The nominees are expected to be approved by the full council at their next meeting on Dec. 5.
CLEVELAND — Thirteen months after voters in Cleveland passed of Issue 24, the new Community Police Commission is on the verge of being created.
On Friday, the Cleveland City Council Mayor’s Appointment Committee (MAC) announced that it is recommending that the full council approve all 13 nominees to the commission.
The Cleveland Community Police Commission will have the authority to make decisions on discipline for police misconduct, oversee and update police recruitment and training, and make policy recommendations on processes and procedures.
The committee spent two days interviewing Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s ten nominees:
- Alana Garrett-Ferguson – Policy associate at Center for Community Solutions, member of the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP (four-year term)
- Cait Kennedy – Executive director & co-founder of unBail mobile app that allows defendants to access information about their specific case (two-year term)
- Charles Donaldson, Jr. – Talent acquisition specialist at Sherwin-Williams and U.S. Coast Guard veteran (four-year term)
- Gregory Reaves – Career coach at Towards Employment, former case manager at Recovery Resources (two-year term)
- James M. Chura – Served 33 years as a member of Cleveland Division of Police before retiring in 2020, now serves as installation technician at Re-Sources LLC (four-year term)
- Jan Ridgeway – Board president and volunteer director of Garden Valley Neighborhood House and former Cleveland Public Library administrator (Four-year term)
- Sharena Zayed – Network weaver for University Settlement and Board chair of Stop the Pain Inc. (two-year term)
- Pastor Kyle Earley – Senior pastor at City of God Cleveland, member of Cleveland Branch of NAACP and board member of Hunger Network of Greater Cleveland (two-year term)
- Piet Van Lier – Senior researcher at Policy Matters Ohio, focusing on civil justice and criminal legal system reform (four-year term)
- Teri Wang – Chair of community partnerships for Asian American Coalition of Ohio and owns writing/academic consulting business (Two-year term)
The Mayor’s Appointment Committee consists of Councilman Joseph T. Jones (Chairperson), Council President Blaine A. Griffin, Councilman Anthony T. Hairston, Councilman Kris Harsh, and Councilman Richard A. Starr. In addition, Safety Chair Councilman Mike Polensek, and Councilman Kevin Conwell also sat in on the interviews.
According to the committee’s release, Starr expressed some concern about potential dishonesty from nominees during the interview process. His concern led members of the MAC to share they reserve the right to ask nominees to reappear before the Committee if inaccuracies or mistruths are discovered.
“Part of our committee’s responsibility is to seat the members that the mayor has sent to the table. We will deal with legal interpretations at a later time, if they arise,” said Jones.
Cleveland City Council previously chose their three commission members:
- Dr. John Adams – chair of social studies department at Cleveland School of Science and Medicine (four-year term)
- Shandra Benito – director of diversity and inclusion at The Nord Center (two-year term)
- Audrianna Rodriguez – family advocate at The Centers for Children and Families for three CMSD schools (four-year term)
The committee will recommend that the full council approve all 13 nominees at the next meeting on Monday, Dec. 5.
