okay Jonathan Courtney uh one moment
let's start the webinar you are good to
go Bexley residents and friends I'm
Jonathan Baker this is my wife Courtney
and the Beckley minority parent Alliance
and the City of Bexley thank you for
joining our winter Town Hall bmpa has
historically worked within the schools
to Advocate and support students and
their families now looking back on this
year of 2020 it has compelled bmpa and
probably many of us on this call to
think broader about the systems and
settings that impact families of color
this has led bmpa to work closer with
the mayor
office and to collaborate with other
organizations designed at promoting
social justice and Equity within
Bexley tonight we're going to focus on a
few Key activities we're going to learn
a couple ways to help those in need this
holiday season and we're going to learn
more about the Justice Reform via the
May's court and we're also going to
continue to learn about the listening
sessions that have occurred in the city
of Bexley as opposed to a single Q&A
session at the end of uh the webinar
Brian Drury and Monika Williams will co-
facilitate shorter many Q&A sessions
after each section so now we're going to
pass it off to Jen Robinson who will
introduce the first set of panelists to
discuss the developmental assets
Resource Network or darn and what
they've been doing this holiday season
Thanks Jen thanks Courtney and Jonathan
and I'm really really happy to be here
tonight and I'm particularly happy to be
talking about darn darn as Courtney
mentioned is the development assets
Resource Network and darn has as its
mission to meet the the needs of those
in our community who find themselves in
need darn supports Bexley families
through the allocation of Community
Resources the funding of Camp
scholarships and being actively engaged
in policy-making efforts to ensure those
in need have
access to necessary resources and we are
really fortunate to have on this um at
this town hall tonight several
representatives from darn who can talk
about some of the work that they've done
um really that is so incredibly
impressive um over the last year as we
have dealt not only with um social
injustices that we are dealing with on a
daily basis but also covid and the
effects that that has had um on our
community at large so right now now I
have the pleasure to turn this uh over
to uh margarite Jade who will be the
first to present um art Denny Divine and
margarit and I believe there's Kelly
salmon and Darcy shrimp all of them will
be speaking on different parts of darn
and the work that they've done this year
so margarite you are
up and you're
muted hi I'm margarit I'm on the board
of darn um I spoke a little bit about
the last town home meeting so I'm not
going to go into a lot of the history um
but darn started in 2004 when the when
the Citywide uh when the city adopted
developmental assets as a Citywide best
practice and each school had best
practice around developmental assets um
it started as a way um really just
around winter jackets is where it
started um and we had these long
conversations about if kids didn't have
winter jackets then there's probably a
lot of other things that kids don't have
and it's evolved into
uh summer camps and tutoring and as Jen
said really thinking about what are the
systems and structures in place that
position families to need support with
utilities or support with jackets or
support with food and how do we create
structures and systems to support
families in our community and how do we
disrupt those inequitable systems that
produce those outcomes um that put put
families and children in need in the
first place um so we've become in
addition to sort of meeting
uh specific needs of family a um to as
um as johathan mentioned at the
beginning sort of an equity centered
organization focused on how do we
support all communities and members in
Bexley um and how do we use our
community assets to meet uh Community
needs and so we're going to talk a
little bit about what that looks like
uniquely now so Don's been around for
not quite 20 years but over 15 years and
it's evolved a lot but we have in the
face of Co and in the face of the
racialized social unrest that our our
community's been facing we've really
delve deeply
into um how do we respond to the crisis
that's going on right now and so we've
got a pan group of panelists who are
going to speak on this at the moment so
I'm GNA start with uh Denny
Devon okay hello all right so um when Co
first started and the schools shut down
and and shut down um we were we didn't
know how long it would last we didn't
know the really the impact it would have
on the community so the first thing we
decided to do was provide um gift cards
for food to families we felt that um by
doing
this um we felt that by doing this we
would be able to give them more
discretionary money if they had money
for food they would have more
discretionary money
um to manage some of the other needs
that were going to come up from parents
working shortened hours from um parents
losing jobs and just from children being
home all day long when when usually
they're in school um we set this up in
three different locations so we met with
these families two times a week uh two
times a month I'm sorry and we met at
Schneider Park montros in Maryland and
families would would come during a set
time period and um we would give them a
Koger gift card for their food in
addition once a month we would give them
an additional gift card to help
with um you know types of health care
supplies that were hard to get and um
cleaning supplies at that
time um so when the summer started we
were offered an opportunity from produce
one to get some boxes of free produce
and the the boxes were really fabulous
so the families in addition to the gift
cards um received uh one or two boxes of
produce and then the gift card um twice
a
month um during the summer we had over
45 families through the three
locations um and I think the total cost
of the gift cards was around
$41,000 um one once the summer ended and
we went into the
fall the city um received a cares act
Grant and um contacted darn to see if we
might want to partner with them um to
use that money to help some of our
families we use the same application
process and that we did in the spring
and I forgot to mention that we sent an
email out um with a link with a link to
a an application that anybody could fill
out online that link went out from the
school um and so it hit any family that
might need that
assistance we use that same system to um
identifi families who might need help um
with car's act money and so um the cares
act money has some different
specifications and one of the guidelines
was that any need had to be Co related
so um of the applications that came in
we got 35 applications in 27 families
received assistance through the carac
grant um those families received help
with rent
mortgages all the utilities um somebody
needed some assistance with with car
repairs
[Music]
um just a number of different household
type um expenses that people needed to
keep going through this difficult
time I'm going to tell you these
families were
so appreciative of the help first of all
I think they were surprised that um we
were able to do this but they were so
appreciative um that the city even
thought to off to offer it and um I
can't tell you how many people when we
said you know we can pay your rent or we
can take care of these these bills
started crying on the phone I mean it
was that it was that impactful and so
um we um we are just finishing up now
but I believe we are at about
$61,000 for um that money and um of
those families that didn't meet the
guidelines for the cares act money we
helped them through darn and through St
Vincent depal um or we've referred them
to other services so that we feel like
most of the needs were
met now I think it would go to up Darcy
or Kelly you want
talk okay so we um a few years ago we
decided that holiday times are
definitely a time that you get together
with your family and we were just
thinking that if people are you know
having difficulty making ends meet
having difficulty paying bills they
probably are having difficulty getting a
big you know traditional holiday meal
together so we thought that giving
someone the means to have a Thanksgiving
dinner um was important so so that
started a few years ago and then I have
a relationship with a church and for the
past few years they contact me in
November and say how many boxes can we
give you for a Thanksgiving dinner and
in the Box will come apples and potatoes
and stuffing mix and cranberry sauce and
green beans and anything that you can
think that you would need for a holiday
dinner so I said um we'll take 20 boxes
that would be great so then the
counselors reached out to families in
need to see you know who was interested
in in getting these boxes and we
actually got more boxes than we needed
but were able to give them out to F
other family members of the families
that we helped um in addition to my
church um the fifth grade at Maryland
Elementary did a food drive that was
incredible it was a two week food drive
and remember kids are only going two
days a week they had at least five huge
Tupperware bins of food for us to add to
these Thanksgiving boxes the boxes were
