Editor’s note: The resignation referenced in this story is printed at the bottom of the story. Before the Syracuse police oversight board’s administrator filed her resignation Sept. 27, one of the administrator’s subordinates rebuked the administrator in a resignation letter of her own. In the letter, reviewed by Central Current, the employee accused former Citizen Review Board Administrator Ranette Releford of: Creating a toxic work environment Bullying and harassing employees Working two to three hours each day Pawning off job duties to other staff members Letting critical work stop at her desk“This is just a small piece of what goes on in that office,” the employee wrote in her resignation letter. “If you guys would like to discuss further for more details and specifics, please let me know.” The employee’s resignation letter, sent to city officials, sheds light on what may have led to Releford’s resignation and described the review board as leaderless, in disarray and ineffective. It’s unclear whether the allegations made in the letter have been investigated or substantiated. Mayor’s office spokesman Greg Loh declined to comment on the allegations made against Releford. Loh said the city does not comment on personnel matters. The employee, who Central Current is not naming, resigned Sept. 9. The months leading to Releford’s resignation appear to have left the CRB in a tailspin. By the time Releford resigned, the organization’s whole staff had also resigned.Earlier this year, members of the Common Council tried to gain more authority over the CRB, which is tasked with reviewing complaints against Syracuse police officers, because of struggles in the office. On Wednesday, the council again proposed legislation that would grant it more authority over the CRB, including being able to fire the administrator when the city’s personnel department finds “good cause.” Right now, that power rests with the CRB’s volunteer board. Releford, an elected member of the Syracuse City School District’s Board of Education, has not responded to multiple calls from Central Current requesting a response to the allegations. Releford did not reply to a text from Central Current, though a read receipt indicated she could have read the message. However, Common Council Public Safety Committee Chair Chol Majok said during an interview Wednesday that he became aware of the resignation letter with the allegations against Releford the same week the employee resigned. As the chair of the public safety committee, Majok has some oversight over the CRB. He leads a five-person committee — including Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens, CRB Board Chair Lori Nilsson and two other members of the CRB board — that can review the performance of the administrator. “For me, as the chair of public safety, it disturbs me,” Majok said of the employee’s letter. The allegations against RelefordRanette Releford, former Citizen Review Board administrator and Syracuse City School District Board of Education commissioner Credit: Syracuse City School DistrictThe resignation letter from the employee made broad-strokes allegations against Releford, but twice called out specific instances of how Releford’s actions affected CRB operations.They alleged that Releford failed to work enough, which affected the CRB’s ability to inform complainants whether a hearing would take place in their case. The employee also accused Releford of spending too little time in the CRB office, affecting the office’s ability to fulfill invoices on time. The CRB has relied on contract workers to complete investigations. Broader allegations against Releford written in the letter include: Creating a toxic work environment Bullying and harassing employees Working two to three hours each day Pawning off job duties to other staff members Letting critical work stop at her deskIt’s unclear whether these claims made against Releford were investigated or substantiated. But a meeting notice sent to members of the council’s public safety committee and the CRB board chair reviewed by Central Current shows that some councilors and CRB members were briefed Sept. 3 by personnel staff about complaints against Releford. In that meeting, councilors were told personnel complaints against Releford were substantiated, according to a source familiar with the briefing. The source did not divulge the nature of the sustained complaints against Releford. During an interview Wednesday, Majok said he was aware of substantiated personnel complaints made against Releford, however, he did not specify the contents of those complaints. When a reporter asked Majok whether there were complaints beyond the employee’s resignation letter, he pointed the reporter to the city’s personnel department. “No employee should feel that they are unsafe, that they feel uncomfortable like that,” Majok said. “There should be a proactive mechanism to build safety around employees.” When Releford initially resigned, she offered to stay on with the CRB through Dec. 31, according to a city spokesman. Ultimately, Releford was put on administrative leave and permanently resigned Oct. 8.   A board in crisisThe CRB currently has no paid staff working in the office. Complaints can still be filed with the board via email or mail. The volunteer members of the CRB’s board have at times filled in to receive those complaints. But the clock is ticking on the organization. It has to get its board members together to hire a new administrator. During a special meeting of the board Wednesday, some board members called out other board members for their lack of participation in finding a quick solution. Board member Joseph Favata laid out the issues at hand: While the CRB’s board is required to be involved in the hiring of the administrator, the board has struggled to get enough participation from members who want to be on hiring subcommittees, Favata said. Some board members didn’t reply to a message about the special meeting held Wednesday night, said board chair Lori Nilsson. Only four board members were present for the start of the meeting at 5:30 p.m. in the city’s council chambers. A few more trickled in as the meeting continued. “An extreme concern that I have: I’m looking around this table, and I see four of us here. This was a special session. It’s an emergency. We are hemorrhaging staff. We have no director. We have no staff at all. The board has a duty to step up right now. We have a duty to come together and find out how we are going to get through this crisis. The citizens need to know this, too. And that’s why we’re here. That’s why we called this meeting,” Favata said. “We called it so we can have an open discussion in front of citizens so we can say, ‘This is our plan going forward,’ or, ‘This is an idea of the plan we’ve got going forward.’ And we don’t have that right now.”Before the crisis, the CRB was already struggling. In April, the CRB’s problems — including a massive case backlog, failure to get enough members to meetings and the failure to publish yearly and quarterly reports online — led the city’s lawmakers to try to put the CRB under the city clerk’s and Common Council’s purview. The effort ultimately failed after the council approved the measure but Mayor Ben Walsh vetoed it. Right now, the CRB is unable to fully vet cases because of its lack of staff. That means some officers may not face discipline for complaints filed against them. Discipline for accusations of misconduct must take place within 18 months of the alleged misconduct, according to state law. Favata made a clear appeal to his fellow board members about the crisis in front of them at the meeting. “Our next meeting is in 15 days. We can’t wait that long for these (hiring committees). Every day that goes by, we have the possibility that an 18-month deadline is going to expire,” Favata said. “… We need all board members on deck here.” The council again attempts to take controlOn Wednesday, the Common Council again attempted to exert some control over the CRB, at least in part because of the complaints by employees at the office, according to Majok. Majok and the other three members of the city’s public safety committee — councilors Rasheada Caldwell, Patrona Jones-Rowser and Jimmy Monto — proposed legislation that would amend the law that created the CRB to explicitly state that its employees are also city employees. It would also give the council the ability to remove the CRB administrator if the city’s personnel department determined “good cause” for the administrator’s removal. Right now, sole power over removal of the administrator rests with the CRB’s board. The new legislation would allow both the board and, in certain instances, the council to remove the administrator. While Nilsson declined to speak about Releford, she did say she only became aware of the new legislation when she checked the council agenda at 11 p.m. on Tuesday. The council did not notify her of the proposed amendment, she said. The mayor’s office has so far declined to comment further on the proposed legislation. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said the city’s corporation counsel is still reviewing the proposed legislation. Majok contended that the legislation would create a safe space for future CRB employees to flag concerns, should there be personnel complaints. The legislation will be tabled at a council meeting Monday and could be considered at the council’s Nov. 12 meeting. “The city cannot be far removed from the CRB to a point that they are seen as if they are not city employees,” Majok said. “They have to be governed by the city.” The resignation letter:Dear Ranette and CRB board members, I would like to formally submit my letter of resignation effective immediately. I would also like to give you a little insight on my experience working at the CRB so that you guys can take this information and make the necessary changes to positively impact the CRB and future employees. While working at the CRB I experienced harassment and a hostile toxic work environment due to the actions and behavior of the current administrator which also led me to file a formal complaint with HR which I have never had to do at any other job. I will attach the complaint to this email for you guys to read. The reason I am disclosing this information is so that this will not happen in the future as no one deserves to go to work and be bullied and harassed by their supervisor and as a board you guys should know what is going on in the office on a day-to-day basis. The lack of supervision the administrator has allows her to abuse her power and take advantage of her employees. The CRB is a small department so it is understandable that we may have to do things outside of our job descriptions for the benefit of the CRB, but it is not fair for the administrator to come to work for 2-3 hours a day and pawn off all of her job duties on the office staff while we work everyday from 9-5 pm. Another issue is when the administrator is pawning off her job duties to the office staff and is never in the office a lot of our work stops at her desk. There are things we cannot complete without her signature and/or approval or her simply completing her part of the task and with her never being in the office those things fall to the wayside. For example, when I draft complainant no hearing letters there is a section that she has to complete and when she is only in the office for 2-3 hours and doesn’t complete her part, I can’t send out those letters in a timely manner. Another example is billing, I was tasked with doing billing and in order to submit an invoice for payment I need her signature which is very hard to get due to her always being out of the office. Those are just two examples, but it is disheartening because these things only harm the community we are supposed to be supporting and serving. It is ironic that we are “police oversight” but the administrator has no oversight. Again, this is just a small piece of what goes on in that office if you guys would like to discuss further for more details and specifics, please let me know. I hope that moving forward some of these issues will be fixed so that the CRB can be beneficial to the community as it is intended to and so that people will want to work at the CRB for more than one year. Very Truly Yours, (Name of employee not included)The post Inside the turmoil at Syracuse’s police oversight board appeared first on Central Current.