Akron City Council fails for second week to agree on citizens for police review board

For the second week in a row, Akron City Council has failed to seat a citizen-led police review board mandated when voters overwhelmingly approved Issue 10 in November.

Again taking center stage in the debate but not present this week was Imokhai Okolo, a 27-year-old Black attorney whose confirmation to the board was blocked by four members — Mike Freeman (Ward 9), Jeff Fusco (at large), Councilman Phil Lombardo (Ward 2) and Brad McKitrick (Ward 6).

Ward 7 Councilman Donnie Kammer, who missed the meeting last week due to illness, also voted no this week, killing Okolo's chances and pushing the city a second week past the deadline to seat the new Citizens' Police Oversight Board.

Six council members — Nancy Holland (Ward 1), Shammas Malik (Ward 8), Tara Mosley (Ward 5), Russ Neal (Ward 4), Linda Omobien (at large) and President Margo Sommerville (Ward 3) — voted for council's slate of six police review board nominees.

Councilwoman Sharon Connor (Ward 10) voted for the slate that included Okolo last week but was absent Monday.

At-Large Councilwoman Ginger Baylor also voted for Okolo and the others on council's slate last week. But she withheld her support this week by voting in abstention, which is typically reserved for when council members cannot ethically vote for or against something because of a personal conflict.

Using a council rule added in 2020 to hold members accountable, Mosley challenged Baylor to state her reason for not taking a position on the list of candidates.

Baylor said she did have a "personal conflict" with one of the candidates but did not say which one. She did not elaborate on the nature of the conflict or respond when asked to provide more details. Instead, she said she disagreed with the requirement in the voter-approved charter amendment that a supermajority of council — nine out of 13 members — must approve council's list of six nominees, while only a majority — seven — is needed to approve the mayor's list of three nominees.

Mosely and Malik called Baylor's explanation out of order.

Kammer said he decided to vote no this week after taking a "deep dive" and finding "campaign contributions that have been made to council members" by unnamed nominees.

Had council taken up the mayor's slate of candidates, which it didn't, Kammer said he would have voted no on them, too, until he can more thoroughly research if any other candidates have given to sitting council members or the mayor.

Malik acknowledged that Okolo has donated to his mayoral campaign. "No contribution that has ever been made to me has ever influenced a single thing I’ve done here," said Malik, who reiterated his support for Okolo as an "extremely qualified" candidate.

Sommerville has called a special meeting for 4 p.m. Wednesday to try again to seat a police review board.

Accusations of 'institutional racism' raised

Without naming his targets, Fusco defended Baylor by accusing some on council of not explaining their reasons for abstaining from previous votes. Mosley and Neal have abstained in the past and not offered or been called on to give an explanation.

Members of the public called Fusco and the other council members racist for not supporting Okolo, the only Black male who fits the 18-35 age range recommended by the charter amendment.

A member of the public accused Kammer of hypocrisy for questioning campaign contributions, saying Kammer takes campaign donations from towing company owners while serving on a board that decides who gets municipal contracts to tow vehicles for the city. The Beacon Journal reviewed campaign finance reports to confirm that multiple towing companies have given to Kammer.

For a second week, Malik labeled opposition to Okolo as an example of institutional racism.

“Folks can say whatever they like to say," Malik said. "But the reality is that when I called it institutional racism, it is because I would like folks to reflect on ... several white men ... saying that a young Black man doesn’t have what is needed for this body because his comments are out of line ... [W]e should reflect on the privilege and perspective that brought us to those comments and that position.”

Why the pushback on Imokhai Okolo?

The controversy over Okolo has grown each week since Sommerville, who represents the ward in which Okolo lives, lobbied for his inclusion on council's list of six nominees, which was introduced Feb. 4.

First, he was scrutinized for putting the wrong ward on his application. Some members then discovered that, while attending college or living temporarily in Cleveland where he works as an attorney at Jones Day, Okolo maintained his voter registration at his parents' address in Akron's Ward 8.

