(Updated) Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn’s office announced on Monday the names of his seven choices and two alternates to serve on the Citizens Review Board, the recently named agency assigned to review Tampa police producers and policies.
The announcement comes after the mayor and the City Council quarreled for over a month about how many selections each would get for the nine-member board plus two alternates. That issue was resolved when the council voted two weeks ago to have the mayor have seven selections, with the council getting four selections, a compromise of sorts proposed by Buckhorn, who originally proposed that the council have only two selections.
“These men and women represent a vast cross-section of Tampa’s most trusted and upstanding residents,” Buckhorn said in a statement. “Their diverse backgrounds as well as unique life experiences will be key in providing an objective and transparent review of cases as they arise. I am confident that these appointees will serve the city with integrity and responsibility.”
Here are Buckhorn’s picks:
The Rev. Dr. Bartholomew Banks, pastor at St. John Progessive Missionary Baptist Church. Rev. Banks has served in that position for the past 23 years. He’s also the current president of the National Baptist Convention of America International Inc., and president of Progressive Missionary & Educational Baptist State Convention of Florida.
Dr. Carolyn Hepburn-Collins is the former president and current at-large Executive Committee member of the Hillsborough County NAACP and is currently a clinical nutrition specialist at Tampa General Hospital.
Retired Judge E.J. Salcines, an appellate court judge serving the Florida Second District Court of Appeal from 1998 to 2008.
Lincoln Tamayo has served as head of school at Academy Prep Center of Tampa since its creation 13 years ago in the V.M. Ybor City neighborhood. Academy Prep Center of Tampa focuses on economically disadvantaged middle school students, 96 percent of whom have gone on to successfully graduate high school and 82 percent of whom subsequently enroll in college.
Robert Shimberg is currently an attorney with the law firm Hill Ward Henderson and chair of the Board of Metropolitan Ministries. He previously served as a prosecutor with the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office. He’s also the brother of Jim Shimberg, who served as Buckhorn’s city attorney in his first two years in office.
Two alternates were also named:
Lee Lowry, former Junior League of Tampa president, currently serves as director of development and communications at St. John’s Episcopal Day School. She is also the governor’s appointee on the Florida Human Trafficking Council.
Bemetra Simmons is BB&T’s Hillsborough County market president, a board member at Christian Brothers University and a board member of the Tampa Housing Authority.
Buckhorn had been criticized by City Council Chairman Frank Reddick and activists that with so many selections, the board would be a rubber stamp for his philosophy. And that’s exactly what happened, according to Tampa activist Kelly Benjamin, a member of the group Tampa for Justice.
“While all fine pillars of the establishment, [they] are all people who have long relationships with Mayor Buckhorn,” says Benjamin. “This confirms this Board is set up to fail to address the problems we have in our community that Tampa residents have articulated time and again at City Hall all summer. E.J. Salcines held the Bible and officiated at Bob Buckhorn’s swearing-in ceremony. Shimberg sat on Pam Bondi’s transition team and his brother was once city attorney. The public should know that. With such strong ties to the mayor, are these people able to be fair and objective in their findings or is this board set up to say: ‘Nothing to see here’? Mayor Buckhorn never wanted a Citizens Review Board, but once his hand was forced to create one, he’s been determined to stack it with his own people who would not go against his will or make the Police Department look bad even if it’s done something bad. This Review Board is a textbook example of defeating the purpose.”
“The mayor’s appointments to the Citizens Review Board are a huge step in the right direction,” Ward said in a statement. “This is an impressive and diverse group of people who are well known and have earned the respect of our community. I look forward to having the City Council select their appointments to this important board so we can continue moving forward.”
