South Bend community police review board director Joshua Reynolds has agreed to turn over his past employment records to the common council.
That comes after the council rules committee unanimously voted last week to request or subpoena Reynolds’ employee records from his time as an Indianapolis Police Department and Butler University Police Department officer.
The resolution was scheduled to be up for a vote before the full council on July 26, but council attorney Bob Palmer announced during the meeting that Reynolds had voluntarily provided releases for his past employment records through his attorney, meaning no subpoena was needed.
The council requested the records following revelations earlier this month that Reynolds was suspended seven times during his work as an Indianapolis police officer.
Reynolds has since said he won’t resign after Mayor James Mueller said he should do so, and that some of the suspensions were due to mistakes he made. But he also alleged he faced retaliation and harassment after reporting two officers for misconduct.
The city finished taking applications for the nine-member police review board last Friday. During a July 26 community relations committee meeting, councilwoman Lori Hamann said the 33 applicants represent a wide range of careers and have a good distribution between council member districts.
None of the applicants are currently or were previously police officers.
There was a “pretty solid balance” between male and female, Hamann said. One applicant identified as Hispanic, while the other 32 identified as non-Hispanic white or Black.
Eighteen applicants are aged 36 to 50, eleven are older than 51 and four are aged 21 to 35. Only one is a Republican party member; the majority are Democrats followed by some Independents.
Under the ordinance that created the review board, City Clerk Dawn Jones is in charge of hiring the board’s director while the common council manages the board’s budget and appoints board members.
Due to Indiana state law, the common council cannot hire city employees. The council cannot dismiss Reynolds at this point, but it can investigate any city employee.
During the community relations committee meeting, council member Eli Wax introduced a resolution postponing the selection of board members until the issues surrounding Reynolds are resolved.
“I don’t think we should be starting this process right now,” Wax said. “I think it’s clear to all of us that we have outstanding issues regarding the director position right now, and so I do not think it would be appropriate to commence this process until we have the director position sorted out.”
Councilman Troy Warner seconded the motion.
Council members Lori Hamann and Henry Davis Jr. opposed the motion, and the board’s two community members were not present.
After deadlocking in tie, the motion failed after a tiebreaker vote from council president Karen White.
“I think it’s important that we do move forward,” White said.
Originally, the board members were to be seated in early August. But Hamann said that will happen later than anticipated because the council wants to have an executive session meeting to discuss the qualifications of applicants.
The council has not set a date for the meeting yet, but Hamann said she would keep the public updated on the timeline change.
Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.
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