Possible vote on Tampa police review board nears

TAMPA (FOX 13) - The Tampa City Council could vote as soon as Thursday on the controversial police review board, proposed by an executive order by Mayor Bob Buckhorn.

The biggest players in the proposal, Buckhorn and council chairman Frank Reddick are still at odds over how many board members to appoint and who has the power to appoint them.

Buckhorn says the city charter gives him the executive power to appoint the board himself.  He wants 11 members, seven appointed by him and the other four by the council.

Yet Reddick wants the complete opposite. He believes the council should appoint the seven members, while the mayor should appoint the additional four. The two held a private meeting last week, where they discussed their positions, but they have failed to reach a compromise.

"I still stand firm and will not walk away from each member of the council being able to appoint one member of the board," said Reddick.

Reddick says it's important that the review board, which would look over police decision making, represent the community.  Buckhorn wants to ensure the board is not stacked with people who are anti-police.

"Transparency is a good thing. We want citizen involvement, but I want it to work, not just for a small minority of people who seem to believe what happened in Ferguson is epidemic in Tampa. It doesn't exist," said Buckhorn.

The measure will be debated in a first reading Thursday at the city council meeting.