Aurora Mayor Nominates 9 For Police Civilian Review Board

AURORA, IL — Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin on Tuesday nominated nine residents to serve on the city’s inaugural Police Civilian Review Board.

The city received 134 applications for the board, with Irvin naming 40 semifinalists in January. Irvin worked with Aurora aldermen, boards and organizations to trim that list to 20 finalists, who were each interviewed by the mayor, city spokesperson Clayton Muhammad said Tuesday.

• Jacqueline Gibson, principal of East Aurora’s Cowherd Middle School
• Kim Bright, a retired administrative law judge
• Dr. Timothy Brown, a retired clinical psychologist who specialized in fitness-for-duty evaluations of police officers
• Dr. Vincent Gaddis, a college professor for more than 25 years
• Ginger Ingram, an entrepreneur and community volunteer
• Lily Rocha, a regional nonprofit manager
• Andrea McMillian, information technology and innovation manager
• Curtis Wilson, a clinical trials research professional
• Rajesh Char, a digital marketer

The City Council must approve Irvin’s nominees before the board can get to work.

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Officials are looking to stagger terms on the board to avoid the potential for complete turnover every three years, meaning members of the inaugural board will serve terms of varying lengths.

Three of the nine members will serve three-year terms, three will serve two-year terms, and three will serve one-year terms. All future appointments will be for three years.

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Muhammad noted the nominees are representative of Aurora’s diversity and are “a very strong group to build the foundation” for the city’s new Police Civilian Review Board.

The review board is a major component of Mayor Irvin’s CHANGE initiative, which he announced in early June in the wake of a large protest set off by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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The board will accept complaints from residents about police misconduct, but city officials have made it clear the board is not an investigative body, with much of the Aurora Police Department's complaint-review process to remain the same.

Aurora's Office of Professional Standards receives and investigates complaints against officers, acting as a "fact-finding body" for the police department, Aurora's corporation counsel Rick Veenstra has said.

The OPS sends its findings to police commanders, who recommend disciplinary actions to Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman. An employee review board made up of Aurora police officers also reviews the investigation to recommend potential discipline.

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Ziman is the only person who can discipline officers under the terms of a collective bargaining agreement between the city and police union, according to Veenstra. Any recommendation to fire an officer must be approved by the city's director of human resources, he said.

The civilian review board will review OPS investigations into complaints after police commanders and the employee review board make their disciplinary recommendations, the proposal shows.

The nine members of the board would also review those disciplinary recommendations before making its own recommendations to Ziman. Officers facing discipline would receive a hearing before the chief issues a decision.

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