Eugene City Council addresses police commission turnover, updates council rules

Eugene city councilors discussed member turnover on the volunteer Police Commission and approved updates to council operating agreements during a Monday, Oct. 13, work session.

Police Commission Chair Emeilia Foulkes and Police Chief Chris Skinner presented work completed in 2025 by the 12-member citizens’ board, which advises city leadership on police policy. Turnover within the body — four commissioners resigned between July 2024 and June 2025, plus the former chair in August 2025 — came up repeatedly during the discussion.

Former commissioners Jacy Price and Tina Thorson left in January due to relocation, Silky Booker resigned in February, and William Parham stepped down in May.

“Despite losing four integral members, the commission was able to meet quorum and continue to proactively work on their FY 2025 priorities,” the annual report states. 

Parham left after voicing concerns of bullying behavior from fellow commissioner Jack Radey, who said his conduct was not offensive or intimidating. Booker, who also sat on the subcommittee, didn’t immediately return a request for comment from Lookout Eugene-Springfield.

Former chair Jensina Hawkins resigned months later, citing “alienating, offensive and intimidating” behavior from an unnamed fellow commissioner and the city’s inaction in addressing it.

During Monday’s meeting, councilors Jennifer Yeh and Randy Groves — both members of the commission — thanked Foulkes for taking the helm after Hawkins’ departure.

“It’s been rough for all of us, losing our chair and a lot of changes on the commission, but she’s sticking with it and being our rock and holding us all together,” Yeh said.

Councilor Matt Keating thanked Hawkins for her service, then asked Foulkes what commissioners learned from the bullying and harassment allegations Hawkins raised before resigning.

Foulkes said members are working to have more “honest conversations” when disagreements arise, as the member involved hadn’t realized the harm caused. She added that she is learning to “call out” microaggressions as they occur.

“I can personally say it seemed like those conversations didn’t entirely happen, and not to put anyone in any position, but the individual that you may be referring to wasn’t completely aware of what was happening or maybe the harm that they were causing,” Foulkes said.

Skinner said the experience exposed a “vulnerability” across city boards and commissions: the lack of a clear process to handle conflict among volunteers, especially when it occurs over email and text messages outside public meetings.

He said members must keep communication open and create safe spaces for reporting inappropriate behavior. The city also needs a mechanism to investigate concerns, since councilors can remove volunteer members only with “robust” evidence.

“In this particular case, we didn’t have that, didn’t have the mechanism to do that,” Skinner said.

Hawkins responded to the remarks during public comment two hours later. She said her resignation didn’t reflect her opinion of Eugene police or Skinner and thanked Foulkes for stepping into the chair role.

“I am encouraged by the changes that have been made and have been addressed at the city level,” Hawkins said. 

Reached for comment, Radey said: “If it is city policy that disagreement with expressed ideas constitutes bullying, threatening, and abusive conduct, then I plead guilty. I was under the misunderstanding that commission members were to express themselves, even if they disagree with others.”

During the police commission’s last meeting, Radey expressed his “deep regret” at the commission’s loss of members who had resigned.

Foulkes also outlined policy reviews planned for the next two fiscal years, organized in the FY 2026-27 work plan. The top three were Eugene Police Department’s policies on immigration; Police S.T.O.P.’s, which refers to policies to prevent profiling and bias-based policing; and the department’s procedure on sexual assaults and stalking incidents.

Foulkes said the policy review on immigration policies was already completed, on Sept. 11, according to meeting minutes. 

Eugene police’s policy on license-plate readers, a flashpoint at public meetings since the cameras were installed in May, remains a “parking lot item,” meaning it’s not a top priority but will be discussed later.

“We have recently at our last meeting, adopted a basis of policy for that,” Foulkes said, referring to the commission’s Oct. 9 vote to approve the existing license-plate reader policy, though there may be future revisions due to contract changes.

Police commission’s power?

Councilor Mike Clark asked Skinner to clarify the Police Commission’s role, noting he has recently heard expectations and assumptions from constituents. The police department didn’t consult the commission before installing license-plate reader cameras, which surprised some members.

In response, Skinner said the commission determines the policy that governs police’s strategy, tactics and operational approach.

“Just because we have, may have some police commissioners maybe not all in on the [license-plate reader] technology, doesn’t mean that they’re not all-in on trying to at least build a good policy in the event that it’s going to be a part of our operational strategy,” Skinner said.

Groves echoed Clark’s point, saying the name “commission” gives the public a misleading impression of authority.

“When I talk to people, they’re expecting Tom Selleck on ‘Blue Bloods,’ and that’s not what they’re getting,” Groves said.

Council operating agreements

Councilors also approved staff-proposed changes to the governing body’s operating agreements, last updated in October 2023, with broad support.

They include extending notice for regular meetings from 24 to 48 hours to align with changes to state law, renaming “Public Forum” to “Public Comment,” and clarifying language surrounding expense reimbursements to explicitly include phone and internet charges as eligible expenses.

Councilors also approved eliminating the petty cash section in the agreements because the city manager’s office no longer maintains cash on hand, updating language and graphics to reflect a two-year rotation cycle for council seating assignments and removing an outdated reference to a repealed resolution and replacing it with the current 2023 policy. 

Council-proposed changes drew more disagreement, but with little time left in the meeting, councilors tabled those discussions.

Topics included whether to continue prioritizing speakers representing city boards, commissions and neighborhood associations ahead of other members of the public — a practice that began under former Mayor Kitty Piercy but has never been written into the agreements. 

Groves supported changing the rule to prioritize residents who haven’t spoken recently, noting some leave meetings before getting the chance due to personal commitments.

“It seems like we hear from a lot of the same people week after week saying virtually the same thing,” he said. “I’m wondering, is there a way that we could equitably spread that wealth out a little bit and prioritize people who haven’t spoken in, let’s say, a given month?”

Yeh and Councilor Eliza Kashinsky acknowledged the logistical challenges of creating new rules around public comment.

“The only way to solve [the problem] is to not have a time limit and just let everyone talk,” Yeh said. 

Councilor Alan Zelenka argued to keep the current practice: “Those folks give a heck of a lot of time and effort to the city already, and we want to make it as efficient as possible for them to be able to officially come to us in their capacity as a chair.”

Councilors also revisited a 2023 pilot policy requiring in-person public comment at the end of meetings, with written comments accepted by email. 

Because councilors must consider Consent Calendar 2 items — usually annexations and land-use decisions — after public comment, per the operating agreements, most councilors supported scrapping the pilot policy.

“It’s always been important to make sure that any annexation that we’re going to vote on in the consent calendar comes after the public forum, so that if somebody wants to object to it for whatever reason, we at least give them the chance to be heard,” Clark said.

Keating noted that “unruly behavior” has at times forced early adjournments, which could derail discussion of agenda items scheduled afterward.

City Recorder Katie LaSala, who presented the proposed changes, said the council could potentially list unaddressed agenda items at the top of the next meeting.