AKRON, Ohio — For the second straight meeting, Akron City Council failed to pass legislation to seat the city's voter-mandated, citizen-led police review board.
During Monday's contentious meeting, council voted 6-5 with one abstention to approve the list of candidates. At least nine votes were needed to approve Donzella Anuszkiewicz, Imokhai Okolo, Diane Lewis, Caitlin Castle, Robert Gippin, and Kemp Boyd.
Mayor Dan Horrigan has submitted Beverly Richards, Tristan Reed, and Shawn Peoples as his nominees. That trio will need council approval by a simple majority.
Back in November, around 62% of Akron voters said yes to Issue 10. The passed measure ordered Akron City Council and Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan to create new rules for a civilian police oversight board and police auditor this year. The deadline for the panel to be seated was Feb. 27.
The hot-button issue is the candidacy of 27-year-old Black attorney Imokhai Okolo. His past social media posts referring to the Akron Police Department as "pigs" in Jayland Walker's shooting death resurfaced during last week's meeting and continues to divide the council.
One of the councilmembers who voted no was Donnie Kammer of Ward 7, who missed last week's meeting. Kammer stated he was voting no due to "campaign contributions that have been made to councilmembers that are really pushing the agenda for the citizens review board."
Ward 8 Akron City Councilman Shammas Malik responded that Okolo had donated to his campaign, but added that "no contribution that has ever been made to me has ever influenced a single thing I have done here."
Many residents spoke up on behalf of Okolo and against the council during the public comment session of the meeting.
"Enough is enough. This council is completely broken," shouted Vincent Taylor. "If this council is broken, our city is broken. We can't agree on a simple review board. Why? Because of one man." Taylor would go on to essentially accuse the council of "institutional racism."
You can watch the entire meeting below:
"The citizens of Akron do not have confidence in you," Stephanie Baker added. "We come every week. You are not listening. The citizens believe in Mr. Okolo because his lived experience makes him valuable to the board."
Also last week, the Akron Fraternal Order of Police issued a vote of no confidence for Akron City Councilwoman At-Large Linda Omobien after she referred to Walker's fatal shooting as "murder" at the hands of police. She made the remark while speaking in support of Okolo's board nomination.
Omobien responded to the controversy with an apology during the voting process.
"I accused the police officers of murder, that was a poor choice of words," she explained. "I did change it to say that he (Walker) was killed at the hands of police."