Loveland’s City Council on Tuesday tensely debated and ultimately approved on a split vote the creation of a citizen commission that could make policy recommendations in the wake of Karen Garner’s arrest, as suggested by mayor pro tem and councilor Don Overcash.
Overcash presented his proposal one day after sharing it with the Police Citizen Advisory Board and Reporter-Herald. The group would be made up of 16 citizens whose participation would be approved by the council once they are selected through an application process that would be designed by the mayor, mayor pro tem and an outside consultant.
In September 2022, the commission would present to the council its final recommendations for “action steps” to restore the “wounded trust” caused by the Garner incident. Overcash also proposed that the commission could implement steps before then, but it was not clear the extent to which members would be able to commit city resources, including staff time, or overhaul existing policy.
After making his proposal to the council, Overcash quickly came under fire from councilors Rob Molloy and Andrea Samson, who accused him of using the controversy ignited by the arrest to benefit his 2021 mayoral campaign.
“I feel that councilor Overcash has taken advantage of a crisis situation to promote his own campaign for mayor,” Molloy said, adding that he was planning in April to ask that Overcash step down from his role as mayor pro tem. “I applaud the position of putting this commission together, but I think that councilor Overcash should take himself far away from this.”
A proposal by Molloy to eliminate the mayor pro tem’s role in the formation of the commission failed 3-6, with himself, Mayor Jacki Marsh and Samson in favor.
Samson then asked Overcash how much establishing the commission would cost the city, including hiring a consultant.
“Do you believe this has a value beyond a monetary cost?,” Overcash responded. He and Samson began talking over one another.
“Excuse me, I asked you a question, I need a response. If you want me to answer your question, we need to play as adults,” he continued.
Marsh stepped in to criticize Overcash’s response as a “non-answer,” and after another back-and-forth, the latter said he has not developed a cost estimate.
Samson called Overcash’s proposal a “monstrosity,” questioning whether it was appropriate to present to a city board before showing it to the council and suggesting it would burden city staffers, who are already grappling with a wave of citizen comments and complaints.
“I think this is an unprecedented time of crisis,” she said. “Our staff is totally inundated and burdened right now with the crisis that is going on in our city.”
Overcash responded to another question from Samson to stress that the commission will be led and accountable to the citizens of the city.
“This is a citizens’ board. This is not a council board,” he said.
“I think what we’re experiencing right now for the last 15 minutes is politics as usual,” he added, then stopped as councilor Samson smiled and laughed.
Marsh grilled Overcash on activities such as fishing and golfing that he acknowledged engaging in with police chief Bob Ticer.
When asked how many times he had seen Ticer outside of council meetings over the past year, Overcash at first refused to answer but later estimated he had met with Ticer, City Manager Steve Adams and Deputy City Manager Rod Wensing between 12 and 15 times over the past five years.
He also called Marsh’s questioning “totally inappropriate.”
“I make a point of communicating with anyone in our city who wishes to communicate,” he said. “I believe you are planting a very divisive conversation right now.”
Councilors John Fogle and Richard Ball both spoke in favor of Overcash’s proposal Tuesday night.
“I think this commission could get back the trust that we’ve lost, and I hope also that it would get back some respect for our own council and our community,” Ball said.
“They want us to get off our fannies and get something going,” Fogle said. “I think this commission could be a bold first step toward us doing something new in Loveland. Anybody who tries to vote against this, I would really like the community as a whole to take a look at why.”
The council voted 6-3 to establish the commission, with councilors Molloy and Samson and the mayor opposed.
This story will be updated.
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Loveland council engages in hours-long showdown over creation of ‘community trust’ commission - Loveland Reporter-Herald
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