01 Oct Richmond Council Votes to Shorten Meetings, Require Increased Transparency From Police

By Samantha Kennedy

Richmond City Council meetings regularly last for hours, sometimes stretching past midnight. But starting next week, council meetings will end a little earlier than their usual marathon sessions.

Council members voted Sept. 23 to start the open sessions of regular meetings at 6 p.m. and end at 10 p.m., with one option to extend to 11 p.m. 

“There’s just a lot going on in the city,” said LaShonda White, deputy city manager. “We truly believe that … ending at a reasonable time will help us be a more effective and efficient city staff, as well as to have more effective and efficient meetings.”

The changes are an altered version of the city staff-initiated proposal, which would have reduced meetings from three times a month to two. The proposal also asked the council to end meetings at 10 p.m. with no option to extend. 

Officials opted to keep meeting three times a month with the change in meeting times. 

Daniel Chavarria, director of public works, said the shortened meetings wouldn’t mean there would be less transparency or engagement in the city. 

“It means staff can dedicate more time to implementing your policy direction, improving services, and reporting results back to you and the community,” said Chavarria. 

In addition to attending council meetings and preparing the agenda, White said staff support events and respond to community concerns. 

Even with the reduced meeting times, City Manager Shasa Curl said there could be a “net increase in meeting time.” 

“Worse than it started,” added City Attorney Dave Aleshire. 

On the other hand, Mayor Eduardo Martinez said that there could actually be a “net cut” in meetings if council members are efficient. 

“It depends on how much we talk, how efficient we are, and how many items we bring to council that actually need to be done,” said Martinez. 

Council members will start closed sessions at 3:30 p.m. under the changes. 

Changes to police communication

Richmond police will change how it distributes information to the public following an officer-involved shooting, after two deaths prompted increased calls for transparency. 

The changes, first considered at the Sept. 16 City Council meeting, require that RPD issue a press release within 24 hours of an incident and public updates every 30 days. Each release must include information on agencies involved, an overview of the investigations, and information on the Community Police Review Commission and how to access body camera footage. 

The direction comes almost two months after the fatal officer-involved shooting of Angel Montano on Aug. 4, during which he was reportedly experiencing a mental health crisis. Montano’s death was the second at the hands of an RPD officer this year. 

Separately, the direction also requires city staff to conduct an assessment of mental health services available in the city, especially for those affected by officer-involved shootings. 

Police Chief Bisa French, who underscored the importance of mental health resources at the initial press conference on Montano’s death, agreed with the assessment of mental health services. 

But French said she disagreed with a majority of council members on changes to how bodycam footage is released. 

“I still believe it would be irresponsible of us as a police department to put out body-worn camera (footage) without any contextual information,” said French. “We don’t want people to run with misinformation.” 

The department released edited and unedited versions of the Montano shooting on its website. The edited version includes body camera footage that is annotated to draw attention to knives in Montano’s hands. The audio in both versions is muted when officers shoot at Montano, and the footage ends shortly after. 

French said the department cut at that moment to be sensitive to Montano’s family. 

“They show what you’re hiding,” a community member shouted. 

Council members Claudia Jimenez and Sue Wilson were critical of the edited version, saying it gave only the department’s point of view.

“We are not asking the witnesses, the family, what they would like to be pointed out in this video,” said Jimenez. “These events deteriorate the trust in the community, and what we are trying to do here is restore that in a way that it doesn’t paint a point of view of just one particular group.” 

Under state law AB 748, departments can still edit footage to redact things such as addresses to protect privacy. 

Richmond’s police department edited footage of Montano’s shooting in-house, but other departments have come under fire for contracted videos that give a similar narrated version of officer-involved shootings. 

A little over a month before Montano’s death, the Antioch Police Department released a similar critical incident video of the officer-involved shooting that killed David Bahrami. That footage continued after Bahrami had been shot and included audio following Bahrami falling to the ground. 

The next Richmond City Council meeting is Oct. 7.