A group that is seeking to get a question on the March 3 city ballot that would set up a Chattanooga Community Control Board has until Dec. 2 to get enough signatures to make it go on the ballot.
The group needs to get enough names on a petition equal to 25 percent of votes cast in the last mayoral election. That would require 4,719 names.
The Election Commission on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for the petition drive, saying the correct wording was now in place.
However, commission members noted they were not expressing approval or disapproval of the 27-page document that would set up a board with much more power than the recently approved Police Advisory Board.
Commission members also said they were not vouching for the legality of the document.
They said even if approved and if found to have sections that go against state law, that it still could be overturned by a judge.
Also, a copy of the 27-page document will have to be attached to each petition page.
If enough names are gathered, it then goes on the March 3 ballot and citizens would then vote yes or no on the proposal.
The control board would have nine members, including six designated from the following groups: Community Control, Chattanooga Racial Equity Collective, the Concerned Citizens for Justice, Tennessee United, the Unity Group of Chattanooga and 10,000 Fearless of Chattanooga.
The Concerned Citizens for Justice recently made demands that charges be dismissed against local protesters and that prisoners be emptied out from the county jail and workhouse.
The proposal says the mayor "shall accept nominations from each of the six organizations. . . All board member nominations shall be approved by the Chattanooga City Council."
Those six at-large members would then get together and choose the remaining three members.
It says, "All board nominations shall be accepted and approved by the mayor and Chattanooga City Council."
The nine members would make the same salary as City Council members - almost $26,000 a year.
The office would have an annual budget of up to $1 million.
The board would have the power "to receive, investigate, hear, make findings and recommend action upon complaints by members of the public against uniformed and sworn personnel of the CPD that allege misconduct. . ."
The board could issue subpoenas while investigating the complaints, could require the police to turn over some its files, and could go out to the scene where alleged police misconduct occurred. It could also set up a mediation program to resolve issues relating to citizen allegations.
The proposal says, "The Board shall provide its findings of fact to the Chief of Police and, absent clear error, the Chief of Police shall accept those findings of fact. The Board shall also make disciplinary recommendations and the Chief of Police shall make all disciplinary decisions based on the Board's findings of fact, absent clear error, and consistent with the matrix and guidelines."
Police officers would be summoned before the board for "interviews."
Police are to provide to the board the number of stops made by police officers during the previous quarter broken down on such data as the race, ethnicity, gender or age of the person stopped, and give an explanation of the reason for the stop. Additional detailed information about the stops are required.
The board also wants to know quarterly the number of use of force incidents by the CPD and detailed information about those.
It says if the chief of police does not go along with a discipline recommendation from the board that he or she may be summoned before the panel to explain why.