The following was written by Councilperson Cynthia Brock in response to the City of Ithaca Reimagining Public Safety Investigation Report.
On May 4, 2022, I submitted to the Tompkins County Ethics Advisory Board (TCEAB) a request asking a pivotal question – given the conduct of Former Mayor Svante Myrick, the Center for Policing Equity (CPE), the People for the American Way (PFAW), and the undisclosed third-party funding of City working group co-chairs and members – “can the report Implementing the City of Ithaca’s New Public Safety Agency, produced by the working group with assistance from the Center for Policing Equity, and incorporating the Report on Patrol Staffing and Deployment produced by Matrix Consulting, be deemed impartial, unbiased, and appropriate for recommending legislative changes in accordance with County and City Ethics Codes”?
I am deeply appreciative and grateful to my Council colleagues and City staff members who recognized the importance and significance of my concerns and who, two months later, unanimously authorized the retention of an independent City investigator. Kristen Smith’s final report is extensive and detailed, and brought forward revealing testimony and documents which would have otherwise been unavailable to the TCEAB. TCEAB’s commitment to investigating the questions raised cleared the way for the City to undertake its own investigative process. I believe that the City’s report, along with TCEAB’s final report will provide a more complete picture and understanding of not only how we got here, but also what policy changes are needed to ensure open and transparent gifting, consulting, and working group processes in the future.
It must be noted that Smith’s charge is functionally different than the question I posed to TCEAB. Smith was retained to address concerns about the potential for outside influence on the RPS Process. It should also be noted that non-government employees are not subject to FOIL and therefore not legally obligated to provide documentary evidence. Consequently, the appearance of undue influence should be the appropriate standard of judgment. After a careful reading of the Smith Report, the answer to my initial question posed to TCEAB – Can the report provided by the City working group be deemed impartial, unbiased, and appropriate for recommending legislative changes? – is, in my view, categorically No.
It is evident that Myrick’s actions — either intentionally or through memory lapses, negligence, or disregard — collectively functioned to keep Common Council, the City Controller, and the City Attorney to a certain extent, completely in the dark about the depth and extent of the roles of CPE, the third party funder/contractor which turned out to be Park Foundation/Center for Transformative Action (CTA)/Dorothy Cotton Institute, and PFAW in the City’s Reimagining Public Safety process.
The report highlights glaring gaps in City communication and documentation, an alarming lack of internal discussion or review, and contradictory testimonies. Testimony provided by staff and those involved demonstrates a pattern of behavior by Myrick that consistently and successfully avoided nearly all of the procedural triggers that initiate the typical checks and balances of Common Council to review the unusual processes Myrick put into play.The power and responsibility to manage and control City property and finances rests with Common Council, except as otherwise provided for in the Charter. (pg 42) In fact, a great deal of the decisions and actions of the Mayor are subject to the approval of Common Council. Council’s decision-making process is public by design, and allows members of the community to ask questions, request information, and provide input, suggestions, and objections which are then deliberated and voted on.
I strongly believe that if all the details of Myrick’s arrangements with CPE, CTA and PFAW were appropriately disclosed and reviewed in advance, that the community, and by extension Common Council would not have accepted or approved of it.There are many instances of concern, of which I will just mention a few:
By inappropriately accepting CPE’s gift of services without involving Council in the decision (pg 42), Myrick not only “avoid(ed) a political battle (pg 41)”, he also shrouded the process in secrecy, granted CPE carte blanche to choose contractors, and centered himself as the final arbiter of any conflicts or questions of the working group. I was appalled to learn that not only did “no City employee or officer have a role in vetting or selecting Matrix or procuring its services”, there was no written contract signed between CPE and the City prior to the involvement of Matrix to protect the security and confidentiality of the City, its employees, and its residents. (pg 34-35) Further, the contract between Matrix and CPE (which was never signed by CPE) identifies that the Confidential Information provided by IPD to Matrix was owned and maintained by CPE. Essentially, as a result of CPE’s unmonitored actions, the City and IPD provided private and confidential information to Matrix at CPE’s direction, without any legal protection against inappropriate use or disclosure.In terms of the third-party payments to the co-Chairs of the City Working Group, I was astonished to learn that Rosario and Yearwood were paid independent contractors of the Center for Transformative Action (CTA), and that CTA would own the data, information, and other work developed or obtained by Rosario and Yearwood. (pg 14) This arrangement, as well as the lack of prior disclosure of it to Council, the City Attorney, and City Controller, begets the question of whether it could clearly be determined if their work was conducted at the direction and for the benefit of the Center for Transformative Action, or on behalf of the interests of the City. This arrangement was not revealed to Council or City staff until May 2022 when my ethics investigation request was submitted.
Finally, Myrick intentionally and knowingly camouflaged his leveraging of PFAW lobbying efforts to advance his personal policy ideals and plans in support of RPS. He disregarded the advice of City Attorney Ari Lavine who cautioned Myrick to disclose his and PFAW’s involvement with the Reimagining Public Safety Process. (pg 51) The advocates hired by PFAW sometimes operated as “Ithacans for Reimagining Public Safety” and were actively present at Council meetings, neighborhood list serves, in the news and on the radio, as well as town hall meetings, making it difficult to discern what – if any – support came from community members and what voices were those of paid activists. It is uncertain when PFAW began these lobbying efforts, and the possibility that the adoption of Recommendation #1 may have been impacted by PFAW and Myrick remains very real. “By failing to alert Common Council or any other local officials about PFAW’s campaign, Myrick created a situation where confusion, mistrust and suspicion were inevitable. All of this could have been easily averted if he had been transparent from the start.” (pg 56)
Svante Myrick’s actions throughout the Reimagining Public Safety Process have divided a community that wants and supports police reform but now have reason to question whether City processes are fair, equitable, open, and transparent. Myrick’s actions worked to avoid and delay every step when internal checks and balances or Council review would have been appropriate. These actions, while they served to fill Myrick’s personal policy goals and not his pocketbook – thus avoiding violation of ethics rules and regulations – came at the expense of the integrity of the City.
It takes decades to build the public’s faith in government systems, and mere moments to destroy it.
Cynthia Brock
11 December 2022
A city of Ithaca press release on the report included a statement from mayor-elect Lewis & exhibits from the investigation.