Council approves Community Police Engagement Commission work plan and reduces its meeting frequency to two per year

City staff and the Community Police Engagement Commission asked the council to accept the commission’s annual report and approve its FY25–26 work plan; council approved the work plan and directed staff to implement a reduced meeting schedule.

Faviola Medina, director of constituent and clerk services, presented the commission’s accomplishments and recommended work plan. She said the commission had established guidelines for policy review, developed reporting practices with the police department, and facilitated information exchange on topics such as homelessness, active‑shooter training and legal immunity presentations. Medina listed current commission members and said the group had proposed changing its regular meeting frequency from four times per year to three in order to maximize staff resources.

Chair Michael Zepeda (Zepeda Jr.) told council the commission is still new and sometimes has sparse public attendance; he said the commissioners wanted flexibility to call special meetings when substantive issues arise. Councilmembers and the chief discussed attendance, outreach limits by the commission, and staff time required to prepare meetings.

After discussion, Councilmember Bob Patel moved to approve the work plan with an amendment to set the commission’s meeting frequency to two meetings per year and allow special meetings as needed; the motion passed unanimously. Medina said staff will return with the ordinance language to amend the municipal code as required by the Brown Act and local code provisions.

The item included no change to police policy itself; it adjusted commission operations and directed staff to follow the necessary ordinance process.