Title
Consideration of a Citizen Petition Submitted by Mr. Kim Baker - Citywide
Description
This report provides the City Council with information in response to a citizen petition submitted by Mr. Kim Baker on May 21, 2025. The petition is on page seven of Attachment A.
Report
Summary
On May 21, 2025, Mr. Baker submitted a Citizen Petition that included four items. Upon review by the Law Department, items one, three and four were determined to qualify as a citizen petition and could be placed on a Council agenda because the same three items had previously been submitted as a citizen petition on September 21, 2022, and at that time were determined to be a qualified petition.
Item two was determined to not qualify as a citizen petition as it does not fall within the purview of the City Council and is not an item upon which the City Council can act. Additionally, both the City Charter (Chapter III, Section 4) and City Code (Chapter 2, Section 4) expressly prohibit the Council from directing the City Manager regarding personnel and administrative matters. Therefore, this item is considered an information request. In response to this information request, the Police Department responded stating that Chief Sullivan announced he would be leaving the Police Department on April 8, 2025, and did not have any knowledge of the Attorney General's decision on the matter referenced in Mr. Baker's petition.
Background
During the Formal Meeting on August 31, 2022, Kim Baker submitted a petition, which was determined by the Law Department to not qualify as a citizen petition. Mr. Baker submitted a similar petition, which was determined to be a qualified petition, at the Formal Council meeting on September 21, 2022, which requested “the City Council to direct the City Manager's Office to investigate the full dereliction of duty by the Phoenix Police Department concerning "Complaint Report #20210001645266, Bias Hate Crime."" A staff response dated September 20, 2022, was included in the September 22, 2022 General Information Packet and emailed to Mr. Baker on September 23, 2022 (Attachment B). This response outlines the timeline of events from October 2021 to September 2022.
The qualified citizen petition from September 21, 2022, was considered by the City Council on October 12, 2022 as Item 95 (Attachment C). At that time, Police Department staff indicated they had completed a thorough investigation and exhausted all leads.
A few months later, during a Formal Meeting on April 5, 2023, Kim Baker submitted another citizen petition regarding an Open Meeting Law complaint investigation related to his prior citizen petition submitted on September 21, 2022, and considered by the Council on October 12, 2022. This April 2023 petition was then considered by the Council on May 3, 2023, as Item 130 (Attachment D). The May 3, 2023 report noted the Phoenix Police Department investigation had closed and Mr. Baker had been notified. The reason for closing the investigation was there was insufficient evidence to identify a suspect and the only evidence of a fingerprint on the letter belonged to Mr. Baker. On April 24, 2023, Police staff informed Mr. Baker that his case had been closed.
During the May 3, 2023, Formal City Council meeting, staff recommended the Council take no further action on Mr. Baker's petition. This recommendation was approved by the Council.
Recommendation
Staff recommends no further action be taken on Mr. Baker's petition from May 21, 2025.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Ginger Spencer.