Saratoga Springs Mayor Meg Kelly scheduled a second special meeting of the city council to discuss the police reform task force report after a discussion this morning during the city council's pre-agenda meeting, a meeting that prepares the council for tomorrow night's regular meeting.
The council will now have three nights of discussion: tomorrow night they take up a draft resolution that stems from the Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force Report. The draft resolution will be made public and be open for comment after tomorrow night's meeting.
The city council will then meet at 7 p.m. March 23 to discuss the draft and take comment. On March 31, the council will vote on the final draft. The resolution is due in Albany on April 1.
The third meeting, on March 23, was added after commissioners Michele Madigan and Robin Dalton asked for more public input. They debated whether an official public hearing is needed or if public comment or a workshop would do.
“I’m just wondering if we should have a separate meeting to have a public hearing, with public comment of course, some discussion with the council, and then a follow up meeting a few days later,” Madigan said.
Kelly countered that public comment comes in after the Tuesday meeting and keeps coming in until March 31 when the final vote is taken. She felt that was plenty of time for the public to weigh in, and the council could make revisions based on those comments.
Commissioner Dalton disagreed saying people want to be heard, to ask questions and get responses.
Madigan said, “I think we need to allow time for the public to weigh in a bit more to the city council.”
City attorney Vincent DeLeonardis said the decisions are moving forward through resolution, not legislation, so legally no official public hearing is required, but is allowed.
After a few minutes' discussion, Kelly agreed to add the extra meeting.
The report submitted by the task force had 50 recommendations in the areas of Culture and Training; Policy; Community-Centered Reinventions; and Transparency and Accountability. The resolution to be voted on is based on those recommendations.
On Friday the survey of the Saratoga Springs population regarding police encounters was released.
In a report that came with the survey, most people are satisfied or very satisfied with the police, but the report points out that about 1-in-4 people are unhappy, and that number is especially true for LGBTQ individuals and for people who have had bad experiences with police.
For people who said they have experienced trouble with the police, or who know someone who has, the numbers shift in the opposite direction, with the majority saying they are dissatisfied, unsatisfied with the police department.
About one third of the respondents felt they, or someone they knew, had been mistreated or harassed by the police.
Use of body cameras, giving police more training, changing policies to focus on deescalation, and stronger public oversight of the police were all supported by wide margins in the survey. A task force subcommittee was responsible for the creation, collection and analysis of the survey.