Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutBHRCMinutes_2012_01_19 Brookings Human Rights Committee Thursday, January 19, 2012 at NOON City Hall - 311 Third Avenue 1. Call to order – Steve called to order at 12:04 pm Present: Chanradhar Dwivedi, Penny Hauffe, Steve Bayer, Lawrence Novotny, Anna Leisa Schuh, Patty Bacon 2. Adoption of the agenda – Chanradhar moved, Penny seconded 3. Approval of minutes – Lawrence moved, Chanradhar seconded 4. Schedule future meeting(s) – February 23, 2012 5. Financial Report – Deferred to February due to incomplete data 6. Dr. Martin Luther King Day - January 24th Presentation Chanradhar, Penny, Steve, and Patty plan to attend. The committee plans to be at the door and greet parents and students as they arrive. 7. Annual Human Rights Award A. January 9th Reception - Final Report Consensus of the group was that it was a successful event, but we had too much food. We need to figure out how to have nice appetizers without having so much. Steve estimated that we had 40-50 attendees. Angela Hatton’s feedback from the event to honor Scott Nagy: • I thought the attendance was fair. It seemed like it might be light at first, but it grew to an appropriate number. • I thought the food was plentiful and attractive, plus there was this remarkably charming woman serving cake!  Haha. If anything though we may have been too bountiful with the food, but it was nice we were able to donate it. • I appreciated Steve’s words of introduction. I thought they were heartfelt, sincere and very effective in communicating why Nagy was/is deserving of this honor. • It would have been nice to have had Dorothy at the event. It might be helpful if we formally add getting her to the event as part of our to do list. Were invitations extended to their family in town, Fedora and Eugene III? At some point neither Dorothy nor Eugene II will be able to be in attendance. The award is named in their honor. If we feel it was named in their honor for a special reason (which I think we do), perhaps we could have a formal statement that could be read each year about their contributions to the Brookings community. That’d be nice as a legacy item. • Last, I thought a nice addition to the listing of each past recipient by name would be to add a brief synopsis of the contribution made by each individual. For example, I know Lawrence, Dr. Woodard and other recent award recipients, but I had to ask Penny and Patty about the contributions of Margaret Denton. I realize I can’t be the only person who didn’t know all of the past recipients and what they’ve done for the betterment of our community and our world. Plus, it helps to honor the past recipients and further highlight the causes for which they’ve worked. B. Status on rescheduling second plaque presentation It was decided that it was a missed opportunity and we would not reschedule. 8. Action to approve the 2011 Annual Report – thank you to George Hamer for preparing. Chanradhar moved, Anna Leisa seconded. Motion carrried 9. 2012 Spring & Fall Diversity Potluck Locations – we’re waiting to hear if we will be able to use McCrory Gardens Visitor Center and bring in our pot luck items. Anna Leisa asked if we would consider supporting locally owned businesses rather than HyVee or Aramark for our chicken. She will checkwith Cottonwood Bistro and Sun Dried Tomatoes to see if they could bring in something like that. We will need an agenda item for the February meeting. Our traditional dates have been the third Sunday in April (this year would be April 150 and the 2nd Sunday in October. We also had a discussion on enhancing the Diversity Potluck. Items suggested included introducing everyone, round table discussion topics, making sure we had greeters at the door and encouraging attendees to sit with someone new, committee members spreading out and sitting at different tables rather than sitting together. We could also reach out and offer rides to individuals without transportation. 10. Review and Update Goals & Objectives for 2012 – deferred to February meeting 11. Proposed Legislation in 2012 – Lawrence reported that there was no diversity legislation being proposed this year. 12. Announcements/Correspondence/Calendar • Jan 16 Dr. MLK Day • Jan 24 City Council Presentation • Feb 15th Annual Report Deadline Items for February agenda: Officer terms 13. Adjournment – 1:10 pm Penny moved, Chanradhar seconded. Motion carried.