so heavy they were difficult to carry so
it definitely for the Thanksgiving boxes
and the dinners the again the families
were so so so thankful and the community
was so generous to make this happen for
these
families you want to take it away DARS
sure that the community has been amazing
um on Tuesday it was giving Tuesday and
we had a gift card collection at Jeffrey
Mansion um and a lot of family showed up
and donated lots of gift cards that even
if um we weren't to need them now can
help over the next month if families are
going to need some grocery or food
support um to Kroger or to Target um we
had this year 60 families it's usually
in the range of 20 plus families and so
we had 60 families we were assisting
this year the 131 kids um to date today
we have um 113 are taken care of and um
that's by 68
sponsors and we have been given very
generous donations from Montrose
Maryland and
cassingham um to
cover um a lot of this cost also we got
um 12 children sponsored from Maryland
and cassingham which was
great and sorry six from Montrose too um
it's been wonderful and everybody's
given back and hopefully everybody will
be covered for
Christmas and if you're looking for a
kid to sponsor we have 18 kids left who
need sponsors so if you're interested in
sponsoring reach out and we can make
that happen for
you margarit is there a way for the for
the community to to get in touch with
you guys directly a website an email yep
I'll put it's going to be on I'll put it
in the chat
fantastic it is also those the donations
if they you wanted to give a monetary
donation um has been routed through BCF
and that's been posted we can share that
link
too margarite do you have that on hand
yep I'll put it I'll put it in the
chat I just wanted to add one quick
thing is that really darn has a lot of
very specific needs like someone needs
size 16 clothes and someone needs size
five cleats and social media is really
something that's been really helpful
with that and you've probably seen my
name a lot you know on Facebook
requesting those things so we definitely
want to do a huge shout out to the
community they're always so very
generous um these are not things that we
could do all on our own so thank you for
hearing our call and dropping off size
five cleats on my porch when you do
thank
you and I and I just want to add one
more thing to I'm sorry um when we when
we meet the people on the playgrounds or
in the parking lots at the schools we
had a number of new families this year
and really the the
relationships that we develop with the
families when we meet them like that you
know become really important um in the
future because families then feel like
we're friends and and they can reach out
if they have a need and that's been a
really positive thing
all right I think we're good Jenn Jen
for any if anybody has any yeah we we'll
move in I just have to say um I Denny I
I so Echo your thoughts about that
Community Connection and and one of the
things that I've always been so proud
about of being a Bexley resident is that
this community really does care about
people who live here and uh to see the
work that darn has done especially over
this last year when we have been
challenged beyond belief it's just it's
impressive and it is is um so needed and
um just really something that the
community should be proud of so um as
you guys are finished with your
individual presentations I'm going to
kick this over to U mana and Brian for
any questions that may have shown up um
for you guys
directly thank you Jen um the first
question that we received was and I
think you may have answered it but just
repeat what can we do to help darn over
the
holidays I just put the link in the chat
and I put the link on um on the screen
as well I think there's three ways to
help darn right now what we tried to $25
gift cards to Target Kroger Giant
Eagle Target or Giant Eagle or Walmart
those are the biggest ones we give away
um or $10 gift cards to any we try to
give all the middle school and high
schoolers um $10 gift cards so they can
go out with their friends um so if you
wanted to donate $10 gift cards you can
donate $10 gift cards to any of the um
you know Starbucks Jimmy John's Penn
Station Chipotle wherever um those are
really helpful um right now those are
our biggest needs because we're not
usually we do a clothing drive and other
things but this year because of Co we're
doing it strictly gift cards so all the
information you would need about where
to donate or how to donate or where to
drop gift cards off you can find in
those two places
um so that's the help we need right now
is to make sure or if you can sponsor
family we're only doing adults this year
I mean we're only doing children this
year and to sponsor an individual child
is $125 per
child thank you the next question is
what can I do to help a person during
the
year an individual person so dar's a
year round organization but we try to
maintain all confidentiality so all of
our ref referrals come through school
counselors so if if you recognize that
there's a family in need if you can con
either encourage them to go to their
school counselor or their school
administrator or the athletic director
or the coach anybody sort of connected
to the school and the school has a
system for
referrals um if they if they're not in a
Bexley City school they can reach out to
the the the darn email uh Kelly you put
the darn email in the
chat um they can email us directly and
we can we work through some organization
so some organization that they're
connected to but we meet needs all year
round and so that is available all year
and we um canect so if they yeah does it
answer the question I think
so so are you saying that darn will help
children that are not in the Beckley
City School District or outside
the out not outside the city but we have
helped outside the city but we don't our
footprint isn't that big neither is our
our coffers are that big right so we
have helped um but most of our help
Falls within the city of
Bexley um and but we they don't have to
have kids in the school so they if they
have need another way to connect they
can email us directly and we can figure
out a way to connect with them so for
example um families that maybe
homeschool or families that send their
kids to charter schools are still
eligible to participate in some of your
programming and they can reach out to
you directly yeah absolutely because
it's it's about meeting Community needs
it's not specifically TI the school is
how we started because of the um
developmental assets resource because
that was a school but it's really a
Citywide initiative so they don't have
to go to Bexley City Schools we've
worked with there's families in Bexley
who send their kids to Columbus City
Schools and we've worked with those
principles so we've had lots of
different ways of engaging so it's not
constrained by that
thank
you right that um takes us to the end of
our five minutes for Q&A um all of you
Denny margarit uh Darcy and Kelly thank
you so much for being here tonight and
for sharing the great work that dar's
doing um if you'd like to stick around
um please feel free there will be a
larger Q&A at the end um and uh just
thank you to darn and thank you for all
of you for doing such great work in the
community we really appreciate it and at
this point I get to kick it over to
Mayor Ben Kesler who will be introducing
the next portion of our evening take it
away thanks Jen um so first off before
before we move on to Mayor's Court
reform I want to thank Darren um you
know they mentioned uh the city and and
cares act money and um you know we have
been so so proud and so happy to be able
to partner with darn in our household
impact grants and and honestly could not
have done it without the resource that
they provided the network they provided
and the amount of work and energy that
they are putting into this program in
order to bring dollars to households who
needed the most is phenomenal I it just
absolutely could not have happened
without darn so so thank you darn um
really appreciate that partnership uh
we're going to move on to our next topic
which is uh Mayor's Court reforms and
um I want to talk about why this is
really important to us as a community um
in some of these past Town Hall we've
talked about police reforms and we'll be
talking about that a little bit further
this evening but Justice Reform is the
other part of the puzzle and it's an
incredibly important part of the puzzle
uh we've been working on several reforms
to our mayor's court over over the past
few years um and it's really been
motivated by a review of Justice reforms
throughout the country and a desire to
have Bexley be at the Forefront uh not
just in central Ohio but in Ohio and the
way that we administer our own um
arguably small mayor's court system our
efforts have focused on providing
defendants with legal representation
regardless of their ability to pay and
most crucially uh working on putting
measures into place to help break the
debt to prison pipeline that is plaguing
the American justice system this is a
topic that I care passionately about and
joining me this evening are three other
uh residents and uh residents either of
Beckley or of Central Ohio who have been
helping alongside side uh so I want to
introduce this evening and you guys can
