Antioch Appoints New Commission Members
The Antioch City Council has appointed six residents to serve on its Police Oversight and Planning Commissions. The appointments are intended to increase community involvement in local governance. The new commissioners will advise the city council on public safety and urban development policies.
The appointments were finalized in unanimous votes during the Antioch City Council meetings on February 10 and 24, 2026. The new Police Oversight commissioners are Porshe Taylor (reappointed), Josiah Ben-Oni Graham, and Addison Peterson, while the Planning Commission gains Don Aguilar and reappointed members Ramesh Suman and William Spijker. On the Police Oversight Commission, Taylor and Peterson will serve full three-year terms, while Graham will complete a partial term ending in November 2026. Aguilar, Suman, and Spijker will each serve full four-year terms on the Planning Commission. The Police Oversight Commission is a relatively new body, formed in May 2022 with its first members sworn in February 2024. Its creation was a central piece of Mayor Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe's police reform efforts following FBI and District Attorney investigations into police brutality and a racist texting scandal. These appointments come just months after the city agreed to major police reforms to settle a civil rights lawsuit in December 2025 and resolved a racial discrimination investigation with the Department of Justice in January 2025. Porshe Taylor, the reappointed chair, noted the commission is now "finally making the change that the city asks for." Josiah Ben-Oni Graham's appointment is notable as he is the first person under the age of 25 to serve on the Police Oversight Commission. His appointment helps fill vacancies left by a series of resignations and termed-out members in late 2025 that had created quorum issues for the body. The Planning Commission's work is crucial as Antioch embarks on updating its General Plan, the city's "blueprint" for development, for the first time since 2003. This two-year process will guide decisions on land use, transportation, and economic growth. Antioch is still actively seeking residents for other roles, with applications due February 27, 2026, for vacancies on the Parks & Recreation and Sales Tax Oversight Commissions, the Board of Administrative Appeals, and the General Plan Advisory Committee.
