Boulder’s Police Oversight Panel will vote Wednesday on whether to suspend its operations temporarily after City Council voted 5-2 last week to remove panelist Lisa Sweeney-Miran.

The ouster came amid a months-long controversy over Sweeney-Miran’s appointment to the panel earlier this year, and the decision to remove her was seen by some as overriding the voices of the POP selection committee and communities of color who nominated Sweeney-Miran for the position.

In a written statement after Thursday’s vote, Sweeney-Miran and her attorney, Dan Williams, said the decision was “unlawful and unethical” and that the POP’s appointment process had turned into “a circus.”

Less than three weeks prior, an independent investigator hired to investigate several code of conduct complaints against the POP selection committee ruled that the committee had not adequately evaluated Sweeney-Miran, who had previously made social media posts criticizing police for “real or perceived bias.” Before her appointment, she had also been a plaintiff on the ongoing ACLU lawsuit against Boulder’s camping ban.

It was not immediately clear what the consequences might be if the panel votes to pause its operations, but former POP co-chair Ariel Amaru sent a letter to City Council on Wednesday expressing her fear that the conflict surrounding Sweeney-Miran “could spell the end of the panel.”

“I hope that this conflict doesn’t make us forget that the core of the panel’s work is good work; that having diverse civilians actively involved with their policing and public service, and what it looks like is a good thing,” Amaru wrote. “Do not let the politics surrounding this situation distract from that.”

Representatives of the panel could not be reached for comment on Monday.

The vote will take place during an all-panel virtual meeting from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. A link for the meeting will be posted 24 hours prior to the meeting time at bit.ly/3nEWDn0.