Board disputes whether evidence submitted after accord meeting may be counted toward HCP presumptions

A central procedural dispute at the hearing concerned whether the board could consider evidence presented after the accord meeting and after the HCP presumption letter dated 05/14/2026.

Appellant counsel argued the city failed to present incident narratives at the accord meeting, and that several of the city's detailed incident reports and photographs (tabs 6and 9) were not provided until later. "If what the city attorney says is true, that this board may not consider evidence after the accord meeting, then I would submit the chief failed to make his case at the accord meeting," Chris Bowers told the panel.

Board counsel and the city responded by clarifying that the board's role is to determine whether the statutory presumptions have been met using evidence that predates the notice letter; evidence of measures that were in place prior to the notice may be considered even if documentation arrived later, but measures adopted after the notice cannot be counted toward the presumptions. That interpretation framed how members weighed evidence about when measures were implemented.