Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters Committee

Welcome everyone. I call this meeting of the City Council's Committee on Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters to order. It is 6.31 p.m. on Monday, October 6th, pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025. This meeting is being conducted via remote participation, and we will post an audio-video recording and comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels. Will the clerk please call the roll to establish quorum?

Yep, this is roll call. Councilor Inbaugh. Councilor Clingan. Present. Thank you. Councilor Strezo. Councilor McLaughlin.

Here.

Chair Ewen Campin.

Here.

All right, with that, we do have free presence. We have quorum.

Excellent, thank you. Councilor Inbaugh will be joining us. And I heard from Councilor Strezo she can't be here tonight. So let's take up agenda item number one. Please read that clerk.

One approval of the minutes of the confirmation of appointments and personnel matters committee meeting of June 4th, 2025.

Excellent, we'll lay that on the table for approval when we take up our adjournment vote. And then tonight, colleagues, we're going to go through the agenda in order. So we will start right off with number two on the agenda, please.

Item two referred to recommendation requesting confirmation of the appointment of Olivia Mobayad to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

Excellent. Thank you so much for being here. I see our legislative liaison, Kimberly Hutter, is here. Is there someone to introduce the candidate?

Yes, to the chair. We have Kit Lester here to introduce the candidate. I'll pass it over to her now.

Excellent. Thank you.

hi um through the chair my name is kit lester and i'm the zoning board of appeals coordinator and a planner for the planning preservation zoning division um thanks for having us this evening um the zoning board is seeking a full-time member to fill one position and olivia's and resume olivia's resume and interests were really exciting her past experiences as a project manager and transportation planner for the mbta and her educational experiences with a master's in urban planning, make her a really great candidate for the zoning board. She definitely has an understanding of planning and design practices, as well as public meeting and municipal decision-making processes. And we just think Olivia would be a really valuable addition to the current board. And I'm happy to provide any answers to questions of anything regarding the ZBA if you need it.

Thank you so much. Ms. Mobayed, please correct me if I'm saying anybody's name wrong tonight. Do you wanna say a few words?

Absolutely, sure. Thank you, Chair. My name's Olivia Mobayed. I am a Somerville resident of about four and a half years. As Kit mentioned, I have my master's in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania, and I've been a public servant in a few different capacities over the past seven and a half years. I'm currently a senior project manager at the MBTA focusing on infrastructure planning. I've worked at the MBTA for about four and a half years now. And as soon as I got the job, I knew that I wanted to live in Somerville. So moved here as soon as I possibly could. I'm a renter, but I have no plans on leaving. I recently moved within the city with the intention to stay as long as I possibly can. I was first kind of involved in City of Somerville as a member of the participatory budgeting board last winter, where I got a taste of, you know, being part of a Somerville board or committee. and found the experience really rewarding and was looking for additional opportunities to be able to use my experience and expertise to better the city. I'm looking forward to any additional questions you have. I will just mention that Something I'm very aware of and I think mentioned pretty clearly in my application and cover letter is, you know, I am aware that there might be some slight opportunities for any kind of discrepancy in terms of, you know, conflicts of interest with my full-time job at the T. I'm happy to talk about that in more detail, but I'll just mention now that I take the state conflict of interest training every two years. I'm very aware of how these things work and know when to ask questions and to err on the side of caution. So I'm hoping that that is not a concern when you consider my application.

Excellent, well, thank you for being here tonight, and thank you so much for stepping up for this role. So I remember when the bus network redesign project was happening, there was a lot of concern, particularly on the west side of Somerville. And I think my memory is that Somerville set the record for how many public comments we submitted. Maybe we . So I guess you saw that and said, I want more of this experience. So thank you for stepping up. So actually, on that, I have a question. And then I'm happy to open it up to my colleagues. How do you think about what is your general view around public comment? You know, it can be kind of you're dealing, of course, with the law. But a lot of the decisions, there's a public hearing. You hear from neighbors conflicting views. What is your kind of general approach to public comment? How do you think about that?

That's a good question. Thank you, counselor. I think public comment is incredibly important in understanding the context in which decisions are being made. As a planning professional, a lot of the time we need to remind ourselves that the people we might be hearing from are not directly representative of everyone in a community, whether that be someone putting their child to bed or working a second shift and being unable to take part in something like a public meeting. But I think it's incredibly important to take the public comments into consideration when considering things like a hardship variance and understanding what the impact to the public good might be in granting one.

Thank you for that. That's, I think, exactly kind of what I was hoping to hear is the importance of the lived experience of people in this community and also being very mindful of the people who are not in the room. So thank you for that. I'm, you know, extremely impressed by your resume. I'm looking forward to supporting the confirmation. Colleagues, do you have any questions? Councillor McLaughlin.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, through you. Similar question as far as public comment goes, you know, the zoning board, you're going to get a lot of neighbors, um, both for and against a project that may impact their life directly. Um, I'm curious, like, how will you weigh the desires of community members versus what you may perceive to be the needs of the community? Say someone's, a lot of people are against a project that they don't like it, but you may see some value in it or the other way around. You don't see value in a project that other people want. How will you, what's your thought process for that, I guess, is my question.

Each own exercise modality. Oh, there's Karen.

Thank you for your question. So again, I think it's important to balance all needs and take a step back and understand the needs of the entire community as a whole. I hope that as a Somerville resident for a long time and someone who understands a lot of how the city works, I can represent a portion of that component. But I think understanding the views from everyone is really important. you know, the reason why this is a board and why there are multiple folks on it means that we have the opportunity to have thoughtful discussion and discuss things together. So I don't necessarily think that, you know, my my preconceived notions of the benefits of a project should be the reason, you know, I vote yes or no. It requires from hearing from folks and discussing it and understanding. But, you know, I would say that overall, I my goal is to like take the words of the zoning ordinance um as as seriously as i can um and um think you know truthfully about like the the um the substantial hardships of the applicant versus the impact on the greater good thank you thank you counselor counselor clinton

Yeah, nothing for me, Mr. Chair, just, you know, as noted, I think you bring some unique experience to the role, but also understanding what the role is, being a member of the ZBA, but definitely with the unique sort of perspective on transportation needs and zoning needs and transit areas and so on. So I'm happy to support you this evening and thanks for stepping up.

Thank you. With that, the chair moves to recommend approval. Second. Don't need a second. Thank you.

Yep, I appreciate the second, but roll call on recommending approval for item number two, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Olivia to the Zoning Board of Appeals. Councilor Embach. So that's what we're looking for. We want to engage with the community and be part of their community.

Yes.

All inclusive.

Yes.

All right.

With that, that is three votes in favor.

Excellent. Thank you very much for being here tonight and looking forward to seeing the new zoning board in action. Thanks for stepping up for this role.

Thank you.

Next item, please.

All right. Item number two, a referred recommendation requesting confirmation of the appointment of Coralie Cooper to the planning board.

Excellent. Is this Kit Luster again?

