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Incoming Public Safety Chair John Kennedy Advocates More Authority, Dedicated Staff for the Committee

Published on Thursday, June 11, 2015 | 5:56 am
 
Pasadena City Councilmember John Kennedy

Calling the authority of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, which oversees the city’s police, constricted and limited and its structure “anemic,” incoming Chair John Kennedy said Tuesday he is hopeful the city charter may be amended to give the Committee more authority.

Kennedy also advocated assigning dedicated city staff to work for the Committee, saying that through the budget process this month “such staff may be forthcoming.”

The Councilmember was named Committee Chair by Mayor Terry Tornek in public notices late last week. Kennedy has served on the Committee for the previous four years. The other members of the Committee appointed by Mayor Tornek are newly-elected Tyron Hampton and returning Committee members Steve Madison and Gene Masuda.

In a telephone interview during a trip to Alaska, Kennedy outlined a number of issues the Committee must confront when it begins work this term at its first meeting on July 20.

Kennedy chose to first focus on the Committee’s current limited capabilities and power.

“It’s my view that the Public Safety Committee has some serious constricting issues that the Council and the community must consider dealing with if it wants the body to be more than just a figure head,” Kennedy said. “I’m hopeful that there may be an opportunity of changing the charter to give the Public Safety Committee more authority.”

Although the Committee “doesn’t have the power that so many of the community might think it does,” Kennedy said, “it seems to me that this is a Committee that is doing serious work on behalf of the full Council and the community.”

As Chair, Kennedy will have the power influence the Committee’s agenda. In Tuesday’s interview, the Councilmember spoke about a number of issues and topics within the Committee’s purview: oversight of the Pasadena Police Department, the use of body cameras by police, police compensation, the possible purchase and deployment of Advanced Life Support ambulances by the Fire Department, and the renovation or reconstruction of fire stations throughout the city to meet state building codes.

Kennedy said he hopes for more public involvement the meetings, which typically attract a small number of followers.

“I think the Public Safety Committee needs to be a forum for the residents and constituents of all the Council Members to be able to bring their concerns,” he said.

In the end, he said, the whole objective is to make Pasadena the safest community in the nation.

“That’s our objective,” Kennedy said, “whether be at the Public Safety Committee level or the City Council level, that’s our objective.”

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