Syracuse City council discusses supplemental Citizen Review Board appointment, moves to executive session

Councilor Manto told fellow members the council had a supplemental agenda item to appoint a candidate to the Syracuse City Citizen Review Board and said the body would vote on the appointment later in the meeting.

The matter was described as a supplemental appointment of “Mike Kerwin” to the Citizen Review Board, though an unidentified councilor asked if the nominee was “Mike Cohen, former deputy chief of police,” and the transcript records an affirmative response. The record in the provided excerpt does not show a final vote on the appointment.

The item was presented amid a round of procedural actions in which councilors announced holds or withdrawals on many numbered agenda items. Speakers noted a number of items would be held or scheduled for committee, and staff indicated the city’s budget and law offices were reviewing a technical accounting issue affecting one item. Specifically, staff identified a technicality in how accounts were initially set up and said budget and law were working to resolve it before the item returns to the council.

Later in the excerpt, a motion was made and seconded to go into an executive session described as being for a personnel matter. The transcript records a motion and a second; the provided excerpt does not include the recorded vote or the council’s return to open session.

The discussion in the excerpt was procedural and brief. Multiple councilors announced holds on blocks of agenda items (including but not limited to items 9–12, 19–26, 30–34, and 39–40), and at least one councilor said they would schedule a committee meeting to resolve questions on a held item. No formal appointments or final votes on the CRB nomination are recorded in the excerpt provided.

Meeting minutes and the city clerk’s official record should be consulted for the full vote outcomes and any subsequent actions on the Citizen Review Board nomination.