Welcome to Cooper. This is actually Steve Carey, planner in PPZ. I'm the coordinator for the planning board. Coralie was the AAC's recommended candidate after interviewing. We think she'd be great. This is for the alternate seat on the planning board. She has a graduate degree in city planning from MIT and years of planning experience in air pollution, climate planning, regulation development, and stakeholder outreach and engagement, most recently as the deputy director for the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management. a coalition of state air agencies that promotes regional cooperation and action, and before that as a sustainability program lead with the Volpe Center. She served as chair of the Clean Energy Future Committee in Arlington when she was a resident there and has been a member of the Committee on Transportation Energy for the Transportation Research Board. We think she'd bring a regional perspective to the planning board as well as expertise on transportation and climate policy and how that can manifest at the municipal and site scale. Um, with that, um, uh, Coraline, if there's anything you'd like to say.

Yeah, Steve, thank you for the introduction and counselors. Thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight and talk to you. Um, I just like to add that I've, I've lived in Somerville for 15 years and, um, I I'm very much looking forward to hope that I get a chance to participate on the planning board, um, to, you know, essentially help the, help the city at this time, um, be as efficient as possible in the planning processes. And I also, too, assist in implementing Summer Vision 2040, which I think is a tremendous plan with many really great facets to it. So I also lived in Arlington for eight years. Steve mentioned that I was on the Clean Energy Future Committee. So I've had experience planning at the municipal level with states and my work at the Northeast State for Coordinated Air-East Management at the federal level as well, and then regionally working with other states, their air pollution programs and their local districts as well. So again, thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to your questions.

Excellent. Thank you so much for being here tonight, for stepping up. You know, I am reminded when I joined the council was 2018, same time as Councillor Clingan. And on this committee in particular, we were really kind of pounding the table that we wanted to see candidates on the planning board, the zoning board that have like qualifications, professional qual. And that message has gotten through because it is just totally extremely impressive caliber of candidates here tonight and that we've seen coming onto the planning board and zoning board for a long time now. And you are no exception. So I guess I'll ask the same question I just did. How do you think about public comment? How does it kind of influence your decisions? What do you see as the role of public comment? And let the record show that Counselor Mbah has joined us. Thank you for being here, Counselor.

Yeah, I mean, public comment is absolutely critical in the formation of policies. And I think also in kind of the effective implementation of policies. So through the comment period, you get a diversity of opinions. And as Olivia pointed out, sometimes you don't have the diversity that you would like and conducting outreach to try and boost participation and get more comments, I think is really important because if you go into implementing a policy and you haven't gotten enough input from the community, A, you can run into issues because you haven't heard enough. You haven't heard the perspective of the people who are going to live with the policy and you haven't heard potential issues that might come up. And so you haven't gathered enough information. So getting that diversity of opinion is especially important. And I would just support the comment that trying to increase participation by offering, you know, online forums or after work, or maybe it's a Saturday or, you know, different approaches to get those public comments in is really essential. And then in my experience, my work experience, we often had to address every single public comment, even in, you know, federal rule making where there could be, you know, thousands and thousands of comments. And I'd say, even though that process is long and takes time, it really makes the regulators or whoever is going to be working on this policy or implementing it or putting it in place, think a lot about the policy. So that's an important process.

Thank you for that. I love that answer. If it's all right with my colleagues, I have an additional question. And this is kind of, I don't know, maybe open-ended, but what do you think, how do you think about questions about what we call density, right? This is probably one of the things we hear most about as policymakers here on the city council is around the density of new development. And you get really strong opinions anytime that there's a project that some people consider too dense or other people consider kind of wasted opportunity. It's a very general, broad question, but can you just walk us through how you think about that question in the context of Somerville?

Yeah. Well, I think that changes in density, again, going back to the public input process, it's very important to to get community input on any changes, because again, you want the policy to work once it's implemented. And so I would say that in general, I think that increasing density is a great way, can be a great tool, to increase housing. And it can be done intelligently through inclusionary housing, for example, inclusionary zoning, so that there could be density bonus in certain areas to add more housing or more affordable housing. I think there are a number of tools in the toolbox to think about density. You can kind of put it in certain places like new developments that are, you know, have a lot of height so that you get more affordable housing. So that's kind of one of the tools to have it in certain places. And so I think that you just need to think about how you're going to add that density. But in general, I think it can be a really terrific tool to improve housing at a time when we really need it. Thank you for that.

Colleagues? Councilor Mbah.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Should I call you Director? Is that... What is the name? Director Cooper, is that the name? Corley. Yeah, no, so thank you for being here. I think you're extremely qualified, I guess. Also, like, just around the lines of curiosity, like... I think you probably touched on it a little bit when you were answering the good councilor of the chair. So how do you see some of these planning policies evolving in order to support equitable transit-oriented development and climate resilience? Can you just share some light about that?

Well, I think that with a Green Line extension opening, that's just a tremendous kind of advance for the city and that adding those stations has been a huge, just huge advance for the city. So I think that implementing some of the policies that are already on the books, like the bike lane plan, the 80 plus miles of bike lanes, implement that, you know, those kinds of plans that are already on the books will really help kind of knit together the transit oriented development with alternative modes and increase the opportunity for residents to travel without a car. So give, give residents more opportunities. And then, and I think, you know, there's, I've been listening in on, you know, kind of the discussions around some of the bus routes, like 80, 90, what happens to those routes and, We need to make sure that East Somerville has service, and yet some of those routes may need to change. So I think that continuing to be engaged in any planning around bus routes and making sure that Somerville has the access it needs and access to buses and then alternative transit, Again, making the city more walkable, so making, you know, crossing safer as has been done in many places already, but kind of continuing the effort to make walking, biking safer, which increases access to transit and, you know, reducing the danger in areas where crossings make pedestrians and bicyclists especially vulnerable.

I think you do a stellar job. I'll spare you the climate resiliency part, but thank you. Thank you, Chair Mossad.

Thank you, Councillor McLaughlin.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a question that I guess a few years ago would be strange, but now it's strange and a few years ago wouldn't be. I'm always interested in the Planning Board's response to affordable housing and the role of housing, say, beyond the expectation of what we currently have. How would you look at, I guess in general, a project that comes before the planning board and maybe gives more affordable housing than is required. What would your thought process be when looking at a project like that? Sorry if I'm not making sense, but I basically want to see planning board members be supportive of affordable housing.

Yeah, I mean, I think that that would be a positive as long as, you know, there wasn't some kind of trade-off, some negative trade-off that had to be weighed, or if there was, then that would need to be weighed. But more affordable housing in a development than is required, that would be a definite plus.

That's all I have. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor. Additional questions, colleagues? Excellent. With that, the chair recommends approval.

Okay, on item number three, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Coralie Cooper to the planning board. Councillor Mbath.

Yes, please.

Councillor Clingan.

Yes.

Councillor Strezo. Councillor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Chair Young-Campbell.

Yes.

If that does, all four votes in favor of recommending approval.

Excellent. Thank you so much, Ms. Cooper, for being here tonight, and thank you for stepping up for this role. Thank you, councillors. All right, colleagues, so we have a number of promotions within the police department now, and I wanted to start with a procedural suggestion. So this is obviously up to the will of the committee. So since I've been chairing this committee, we have a process when we're dealing with promotions within the department for people who have already been serving and are now being promoted to a new role, where for each candidate, we go into executive session so that counselors can review if there have been any complaints against the officer or a candidate. The outcomes of those can hear responses. I think that that's been, for me, a very important practice. I also have been made aware recently that an alternative way to do it is that outside the context of a meeting, counselors, including myself as chair, can meet with the chief, review, ask questions about these issues to see if there's any information that might affect my vote. And I can say I have done that for all the candidates that are on the agenda tonight. I've reviewed these candidates with the chief. um and i as one counselor am totally comfortable not going into executive session for these candidates because i've had all my questions answered And it is 100% up to the will of the committee. It's in order to move to go into executive session if there are counselors who would like to ask those questions. It is also totally fine for us to have our meeting in open session. And going forward, if other counselors wish to have these conversations as well, they can do it outside of the meeting. And this is really just a kind of time-saving approach. So I'm curious to hear if colleagues are all right with that. Counselor Clingan.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I think really what matters here is who the chair is. And in this case, I trust that you vetted these candidates with the questions you asked offline regarding any actions that were taken. So I am okay with not entering executive session for these purposes.

Thank you, Councillor. Councillor Mbah? Thank you, Chair. What matters to me is not because of the chair, you know, but I think for me, it's for the first time I really, like, recognize almost all these candidates. So these are people that I've actually interacted with, really thrilled, you know, to see them come forward. So that is on my own merit that I actually recognize it. You know, no disrespect to the chair, but I'm not moving, you know, my decision based on the chair. So thank you. Excellent.

Well, thank you, colleagues. And I just want also, you know, colleagues in the public to know that counselor, the reason that we go into executive session to discuss any of this is because we're in a public meeting here. Right. These are being recorded and it is illegal under Massachusetts general law to talk about, you know, a personal record in a public meeting. But these can be reviewed in the. outside of a meeting with the chief, with the solicitor. So if going forward, colleagues do have questions, absolutely possible to do that. And of course, the majority of the council can always vote to go into executive session if they wish. So with that, let's take up agenda item number four, please.

All right, item number four, ID number 25-1488, referred for recommendation, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Richard Levy Jr. to the position of police deputy chief.

Excellent. And I see Chief Benford is here. Are you going to be introducing the candidates tonight?

Yes, sir, Mr. Chair.

Excellent. Chief, please take it away.

Thank you very much. And again, thank you for your leadership and the opportunity to work with you on streamlining the process, but also speaking about the candidates and sharing information that I hope ultimately will be helpful in helping them realize their dreams and next steps professionally, but as well as in service to the city. I'd like to also recognize the other committee members that are here this evening. We greatly appreciate your time. Cumulatively, all of the candidates tonight represent over 137 years of combined service to the city of Somerville and the Somerville Police Department. In the case of Deputy Levy, he is someone who is serving in an acting capacity now to help the department move forward. I greatly appreciate him stepping up in that space. I'd also like to recognize his continued service over the years in rising through the ranks. I haven't served at every rank, most recently commanding the Criminal Investigations Division. Deputy Levy is a true partner in the work that we are doing. He has shown an openness and willingness to change as well as look forward thinking. into the 21st century around ways in which we can be innovative with the policing that we do in a way that represents the true value set and tolerance of this community. With that said, Mr. Chair, I do present Richard Levy as a candidate for deputy chief.

Thank you, Chief Benford. Deputy Levy, welcome. Thank you for being here tonight.

Thank you. Thank you for having me, Chair, and distinguished counselors. I'm happy to be here, excited for this opportunity.

Colleagues, the floor is open for questions. All right, I have one. Oh, Councilor Mbah, please go ahead.

Thank you. So is it, should I say Captain Levy now or what is like the appellation? Is it Captain Levy or Deputy Chief Levy?

I guess I'm the interim deputy chief. I was sworn in August 18th, and I've been performing those duties since August.

Amazing. Okay. Thank you, interim deputy chief. I guess, you know, again, you're a known person in the community. None of us have seen you around. I guess one thing, you know, with the role that you're, you know, getting into, you know, just big picture question, It's nothing, you know, it's not like most of the questions I'll be asking tonight is just, you know, to broaden my understanding about, you know, what I should envision in the coming years. So what is your vision for fostering trust and transparency between, you know, the police department and Somerville's diverse community?

So we've been really working hard in the police department to build on police legitimacy and creating trust. Chief Benford, through his leadership, he's a real forward thinker. I'm happy to be part of his team. We're gonna try and build out to the extent we can our community policing unit. As you know, we've had a number of activities that we've engaged in, including the Junior Police Academy, which was a great success. We were involved at the end of last school season with doing a tutorial in multiple different languages for the kids at the Winter Hill Innovation School at the Edgeley. We spoke with eighth graders in three different languages to try and reach out with them. And this was at the request of the school principal. So, you know, we will be excited to get back into that space again to create trust We're always up against it, as you know. As difficult as it is, we work hard to earn people's trust, not violate it. And all the things you see going on with ICE, all it takes is them to come in and do something. And it kind of hurts us a little bit, turns the clock back on us. It's very frustrating for us. People are scared. especially members of our minority communities that are maybe not here under legal status. It creates a lot of distrust. We're working hard through things like National Night Out, and we're going to be building up on our community policing efforts and going forward this next bid cycle. And I'm hoping we can make some good inroads, building trust with the community. That seems like, you know, you take two steps forward and one step back, but we're always coming up with new ideas, forward thinking, positive messaging. We have a very young department now. It was older some years ago, when I came up to a Lieutenant and Captain, we have a very young department. And diversifying those ranks and diversifying our supervisory ranks are the way to connect with people. People like to see people in charge who look like them, talk like them, have the same culture. These all work towards building trust with the community.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that response. And to you, Chair, just one last one. Is that okay? please. Okay. Thank you. So, um, yeah, no, I think everything you've said, especially like the young, uh, the, it's a pretty young department. Like I continue to be impressed with the, uh, With a young officer, I see, you know, honestly, like, so, and on that note, like, you know, as a deputy chief, how would you support officers' wellness and accountability while balancing the city's commitment to community-based policing?