go ahead and uh activate your cameras um
Leslie alite who is our mayor's court
public defender um Becky Guzman who's a
a Bexley resident and a public defender
at Franklin County who has been a
passionate Advocate and partner
throughout this entire process and
helping um to encourage reforms and
helping to basically serve as a sounding
board and a good sound advice and
counsil through about this process and
then Kevin Shannon who is our mayor's
court prosecutor Kevin has had a lot of
experience through other courts in
central Ohio he's a licensed magistrate
and um he's come highly recommended from
people who know a whole lot more about
this than I do so I've been been happy
and proud to have H Kevin Kevin join us
in this effort so um let me make sure
that Kevin's able toh activate Kevin can
you can you put your camera on and Becky
as well if you guys can hear it okay
because I'm about to kick it over to uh
I think we're blocked by
somebody yes we are that
is we
go not sorry about that all right see if
that
helped we're all learning the zoom thing
I'm still blocked okay maybe not here we
go
so Becky um I'm gonna I'm gonna pass it
over to
you okay um thank you so I um I grew up
here in Beckley um raised from
kindergarten graduated Bexley High
School in
1993 came back to raise my children um
I'm actually second
generation um and I'm a public defender
with with Franklin County um in the
municipal Division and and goodness I
attended the Bexley Citizens Academy um
and and have been very active as an
alumni and I went to Mayor's Court to
help a friend and realized um that our
mayor's court was really not in sync
with um my experience with everything
else about Bexley um and mayor Kesler
was phenomenal he um met with me
listened
to um my feedback and and
um and since then I've noticed huge huge
changes um and and really I I will point
out really I want to thank the mayor for
doing so much of this um he really is
Forward Thinking and like goes above and
beyond anything that I was even talking
about so for instance um the need he was
like how about we have a public defender
and I said that would be amazing um and
it just kind of goes from there so um we
have this phenomenal prosecutor we have
this phenomenal public defender here for
our community and the focus is really um
shifted from a penalizing position to a
what can we do to improve um the lives
of the people that come into our
community or are in our community
involved in Mayor's
Court thank thank you Becky um and it
thank you very kind words um Leslie do
you want to talk a little bit about your
role as a public defender and and what
your experience has been like sure um so
hi everyone I'm lesie alite thank you
for having me um on tonight and giving
me this opportunity to talk I am a
Bexley transplant so I have lived there
for about eight years now um and I am an
attorney that's in private practice and
I own a law firm um in Columbus and when
I was you know initially talking with
Becky and the mayor um about joining as
a public defender you know my first
thought was this was really unique
there's not any other mayor's courts
that I know of that has a public
defender stationed at court for every
court session so that's really really
unique and you know I agreed with Becky
and that this was super important
because just just because you're facing
um a charge in Mayor's Court versus
Municipal Court doesn't necessarily mean
that you're you're facing different
consequences so there's still the
potential of jail time there's still the
potential of a lot of um monetary
sanctions and then the the the sanctions
that come from a charge or a conviction
that people don't always think about
when they're sitting there in court so
for for example if you know we handle a
lot of traffic cases where people don't
have driers licenses or they don't have
insurance at the time of a stop um I
really try to focus on talking with
those individuals about you know some
people come in and say I just want to
pay the ticket and be done and and it's
worth a conversation to say you know if
you're going to pay this ticket and the
BMV gets noticed that you don't have
insurance you're going to go under an a
suspension for that and then get caught
in this BMV cycle that um probably a lot
of us have have heard about so you that
causes people to really think twice and
engage in a conversation as to okay
what's what's the best option here how
can I move forward with potentially
obtaining a valid license that's a lot
of what we do um well a lot of what I do
is try to um coach people through
getting their their driver's license um
as a Bexley resident I'd rather have
somebody driving on the streets with a
valid license then necessarily care if
they have a convic ition on their record
um and I'd rather have somebody you know
if we were to get in a car accident I'd
rather have that person be insured um
than trying to be you know just dodging
uh the BMV Circle or or trying to escape
um being pulled over so you know my goal
in this is really you know a lot of
people come in angry or skeptical or on
edge um and I really do feel that after
you know sitting down with them having
somebody listen to them talk through
options really get a plan together for
them of how to um you know overcome
their obstacles their personal obstacles
that they have um and come out um with
with a good result you know I I really
do PE I think people leave mayor's court
now um feeling good um and having
accomplished some different things um
and really feeling like like they're
heard so you know I I think what we're
doing and and mayor's court is you know
unique as I said and I think it's really
really making a difference for a lot of
people we've had a lot of success
stories we've had a lot of laughs at the
end of a a case um and we've had a lot
of Tears happy tears you know people who
think they could never get a driver's
license or walking out you know feeling
empowered so um you know I I just think
that the public defender role in Bexley
is is unique and I think it needs to go
to every other Mayor's Court um but
we're just trying to you know knock out
that what we can do here in
Bexley thank you thank you Leslie and uh
an important piece of that that puzzle
as well is our prosecutor Kevin Shannon
and um you know Kevin has had uh many
many years of experience as a prosecutor
in multiple courts um more recently has
has taken on the mantle of magistrate
and some courts uh in central Ohio um
Kevin you want to talk about the role of
the of the prosecutor and the importance
of compassion and empathy in that role
and I think another thing that might be
helpful for people who are watching this
would be to learn a little bit more
about you know I don't think many people
understand what is a mayor's court and
why would something show up in Mayor's
Court as opposed to for example going
downtown maybe a little bit of more
technical background as well would be
helpful okay I'd be happy to do that
your honor thank you for the opportunity
to speak uh as a prosecutor many operate
under the uh misimpression that my job
as a prosecutor to get convictions
that's not my job I take an oath of
office as a prosecutor to obtain Justice
that is that is the goal of a prosecutor
is to obtain Justice and I think if you
start with that mindset going into
whatever Court I think that's uh that's
the uh the positive road that you want
to take now with respect to mayor's
courts mayor's courts are truly the
People's Court um under the Ohio Revised
Code mayors of Municipal corporations
and that would be cities and Villages um
have the authority to conduct a marage
court it provides a convenient form for
the citizens in those local communities
um the mayor's have jurisdiction over
misdemeanor cases uh Mis and that would
be misdemeanors of the first second
third and fourth degree uh and minor
misdemeanor offenses there are no felony
cases that are ever heard in a marit
court um
Mayor's Court is not a court of record
and for that reason all of its decisions
can be reviewed by the Franklin County
Municipal Court and an individual if
they feel as though that they haven't
been treated fairly in Mayor's Court can
request a transfer to the municipal
court and their case will start all over
again um however what we pride ourselves
in Beckley is giving everyone um an
opportunity um to State their mind as to
whatever was going on with respect to
the uh violation in question and again
it's our job my job to do justice and
when you put in reforms such as having a
public defender present in a mayor's
court you make great gains to attaining
that goal uh as a prosecutor I'm not
permitted to give legal advice to folks
that are coming in court that have been
charged I can help with procedural
issues but I'm not permitted under my
code of responsibility professional
responsibility to give them legal advice
because I'm Prosecuting them so how
wonderful is it to have a lawyer hired
by the city whose job is to Advocate the
interest of the parties that are accused
coming before the magistrate they are
advocating in their interest and they
can sit down and explain with them the
things that are going on and what they
need to accomplish uh to get say for
example to get their license ofal as
Leslie was referring to the other
reforms that have been undertaken by
