HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRCMinutes_2018_06_11Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes
Monday,June 11, 2018
Room 300 Community Room, Brookings City & County Government Building
Attendance:Steve Bayer, chair;Maggie Owens, vice-chair;Lawrence Novotny, recorder;George Hamer;Penny
Hauffe; Hanna Holmquist; Meagan Irvine-Miller;Shari Thornes, city clerk-staff
Absent:Erinn Osborne; Shafiqur Rahman (county representative);Kas Williams (SDSU liaison);
Chair Bayer called the meeting to order at 11:59 am.
A motion was made by Hamer, seconded by Novotny,to adopt the agenda.All present voted yes;motion
carried.
Human Rights Awards. No nominations have been received to date. Unfortunately, none were submitted or
recommended by area teachers. Members are encouraged to nominate youth or ally they know of that are
worthy of recognition.The BHRC will ask the Brookings Register and the radio stations to do a story about the
youth awards.
Community Common Read.Irvine-Miller stated the campus is inviting the BHRC to partner with the campus
events or we can do our own event.One of the campus events is a take-back-the-night scheduled on October
24.Discussion ensued on the idea of putting together a city event dealing with community response to sexual
assault and probably holding it on the same evening as the take-back-the-night walk.The idea being to have
various stops along the walk whereby representatives of various organizations (police, domestic abuse, hospital
ER, states attorney, counselors) will give a brief presentation.
Fair Housing Training Committee.The Commission and Brookings Committee for People who have Disabilities
will partner to provide training to local landlords on fair housing requirements with respect to service animals
and emotional support animals. There is also interest in providing a workshop or information to local business
regarding their responsibilities under the ADA.
Inclusivity Team.Novotny and Dianne Nagy meet with Michelle VandeWeerd, school curriculum coordinator,
and 5 teachers on May 29. These steps were purposed as moving forward measures:
Ricky & Thomas will meet with the advisory panels and have something developed around the theme of
social justice by September.
Need to do awareness raising amongst all the staff.Will seek to have a 15-minute awareness raising
session at the first fall staff meeting.
Michelle will provide teaching resources to all staff on a regular basis through the school’s
communication media.
Michelle will pursue the idea of a sign design contest.
Will plan on participating in the Mix It Up Lunch Day.
Need to also have a staff mix it up event such as holding a 5-minute table topic at staff meetings.
Municipal Equality Index Score. The National Human Rights Campaign issued a draft score of 102 to Brookings.
Staff will contact HRC regarding additional points in the following areas:2 points for having an inclusive
workplace; 1 point for offering city employee partner benefits, and 3 points for testing limits of rest rictive state
law.
Complaint Process.The existing complaint is now moving to the mediation process.A retired judge will be the
mediator.
Committee/Staff Updates.
Maggie Owens has been hired as the new human resources director for the city of Brookings.
BHRC executive committee is preparing to brief the new city manager on the human rights commission
activities.The briefing will include safe zone training for the city/county government building and the
continuation of diversity training for all city staff.
Announcement.Kas Williams has organized a daylong safe zone training seminar on campus on July 11.All
BHRC members are invited to attend.
Adjourn:Motion made to adjourn at 12:50 pm.All approved.
Submitted by Lawrence Novotny, recorder