The Legislative Department is comprised of the City Council, Office of the City Clerk, and Central Staff (policy analysts and budget support). The City Council is responsible for setting City-wide policy through the adoption of ordinances and resolutions, overseeing the Executive's implementation of policies and programs, and passing the City budget. The first City Charter, in 1869, established a seven-member Common Council. In 1890, the new City Charter created a bicameral legislative branch with a nine-member Board of Aldermen and 16-member House of Delegates. The 1896 Charter returned to a single body of 13 members elected from 11 wards and two at-large. As the number of wards increased, the number of Council members grew to 18 in 1907. A City Charter Amendment in 1910 reduced the number to nine, all elected at large, and made elections non-partisan. In 1946 Councilmember terms were increased from two years to four years. The Office of the City Clerk and the Office of the City Auditor became part of the Legislative Department in 1993. In 1999 the Office of the City Auditor became an independent department.
The seven-member City Council Advisory Panel on Police Accountability was established on October 22, 2007, by Resolution 31021. It was tasked with examining issues that have a significant impact on police accountability processes including legal rules and cultural dynamics. The panel was asked to identify any legal constraints, omissions, and/or ambiguities that inhibit police accountability in Seattle and review the current leadership philosophy and culture concerning police accountability within the Seattle Police Department. The panel began holding a series of public meetings on November 12, 2007 and subsequent meetings on November 26 and December 10, 2007. The panel was disbanded in 2008. The formation of this panel followed Mayor Greg Nickels' June 2007 appointment of an eleven-member panel charged with conducting a comprehensive review of Seattle's police accountability system.
Records in this series include the panel's charge, contextual information of Seattle's police accountability including reports from 1999 and newspaper articles from 2007, documents on the Seattle police accountability system including OPA and OPARB, panel members' biographies, minutes, presentation slides and diagrams from meetings, and information on the separate Mayor's Panel. Correspondence between panel members and emails with questions and suggestions for the panel, as well as a table of contents, copy of Resolution 31021, and the 2007 and 2008 Final Report are included. Items in the table of contents that are not in the collection include legal review, work plan, and contact information.
Records are open to the public.
[Item and date], City Council Advisory Panel on Police Accountability Records, Record Series 4610-04. Box 1, Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.