mayor k
mayor Kesler directed me to draft court
rules and these court rules have been
essential to dealing with fairness and
Equity um and promoting empathy with the
court system primarily as it relates to
economic issues we don't want any type
of court to basically promote a debtor's
prison if there are individuals that
cannot afford fines and costs we want to
give them an opportunity to uh resolve
those issues um by means of say
performing community service so there is
a local Court rule that has been enacted
uh by the mayor which allows individuals
in in lie of uh paying fines and costs
to um work off you will if you will the
fine by performing so many hours of
community service at at a designated
rate per hour um that many people are
willing to undertake that the other rule
that has been implemented is uh what I
would call A diversion type of program
and this is essential because you have
first of all Bexley is a college town
you have a lot of folks that are coming
to school here they've never been in any
trouble whatsoever and they've made a
mistake well when you have diversion
programs that enable individuals to go
and for example uh if there was an
alcohol issue underage alcohol issue by
having them go to a class and
understanding what their
responsibilities are and understanding
you know what they can and can't do and
coming back we can dismiss their case
because they successfully completed a
program again this is a positive
approach to dealing with issues within
the community um also is the case uh
with respect to theft cases now we
obviously aren't going to allow someone
who's a multiple offender to take part
in a diversion program but if you have
that first offense situation you don't
want someone necessarily to be
stigmatized for the rest of their life
with having a theft conviction on their
record and so we have the ability to
have them go through a theft diversion
program if they successfully complete
that program they can either case
dismiss for coure cost again these are
for firsttime offenders but these are
the types of Innovations and programs
that um uh I believe that are are a
wonderful addition to mayor's courts
because they are the People's Court and
they have
Solutions uh that are workable and we've
had a tremendous amount of accessory
when Leslie talks about teers as far as
um helping individuals uh who for let's
say for many years and I'm just if I
might uh they've been in BMV hell let's
just say for six or seven years they owe
two or $3,000 in reinstatement fees they
don't understand what they need to do to
get their license valid and they're
making an economic decision every day to
drive to work rather than try to pay
something that they know they can't
afford and they certainly aren't going
to have insurance and they're going to
be driving a very a low grade automobile
because of their financial circumstances
so what do we do we you know we explain
to them okay they've been charged the
officers have done their job very well
and they're indicated to them you can't
drive you're under your suspension
doesn't end there Leslie explains to
them what they can do and if they take
the initiative and they get valid they
finally get from underneath that cloud
and it is you can see it in their faces
they finally have a valid driver's
license they can go get a better job
because they have a valid driver's
license and these are the kinds of
things that the that the mayor wanted to
attain and we're looking forward to
doing many more things in that
area thank you Kevin I want to thank all
of you because you guys have been a kind
of a a Dream Team helping helping to uh
push this stuff forward and helping to
uh keep the focus on it and advise and
and bring new programs and new ideas to
the table so I want to thank you all for
that and to anyone listening um to this
one of the things that really inspired
me obviously there's a whole lot of
material out there about uh Court reform
but one of the things that really
inspired me and really drove home um
some of the initiatives that we pursued
is a podcast serial is serial season 3
podcast highly recommend you listen to
it um that the they focused on the
justice system in the Cleveland area and
um it was just such an Illuminating and
uh series that really personified a lot
of these issues so I highly recommend
that as listen to anybody who's um
interested in in a little bit more about
this topic especially because it's a
national podcast of focused on a court
system in Ohio um all right well thanks
for joining us guys and I think Mana
might have some questions for us so Mana
if you are
uh I do yeah the first question is um
maybe for Leslie but whoever else thinks
it may be more applicable is there a
large percentage of Beckley residents in
mayor's court or are most of the people
other
communities I mean I would be completely
speculating but a lot of the people that
I help um I mean I get I'm torn because
I do help a lot of Bexley residents but
there are a ton um that are from nearby
areas that you know were maybe driving
through Bexley um and and were stopped
or something like that so you know I'd
say it's a it's a good range probably
for the people that I help I don't have
any control of the cases that get filed
and and um you know go straight down to
municipal court so I can't speak to
those I'm I'm only stationed with the
cases that stay in the mayor's
court a follow-up question my own
question what what makes something go
directly to municipal court and bypass
the mayor's
court it's a
jurisdic okay if you want me to take
this one um it's a jurisdictional um
limitation primarily um with respect to
mayor's courts um for example Mayors are
not allowed to hear certain cases um for
example multiple offense OVI offense es
um if you're talking a second or greater
number of offenses mayor's courts have
no jurisdiction over those offenses and
they must be filed under state code and
sent directly to the Franklin County
Municipal Court um our mayor's court has
the ability to hear First Defense OVI
cases but has not for quite some time uh
well preceding um May Kessler's tenure
going back years um that's something
that the mayor will consider I guess in
the weeks ahead weeks and months ahead
as to whether or not that's something he
wants to consider doing but we certainly
have jurisdiction to do that there are
certain types of driving under
suspension cases uh if there are
multiple uh convictions or previous
charges within the last 10 years U
mainly driving under uh alcohol related
suspensions or or Point what we call
Point suspensions are uh financial
responsibility or Insurance suspensions
if there's been any prior charges within
10 years mayor's courts lose
jurisdiction of those cases and they
have to be filed directly in the
Franklin County Municipal Court and
finally with respect to certain criminal
any criminal case where there is a right
for a victim to obtain a temporary
protection Order Criminal protection
order mayor's courts do not have
jurisdictions over those cases even
though they're misdemeanor because they
have no ability or authority to issue a
temporary protection order so those
cases have to be filed directly in the
municipal court I I want to clarify one
thing because there there's Sometimes
some Mis misperception about why is it
called a mayor's court and and and Kevin
referred to the mayor hearing certain
types of cases so I I do not here I
myself as an individual do not preside
over Mayor's Court uh we have a
magistrate that does that the magistrate
is essentially the the equivalent of a
judge in Mayor's Court magistrate is
appointed by me um but I uh as as the
folks on here can attest most marriage
Court days I try to stay as far away
from City Hall as possible uh because
that's really important that that that
entire process happens without my any
direct input so it's more of working on
the overall process and the overall
structure it's not priding directly over
the court um in theory a mayor could do
that but there are some limitations to
that thank goodness I don't think it's a
a role that that many of us are suited
to perform personally I don't think it's
wise because we're you know obviously in
a community where we know everybody and
it puts us in a in a in a pretty
questionable position I just about that
thank you um we have two more questions
and they're kind of related so I will
combine them so this question is for the
panel it seems like the mayor's court is
more focused on restorative justice
restorative justice rather than punitive
how can this program spread throughout
more communities is it coste effective
for cities to pursue and man maintain
and finally how can the community
support the public Defender to help get
the information out about the program so
that was really three
questions um I can jump in at at the
beginning I you know I talking about how
to expand this program to other
communities and if that would be
beneficial um I I think that each
Community does have unique um attributes
you know that are that are unique to
that community so for example whiteall
um I know they started a drug court
specific and they had a drug court
public defender I I handled a couple of
those cases um for the the public
defender Who was appointed there but
that public defender only handled that