Well, if you read my resume, one of my core competencies is the area of authentic leadership. And really what that is saying that if a leader is saying that they're authentic leader, they're saying they're self-aware. You have to understand both your own strengths and weaknesses, your values, and, you know, You have to be transparent. You have to treat people fairly. You have to provide accountability without hitting people over the head. People want to be treated fairly. I've never asked anybody to do anything I wouldn't do myself in this department. I don't think you'll find anyone to say anything negative in that space about my standards on being ethical and building relationships, not just with our officers, with people in the community, business owners, stakeholders, other stakeholders are, are nonprofit, uh, folks, uh, like respond and maps, um, building relationships and being authentic. Um, this helps with community policing. It enhances it. Um, officer wellbeing, um, chief infant has put that forward, uh, One of his first questions, Chief Penfield asked, always, no matter what conversation we're having is, how are you doing? How is your family doing? It's truly authentic. And, you know, I think we can create accountability. We have created accountability using progressive discipline. And, you know, towards that end, we're better service providers and people want to work here. It's been a difficult task recruiting and retaining people in this career field nationally. And, you know, Somerville is a very progressive community. And our number one asset here is our staff and our personnel. They're our biggest asset. That's how we make inroads with the community. And my views are the thousand foot view. It's very different being the deputy chief, even compared to a captain. The duties are very different. I'm up for the challenge. And, you know, I'd like to move some, help some of them move forward with Chief Benford's leadership and guide us in the right path.

Thank you. And just through your chair, I just want to make a commentary here that, you know, Interim Deputy Chief Levy, I've been in the U.S. in aggregate like about 15 years. So one of my early jobs, you know, my supervisor will ask me, well, how are you feeling? How are you doing? But they were not interested because by the time I tried to explain how I was doing, they almost got offended that that's somebody's job. Somebody's being paid to actually know how I'm actually really doing. So I'm not going to buy that statement that Chief Benford said, how are you doing? How are you doing? There's a standard response for that question. So you have to revise how you ask that question because nobody has the patience to just get to actually listen to you talk about how you're doing. In fact, that's the way I learned about the system. So maybe it's changing in your department, but I just want to give you my take about how... i tried to explain how i was doing and my supervisor got really it means that he has another problem to deal with because he was like running towards the meeting and then i have to get stuck with me trying to figure out like how to you know like deal with my own mental health so uh just just as a caveat but i'll be supporting you thank you for coming forward i'm excited about your candidacy thank you councilman appreciate it thank you

Other questions, colleagues? I guess I would just ask, you've been in this role as acting for a while now. You've also had a very long career in the department. Can you just tell us some of the kind of specific challenges that you see in this role compared to all the other roles that you played here?

Recruitment and retention, that's a big concern for us. And not just us, every department in this area, this urban setting. and how we're going to build out, become fully staffed so that we can get community policing off the ground so we can make inroads with that relationship building and that trust factor. That's what I see is our biggest thing to overcome. But we've been working hard at it. We're using an alternative hiring process now, in addition to the standard civil service practice. So we're really attractive now to the community Younger officers that maybe are already trained that work for a campus police department. They're highly educated. They're young. They bring progressive values. They have a different way of thinking. Gen Z is a very different police officer than when I first came on here and what was here. All they wanted to do was work, work, work. Gen Z, to their credit, they have found ways to find better balance with life. Um, they're not concerned with making $250,000 there. They, they want job satisfaction, um, and they find it in different ways than Gen X did. So, um, working with Gen Z, uh, we're basically preparing the future of policing, uh, in Somerville and, uh, across the land. And I think that's the biggest, um, thing we have to look at and is preparing these kids to be the new leaders. So it's a young person's job for sure.

Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Seeing no further questions, I'll move to recommend approval.

Great. I'm recommending approval of item number four, ID 25-1488, requesting confirmation to the promotion of Richard Levy Jr. to the position of police deputy chief. Counselor Mbah.

Yes. Yes.

Councillor Clingan.

Yes.

Councillor Strezo. Councillor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Chair Young-Kampen.

Yes.

All right. With that, that is everyone in favor.

Excellent. Thank you, Deputy. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you.

I appreciate the opportunity.

Excellent. Next item, please.

All right, item number five ID number 25 dash 1487 mayor's request referred for recommendation requesting confirmation of the promotion of Cassandra campers to the position of police sergeant.

Excellent.

Again, thank you, Mr. Chair, I greatly appreciate the opportunity. It gives me great pleasure to recommend Cassandra campus for promotion to the rank of sergeant. Off the campus brings 12 years of experience to the department. As the deputy mentioned, part of the role and the job that we have is to mentor our future professionals and our future leaders. And in SPD, one of the areas that we're extremely deficient in is in women supervisors, women in leadership. It has been a priority to try and create pathways for leadership with women. When we talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion, it's not just on a racial level, it's on a gender level. in a multitude of different levels to ensure that we can bring about greater equity. Certainly, Officer Campers has earned the opportunity to present and compete for this position before this committee, but it is truly a pleasure. Officer Campers is clearly a leader amongst her colleagues, and I believe that serving in the capacity of the sergeant is going to help position this department for the future as we welcome her as a partner and certainly use her as a steward and an advocate as we look to promote as well as encourage additional females to join the ranks of the SPD, but also those that are here take the supervisory exams so that we can help realize greater balance and equity at the supervisory ranks for females. With that said, Mr. Chair, I'd like to formally present our candidate, Cassandra Campers, for the rank of sergeant.

Thank you, Chief. Officer Campers, thank you for being here. Did you want to say anything before we open it up?

Well, thank you for having me. Good evening. Pleasure to be here.

Good evening. Colleagues, questions? Councillor Mbah.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair. I like, I think Officer Campos is ready to take that leadership. Like that's like a, like a whole the academic, in the academy. Like the salutations, you know, it looks pretty supervisory like. So, Officer Campos, I'm really excited to see, you know, your candidacy forward. I think, I don't, I'm not sure, you know, if I've personally interacted with you, but I'm really impressed about your background. I guess, what leadership qualities, you know, do you believe are most essential for a modern sergeant in community like Somerville?

Yeah, I think it's really important to have an open line of communication. I think communication is key. And then also just be approachable. I think I have that, and I think I'm the type of person that my colleagues feel comfortable going to and speaking with. So I think that that's the most important. But also communication with the public, which is of the utmost importance with police, especially in this day and age.

Thank you. I have one question for my sergeants and two questions for the superior officer. So I appreciate that response. Thank you, Chair. And I will be supporting you.

Thank you, sir.

Excellent. I'll ask the same question. I guess I'll probably just be asking everybody. What do you see as particular challenges in this role?

Yeah, I think it's a shift in mindset. Right now I'm a member of a team. I'm still going to be a member of that team. It's just I'm playing a different role. I'm going to be the leader. I'm going to be the person that people turn to when they need advisement, when they need help, when they need guidance. So I think just shifting to that mindset is definitely... challenging. I'm up to that challenge, but I think that that's going to be probably the biggest thing for me is kind of shifting that role and that mindset.

Yeah, I can imagine that. Well, thank you for that answer. Seeing no further questions, I'll move to recommend approval.

All right. I'm recommending approval of the promotion of Cassandra's campus to the position of police sergeant. Counselor Mbah.

Yes.

Counselor Clingan.

Yes.

Counselor Strezo. Counselor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Chair Young-Kempin.

Yes.

All right. With that, that is everyone in favor.

Excellent. Thank you very much for being here. We appreciate your service to the city.

Thank you for having me.

We'll take up the next item, please.

All right, item number six ID number 25 dash 1486 referred for recommendation requesting confirmation of the promotion of Patrick candy to the position of police sergeant.

Chief benford.

