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2020 12 08 BPAC MinutesMINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE BAYTOWN POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE CITY OF BAYTOWN December 8, 2020 The Baytown Police Advisory Committee of the City of Baytown, Texas, met in a Regular Meeting on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, at 5:33 P.M. in the Innovation Room, of the Sterling Municipal Library, 1 Mary Elizabeth Wilbanks Avenue, Baytown, Texas with the following in attendance: Eric Bolenbacher Yulanda Braxton Dr. Marissa Moreno Dr. June Stansky Richard Hunsinger Mike Beard Officer Rene Hinojosa Officer Steve Ocanas Raphael D. Montgomery Kevin Troller Karen L. Horner Leticia Brysch Vice -Chairperson Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Chairperson Assistant City Manager City Attorney City Clerk Assistant City Manager Kevin Troller convened the December 8, 2020, Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting with a quorum present at 5:33 P.M., all members were present. Due to the COVID 19 Disaster and the CDC's recommendation regarding social distancing measures there was limited amount of space when maintaining the required 6-feet separation from others. However, the meeting allowed for two-way communications for members of the public who were not allowed to be physically present at this meeting. 1. RULES OF PROCEDURE a. Consider approving the Rules and Procedures for the Baytown Police Advisory Committee. City Attorney Karen Horner stated that the proposed rules and procedures are pretty basic and prescribe the general guidelines in order to manage meetings. They govern staff, committee members and members of the public during meetings. She outlined the proposed rules and procedures as follows: o A majority of the committee shall constitute a quorum, which requires a minimum of 4 members in attendance to reach quorum; o Minutes of meetings shall be prepared and,kept by the City Clerk and shall be approved by the Committee; Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes December 8, 2020 Page 2 of 5 o The meetings will follow Robert's Rules of Order to keep the meetings moving forward; however, with the Committee the Chair is allowed to vote; a An affirmative vote of the majority of the committee members present is required to pass an item on behalf of the committee; a Any committee member desiring to speak shall be recognized by the Presiding Officer prior to speaking; a The Presiding Officer shall preserve decorum and all members of the city staff and the public shall observe the same rules of decorum; * The chairperson runs the meetings and in his/her absence the vice chairperson runs the meeting; however, if both are absent the committee members would then elect a presiding officer to run that meeting; o Meetings can be called by the chairperson and at other times determined by the committee; o All meetings are subject to the Open Meetings Act (the "Act"); o For public input, the process setup is to allow the public to speak at the meeting or public hearings by signing up to speak on the registration form outside of the meeting to allow for a record of the speakers and an order for the speakers, and limits each speaker's time to 3 minutes, which can be extended by the chairperson; o A person requesting to address the Committee may pass his/her time to another person who has also requested to address the Committee, and therefore accumulate more than the designated 3 minutes to speak; this rule can be altered by the chairperson as needed. A motion was then made by Vice -Chairperson David Bolenbacher, and seconded by Committee Member June Stansky, to approve the Rules and Procedures for the Baytown Police Advisory Committee as presented. The vote was as follows: Ayes: Chairperson Raphael D. Montgomery, Vice -Chairperson David Bolenbacher, Committee Member Yulanda Braxton, Committee Member Marissa Moreno, Committee Member June Stansky, Committee Member Richard Hunsinger, Committee Member Mike Beard, Committee Member Rene Hinojosa and Committee Member Steve Ocanas Nays: None Approved 2. TRAINING a. Receive training on the Texas Open Meetings Act and the Texas Public Information Act. City Attorney Karen Horner presented the item and stated that the Open Meetings Act is a part of the Sunshine Laws, and provides that meetings of governmental bodies be open to the public; and the public must be given notice of the time, place, and subject matter of meetings of governmental bodies. The Act applies when a quorum of the committee is present and discusses public business, regardless of whether there is any action or vote taken. It also applies when the committee gathers Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes December 8, 2020 Page 3 of 5 to solicit information, or receives information from any third party. However, the Committee is not subject to the Act when there are certain gatherings, such as a social function unrelated to the public business that is conducted by the Committee, a workshop, an educational conference, ceremonial event, or a candidate debate. She noted as part of the Open Meetings Act, all the Committee meetings would have agendas that would be posted 72 hours before the meeting on our two notice boards as well as on the website, and all meetings would be open to the public. Exceptions to the notice requirement for Committee meetings include if they have to recess a posted meeting to the next business day and the recess was in good faith and not taken to circumvent the Act, or if there is an emergency where there is an urgent public necessity. It would probably not apply to the Committee as they are more of an advisory board. Mrs. Horner summarized the specifics that have to be on a meeting agenda that is posted for public notice as well as well as how a committee meeting and an executive session, if needed, shall be conducted in accordance with the Open Meetings Act, and the penalties related to violation of the Open Meetings Act. Mrs. Horner then proceeded to explain the Public Information Act and noted that prior to the meeting, most of the members signed a form indicating that the City Clerk would act as the Public Information Coordinator for the Committee. The law ensures that not only our meetings have to be open to the public, but as well as any information that is collected, assembled, or maintained by or for a governmental body, regardless of its format. Emails are also subject to the Public Information Act as well as to the records retention policy. All public information requests have to be received in writing. Mrs. Horner opened the floor up for any questions from the committee members and encouraged them to contact her or the city clerk if they have any concerns or questions. b. Receive an overview of the City's policy regarding the conduct of city business through written communication on personal communication accounts/devices. City Attorney Karen Horner presented the item and proceeded to give the Committee an overview of the City's email policy. She stated that the City Clerk provided the committee members with log- in instructions to access their city email accounts. If they had any concerns or issues, they needed to contact the City Clerk for further assistance or the ITS number. Mrs. Horner also noted that the program would prompt them to change their passwords every 90 days. All documents will be automatically removed out of their accounts within ninety (90) days, so they will need to save in a different file if they wish to retain the information. Additionally, emails are only as good as they are administratively valuable to the user under the City's records retention schedule. 3. TEAMBUILDING EXERCISES a. Conduct teambuilding exercises with the members of the Baytown Police Advisory Committee to include: 1. Setting Group Norms 2. Personality Theory; and Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes December 8, 2020 Page 4 of 5 3. Purpose Setting Exercises. Assistant City Manager Nick Woolery conducted an activity with the committee members to set up the group expectations, which resulted in the following: What behaviors do you expect committee members to exhibit? o Respectful treatment of each other; • Respect for diverse opinions; • Addressing each other positively; • Value the opinions of the entire group; • Friendly personalities; and • Approachability. What behaviors do you expect committee members to NOT exhibit? a Name calling; • Disrespect; • Shouting Matches; • Dismissiveness; and • Blaming. Lead Librarian Lesley Kohles gave an overview of personality theory, the types of personalities in the group and tips on how to communicate amongst themselves. City Librarian Jamie Eustace conducted an exercise with the group to set the goals and purpose of the committee, the results were the following: If we look back a year from now, how will we know we have made progress toward our purpose? O There will be a more open line of communication and mutual respect between citizens and police. o There will be better communication and collaboration between the police and the public. o There will be increased transparency between the police, the City of Baytown, and the public. • There will be increased trust between the police, the City of Baytown and the public. o There will be increased attention to mental illness and its implication to police calls. • There will be more opportunities for the public to interact with police officers at community events. m Racism will be eliminated in the Baytown Police Department. • Social Media comments will reflect a more positive attitude toward police and policing. • There will be increased community pride in the Police Department and more officers who are from Baytown. 4. ELECTION OF OFFICERS a. Consider the election of the Chairperson and Vice -chairperson. Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting Minutes December 8, 2020 Page 5 of 5 Assistant City Manager Kevin Troller opened the floor to nominations for the position of Chairperson and Vice -Chairperson. Mr. Troller reminded the members that the chairperson is the person who will lead the meetings and the vice -chairperson will be the person that will sit-in as the chairperson should, he/she not be present for whatever reason. The nominees for the position of chair were the following: • Eric Bolenbacher, • Dr. Marisa Moreno, and • Raphael Montgomery. Raphael Montgomery received the most votes, making him the new chair. The nominees for the position of vice -chair were the following: • Eric Bolenbacher, and • Dr. Marisa Moreno. Eric Bolenbacher received the most votes, making him the new vice -chair. At this time Chairperson Montgomery took over as the presiding officer of the meeting. 5. BUSINESS ITEMS a. Consider setting the times, dates, and locations for the next Baytown Police Advisory Committee Meeting. The committee discussed options for the date and time of their recurring meetings and the consensus was to hold the Baytown Police Advisory Committee meetings on the fourth Tuesday of every month beginning at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chamber in City Hall. Therefore, the next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, January 26, 2021, at 6:00 P.M. in the Council Chamber. 6. ADJOURN With there being no further business to discuss, Chairperson Montgomery adjourned the December 8, 2020, Baytown Police Advisory Committee Regular Meeting at 7 :15 P.M. ` i�Q�oyQi C:.on Leticia Brysch, City Clerk City of Baytown ®n =\ 0 A �.,1�,, esem� ylaC'j