Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/239386
Sarasota News Leader January 10, 2014 Page 40 change each of the three duties outlined in the original law. The first change simply clarifies the verbiage, substituting "referred" for "brought" to describe how issues are put before the panel. It also adds the City Commission as a referring agency, to join the chief of police and city manager. The second change reflects the sex of the current police chief, adding "or her" in addition to "his" in describing the person in the position, as the current police chief is female. The real and sweeping changes are contained in the third section, which contains topics the group is forbidden to examine. Those taboos now include the Police Department's operating budget, personnel issues (including hiring and firing), discipline, resource allocation and "other day-to-day operations," as the proposed change puts it. Peter J. Abbott was police chief prior to the establishment of the Independent Police Advisory Panel. Photo courtesy City of Sarasota The latter amendment that will be under consideration Friday strikes out two words and adds two. For clarity, the proposed changes are capitalized. The current language says, "The panel shall NOT advise OR make recommendations to the city commission regarding matters that are not related to policy making but are more administrative in nature which would be the responsibility of the chief of police or city manager …" The proposed language under review by the group reads, "The panel shall FURTHER advise AND make recommendations …" The taboo topics in the original ordinance would become part of the panel's regular agenda. The proposed amendment adds one more topic: "administrative issues referred to The Sarasota Police Department headquarters is on Adams Lane in Sarasota. Photo by Norman Schimmel