City officials are seeking the opinions of city residents and business owners when it comes to potential police department reforms.

This week city officials are hosting a series of online meetings with residents who want to chime in on the New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative. The goal of the initiative is to increase communication between lawn enforcement and the community that requires citizen engagement in the process of recommending potential police reforms within the city.

People who want to participate in the online meetings are asked to visit the city’s website at www.jamestownny.gov to register or they can call the mayor’s office at 483-7600.

During the Jamestown City Council work session meeting Monday, Tamu Graham-Reinhardt, At-Large councilwoman, said the Public Safety Committee has been meeting with stakeholder groups to discuss the police reform initiative. However, she said the stakeholder meetings didn’t include all aspects of the community, so online meetings will be held at 1 and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for anyone who wants to participate in the stakeholder meetings.

“It will give people a chance to voice their concerns who haven’t had a chance yet,” she said. “The sessions so far have been good. People have been providing insightful information.”

Brent Sheldon, Ward 1 councilman, told The Post-Journal that six stakeholder meetings were held last month. The meetings can be viewed by visiting the city’s website. He said the meetings included discussions with nonprofit organizations; with members of the African-American community; local religious leaders; health care and mental health professionals; and school officials.

“We’re are opening it up to anyone this week,” Sheldon said. “The ones scheduled this week are for the general public.”

Sheldon said the next step in the police reform process will be to create a document with the comments made during the stakeholder meetings that will be submitted to the state. After that is completed, Sheldon said police department and city officials will create a reform plan, with a public meeting to be held in the future to gather input on proposed the plan. Once the reform plan is finalized, the council will need to approve it, which is scheduled to happen in February. Sheldon said the final plan needs to be submitted to the state by the end of March.

On June 12, 2020, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued an executive order requiring each local government in the state to adopt a policing reform plan by April 1. The order authorizes the director of the state Division of the Budget to condition state aid to localities based on the adoption of such a plan.