Council renews military-equipment use ordinance after police report no uses or violations

The Mill Valley City Council on Aug. 18 introduced and approved the first reading by title (waiving further reading) of Ordinance 13-52, which renews the citys military-equipment use policy for the Mill Valley Police Department.

Lieutenant/Sergeant Sean McCracken presented the departments annual report and asked the council to receive the report and renew the ordinance. McCracken told council, "we did not use any of our approved military equipment over the past year, nor did any of our allied agencies use their equipment while in the city of Mill Valley." He said some approved equipment was used for internal training, the department did not add equipment during the prior year, an internal audit found no policy violations, and the police department had not received citizen complaints via the departments designated email address.

After the presentation, Mayor (Speaker 1) moved to approve the first reading by title only and waive the first reading; a council member seconded and the motion carried. No public comments were received on the item during the meeting.

The ordinance, listed in the staff report as Mill Valley Municipal Code chapter 8.8, remains the citys operational policy for approved equipment and reporting. The council recorded the renewal action as a first-reading motion; staff indicated no planned additions to the inventory and no identified policy violations in the audit.