Page 7 - Florida Sentinel 7-2-21

Feature
City Council Chair Says Compromise Was Best For CRB; Ordinance Signed Into Law
BY GWEN HAYES Sentinel Editor
After an intensive exchange on Thursday, June 17, 2021, the Tampa City Council voted 4-3 to pass leg- islation creating a 5-5-1 Citizens Review Board (CRB).
City Councilman Orlando Gudes, Chair of the City Council, said that many community activists were upset with the vote, but he felt it was best to keep the City from getting into any legal battles.
The City Council has been wrangling with the CRB and the community for several months now. Back in February during a first reading, the Board voted 5-2, to keep the CRB members at 7-4. The Council would name 7 members to the Board and the Mayor would name 4. Council members Charlie Miranda and Luis Viera did not support that set up, neither did the Mayor. Gudes told fellow Bouncil members he wanted to sit with the Mayor to discuss a compromise, which led to the 5-5-1.
After a second reading on Thursday, June 17,
ORLANDO GUDES ...City Council Chair
MAYOR JANE CASTOR
pire, new people will be added.
“I believe we’ve spent more than enough time on
this. Representing District 5, I have a lot of issues going on. The housing moratorium is about to expire and people will be getting evicted. Our City attorney said that we could stand to be in a legal battle with the Mayor and we don’t need to use money for that when people are losing their housing. The citizens can vote on a charter amendment later to make any changes in the language. I felt that it was better to compromise so that the current Board could move forward. Any other misgivings can be taken care of as we move along,” he said. “We will be watching and monitoring issues as we move along.”
When he was first elected to City Council, Gudes made the motion that the CRB needed to be strength- ened. In spite of the criticism Gudes says he has been receiving, he favors the CRB.
On last Thursday, Mayor Castor, Council Chair Gudes and others gathered for the signing of the ordinance, which takes effect on December 17, 2021.
2021, the Board adopted the 5-5-1 set-up for the CRB. The Mayor selects 5 individuals, the City Council se- lects 5 and one Civil Rights organization, which in this case would be the Hillsborough County Branch NAACP, will select one. That person would need ap- proval from City Council and the Mayor. Council members Bill Carlson, Guido Maniscalco and John Dingfelder voted against the 5-5-1.
No new members are being added right now, Gudes said, but as the terms of board members ex-
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