specialty docket and and that was
because that was a real focus in that
community so you know I absolutely think
that you know this concept should go you
know just having a general public
defender is a great concept that should
go everywhere um but I do think that
other communities are trying to come up
with ways that they can service their
their individual needs um so I think
this was good because you know again a
lot of what we do in is dealing with
traffic um and my my personal experience
I used to work for an insurance company
so I understand um all the the things
that go into licensing and insurance
problems and suspensions and things like
that so that that was why I was really
really focused um on on seeing if I can
take my skills to help our Community
with the traffic
issues I could speak real quickly about
the the finance because I think somebody
asked is it um something about like is
it something that is financially
feasible or what was the exact wording
there is it cost effective for cities to
pursue and maintain so I mean I'll be
frank with you very honest and uh maybe
not all taxpayers would be happy with
this answer but we do not look at the
finance of mayor's court and what I mean
by that is
it's not run like a business nor should
it be so we're we're not looking at
Revenue that's generated from fees
against the costs that are associated
with the the running of the Court the
reason for that in my opinion is that we
have an obligation under Ohio law to
have a have a system that's just we have
a moral obligation to have a system
that's just and so the resources that we
put into that system aren't tied to
making sure that they pay for themselves
um we are stewards you know we uh we are
careful about who we're working with and
making sure that we're not racking up
outrageous fees associated with that but
we're going to do everything it takes to
make sure that we have a system that is
is just to make sure that we have a
system that's fair and compassionate and
to make sure that we are um
self-checking constantly and um adapting
and adopting reforms as needed
um I don't know if that answers that
question but that's that's my
perspective on it I could just in a
little bit as far as the other
communities I I've been fortunate to
work for example in the city of
Groveport for over 20 years and
Groveport is a much smaller Court than
Bexley okay and it most of the
violations that we see in the Groveport
May's court that I prosecute are minor
traffic related offenses there are no
jailable uh offenses that we see
routinely in our mayor's court in
Groveport and so it doesn't have the
volume that would would typically
justify by having a public defender on
staff to handle those those kinds of
cases um if things change um as far as
the you know number of violations and
the types of violations then I would
certainly Advocate that to our mayor uh
in Groveport uh mayor westcamp and he
has uh already implemented a lot of the
programs as far as um diversion theft
diversion programs and and the driver's
license uh programs as well um I just
feel very blessed to be part of the
Bexley situation because um we're I I
believe that we're Progressive in nature
and it's very exciting I see the court
going in a very positive direction and
I'm very happy to be in the uh formation
of
this two more questions and I think that
we're running out of time for this
particular question and answer session
but these are one's quick one's not so
quick mayor would you please put the
name of the podcast you referenced as um
a resource that you used while
developing this um mayor's court and
public defender and then the next
question is what data is being collected
to understand the outcomes of this
approach what are the intended
outcomes and how might how might they
know if those outcomes are being met was
that clear
yes data outcomes and how do you know if
the outcomes are being um
accomplished does anyone else want want
to take that well I can I can talk about
how do we know that the outcomes are
being accomplished um quite frankly as
Leslie indicated before um we don't have
repeat offenders on driver's license
cases because we're able to get them
valid I mean do you the you can't you
can't uh overestimate the importance of
that I mean individuals are no longer
you know officers have the authority
under you know Ohio law case law and
federal case law to pull individuals
over by simply running their plates now
if their plates come back that the
registered owner is under suspension
then the officer has an obligation to
initiate a traffic stop and issue a
citation and that will continue to
happen all right um we're giving them
the ability to get their license valid
and so we attain the goals when we don't
see them gracing our doorways again and
we can say that we can honestly say that
in the year that we've been there and I
know that Leslie can indicate this as
well we've not had repeat offenders as
far as drivers license cases because the
issue is resolved and that is what we
want to
attain so I would just I would just say
that to date we have not been d us
centered we have been best practices and
Beyond and uh our public defender
position has been in place for what over
a year Lesly I'm not sure when we first
started yeah I think about a year and a
half it was sometime in the summer and
we're about to roll out formally the um
uh the uh the defendants affirmative
right to opt for community service at a
living wage rate um so that's a really
interesting question and it would be
really good to look back on our
experience that we have some under our
belt and start to start to compare and
and and and draw from from that
experience thank you now Ben it's back
to you would you please um go into the
listening
sessions I would thank you Mona you're
welcome um so this summer we put
together a uh a listening police
listening sessions program it looked a
little bit different from efforts we've
engaged in in the past and we we've
talked about it I think at our last uh
town hall meeting but we wanted to give
uh our uh facilitators a chance to delve
a little bit deeper uh into the program
um so that program has involved uh two
facilitators um one of whom is a uh an
experienced trauma informed counselor
and another facilitator who has a lot of
experience in facilitating similar
environments we wanted to create a safe
environment for residents to share
experiences with police both negative
and positive and for police officers to
be able to engage with these experiences
and for there to be greater
understanding around all around as a
result but the objective of the program
has gone beyond simply listening and
learning um but extending to action from
these sessions we hope to glean policy
and practice ideas that we can put into
place in the real world we've gone
through one series of listening sessions
and we're at the work planning uh phase
of the second series uh the first series
has already ins spired a variety of
community policing initiatives and
officers who have participated have
gained valuable insight and empathy here
with us tonight are two facilitators of
the session Diane strausser and Sean
Carter they are the two facilitators I
to say Diane is a trauma informed
counselor who specializes in active
listening training and there's been a
lot of talk about active listening uh
throughout these sessions and we we'll
hear more about that tonight uh Sean
Carter is the assistant executive
director in the chief equity and
inclusion officer at Franklin County
Children's Services and he's an
experienced
facilitator together they have helped
craft these listening sessions so Diane
I'm gonna start with you and if you can
talk a little bit about active listening
and mental health and how you see the
your role in The Listening sessions and
really anything you want to talk about
uh please do so all right well I'm gonna
start out with the Margaret me quote
that I think is very appropo to
everybody here on this meeting tonight
so Margaret me said never doubt that a
small group of thoughtful committed
individuals can change the world in fact
it's the only thing that ever does and
so I am really excited and happy to be
included in this group tonight and I'm
happy to be um involved in helping to
make Bexley a better place to live so
thank you for including me and I just
have to say to everybody on the call
that I don't know of another mayor who
would involve a
therapist in this kind of thing so I
think it's an evident again that we have
a mayor who's very forward um in his
thoughts and very creative in addressing
problems so this program was
developed when mayor Kesler called me
and said Diane I just left a meeting and
I realized that nobody was listening to
anybody can you help us and I've been a
therapist for many decades and have
worked with groups all over the country
with resolution of conflict and with
learning active
listening and
so we spent the summer thinking about
this and trying to come up with a
program that um would create a sense of
safety because the program is designed
for our minority community and our
police force to come together and have
conversation um about the differences
about the problems in our community and
about the the conflict that has been
talked about and experienced by a lot of
people
so the first session we have a session
now we have three sessions
so the first session is about creating
safety for people to really feel like
they can be authentic and say what they
need to say so the first session I teach
some active
listening I get people to talk about
themselves as
people um I have them practice a little
bit of active listening by saying well
let me see if I got that I think what
you just said was blah blah
blah and so that first session is really
one to help people come together and
feel a sense of safety and begin to feel
a sense of Oneness it's not us and them
but it's a Oneness that gets developed
in the second session we focus on both
the traumas that have happened in Bexley
as a community and also the individual
traumas that people may have experienced
and we move into small groups of um two
or three people and we do active
listening talking around talking about
the topic of um trauma for the community
itself and for individuals and then the
third session we spend
identifying what are the conflicts that
are um problematic in our community and
so the first session
the first group of people had three
sessions we are considering adding a
fourth
session to say okay now we have this
information what do we do with it
so I'm very excited because the
evaluations that we got back were really
really positive and I thought I just
take a few minutes and read some of the
evaluation so I asked people list one
thing a concept IDE a or skill you will
remember and use active listening
mirroring did I get that let me see if I
got it active listening another person
says another person said I will remember
and have used since learning the concept
of breathing and asking myself if I am
bringing my best self so I start out
every session with a little centering
exercise where I get people to just sit
sit for a minute and do some nice slow
breathing and in the course of that
exercise I asked them please ask
yourself if you brought your best self
to the meeting tonight and so we never
know what people are going to take away
and when I read that in an evaluation I
thought well isn't that something right
so that person said that they will
remember the concept of breathing and
asking themselves in any situation did I
bring my best self so
people are hoping how can the program be
improved hopefully increase the number
of participants from diverse backgrounds
and I think it's um a challenge to us to
really reach into our community and look
at the diversity so the people who
attended were pretty middle class to
upper middle class people and it would
be wonderful if we had a way to bring
people from different socioeconomic
backgrounds into the
program
um one person said I would like to see
more interaction between citizens and
police officers I would like to have
more police officers involved so the way
that um sessions were structured we had
10
people um and if Co is ever over we
could have more people but for the time
being we had 10 people three of those
participants were police officers and
the rest came from just our community
and it was really moving to me one night
it was the last night there was a member
of our minority community and the police
officer who did some active listening
with each other around the topic of
conflict and at the
end the both of the people said we're so
glad we had this opportunity
to sit and look at each other and really
talk and really listen it was really uh
a moving experience for both of those
people so I think that we've had really
great response from the people who have
taken the course it will continue to
evolve we're not we don't have it
stamped as complete yet we're still
thinking about how to improve it but the
overall response was so so positive and
I think that um our police
officers had a lot of trepidation about
participating in the sessions and one of
the comments on the evaluation was we
thought this was going to be a finger
pointing experience for the police
officers and it was not and so um I'm
very optimistic about the future I'm
very excited to continue this program
and I would just uh challenge people who
are on this call or maybe watching us on
YouTube to please sign up and be a part
of the next session we'd like to have
everybody involved in the town halls go
through the program at least once so
hopefully in January we'll get to see
some new faces in the program so I think
that's it thank you very much I am very
excited to be a part of this um
listening
session um experiment I'll call it that
the mayor has set up and and thus far it
looks like it's pretty successful so
thank you very
much thanks Diane um Sean Carter uh the
Dynamo is also with us who I'm sure
brought his best self tonight uh so Sean
do you want to talk a little bit about
your perspective as a co- facilitator
and and where you see this all going
sure um thank you for having me tonight
um and and thank you to the residents of
Bexley to for having me um I'm from the
East side of town so I didn't grow up
very far from the the neighborhood of
the commun the city of Bexley um
actually I grew up not very far away on
uh Court in Livingston for those of you
who know that's the neighborhood in
which I grew up um so but but I wanted
to share a little bit from my
perspective the the point for me of the
the listening sessions and and the
philosophy that kind of govern how the
the listening sessions were structured
were more around this idea that the the
the the presentation was secondary to
the conversation and how do you
establish in in very short order uh uh
an environment where you promote
dialogue you establish quickly Rapport
and you engage in thoughtful and
meaningful conversation that is uh that
underpins the the Bedrock upon which you
build outcomes
strategy and opportunities for further
engagement that does really two things
it draws more uh residence into the
conversation and and it invites uh
different thinking and understandings
and lived experiences as we begin to
trouble some of the the the issues that
we all face as residents and members of
this broader uh society and and so in in
context and in connection with
what uh Diane was offering each session
the sessions were essentially stru
structured from the listening standpoint
around or the dialogue standpoint around
uh three specific things the big picture
which is really what is our sense for
what's going on and how we feel about it
so um the the participants had some
conversation around what their um sense
for what's going on not only in Bexley
but in the broader Community uh and
Country what's their sense for those
things and then also how are they
feeling about it uh not just in context
to their lived experience in Bexley but
also in connection with their their
friends and neighbors who might be
especially vulnerable uh we had a couple
participants who were persons of color
uh uh particularly who were black and
had a first-person experience kind of
navigating this social context but then
we had other s who either had parents or
dear friends or children I'm sorry and
or dear friends who were uh experiencing
this moment in time as well and wanted
to be part of the conversation not only
to elevate and amplify those
perspectives but to engage in dialogue
to get a better understanding of those
who might have a different experience of
their own than their own and so uh I I
won't belabor you with a lot of the
feedback from that but uh some of the
highlights though would be is that uh
one of the things that was said in the
com in the session was we would expect
the same positive relationship and
experiences for all people no matter
their race their gender their age their
sexuality or any other cultural identity
and and that was a a sentiment that was
shared in the conversations that is
something that I think we all share and
all value but the importance of that
statement is not that it came from an
audience audience member but is that we
created a environment where they felt
safe to say it and I think that's the
point of the listening sessions is
getting people to a place where they
feel safe to say the things that have
been troubling them for quite some time
but maybe didn't have the environment in
which they could say it and it be heard
and actionable I think one of the things
that mayor Kesler has done was he
created a space for us to have these
conversations but also made some uh
pretty bold statements in regard to what
he will do with that information and how
it will frame and shape his thinking as
new decisions are being made going
forward and that was the the beauty of
those conversations the second state uh
was the change and this is where you
talk about what is the ideal scenario
and what would it look like what will
beex look and sound like if we are
successful at implementing the changes
that we all hope for right and so the
the the things that we talked about in
that session some of the T takeaways
were we should be taking advantage of
the technology to engage our residents
how do we leverage technology to draw
people in um how do we ensure that we're
it's okay to feel uncomfortable but it
is also required that we be a part of
the conversations I think one of the
things that we are hoping for is that
people recognize that we are all
uncomfortable particularly when it comes
to talking about race uh uh I'm G be
honest and Frank here uh black people
