Columbus is looking for residents to help oversee a forthcoming voter-backed program that will send clinicians, rather than police, to some emergencies like mental health crises.
Applications are open through Oct. 23 for the inaugural 15-member Community Crisis Response Advisory Board. Community members interested in serving on the board can apply on the city's website.
City Hall opened applications on Oct. 6, about three weeks after Chana Wiley, co-chair of the Columbus Safety Collective, the group behind Issue 5, raised concerns the city wasn't moving fast enough to implement the voter-OK'd plan. Now, council and Mayor Andrew Ginther plan to appoint the board in early November with the goal of the board holding its first meeting by the end of November,
according to a council press release.
"I’m impressed that they did move with a sense of urgency and the applications are live," Wiley told The Dispatch on Oct. 7. "I’m just really excited and encouraging folks to get those applications in."
Wiley has lobbied City Hall for alternative crisis response since her younger brother, 36-year-old Jaron Thomas, died in 2017 days after Columbus police responded to his call for help. The coroner's office ruled the death an accident caused by cardiac arrest and cocaine toxicity.
Columbus Issue 5, which won with about 77% of the vote, committed the city to begin operating non-police crisis teams by February 2028 and making them available around-the-clock by Feb. 1, 2030.
But first, the ballot measure requires the city to set up an advisory panel on alternative crisis response to oversee the new program and existing alternative response programs, such as the city's pilot program that sends clinicians in tandem with police. Columbus City Council passed legislation in June that committed the city to setting up the board by the end of November.
The Ginther administration and council had to work together to finalize the application for the board but communication between council and the Ginther administration has been strained for months. Council President Shannon Hardin is challenging Ginther in the 2027 mayoral race. Both politicians, though, have expressed support for alternative response initiatives.
On Sept. 21, the Columbus Department of Health approved application language, according to a spokesperson for Ginther. That was a week after Wiley came to City Hall to voice concerns about delays but two days before The Dispatch reported on the stalled application.
Government and politics reporter Jordan Laird can be reached at jlaird@dispatch.com. Follow her on X, Instagram and Bluesky at @LairdWrites.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus seeks residents to oversee non-police crisis response
