Civilian Review Board member resigns; subcommittee rosters adjusted and board seeks applicants

Chair Burns opened the meeting by asking the board to approve the December minutes and then announced that member Jose Vicente submitted his resignation because he "had too many things going on" and could not participate as fully as he wished. His departure left three vacancies on the civilian oversight board.

The board immediately discussed short-term reassignments to ease the workload while seats remain vacant. Chair Burns described the interim configuration: Ms. Jackson will chair a combined committee that includes Mary Younger, Dr. Ford, Mr. Anderson and Ms. Jackson; Board Member Strickland will join Pastor Rich and Vice Chair Jones as Committee 1 while the board operates with fewer members. When appointments restore the board to full strength, the subcommittees will be returned to three-member panels.

Why it matters: vacancies reduce the number of members available for subcommittee review of investigations and increase workload on remaining volunteers; the board encouraged Columbus residents to apply for remaining openings.

Other items: visitor and quarterly outreach

Chair Burns introduced a visitor from outside Columbus: Rich Curtner, identified as chair of the Justice Committee for the Alaska Black Caucus, who had met with the inspector general earlier and attended to observe and learn about the board's work. Curtner was also identified in the meeting as a former supervisor with the Franklin County Public Defender's Office and the former head of the federal public defender's office in Anchorage, Alaska.

Logistics and next steps

Chair Burns said the board would follow up with the mayor's office about pending applications and encouraged residents to apply online via the Inspector General's website (application link referenced in meeting). The chair said case assignments visible to board members had been split to distribute work across the temporary committees.