If the mayor and Board of Aldermen are going to learn more about the city’s plan to fight gang violence, they’re going to have to wait at least one more meeting.
Ward 1 Alderman Gary Fratesi was vocally frustrated during last Thursday’s meeting when IPD officer Regina Simpson did not show up for the third time to give a report to the city leaders about a gang violence training seminar she attended, despite being asked to do so when the board approved her travel expenses.
“This is the third time she’s refused to come,” Fratesi said. “Do we need to do this in personnel, or do we need to do this in-person?”
Apparently, Simpson has been on the agenda for multiple weeks but has not appeared before the board, but the issue was raised as to whether or not a single alderman could demand she show up and then punish her if she did not.
Ward 5 Alderman Sam Brock said he thought it amounted to a communication problem between City Clerk Kaneilia Williams, Interim Police Chief Earnest Gilson and Simpson.
“The ball has dropped between clerk and chief somewhere. It’s not coming around like it’s supposed to,” Brock said. “(We don’t need to) call her on the day of the meeting. Give her a notice two days before the meeting, and if she doesn’t come, then we have stipulations to write her up or whatever we need to do. We can handle that.”
Williams responded, “On several occasions, I reached out to the chief and Regina way before the meeting to let her know that she was on the agenda. That’s all I was supposed to do, and I did that.”
Ward 4 Alderman Marvin Elder then suggested the matter be discussed in executive session.
“No, no, not today,” Elder said, as others began to talk at the same time.
“No cross talk,” Mayor Steve Rosenthal said. “We’ll move forward and discuss it in executive session.”
“Thank you, mayor,” Elder said.
Jyesha Johnson contributed to this report
