Changes in the Urbana Police Review Board Amidst Public Scrutiny

In the past few months, the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) has been in the spotlight amidst discussions of police misconduct and police reform. Residents have criticized the failures of the CPRB, most notably the board failing to follow their mandates as written in the City Ordinance (article here).

Amidst public criticism of the board, Mikhail Lyubansky was appointed as the new Chair after the resignation of Grace Mitchell, a founding member of the group and Chair of the CPRB (article here).

Since then, there have been more changes to the board composition, roles, and frequency of meetings.

Starting in June 2020, the CPRB will meet at least once a month. In the past, although required by City Ordinance to meet quarterly, the board has gone for as long as 9 months without a single meeting.

Instead of having a Chair and Vice-Chair, the CPRB now has a Chair and Co-Chair. Ricardo Diaz was appointed as Co-Chair of the CPRB, alongside Lyubanksy.

Following Grace Mitchell’s departure from the board, Urbana Mayor Diane Wolfe Marlin announced on May 5^th, 2020 that she will be accepting applications to fill the vacant seat (article here).

At the June 8^th Urbana City Council Meeting, Patrice Pelmore was appointed by Mayor Marlin to the CPRB with Council’s approval. Pelmore is a Home Intervention Advocate with the Family Advocacy in Champaign County (FACC) which is headed by ex-CPRB Chair Grace Mitchell.

Pelmore’s time on the board was short-lived as it was announced at the July 22^nd CPRB meeting that Pelmore had resigned. Pelmore had only attended one CPRB meeting on June 24^th during her tenure as board member.

At the June 23^rd City Council meeting, it was also announced that Darius White was resigning from the CPRB due to his unwillingness to commit the time needed. White is currently the Executive Director at Urbana Business Association and was appointed to the CPRB as well as the Community Development Commission on June 17, 2019. Although White cited time commitment as his reason for stepping down, he had just applied to fill the Ward 6 City Council seat vacated by Harold “Dean” Hazen in February this year (article here).

The two vacant CPRB seats were filled by mayoral appointees Katrina Marie Kindle and Tony Allegretti at the August 13th City Council meeting. Kindle is currently employed as an Intact Family Services Caseworker for Champaign County. Allegretti was an Assistant Public Defender for Champaign County, and currently works as Staff Attorney for Student Legal Services at the University of Illinois.

There were four applicants for the board vacancies. Candidates were interviewed by Mayor Marlin, Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin, and CPRB co-chairs Mikhail Lyubansky and Ricardo Diaz.

Seeing the extra scrutiny the CPRB is currently under, and the work board members will need to put in to gain public trust in the civilian police review process, Council member Jared Miller suggested that Council have a more involved role in approving the appointments. Instead of Council’s usual “rubberstamp-ish” approval of Mayoral appointments, Miller requested that appointees address the Council so that their interest and commitment to the position could be gauged. However, Miller’s request to postpone the vote to allow for appointees to have a brief meeting with council was denied by other Council members.

Kindle and Allegretti’s appointments were approved by Council members Dennis Roberts, Shirese Hursey, Maryalice Wu, and William Colbrook. Council member Julie Laut abstained from voting as this was her first City Council meeting. Council member Miller voted against the appointments.

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