Committee hears new monitor team for Collins settlement, moves to closed session

The Steering & Rules Committee introduced 21st Century Policing Solutions (21CP) on Feb. 16 as the city’s selected consultant to serve the Collins settlement agreement monitoring role and agreed to move into closed session to discuss litigation strategy.

City staff said selecting a case consultant was a requirement of the settlement; 21CP representatives including senior consultant Tim Magat, partner Ron Davis, and consultants Eve Gushes and Hassan Aden introduced themselves and described prior monitoring or consent-decree work in cities such as Baltimore, Cleveland, Seattle and Chicago. Tim Magat said the team had already begun site work, met with Police Department command staff and planned further meetings with training, community liaison officers and ride-alongs to inform their review. "Our goal is for this agreement to be successfully implemented and to get it across the finish line," he said.

Committee members asked about the team’s structure, costs and timeline. 21CP explained the firm uses partners and independent consultants and said it intended to assign team members to specific agreement requirements to maximize efficiency. The city staff noted the firm is expected to coordinate with plaintiffs’ counsel and local stakeholders and that the engagement includes a first-site visit and a 120-day reporting window.

Alderman Baumann moved that the steering and rules committee convene in closed session under sec. 19.85, Wis. Stats., to consider strategy for crime detection and prevention and to confer with the city attorney about litigation in which the city is likely to become involved. The roll call was taken and the committee went into closed session; the public transcript records the motion and roll call but does not include discussions held in closed session.