Then, in the wake of the fatal shooting of Jayland Walker by Akron police last summer, it was his use of the term "pigs" on social media to refer to corrupt police officers in a post about how prosecutors can be sympathetic to law enforcement.

Now, his donation to a member of council is being scrutinized.

Judi Hill, head of the Akron NAACP, said she believes Okolo's extensive record of advocacy and police reform worries some on council. Okolo has has worked in prosecutor's offices, with probation departments and the Ohio Attorney General's Office. He served as the local spokesman for a statewide initiative to reform bail and sentencing in Ohio. He currently serves on the Akron eviction task force, advocates legal counsel for tenants facing eviction in Cleveland and works for his firm's pro bono Constitutional Policing and Civil Justice Reform Initiatives program.

Sommerville said Okolo's lived experience as a young Black man — "from a perspective of fear, frustration and anger with police" — is needed on the police oversight board.

"We can't have a civilian review board without that voice," she said, adding that council members will use this week's special meeting to look for another candidate among the 112 applicants who fits that description.

While Okolo said last week that he doesn't "hate" or "think all police officers are bad," council members could not get over the derogatory term for bad officers who "get off" instead of facing charges or discipline.

"I'm not defining Mr. Okolo by that one post," Lombardo said this week. "But I am disqualifying him."

Fusco said last week that, before learning of the post, he had already committed to the police union and others that he would not support Okolo. Lombardo and McKitrick also cited the advice of citizens and police officers for their opposition to Okolo.

Will they or won't they?Will Akron City Council finally seat a police review board at Monday's meeting?

What is Issue 10?

Nearly 62% of Akron voters in November said yes to Issue 10, which tasked City Council and the mayor with crafting new rules for a more robust civilian oversight board and police auditor this year. The new board must be instituted by the end of July, with the rules written into the city's charter by the end of June.

The charter amendment set a Feb. 27 deadline for City Council to approve nominees for the new Citizens' Police Oversight Board. However, the charter amendment doesn't outline the consequences for missing the deadline.

What is the Citizens' Police Oversight Board?

The board is part of the charter amendment, which also includes more staff and authority for a charter-enshrined Independent Police Auditor's Office.

The auditor, per the voter-approved charter change, would be hired by the board. And the board could direct the auditor to investigate police conduct and department policy.

In addition to reviewing investigations into officer complaints and use-of-force incidents, whether conducted by Akron police or other agencies, the new police oversight board would make recommendations to council, the mayor and police chief. Those recommendations are not binding.

What happened at the City Council meeting last week?

After 112 people applied for the review board, Mayor Dan Horrigan narrowed down the finalists to meet criteria that ensure neighborhoods across Akron are represented by a group with diverse life and career experiences.

Horrigan's picks — Beverly Richards, Tristan Reed and Shawn Peoples — have the support of the needed simple majority of City Council. But council decided to first take up its own list of nominees. That's where it hit a snag failing to get nine votes for a proposed slate of Donzella Anuszkiewicz, Diane Lewis, Caitlin Castle, Robert Gippin, Kemp Boyd and Okolo.

No action by due date:Akron City Council fails to name police oversight board members by deadline. Now what?

Council's Public Safety Committee, which meets in the afternoon, submitted a substitute slate last week with a single revision, replacing Okolo with Renatta Griffith-Hambrick, a Black police officer who lives in Ward 3 in Akron and works in Mahoning County.

Then Sommerville called Griffith-Hambrick and successfully asked that she withdraw her name from consideration, leaving council to again take up the original list with Okolo's name on it.

Several council members and dozens of citizens came to Okolo's defense and said he has much to offer the board as a young Black attorney despite his controversial online post. No consensus could be reached, however, and the Feb. 27 meeting ended in a stalemate.

Behind the scenes:How Akron City Council failed to seat a police review board by deadline

Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron City Council meeting again fails to approve police review board