Thank you very much. Again, it gives me a great honor to recommend a. Officer Patrick Canty, for the role and promotion to the rank of sergeant. It really bears mentioning the unequivocal work that Officer Canty has done with our youth and working in some of our marginalized communities, particularly over in the mystics. He's extremely well respected in that community and with the young persons. He's shown a tremendous commitment to working with those young persons. And I look for that to be elevated on a leadership level and for him to not only use his informal leadership ability that he has, with his officers, but also amongst his peers, but to also use him now as a supervisor to help engender individuals to want to join us and really following his lead. Officer Canty comes from a long history of family members that have served in the law enforcement community. He has other family members that represent his family line in the SPD. It is certainly a pleasure to work alongside him. He's been extremely responsive to all the asks that we put on the table. He serves in a multitude of different specialty capacities and helping us meet our mandate. I think that it will be a compliment to the department and look forward to working with him and continuing to develop this department into the 21st century. It gives me great pleasure to present Officer Canty, recommended for the rank of sergeant before the committee.

Excellent, Officer Canty. Thank you for being here. Is there anything you want to say before the introduction?

I just want to say thank you for the opportunity. I'm really excited about it.

Excellent. Thank you for being here. Colleagues, Councillor Mbah.

Thank you. So good to see you, Officer Canty. Good to see you. I see you everywhere. I feel like when I saw your name, I was like, oh my gosh. You know, what took them long to have you over? Just, you know, like also like an expansive question. First, I'm really excited that I saw your name. I was like, wow, like this is like, ain't no way I'm going to take a candidate like this to executive session. So, but how do you plan to, you know, continue to mentor young officers, you know, like in community engagement practices? Like what is your, like, I'm sure you've really have, a very expansive understanding of the department, your broad knowledge and experience. How would you mentor the young officers? What approach would you use?

So I'm a believer in show me. So I like to set lead by example. And I like to show... show by example that these things are working. So when we first started out with the community police and working with the kids, we had a lot of doubt and nobody thought that they would welcome us or want us down there. And just by showing up and listening to them and have an open dialogue and answering questions. We mentioned earlier about transparency and policing. I think that's the most important thing we can do is be transparent and explain why we're doing things when we're doing them. But just having an open dialogue with the youth, I think that I can show the younger officers that this stuff really works. And if you believe in it and you commit to it, you can make a big difference.

Thank you. Thank you, Officer Canty. And thank you for your service to our community. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Counselor. Officer Canty, can you just tell us a little bit, what do you see as challenges to this new role? Sure.

One of the challenges I foresee is probably shifting from a peer to a supervisor, taking that next step of no longer being on the same level as the frontline workers. And you have to be able to be monitor their performance now, whereas before they looked at you as a peer, now you're a boss. And I think you have to separate the personal from from the work life. And I think that would probably be a challenge more. I've done it in other jobs, so I think I'm well versed in it, but for some of the guys who have seen me as their peer, now I'm gonna have to monitor their performance and provide like a constructive criticism without alienating them or making them mad. And I think just walking around those issues would be my biggest challenge.

Thank you for that. Yes, the public very much depends on those kind of awkward changes in rank sometimes. We are certainly all, you know, counting on supervisors in the department to do that. So thank you. Thank you. Seeing no further questions, the chair moves to recommend approval.

All right. On recommending approval for the confirmation of the promotion of Patrick Kinty to the position of police sergeant. Counselor.

Yes.

Counselor Clingan.

Yes.

Councilor Strezo. Councilor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Chair Ewen Campin.

Yes.

All right. With that, that is all votes in favor.

Excellent. Congratulations. And thank you for your service to the city. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Next item, please.

All right. Item number seven, ID number 25-1485, referred for recommendation, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Jason Costa to the position of police sergeant.

Thank you, Chief Benford.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Again, it gives me great pleasure to recommend Jason Costa to the rank and promotion to the rank of sergeant. Officer Costa has worked in a number of specialized units through some very difficult periods in policing. He has had to traverse that and has emerged as a much more refined police candidate and informal leader He is someone that comes into the role with great temperament, well respected amongst his peers. Additionally, as we look towards the future, I expect that we'll be able to rely on his plethora of temperament and demeanor, as well as his respect amongst his peers to help guide and mentor young persons. and new officers as they come into the department, convincing them to be partners with us and the community as we look to promote and move the department forward. Again, as I have with all candidates, Officer Costas worked very hard in emerging and arriving at this juncture to be a viable candidate, and it gives me great pleasure to recommend his candidacy for the rank of Sergeant.

Excellent. Is it Detective Costa? Is that correct?

It is.

Detective Costa, thank you for being here. Is there anything you wanted to add?

I'm just blessed and excited for this opportunity.

Excellent. Thank you for being here. Colleagues? Counselor Mbah?

Thank you, Chair. Detective Costa, good to see you. I'm also excited to see your name. As you probably noticed, all my questions are very dynamic, but the baseline is I'm excited to see every candidate, so nobody should be anxious. I just want to understand just how our officers, because you guys are our officers, so it's It's just good to walk through your thinking on how you approach some of these situations. So Detective Costa, so look, based on your rich background, how do you see the biggest challenge facing sergeants in implementing departmental reforms and accountability measures?

Yeah, well, we have to enforce policy. If somebody commits a policy violation, especially if it's something serious in nature, we have to go up the chain of command to address the issue, you know, and enforce progressive discipline. And then again, if somebody commits like a minor violation, a uniform violation or something, you know, pull them aside, you know, let them know what's going on, you know, comply with a policy. Then if the officer complies, then the issue is fixed.

Thank you, Detective Costa. What do you consider like a minor violation? Like, you know, what is that?

A uniform, missing a pin on your uniform or something like that.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. I'll be supporting you, Detective Costa. You know, you kind of like prob me again to think more when I hear about like violation. I'm like, okay, let me see like what is that, those minor stuff. But I see that makes sense. Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Counselor. Detective, can you talk about what you see as the challenges of taking this new position?

There'll definitely be more responsibility. There'll be challenges in mentoring and developing our younger officers so that they have a positive impact on our community. As our officers, the majority of them are very young now. So that'll be a challenge in itself. But I'm motivated for this challenge.

Excellent. Well, thank you. Thank you for stepping up. The chair moves to recommend approval.

On recommending approval for item number seven, the confirmation of the promotion of Jason Costa to the position of police sergeant. Councilor Mbah.

Yes.

Councilor Clingan.

Yes.

Councilor Strezo. Councilor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Chair Yuen Kampen.

Yes.

All right, with that, that is all votes in favor.

Excellent. Congratulations. Thank you for your service to the city. Thank you very much. Next item, please.

All right. Item number eight, ID number 25-1484, referred for recommendation requesting confirmation of the promotion of Joseph Tevis to the position of police sergeant.

Chief Benford.

