Boulder City Council again continues recommendations for Police Oversight Panel candidates after filing of official complaint

Jan. 19—For the second time, the Boulder City Council on Thursday continued the recommendation to approve 10 new members and alternates for the Boulder Police Oversight Panel.

Councilmembers approved all other items on its consent agenda but agreed — mostly — to wait on approving the six panelists and four alternates picked by a community-led selection committee after learning that a resident filed a formal complaint on Thursday alleging the oversight panel selection committee violated a section of the panel's ordinance that establishes mandatory qualifications for panelists.

Boulder Police Sgt. Aaron Brunn talks to one of the drivers in a car crash that happened Thursday on north 28th Street in Boulde. (Cliff Grassmick ??

Boulder City Councilmembers Matt Benjamin, Tara Winer, Bob Yates and Mayor Aaron Brockett and Mayor Pro Tem Mark Wallach voted in favor of continuing the item until next Thursday, when it will be discussed at the beginning of the Council's study session. City councilmembers Lauren Folkerts, Rachel Friend, Nicole Speer and Junie Joseph were not in support of continuing the item, saying they did not want to wait and have the delay affect the Police Oversight Panel's work. It is unclear if current oversight panelists will stay on in order for the panel to hold a quorum until the new members are approved.

Boulder City Attorney Teresa Tate said the city is legally required to begin an investigation after receiving a formal complaint from a resident or organization. The City Council will vote to begin the investigation at the beginning of next week's meeting.

During the City Council's open comment portion of the meeting, Boulder resident Jennifer Rhodes said it was her parent group that filed the complaint, but Tate clarified the complaint did not come from a group, like Rhodes initially said, but one resident.

The continuation on Thursday comes after it was first continued during a December City Council meeting when councilmembers asked the selection committee in charge of interviewing potential Boulder Police Oversight Panel members, with guidance of the city attorney, to review all candidates or all recommended panelists to ensure each meets the requirements set forth in the panel's ordinance to be eligible for the role. The Council also asked the committee to include written explanations of the steps it took when choosing new members before bringing the recommendations back.

Since then, the committee has reviewed all the candidates to ensure that their backgrounds matched what is required by the Police Oversight Ordinance, according to materials included in the Boulder staff's memo.

Still, residents have continued to contact the city, and many spoke Thursday night about two particular candidates: Lisa Sweeney-Miran and Sam Zhang.

Residents on Thursday said the selection of both candidates violates the qualifications section of the Boulder Police Oversight Panel's ordinance, which states members of the panel shall demonstrate "an absence of any real or perceived bias, prejudice or conflict of interest."

Daniel Bergh, a Boulder police officer and member of the Boulder Police Officers Association, spoke Thursday and read a letter the association sent Wednesday to the Council, which asked it to remove the item to approve the candidates from its agenda once again.

"The selection committee's blatant noncompliance with the (Boulder Revised Code) threatens the credibility and undermines the legitimacy of the Police Oversight Panel designed to enhance the transparency, accountability and improve community trust in the Boulder Police Department," the letter said.

In its letter, the association also said the selection committee did not explain how its process meets what's required by the ordnance.

However, even though the committee's interviews with the candidates were open to the public, committee deliberations of the candidates are confidential, according to the ordinance.

During the open session portion of the meeting, Boulder resident Emily Reynolds also spoke about a second candidate, Sam Zhang, who she said is also biased against the Boulder Police Department.

In 2020, Zhang emailed the Boulder City Council about an incident involving Boulder police, saying, "there is major momentum around defunding and abolishing the police throughout the country, and Boulder cannot simply swat it away or ignore it. I urgently support defunding the Boulder Police. This means reallocating funds away from policing, toward emergency mental health response, social services and other preventative public health measures."

When asked about this email, Zhang added that, "policing is an intensely divisive issue in America, and it would be undesirable for the city to reject potential POP members simply for holding informed opinions on the future of policing. Instead, the community needs people who are willing to apply a critical and open mind toward police (mis)conduct, which necessarily involves combining the evidence of each case with the deep history of racism and policing in the U.S. I believe that I can offer this, and the selection committee has agreed."

In previous Council meetings public comment had been voiced about concerns that Sweeney-Miran holds biases against police.