vote was taken, all were in favor and Josh accepted the position.
2. Ratify 8/20 and 8/27 minutes.
There were no changes to the draft minutes suggested.
J. Bliss made a motion to approve the 8/20 minutes, M. Cassidy seconded, all were in favor.
J. Bliss made a motion to approve the 8/27 minutes, T. Johnson seconded, all were in favor
3. Any updates from Councilwoman Wykoff regarding questions from last week’s meeting?
Councilwoman Wykoff spoke to Town Supervisor Walsh who has sent a request to the Town Clerk to have our Committee and members listed on the Town website. Once the new website is launched (which should happen soon), we can post meeting minutes and updates to it.
The Committee remains committed to openness and transparency in its work, Chairwoman Bliss asked Councilwoman Wykoff about required procedures relating to NYS Open Meeting Laws. Councilwoman Wykoff will follow up to speak with the Town attorney. The Committee will adopt measures to ensure it receives community input and is transparent in its actions, including but not limited to issuing a community survey and a press release.
4. How to ensure we are on track / measuring our progress as a Committee: e.g., perhaps we should create a timeline to hold ourselves accountable and flesh out more specific measurable goals as a committee.
The Committee discussed the timeline established in the NYS Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Guide on pages 112 – 115. Councilwoman Wykoff noted that working backwards from the final deadline in April, a rough timeline might be: draft proposal for internal review by January 13, 2021, a public hearing by February 10, 2021, and a final proposal for the Town Council to vote on by March 10, 2021.
After more discussion, M. Cassidy made a motion to form a Work Plan Sub-Committee to develop a project timeline and related milestones. This will include specific times for public input. The Subcommittee members will include: M. Cassidy, T. Johnson, and Councilman Igoe. J Bliss seconded and the Committee all voted in favor.
The Committee discussed connecting with other police reform committees in the area. The Chief suggested that the Town of Ulster is similar to Rosendale and would be a good committee to contact and provided contact information for them. J. Bliss or T. Dixon will follow up.
5. Community engagement: tangible action plan for soliciting input from the community.
The Committee discussed ways, both in person and virtually, to engage the Rosendale community. T. Dixon suggested that getting input from 10% of the community, or around 600 – 700 individuals, would be a good goal. A range of ideas for gathering input were discussed,
including meeting (with social distancing and masks) in person at various locations ranging from the Farmer’s Market to the Tillson Firehouse, paper mailers and an online survey. Interest in issuing a press release was also discussed. The Committee agrees a press release should be launched at around the same time the community surveys are distributed. The Committee needs to provide information to Councilwoman Wykoff who will share with Town Supervisor Walsh before a press release can be issued.
J. Baron volunteered to edit a community policing survey from the U.S. Department of Justice and provide a draft for review. Committee Members will be following up on the paper mailer and press release.
6. Discuss questions/data document.
J. Bliss thanked the Chief for assembling all of the requested policy documents and written answers to the Committee’s questions.
The Chief reminded the Committee that the Department’s Policy and Procedure manual is updated on a very regular basis and that due to staffing limitations he may be delayed in fulfilling document and data requests.
J. Baron noted interest in getting more detailed data and the Chief reviewed some of the sources and people that can help provide it
7. Any other business?
There was no additional business
8. Next meeting.
We will meet again next Thursday at 5:30 pm
The Committee adjourned at 7 pm.