The Chair, thank you again. Detective Tease is an invaluable member of the team. He is presently serving as one of our principals in the work that we're doing around evidence modernization being led by Deputy Levy. Detective Tease has shown an energy and a passion for accountability and wanting to move us and this department into the 21st century and being held at the highest levels of accountability and professionalism. He's been extremely patient in the opportunity while honing his craft in this area. I believe that his breadth of experience with detail and having to answer for each and every item that we put our hands on just as we're held accountable to the community is going to be an invaluable tool and asset that he brings to the role as he moves into this next position, presumably, if he is confirmed. I look forward to working with him. I look forward to him bringing his professionalism and his temperament to the role and helping us move the department forward again into the 21st century. And it gives me great pleasure to present Detective Teaves to this committee for recommendation to the rank of sergeant.

Thank you, Detective Teaves. Thank you for being here. Good evening. Thank you very much for having me. Councillor Imbaad, you want to kick us off again?

Absolutely. Thank you, Detective Thieves. Good to see you. Good to see you as well. I've known Detective Thieves for many years. You know, he's still my neighbor. I was really excited to see your name come forward. So thank you for your service for the community. Thank you. This is just, you know, as one of those, you know, like superior officers now, like, how would you promote, like, collaboration and communication between officers, you know, and residents to improve, like, public safety outcomes? Like, what would be your approach like?

I think one of the main things that people can focus on when they're dealing with the community is having an open line of communication between officer and the community for which they serve. When the community has a level of understanding what police officers have to deal with, they might grow to have a little bit more of a respect for the job itself. And vice versa, if the officers are listening to the community and they're talking to the community about safety concerns and stuff that troubles them, they might get a better understanding of what's going on within the community and might be able to foster ways that they could help improve the overall life of the people that live within the city.

Gotcha. Thank you. And again, excited to see you. I'll be supporting you. And thank you for your service for the city. Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow again in the neighborhood.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Chair.

So thank you, Counselor. Detective Thieves, what do you think about the challenges of this new position?

I think one of the main challenges that I would probably face is going from being a person who likes to jump in with both feet and get my hands in the middle of everything and helping and then you know, transitioning over to a role where you're delegating and you're letting other people do that. I've always been a hands-on type of person. I always like to work alongside my peers and my partners, even if it is in a supervisory position. And I've had a lot of supervisors that have given me leeway to actually accomplish goals on my own and allow me to experience the joys and the benefits that come from accomplishing a set goal. And I think it's a lot more impactful when somebody does something on their own as opposed to like, yeah, I did it, but my supervisor helped me with like 75% of it. I think that takes away from it a little bit. So I think that one of my biggest goals is just to be able to delegate without really getting my hands in there. I mean, obviously, if somebody is having an issue with a task that they have been set to, I would definitely be there to help, to assist, to guide them. but I would want them to complete as much of the task at hand as humanly possible. Therefore, they get the benefit of doing it and they get to experience that joy of completing something that was assigned to them. So I think that's probably going to be my biggest uphill battle is just being able to delegate and then take a step back without actually having my hands in the mix.

Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Seeing no additional questions, I move to recommend approval.

I'm recommending approval of item number eight, the promotion of Joseph Teebs to the position of police sergeant. Yes.

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. With that, that is all votes in favor.

Excellent. Congratulations. Thank you for being here. Thank you for your service to the city. Thank you very much. All right. On to the lieutenants. Next item, please.

All right. Item number nine, mayor's request ID number 25-1483, referred for recommendation, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Mark DeFava to the position of police lieutenant.

Chief Benford, please.

The Chair, thank you again. It gives me great pleasure to recommend Sergeant DeFava for promotion to the rank of Lieutenant. Sergeant DeFava, most recently over the past several years, has committed an enormous amount of professional and personal capital to helping this department realize reaccreditation. It is one of the jobs that is not highly sought after. It requires a tedious and a tremendous dedication to detail and working through mundane processes to ensure that this department is submitted to the best practices in policing to marry up with the stellar service that our officers provide. Officer, excuse me, Sergeant DeFava has done that with distinction and really oversaw us in conjunction with a number of other assets that supported him in helping this department receive reaccreditation. Throughout his career, Sergeant DeFava in service to this city, has paid their price, both physically and mentally, in service to this city, will forever be indebted for some of the sacrifices that he's made. I believe that he is going to be a true asset in his role as a lieutenant, and I look forward to working with him and continuing to mentor and learn from him, and also working in partnership with him and helping us move the department forward. It gives me great pleasure to present to this committee, Sergeant Tafava, again, for the promotion to the rank of lieutenant.

Thank you, Chief. Sergeant DeFava, thank you for being here. Anything you'd like to add?

Thank you so much for that introduction, Chief. Thank you for all the counselors for your time tonight. I really appreciate it.

And I do, I have a kind of general sense of how challenging the accreditation process is. So thank you for all your work on that. Counselor, did you want to start us? Sure.

Thank you, Chair. Sergeant DeFava, good to see you. It's another... You know, your face is no stranger before this concert. And I really appreciate your work. Like the chair said, I think, you know, there are all these intangible stuff that happens behind the scenes that nobody, you know, sees. So, Sergeant Defava, you want me to ask you one or two questions? Should I save the two questions for Captain Perrone or should I just start hitting, you know, because the last three, you guys are all heavy hitters here. So tell me, one question or two, this is not a lottery for you. uh whatever you want to counsel we'll go with the two i'll take the uh amazing amazing is it a chair you see when you get like a stellar officer okay you bring it bring it on okay so i and and again this is just you know um again you are our boys so it just kind of like it may help us understand your approach to like how you you you govern as a superior officer So, for example, how would you approach balancing administrative duties with active engagement in field operation?

Time management. With becoming a lieutenant, it's going to be greater responsibilities, heightened responsibilities, a greater workload. You have to find a way to balance the administrative side, but also kind of keep the relationship with the operational side of the department, the field services, as you will, the patrol, the backbone of the police department. So you have to just be very efficient with your time and, you know, know your limitations.

Excellent. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Sergeant DeFava. And one last one, since you asked for the second one. So what strategy would you use to cultivate departmental culture that values empathy, equity, and service?

I think that we could do a little bit better with training. We can always train our offices, build better relationships with the community, maybe enhance our presence on social media to kind of build that bridge to the community and, you know, just kind of let them get to know us a little bit better and,

I mean, like you nailed it. It's about like, and the fact that you even asked for two, like I had just one question I had to like say, let me spit this fireball. So thank you. I'll be supporting you. And I thank you for your service to the community.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Counselor. Can you tell us what you view as some of the challenges you're expecting in the new role?

Council, like I previously stated, so going into a new role as a lieutenant, there's going to be more responsibilities put on your plate. You just need to be efficient with your time. Time management is very key in this job. You have to know when to delegate certain items. I'm a person who, especially with accreditation, I like doing a lot of the things myself. As a lieutenant, I can delegate them to a sergeant or even down to patrol if necessary. But I just know that the greater responsibility is going to lead with a very heavy workload and just keeping track of time and deadlines and accountability you'll be successful at it.

Excellent. Yes, I get the sense that you will be successful at it, so thank you. Seeing no further questions, I move to recommend approval.

All right, on recommending approval of the confirmation of the promotion of Mark DeFava to the position of police lieutenant, Councillor Mbappé?

Yes.

Councillor Clingan?

Yes.

Councillor Streisand? Councillor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Chair Young-Kampen.

Yes.

All right. That is all votes in favor.

Excellent. Congratulations. And thank you for your service to the city.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Next item, please.

All right. Item number 10, Mayor's Request ID number 25-1481, referred for recommendation, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Rico Isidoro to the position of police lieutenant.

Chief Benford, please.

MR. CHAIR, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. IT GIVES ME A GREAT PLEASURE IN RECOMMENDING SERGEANT ISADORO FOR PROMOTION TO THE RANK OF LIEUTENANT. I WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT AS OVER THE PAST YEAR AS WE REALLY STARTED TO LOOK AT BETTER WAYS TO KEEP OUR COMMUNITY SAFE, WE HAD TO CHANGE POSTURE IN TERMS OF HOW WE WERE APPROACHING PUBLIC SAFETY IN A WAY THAT GAVE US THE STRONGEST POSTURE THAT WE COULD PUT FORWARD but not presented in a way so that individuals felt over policed but felt safe in being able to come into our city or come out of their homes and enjoy the community. Sergeant Isidoro met the moment. There were lots of changes and pivots that we needed to make. He never once said no. He doubled down, answered the call, follow the orders, but most importantly, became proficient and competent and knowledgeable in the areas that we were asking him to grow in. One of his stronger assets that we hear from colleagues that have worked alongside him and for him is that he's a very strong commander and will be a very indelible leader as he goes into this role. He continues to report, continues to perform at a high level. We're looking forward to him partnering with us and helping us use his plethora of experience in guiding some of our newer officers so that they, in turn, become future leaders and professionals for tomorrow. It gives me great pleasure in presenting Sergeant Isidoro to this committee for confirmation to the rank of lieutenant.

Thank you very much. Thank you for being here. Is there anything that you wish to add? All right, well, we can open it up for questions. Counselor Mbah?

Sure, Chair Ewen-Campen. Is the Sergeant here with us?

Yes, Sergeant Isidoro, you can hear us, right? I see Sergeant Isidoro is here, but he's not hearing us.

Sarge, have you unmuted?

Are you able to hear us? Are you able to hear us, Sergeant?

Mr. Chair, if at all possible, if you would be amenable and the committee would be amenable to taking him out of order, we can try and now work with him offline to see if his technology can be brought up.

Of course, yeah. We'll lay this on the table and take it right back up. Let's move on to item 11 in the meantime.

Item number 11, Mayor's request, ID number 25-1480, referred for recommendation requesting confirmation of the promotion of Michael R. Perrone to the position of police captain.

Excellent. Chief, maybe you just got busy trying to work with Sergeant Isidoro. Are you able to introduce the candidate?

Well, Mr. Chair, I'm here. Can you hear me?

Yes, we hear you.

Please. Okay. Thank you very much. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Lieutenant Perrone for the rank of captain. Lieutenant Perrone has been a tremendous partner and colleague in overseeing professional standards. He has clearly helped with some guidance of retired Deputy Chief Stanford, as well as others. He has really helped to elevate the level of expectation and professionalism coming out of that office. We both submit to and buy into accountability. however, leading with compassion and being fair in our approach. Lieutenant Perrone has worked very hard to position himself for this moment and for this opportunity. We believe that he is going to be a tremendous asset in motivating our younger officers, but also helping us to elevate our department, particularly through the lens of executive leadership. He continues to foster and embody professionalism. He continues to seek professional development It is clear that he is bound for and well-positioned to step into this executive leadership role with distinction, energy, and fervor that we need as we look to move forward. Mr. Chair, it gives me great pleasure to recommend Lieutenant Perrone for the rank of captain to this committee.

Lieutenant Perrone, thank you for being here. Is there anything you wish to add?

Good evening, Chair Ewan Kampman. I'm just so happy to be here. Somerville is my hometown. It's where I grew up. I've been part of this police department for 15 years. I've served in so many different roles. I was blessed with the opportunity to serve sort of from the ground up in new units, such as the community policing unit that we used to have in the Assembly Row area, up through detectives and through police. the superior ranks as a patrol sergeant detective sergeant i'm so happy to serve my community that made me who i am today and gave me all this opportunity truly blessed to be here with you tonight and happy to answer any questions that you may have excellent thank you for being here counselor Mbah you want to kick it off absolutely hey uh

Lieutenant Peroni, save us that editorial. When I saw your name, I knew that Chief Benford saved the best for last. You know, I've known Lieutenant Peroni for as long as I've been in the U.S., where he was my neighbor on Wheatland Street. So it's like, and I saved the most. Complex questions for you as since they've decided to bring us the finest in that department, I want to hear your vision. So, Lieutenant Peroni, what is your long-term vision for advancing, you know, police community relations and accountability within your command area?

So, just to touch on a little bit of what you said, Councilor Armbau, obviously you've been a great partner to me and our police department for a long period of time. We're living proof that we can have difficult conversations and really come up with some great ideas that are in the best interest of our community. I do think that in terms of challenges, I've obviously led the Office of Professional Standards for a significant period of time now through some really difficult times in this community. And I think it's so important for us to build trust and legitimacy. We're still in that process of building that trust and legitimacy within our community. I have seen that come around and I think it's been really important for our officers to get out and engage the community. And I know you and I have appeared together at community meetings last fall, and you've introduced me to some of your constituents, and I've listened to their ideas and brought those back to the department. We need to continue to do that because this police department can't function and can't deliver excellent service without being a true partner to the community. The community decides how, make no mistake, community decides how we police them. And it's extremely important for us to sort of further that here within the community. I do think that, you know, we do have to learn how to sort of tighten our belts and do more with less. And I think our offices are prepared to do that, especially as some of my colleagues have said tonight, we do have a young department that's extremely energetic and open to new ideas and doing things differently. And I think that I've been a leader to them sort of as I've risen up through the ranks here within the police department, and as we bring new officers online here in the future, I plan to continue to do that, continue to sort of foster that dialogue between the community and our officers. So I think that's the plan moving forward, and I look forward to working with all of you to do that.

Thank you, Lieutenant Perrone. I think, Chair, it would be unfair if I don't ask another question, even though I'm satisfied with this response. So let me just take another stab because I've asked all the lieutenants. I can't have a captain in front of me. I just asked just one question. So based on everything you said, which is like really comprehensive, and I appreciate hearing that, how will you measure success in aligning the department's goals with the city's broader public safety priorities?

You know, I'm going to answer, I guess we gave a complex answer to your first question, but I guess I'm going to answer it in a simple way. What I've started to notice as I've engaged with the public over the past couple of years, sort of as we've come out of some trying times where the community may have lost trust in its police officers, I've noticed that people are starting to engage with us again. They're starting to, you know, I don't wanna say show appreciation, but they wanna be more engaged with us and they wanna be part of the future of what public safety looks like. And as we start to work towards these goals like public safety for all and things like that, I think that The success comes when our community members want to engage with us and want to be part of the solution. And in my view, I measure that in part, and then I measure the satisfaction of our officers, seeing how our officers' morale has sort of built up over the last couple of years, seeing how they come to work every day. squared away and ready to go and happy to serve the community. So when you take those two things, the positive community sentiment with the boosted morale of our officers, I think we're really moving in the right direction as a police department.

Excellent. Thank you, Lieutenant Perrone. Really excited and thank you for your continued service to the community. Thank you, Chief.

Thank you, Counselor. So I guess, you know, Captain obviously is a public-facing role in a way that some of the other positions aren't. You know, I don't know if you view that as a challenge. I imagine that it is kind of a change, although, you know, obviously you interact with the public all the time. Maybe it's just more politician-facing, not so much the public. But can you talk a little bit about what you see as the challenges?

The challenges within the department?

No, of taking on this new role.

Taking on this new role. Well, I do think, as Deputy Levy mentioned, recruitment and retention. And I've worked extensively on that process over the last year of trying to bring in new offices. That's definitely a challenge. And it seems like we're always running uphill in that area. And that does put a strain on other roles. At some point or another, in an executive leadership role, I am going to be leading a unit that probably will be strapped for resources over a short period or a longer period of time. And I'm going to have to figure out how to contend with that. It's never been something I've ever run from. I've always been a problem solver and somebody who has been able to find solutions to those difficult problems. And I'm confident that I'll be able to do that in this role. As I said, I think we need to continue in our efforts to build trust and legitimacy within the community. I think as an executive leader, I think there's more layers to supervise. Every time you move up in rank within a police department, more units tend to fall under you. And I expect that that will happen. I am prepared to do that. As I've said, I've led this department through some pretty difficult challenges, such as the implementation of the Police Reform Act. We've reformed the way in which we handle professional standards. I think I've shown that I am able to take on those most difficult challenges. And last but not least, just understanding the resources that are available to us as executives. We have to manage those resources. And with that, I mean people and money. I am prepared to do that. I know you all have looked at my resume. I have worked in the finance industry in the past, and I think I've shown that I've been able to run units within the police department pretty efficiently.

Thank you for that. I appreciate it. Seeing no further questions, I move to recommend approval.

On recommending approval of item number 11, 25-1480, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Michael Perron to the position of police captain. Counselor Mbah.

Yes, please.

Counselor Clingan.

Yes.

Counselor Strezo. Counselor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Chair Ewan Kampen.

Yes.

All right, that is all votes in favor.

Excellent. Congratulations, and thank you for your service to the city.

Thank you so much.

All right. Chief, were we able to get Mr. Isidoro?

Yeah, I can assure you all that through a true team effort, we're in the background working now. It appears as though as a compromise, one of the prospective sergeants may put him on speaker where he should be able to hear hopefully the chair and the committee members post questions.

Great.

Can you hear us?

I see you coming on and off mute, but we don't hear you at the moment.

Officer Canty, are you able to get him live on the phone? I'll call him right now.

Stand by. All right, we'll try that way. Thank you all for your patience. I'm always patient, Mr. Chair.

I consider myself the most patient man alive.

Don't you think? Absolutely. I'm always saying that.

They can't hear. Can you hear me? Yeah. So you're on speaker. I have him on speaker.

Excellent. Thank you. Sergeant Isidoro, can you hear us? Okay, excellent. So Chief Benford introduced you already, and now we're going to just open it up for questions. Counselor Mbah, did you want to start?

Sure, Chair. Thank you for the opportunity. Lieutenant Sergeant Isidoro, so good to have you. We're grateful for your service to the community. I guess I have two questions for you. Hopefully, I will not have to repeat them, but if need be, I will do that. So I guess, how would you ensure consistent application of policies and procedures across different units or shifts?

Well, I would treat, first I would follow the policy by ensuring that everybody knows about the policies. entail and require. I'm treating the officers with dignity and respect. So when they go and deal with the public, they would also deal with the public with dignity and respect. I would make sure that the officers are doing their jobs and I'd hold them accountable if they weren't doing their jobs. First, I would do a progressive discipline if necessary. And most of the time, you can resolve the issue by just retraining the officers.

Yeah, I didn't really hear completely, but I think there's like some sense making in your response. So I will approve that. And so the second question I have for you is like, so what are your priorities for training and professional development under your command?

Well, I would treat the officers with dignity and respect. I would let them know that you want to treat the public the way you want to be treated, and that's with dignity and respect. Give them a voice when they encounter the police or any governmental agency. Trustworthy in your decision making. Be neutral and transparent in your decision making so that they know they're being treated fairly. And of course, always have trustworthy motives. So treat the public where you'd want to be treated.

Okay. Thank you, Sergeant Isidoro. Make sure you take Officer Canty for coffee tomorrow for talking through his phone. I'm all set. I'll be supporting your candidacy. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Counselor. Sergeant, I had a question. So I see from your resume that you've served as the Homeland Security and Special Ops Sergeant. Is that a position that requires interfacing directly with the federal government?

Well, we deal with the Boston... And we would deal with the government as far as getting funding, meeting their requirements, as far as making sure that we meet the requirements of different grants. And we also keep the paperwork and make sure that we get all that we can justify everything we did.

Okay, but it's not like a federal task force. I just ask this. This is something that I get a lot of questions from the public about now. See the phrase Homeland Security. I'm trying to understand that.

No, no. So what we do is like we get grants for the city, depending on which programs they have. We've got, of course, as you know, we've got grants like the Shot Squatter, gotten grants for different equipment that we have, you know, we gotten uh grants for um just you know we have to also maintain the equipment and uh you know prove that we still have it and you know through accounting and they'll come out and do their inspection but no we don't have any like you know so it's mostly grants and things we can use um you know cameras uh drones things that help the uh our security And also for natural disasters, I think just for, you know, if we can deal with natural disasters, we do planning. We work with our partners as far as other cities and towns, as far as responding to emergencies, such as, you know, floods, chemical leaks, that kind of thing.

Understood. Thank you. Thank you for that. Thank you for clarifying that. Seeing no further questions, I move to recommend approval.

All right, on recommending approval of item number 10, ID 25-1481, confirmation of the promotion of Brico Isidore to the position of police lieutenant. Councillor Imbach?

Yes.

Councillor Clingan?

Yes.

Councillor Strezo? Yes. Councillor McLaughlin?

Yes.

Chair Ewen-Campen?

Yes.

All right, with that, that is everyone in approval.

Excellent. Congratulations. And thank you to your service to the city. And to all the candidates. Thank you for your patience tonight. I know this was a long agenda. And with that, I move to take up the meeting minutes from the table and adjourn.

On meeting minutes and adjournment. Councilor Mbah.

Yes, please.

Councilor Clingan.

Yes.

Councilor Strezo. Councilor McLaughlin.

Yes.

Chair Young-Kampen.

Yes.

All right. With that, it is 8.01 p.m. and we are adjourned.

Thank you all. Appreciate it. Good night.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.