have been talking about race their
entire lives and it's uncomfortable and
fatiguing to continue to do it and white
people it's uncomfortable because you
haven't always had to do it but we have
to recognize that it's important that we
all feel uncomfortable you can create a
space where that Comfort is recognized
and acknowledged but you can still
establish Rapport and connection as you
engage in this conversation and learning
and so that was the second kind of step
to that conversation the third step was
what data do we need how do we know when
we're successful what data should we be
collecting how will we follow up on that
data how do we use it to drive
decisionmaking going forward and then
what is a way for us to make that data
more transparent so residents can have
confidence that not only is data
collection happening but that data is
driving practice that is informing the
decision making of not only mayor kler
or city council but really all Community
residents as you establish programs and
engagement for all residents of Bexley
uh and the last step is the step that I
think this is part of is the plan ahead
or the path ahead how do we Forge a path
that is embedded with strong
fundamentals in implementation as well
as accountability and and and if you
take into account all that was shared in
these listening sessions in addition to
Future listening sessions what you what
you can build off of that is a
community-based strategic plan where the
residents had in informed that process
and so and that's hopefully what I hope
that I brought to the facilitation of
those conversations is the voices
amplifying and granting opportunity for
others to share and give their thinking
so that we can develop a strong and
fundamental plan that will make a make
for a change of the living experiences
of the residents of Bexley thank you
thanks thanks Sean um and we're about to
head into the Q&A section of the
listening sessions portion here I do
want to uh briefly mention something
that we'll be talking more about anyone
on this call who's um a member of one of
the Grassroots organizations in Bexley
that's sprung up over over 2020 uh and a
lot of the unrest both at the national
and local level around issues of equity
and Justice or those groups like The
beex Minority parents Alliance who have
uh been working in this space for a long
time um we are also putting together a
advisory committee um to get
representation from a broad
cross-section of the community to work
directly with the police department so
it's this is something independent of
the listening sessions not inconsistent
with it um but but a a standing working
group that um is a sounding board
and uh a way a way for us to
institutionally work closely with
members of our minority Community who
are active and passionate in this space
um we'll get some more details uh to
those groups but we're looking to launch
that in the first quarter of 2021 so I
wanted to briefly mention that and with
that
Mona what do you have for us we have a
couple of questions from the audience
already and the first question is
for all three of you and either of you
can take it what has the major takeaway
from the sessions the listening sessions
been this is a question from the
audience well I think the the major
takeaway for me is that people are
really hungry to be
heard and to have their opinions and
their experiences
validated and then in the second and
third sessions we actually
identified the
traumas that were personal and and
CommunityWide we came up with a list of
the traumas and in the third session we
came up with a list of the conflicts and
so I think that it's as Sean said a lot
of information and data Gathering and
making people feel
comfortable with situations and
experiences that are historic
uncomfortable yeah and I I agree with
that and and and really the the idea
that there's a wide array of lived
experiences in in Beckley and um some of
those lived experiences and the the
attention paid to them is um Worth
amplifying or bringing to the surface as
it uh relates to the broader um Bexley
experience and and um I think the
listening session did a good job of
uncovering some of those but we would
absolutely think that there there should
be and could be more opportunity for
those conversations to take
place thank you I have another question
from the audience is there a plan to try
to engage more diverse backgrounds for
these lising sessions and how can
community-based organizations help you
recruit people for the listening
sessions
mayor you want to take that well I I'd
be happy to take it but Diane I I know
that's been a particular passion point
of yours and something we've talked
about and trying to broaden that net and
make sure that we're getting into as
many voices as we can so did you I I
don't yeah you know I I gave everybody a
challenge to for every group in Bexley
that's been formed this past year to
send one representative to each
listening session and it's really
difficult sometimes to
um engage people from different
socioeconomic backgrounds just because
there's a lot of transiency you know
people have different work schedules but
we are trying to figure out a way to do
that so as I said we're still working on
creating this program and we do need
everybody's help and we need everybody's
support and this this group
right this group and the group group
that was in the town hall uh last time
has a lot of power in how these things
go and so I'm looking forward to meeting
a lot of people from these groups that
have been formed and having you be part
of the listening sessions so your
recommendation I'm sorry Sean I just
wanted to recap briefly what Diane said
just to make sure that it was clear that
your recommendation is that different
groups voluntarily send a representative
to the listening
sessions and or recruit people help
recruit people to
participate right and it's it's my
understanding that there will be um an
advertising push about the sessions in
the coming weeks and I I don't think
that that's been formulated yet but
there will be
advertising are the listing sessions in
person and virtual if someone wanted to
participate virtually is that an option
or are they 100%
virtual well they've been 100% in person
we've been meeting in the library
Auditorium which is a huge room and we
um all wear masks and we limited the
session to 10 people and that was before
Franklin County turned purple so at this
point we won't have any listening
sessions until after the holidays and
hopefully the cases are going to be the
the covid cases are going to be
decreasing and we'll be able to do it
again in the library
Auditorium thank you Sean I'm sorry go
ahead you were going to say something
well I was going to um say uh in my
experience with this is that a couple
things to to note is that for radical
change it does require some radical
action in terms of getting particip
and some of that is us uh thinking
differently about what it means to draw
in people's participation and expertise
sometimes what that means is developing
incentives and and in some in some other
scenarios that also means compensation
uh what's true about some residents and
some some individuals in our communities
is that we often want to tap them for
their experience and their expertise but
we don't want to compensate for that
experience and expertise meanwhile you
pay someone like me to come in with
experience and expertise but the the
reality is is that who's going to
develop your plan are the people and so
thinking differently about that and
using and leveraging your Community
Partners to develop that that uh that
strategy for how you go about doing that
whether it be a gift card for a free
meal one night whether it be an
opportunity to to engage in the broader
Beckley community and go to something
that that's being put on in in the
community those types of incentives can
be ways to draw people in um but it
requires some coordination and in and
really leveraging your community who who
is uh paying attention to this and want
to see this um type of interaction and
and and going down that path to to
Really draw folks in from that
standpoint um I think when you do that
there's a there's going to be a bump but
then I think the last thing or other
thing that I would say is that making
them place-based can help meaning locate
the conversations in places where the
people are so it's not such a burden to
get to the conversation um I completely
value and appreciate something centrally
located where you know where it is every
time but then what's also true is that
when you move some things around you get
some different people because it it
creates a a better sense of where things
are in the community and you actually
can get some people to travel to places
in the community that they may never
normally go to and so there's another
opportunity there as well when you think
about place-based
activity you had a lot packed into that
I will definitely have to listen to both
your response and Diane's response in
the YouTube link there was a lot packed
in there I really liked what you had to
say around the um radical ideas would
you recap that one more time because I
need to hear it again
radical change requires radical action
yes that's perfect okay thank you sir
another question from the
