HomeMy WebLinkAboutBHRCMinutes_2013_11_21Brookings Human Rights Committee Minutes
Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 11:00am
Suite 230, Room 241 - Brookings City & County Government Center
Attendance: George Hamer, Penny Hauffe, Sam Jennings, Lawrence Novotny, Hanna Larsen,
Shafiqur Rahman, Chandradhar Dwivedi. Absent: Patty Bacon, Steve Bayer. Also present: City
Staff Shari Thornes and SDSU Representative Jamie Nolan Andrino.
1. Hamer called the meeting to order at 11:07 a.m.
2. Agenda. A motion was made by Dwivedi, seconded by Jennings, to approve. Motion
carried.
3. Minutes. A motion was made by Novotny, seconded by Dwivedi, to approve. Motion
carried.
4. Schedule future meetings:
a. December 11th @ 11 a.m. – Judge MLK Entries
b. December 19th @ Noon – Regular meeting
c. January meeting date January 9th at 11:00
5. Public Menorah Lighting Request – will occur on Wednesday December 4th to the south of Nick’s
hamburgers.
6. Community Veterans’ Panel Wrap-up – Wow! Thank you cards are needed for the moderator and
participants. Technical problem with the recording and we have lost one or two questions, so it has
been edited to fix this. They are missing and it will be available on the Brookings web site for the
foreseeable future. George, Hanna, and Penny will take care of the thank you’s.
7. Fall Diversity Potluck Wrap-up – Low attendance as about 60 attendees were there. The weather
was not pleasant that day. The presentation was well received by the audience. A call was made for
future presenters. Dr. Aguir has expressed an interest and Chandradhar and Shafiqur are looking
at others.
Cost issue – should we do two a year with little advertising or one a year with more traditional
advertising? (about $600 cost per event). We will schedule the April event for April 13th if possible
and revisit at February planning meeting.
8. Human Rights Campaign Foundation Municipal Equality Index Scorecard
a. Updated Score – we have gone up and we are the top city in South Dakota, but there still work
to be done. Brookings is 34, Sioux Falls 24, Pierre is 13, Aberdeen is 10.
i. Points could go up for “Reported hate crimes”, they gave us a 0 since there was no
report. Previous Chief of police had stopped submitting reports, but Chief Miller has
started this process. We should start getting a higher score in the future
ii. Sensitivity training is missing, so that needs to be added and is being addressed by the
city.
iii. Campus climate committee will be able to provide a report to the committee via Jamie
when this is concluded.
b. Schedule Conference Call with HR Campaign Legislative Counsel
i. At December 19th meeting we will schedule a conference call special meeting.
9. MLK Awards:
a. Poster Display Location - city is out, Hamer will contact Cultural center ASAP.
b. Posters displayed on website and channel – Shari is going to scan in all posters and then display
on government channel and report on the workload. If the workload is reasonable, this will
continue in the future.
c. Other – Post office now has 50th anniversary stamps on the march on Washington.
10. 2013 Annual Report Assignments – Chandradhar has volunteered to do this again.
11. Proposed Legislation in 2014 – no report
12. Review 2013 Budget Report – numbers do not reflect current events, but we have $1500 remaining
for the year.
13. Budget request for films – Lawrence is requesting Common Good film series (monthly event)
support. Can the Human Rights Committee support this group with a $500 monetary support? This
will be a 2014 budget items. Will address at later meeting.
14. Committee Vacancy Update – the current vacancy is being filled Tuesday, will be at December
meeting.
15. Announcements/Correspondence/Calendar
• Nov. 13th Community Common Read / Author Presentation
• Dec. 5th Mayor’s Holiday Party, McCrory Gardens Visitor Center, 5-7 pm
• December 11 @ 11 am – Judge MLK Entries
• December 19th – Noon – HRC Meeting
• January 17-18 – Install Poster/Essay Display
• January 28 – City Council MLK Presentation
• January __ - Take Down Public Poster/Essay Display
• February 17th – 2013 Annual Report Deadline
16. Adjournment – Chandradhar, Hanna,
Meeting adjourned at 12:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted, George Hamer