Thomas Breen Photo
Recent demonstration, like hte one pictured, have featured calls for movement on seating the new civilian review board.
Hill South neighbors want someone on the Civilian Review Board who understands their perspectives and is easy to communicate with.
To several on the Hill South Community Management Team, that means the CRB needs a member who attends their meetings.
“How else are we going to let the community know what’s going on?” asked Chair Sarah McIver at the CMT’s monthly meeting held over Zoom this past week.
Getting the review board operational was one of the first demands in the recent set of protests after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. The alders and Mayor Justin Elicker quickly jumped on board and pledged to finalize appointments to the board.
Zoom
Alder Carmen Rodriguez: We’re moving forward as quickly as possible.
Alder Carmen Rodriguez has been collecting nominees from Hill South for the seven seats on the CRB that have not yet been filled.
“If not, the city would have chosen for us and that is not what we wanted,” Rodriguez said.
Neighbor Andrew Giering first floated the idea that someone who attends the CMT meetings would know Hill South’s issues best. McIver agreed and asked Rodriquez to prioritize the names by their involvement in the CMT.
Rodriguez cautioned that she does not control who ends up on the final board, since it is the decision of the mayor and the full Board of Alders. She said that she expects to report back about the appointments at the next board meeting or following on.
“We’re trying to get this up and running hopefully before the fall. We’re moving forward as quickly as possible,” Rodriguez said.
McIver pressed the alder to finalize the appointments quickly.
“We were sent the request for nominees like a fire request. Why is it dying out so quickly?” McIver asked. “This should happen way before September.”
