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Council sends proposed changes to police civilian oversight board appointment process back to PCOB for further review
Summary
A proposed amendment to Madison General Ordinances governing the Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) appointment process was re-referred to the board for additional consideration after aldermembers raised procedural and implementation questions.
Madison’s Common Council agreed to re-refer a proposed ordinance amendment affecting the Police Civilian Oversight Board’s appointment process back to the PCOB for further consideration.
Alder Figueroa Cole asked that the draft ordinance be revised to revert a set of proposed changes and instead make two limited modifications: (1) move administrative responsibility for soliciting and assembling candidate applications from council/mayor staff to the Office of the Independent Monitor (OIM), which serves as executive secretary to the board; and (2) remove a preference in the draft text that would have given priority to organizations with annual budgets under $1 million. Figueroa Cole said the amendment would align the ordinance with existing practice and reduce redundant language.
Councilmembers asked procedural questions about whether the PCOB had already considered the revised language; staff confirmed the PCOB had recommended placing the item on file at its last meeting. Some alderpersons said the PCOB had struggled with quorum historically but recent sessions have been meeting consistently.
Given outstanding questions and the late hour, Alder Evers moved to re-refer the measure to the PCOB; the Council approved re-referral to the PCOB (next scheduled meeting in August) on a 15–4 vote. The referral means the board will revisit the draft language and return a recommendation to the council, with the expectation the council would take up the item at the next available common-council meeting after PCOB review.
The re-referral preserves current PCOB composition and appointment authorities; the sponsor said the amendment under consideration does not change the list of organizations eligible to nominate members but instead adjusts the administrative route for assembling applications.
The council did not adopt any ordinance changes at this meeting; the PCOB will now reexamine the ordinance language and implementation questions and report back.
