Urbana City Staff Directly Lie to Council about Police Complaint Notary Requirement

When the issue of submission requirements for police complaints arose during the June 3^rd, 2020 Urbana City Council meeting, City staff demonstrated just how far they are willing to go to deceive the public and protect their friends.

Wednesday’s meeting served as a “continuance” of Monday’s meeting. After nearly 3.5 hours of Council and public speeches about police misconduct on Monday, the Council voted to move the remainder of the meeting agenda, which included a discussion of the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB), to a time two days later.

The CPRB discussion was to focus on reporting requirements (CPRB reporting requirements article here), and by now it is no secret that the board had not been following its ordinance for over six years. The discussion really became interesting when Council member Jared Miller asked about the requirement that residents must have police complaint forms notarized before the Human Relations Officer or the Urbana Police Department would accept them. This hurdle had become an issue of great contention since it appears to have been an obstacle of pure invention – the City Code that outlines the police complaint process makes no mention whatsoever of a notary requirement.

Miller asked CPRB Chair Mikhail Lyubansky about the notary requirement, but Human Relations Officer Vacellia Clark interrupted before Lyubansky could answer. Clark has become notorious for denying and ignoring police complaints, and she likely felt compelled to defend her position. Amazingly, Clark lied directly to the Council, arguing that the notary requirement is written in the CPRB Ordinance. The Ordinance is only eight pages long, and Council member Maryalice Wu could be seen shaking her head ‘no’ while Clark was speaking.

Seeing that Vacellia Clark was running off the tracks, Mayor Marlin jumped in with a nonsensical explanation about the notary requirement being needed to “confirm identity”.

Then City Administrator Carol Mitten wanted to join the dance and introduce City Attorney James Simon so he could have a chance at spinning tales. Simon spoke nonsensically for three minutes straight, never making a coherent point or argument which would indicate any notary requirement for a CPRB complaint. Simon said the CPRB Ordinance indicates a complaint must be “verified”, but no such language exists in the Ordinance.

Council member William Colbrook (Chief of Police for Parkland College) marched in with a shaky recitation of the Illinois Uniform Peace Officers’ Disciplinary Act, also known as the “Police Officer’s Bill of Rights”. Colbrook argued that the statute indicated that complaints needed to be notarized because the statute reads “the officer shall be informed beforehand of the names of all complainants.” Then Colbrook very ignorantly suggested that the collective bargaining agreement of the Urbana Police Department would limit how police complaints can be handled, apparently unaware that the contract already contains an agreement to work with the CPRB.

When CPRB Chair Lyubansky indicated that the City of Champaign has no notary requirement for their police complaint process, Attorney James Simon went into another nonsensical rant about Supreme Court forms which have nothing to do with Urbana’s CPRB.

Then Vacellia Clark argued that the notary issue wasn’t a problem until the COVID-19 pandemic, which is another lie, since residents had complained about being turned away from the police services window before the pandemic.

The very simple fact is, nothing in the CPRB Ordinance, state law, or the UPD contract, indicates any requirement for a police complaint to be notarized. The Ordinance cites a “sworn statement”, not a notarized statement. The legal definition of a “sworn statement” specifically indicates that it is not notarized.

To engaged Urbana residents, the twenty minutes that multiple City staff members spent making preposterous arguments defending inhibited access to City Government is just more of the same. However, with every instance of this unscrupulous behavior, more members of the public are catching on, and joining forces to combat corruption. This most recent instance marks the 8^th consecutive Urbana City Council meeting wherein the public charged against government corruption and police misconduct, and there are no signs of slowing.

The full June 3^rd, 2020 discussion on CPRB Notary requirements can be viewed here: