By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A new effort to create an independent town board to review civilian complaints against personnel in Westport’s emergency services departments — the third attempt in three years — has been proposed to the Representative Town Meeting.

The proposal to approve an ordinance establishing “a Civilian Public Safety Departments Review Board” will get its first reading at Tuesday’s RTM session, which is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall auditorium. The proposal will face a series of RTM committee hearings before the full legislative body takes final action.

If the ordinance is approved, the new board would supersede the existing Civilian Review Panel, established in 2020 by then-First Selectman Jim Marpe. That panel is not encoded by ordinance and can be changed or disbanded at the discretion of the town’s chief elected officer.

Two earlier proposals to create an independent board to review civilian complaints against town police, fire and EMS personnel — first in 2021 and again last year — failed to win RTM approval after months of often acrimonious debate.

Under the new proposal, the review board would help “diversify hiring, oversee the investigation of civilian complaints, and evaluate opportunities to improve transparency and accountability,” according to the motion. It was submitted by RTM members Candace Banks, Noah Hammond, Stephen Shackelford and Claudia Shaum.

A particular flashpoint in discussion of the previous proposals was how much authority the review board would have to investigate complaints on its own, which Police Chief Foti Koskinas strongly opposed.

The new ordinance, after complaints are investigated by the department in question, would empower the board to “examine records, call for further investigation by the relevant department, evaluate the departmental investigation, and make recommendations to the relevant department.”

The new board would be composed using the same five-member format as the existing Civilian Review Panel, which now functions under the oversight of First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker.

Two of the new board’s members would be members of the Board of Selectwomen (not including the first selectwoman), joined by a member of TEAM Westport and two RTM-appointed members. The two selectwomen and TEAM member would be appointed by the first selectwoman.

After taking office in 2021 Tooker, adhering to the procedures set by Marpe, named Selectwomen Andrea Moore and Candice Savin, and TEAM Westport Chairman Harold Bailey Jr. to the existing panel. 

And, although she had authority to fill the panel’s two other seats, Tooker turned that job over to the RTM. However, that provision — and any other policy of the existing panel — can be changed by the first selectwoman.

The new proposal calls for the board’s membership and its authority to be set in the town’s code of ordinances, which only can be altered by RTM action.

The four RTM members co-sponsoring the ordinance “are attempting to codify what is already in place” and make the review board permanent, according to RTM Moderator Jeffrey Wieser.

“The main goal is to protect the citizens of Westport from any untoward behavior” by personnel in the town’s emergency services, he said.

Wieser was unsure if volunteers in the emergency services would be subject to the same board oversight as town employees. A majority of emergency medical technicians in Westport and a small number of firefighters are volunteers.

“That’s an interesting point. The committees of the RTM would have to discuss it,” he said.

Candace Banks, one of the proposal’s co-sponsors, said both volunteer and paid staff would come under the board’s oversight— a point made clear in the resolution’s language that would empower the board to review all complaints against “paid and volunteer” personnel.

Since the proposal before the RTM on Tuesday is a first reading only, it must pass through several RTM committees, including the Ordinance and Public Protection committees, before the full body votes. All four co-sponsors are members of the Public Protection Committee.

A civilian review board proposal has been submitted to the legislative body again, Banks said, because “people are looking for this oversight … I regard it as a win-win for the people involved, and for the people giving the services.” 

Many towns in the area already have a similar body to review citizen complaints and take action when necessary, she added. “Everyone calls it something different — not everyone calls it a review board. I’ve checked out neighboring towns. They all have some iteration that is to review if anyone has an issue” with emergency services personnel, she said.

Now that the Civilian Review Panel has been in place for several years and people can evaluate how it has worked, Banks said, it’s appropriate to consider adopting the concept as an ordinance. 

“If you really want to take it seriously, you have it make it permanent.”

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.

__________________________

The full resolution proposing establishment of a Civilian Public Safety Departments Review Board is attached below: