The Oklahoma City Council approved the creation of a Community Public Safety Advisory Board. The body will review police complaint investigations and processes.

The new Community Public Safety Advisory Board is one of 39 law enforcement reforms recommended to the city in response to 2020 calls for change. It replaces the two-decade-old Citizens Advisory Board.

The new board’s mission emphasizes communication and transparency with OKC residents about police complaints. Meetings will be public and their schedules and agendas will be available pursuant to the Oklahoma Public Meetings Act, said Andrea Grayson, OKC Public Safety Partnership implementation manager.

OKC’s eight councilmembers will each appoint a resident from their ward to serve on the Community Public Safety Advisory Board. Mayor David Holt will appoint a resident to lead the board. Members will serve two-year terms and have four-year limits.

Council voted on the Community Public Safety Advisory Board’s creation last week, but not without contention.

Councilmembers voiced questions about the board’s ability to deliver accountability.

Councilmembers Nikki Nice, James Cooper and JoBeth Hamon asked for the vote to be deferred, seeking more time to clarify the board’s purpose, name and operations. The councilmembers also asked Mayor David Holt to meet with them before voting again. Holt declined.

“We can't even get our own mayor to work with us and talk through some of these things that we're asking for,” Nice said. “And that speaks to even our residents who also can't get this accountability that they have asked for and have needed.”

Holt later responded that he was “accountable every four years.”

Council approved the board 6-2. It will work to form the Community Public Safety Advisory Board through this fall.