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City Council Meeting Minutes April 21, 2020 I trust you understand the power each of your positions gives you and hope that you take that power seriously tonight, that you think about the people most negatively impacted by our criminal justice system, and that in doing so you lead us into a more just community. I urge you all to vote yes to the Cite & Release Ordinance and, specifically, that you bring back community participation in the forthcoming Working Group, beyond just a 180 -second soundbite at Citizen Comment. In a letter addressed to Council ahead of the first vote two weeks ago, Austin Councilmember Greg Casar said the community stakeholder meetings were "critical to their policy's success" and specifically highlighted how critical it was that those meetings included community members who could push the City to be accountable to their goals. It's THIS accountability I am urging you to include. The criminal justice system affects most among us; many of us then are "community stakeholders". A Working Group without consistent, genuine input from people who have themselves been incarcerated and organizers who may be critical of the system will not work for this Ordinance. People who are formerly incarcerated who have seen for themselves what the system is actually like, from the literal inside and not just from the perspective of the people doing the incarcerating. Without those experiences being listened to and taken seriously, the work we all do to change the system meaningless. People closest to the problem are always closest to the solution. People who have actually been arrested by a San Marcos police officer, people who have themselves spent time in Hays County Jail, people who have been outsourced to other counties' jails - away from their loved ones; people who have actually lost their jobs and had their lives changed by even just a couple days spent in jail - these are the people who will always have the best solutions to the problems of our criminal legal system. If we define "community stakeholder" only as people enforcing our laws, then we're only going to be left with a system that continues to serve itself. As far as Mayor Hughson's wish to limit the types of IDs accepted, I'd add that San Antonio PD is not listing an explicit ID list, in favor of an open-ended policy. Austin's officer manual also allows for non-traditional forms of ID, such as library card, utility or rent bill, community organizational membership card, student ID, church ID, or other forms of identification that include an individual's name and address. As a former Library Board member, I hope we move toward expanding the library ID to include a photo so that everyone, regardless of income level, can have access to a useful government -issued ID. I hope you make the most just decision tonight. Alexis Duran: My name is Alexis Duran and I am a student leader with Texas Rising. I write to encourage you to vote YES! on the Cite & Release Ordinance. I believe that City of San Marcos Page 11