community um it's kind of a multifaced
question it's for all three of you I
think it's fantastic
um how will the data collected be
curated and shared with the community so
Diane you reviewed quite a bit of said
and the mayor said that number of the um
suggestions have already been
implemented what is the plan to collect
the data and share it with the
community other than in the town
hall well I think we have to have more
than one
session um to
really share the
data but moving
forward each one of these sessions is
going to come up with specific ideas or
specific um statements about trauma and
conflict and then Sean is really great
about taking the data and coming up with
suggestions and so I I see this program
as something that's
longterm then that will build on
itself and that will eventually Le lead
to radical
change and so we're we're only in the
beginning right now can I can I add to
that Diane um what what what is true is
you get a uh system for collection but
you also have a system for review
responding and recommendation and and so
what that really means is your your
community your residents are telling you
what data they want to see and then you
put an infr structure for them to review
that data have conversation and dialogue
about that data not only talking about
what the data says but also how that
data makes them feel and then from that
from those two conversations then talk
about what do they want to do what do
what how do they want to see that data
changed um and then the last that what I
would say is there's a strategy that I
use most of the time when I'm having
conversations around data is what is the
impact of our change versus the effort
it will take to make the to make the
change then you can understand what are
the things that are happening in your
community that you're not satisfied with
that are loow hanging fruit what are the
things are going to take long-term
ongoing effort that's sustained over
time and you and everything else that
falls in between that so that you can
begin to prioritize and plan for action
that is measurable that is time bound
but also things that you can hold
yourself accountable to not just looking
at mayor Kesler for accountability but
also as Community residents that are a
participant in this process so that you
can hold yourself accountable to as
well so I think the the important thing
to remember is this is a brand new
program I don't know of any other city
that's doing it and we are forging our
way inch by inch and just to piggyback
on what Carter said we need to have
Community involvement and Community
ideas and suggestions so at moving
forward we're really looking forward to
whatever the community can contribute to
these sessions and
to the relationships between our
minority citizens and the police force
so we need you come on
down Diane that's a great segue to the
next question which is for the mayor you
briefly mentioned an advisory committee
would you please give more details about
who is invited to participate in the
advisory committee and are you looking
for people other than minorities to be
on the advisory
committee yeah so um we've invited uh or
are going to be inviting or and or have
invited we've circulated this idea to
many of the groups uh that that exist
today obviously you guys at the bmpa
spoken and invited BR to come to the
table and be involved but also um you
know our citizens Police Academy alumni
um members of the community uh we are
fleshing out the details of that that's
why it was a little bit vague um part of
fleshing out involves circulating this
concept to these organizations and
getting their feedback and uh that's
where we are right now is U getting
feedback on what a what a powerful
advisory committee would look like um
how to keep that committee so that the
voices across the board are heard um and
so that it's a productive uh action
focused committee um I get to I get to
participate and sit on in on a variety
of committees uh throughout my career as
you could imagine um my major focus is
always that we have a we're oriented
towards action that we have some some
some some concrete objectives and that
we are creating a productive process
kind of to Sean's point which is how
much effort how much result takes place
as a result of that effort um any
anything like this should uh have uh a a
potent um product that comes from the
result of
the perfect thank you sir now we're
going to open the floor for general
questions any questions in general about
any
topic and Mana when we do that maybe
everyone left as panelists could turn
their camera back on just so anyone
could take uh questions as they as they
apply look at that hey
everybody Mana do we have any
questions I don't see any new questions
but I'm going back through the list and
I'm wondering if this question was
answered what are some strategies you
are considering to divert to diversify
the next cohort on the listing session
did we answer that did you feel like the
last cohort was diverse or was it not
diverse
um I I think it was fair
diverse well I will say uh Diane I'm
sorry it was diverse I would agree with
that but this is my call to action for
the white men in Bexley we need to hear
your voice as
well and I think Diane had also
mentioned economic diversity as being
something that was um uh being looked
for and and turning to our community
groups to uh help help uh generate um
participants mona can I just say though
that the folks that have participated
have they I mean it was a a revelation
in in terms of just engagement and um
and but I am Happ so I do this a lot but
what's true is that there's incredible
optimism for what's possible in Bexley
and I think that fundamentally is why I
think you will be successful down on
this journey because of that hope that
optimism and that willingness to engage
in this dialogue we just need more
people um to be a little more specific
too we're going to be putting out a once
once Diane and Sean
you guys have talked about some a couple
changes to the next generation of this
once those are kind of finalized and we
start to to finalize some dates in
January we're going to be putting out
the word uh for signing up get the dates
on the table um I I know that a local
reporter is here as an attendee we're
going to get a press release out we're
going to make sure that the word is is
out loud and large but wanted to do that
in the context of here are the next
steps here's how to sign up here's when
it's happening um here's what it looks
like
so keep an eye out for
that well it looks like we are almost
exactly on time so unless someone has
another burning question or comment that
they would like to add we are going to
turn the floor over to Mr Brian
Drury thank you Mona um so on behalf of
the bmpa first I I just want to thank
all of our panelists for coming out
tonight uh talking and and sharing uh
input and and items that are going on to
the city um really appreciate that
really appreciate you sharing that
information um also um you know I want
to thank some of the community groups
who are are doing a lot of different
things and I think you know you know the
call Action is to find a community group
that you know you want to be a part of
it whether it's darn uh Bexley dni BR
Bexley Pride Barb bmpa you know join
them uh they really need um additional
people to help uh their causes and
missions um also reminder from there uh
Martin Luther King day uh January 18th
at Capital University uh they're going
to have a great presentation um I think
this is their 30th year if my memory
serves me correctly so uh that's a great
uh item and um I think there was
something else um oh and then uh yeah so
uh organizations are listed um on the
Bexley website from there and they can
uh provide that
information um thank you
Ben
um so and again uh we really want to
thank everybody uh again I think there
there's a couple call of action items
from there out there so if we can do
that uh share that information and uh
make certain from there also that
individuals have a chance um to uh you
know watch this
YouTube there oh yes and then uh stamp
from there is going to be coming up uh
when is that Mana again it's on January
the 24th it's a CommunityWide read so if
everyone um if you haven't already
picked up your copy of stamped you
should get it and join us on January the
2 awesome yeah actually from there so um
Jason Reynolds is actually uh speaking
right now in Columbus um with another
group so we're very excited and again
you know it's it's one of those uh books
from there that I think also we like I
think mik does a great job of this of
making certain you know share it with
also friends and people who um might not
uh normally pick that up and and have
that information
so uh bmpa executive uh crew anything
else for the group
Bakers Mona no sir okay Ben anything
else to uh share about our next uh town
hall meeting uh I think we haven't set
the date yet but uh we will circulate
that date when it's ready uh once the uh
the organizers of bmpa and and we uh
huddle so thank you Brian thank you to
uh Jonathan Courtney Mana um thank you
to all of our guests on tonight's uh
panel um we really appreciate all of
your effort and energy um we look
forward to a brighter 2021 together and
so let's look forward to that goodbye
2020 um yall have a good night