HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRCMinutes_2018_08_13Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes
Monday, August 13, 2018
Room 300 Community Room, Brookings City & County Government Building
Attendance: Steve Bayer, chair; Maggie Owens, vice-chair; Lawrence Novotny, recorder; George Hamer; Hanna
Holmquist; Meagan Irvine-Miller; Erinn Osborne; Shafiqur Rahman (county representative); Shari Thornes, city
clerk-staff
Absent: Penny Hauffe; Kas Williams (SDSU liaison);
Chair Bayer called the meeting to order at 11:55 am.
Motion by Hamer, seconded by Holmquist, to adopt the agenda. All present voted aye; motion carried.
Motion by Rahman, seconded by Owens, to approve the minutes of the July 09 meeting. Motion carried.
Workforce Alliance Request
BHRC received a request from Stacey Aesoph with the Brookings Economic Development Corporation. The
BEDC has put together a workforce alliance task force to look at the increase in international workers/non-
English or limited English speaking workers coming to Brookings and being hired by local employers. The task
force is wondering what local resources are available and what resources are needed to assist. The Workforce
Alliance wants to be proactive in welcoming and helping these workers to acclimate to Brookings.
The Workforce Alliance is asking BHRC for our involvement. Our initial role may be educational. Novotny
volunteered to attend the meetings of the Alliance.
Global Human Rights Conference
SDSU is hosting a Global Human Rights Conference on October 4-6. The conference will have a community
roundtable panel on October 6 from 8:30 – 10 am and it is looking for a representative of the BRHC to be on the
panel. Rahman volunteered to do this.
Inclusivity Team – Welcome Signs
The public has been coming in to pick the You Are Welcome Here signs. All 3 Sioux Falls TV stations
interviewed the city manager regarding the signs. Since we ordered so many signs last year and this year, the
company gave us free window stickers having the same wording as the signs. Several BHRC members
volunteered to distribute these window stickers to local businesses.
Holmquist, Miller and Hamer volunteered to place 20 welcome signs around the residence halls during move-in
weekend of August 24-25 and to retrieve the signs afterward.
Community Common Read:
Miller reported that the BHRC will be organizing a take-back-the-night walk as part of the city’s portion of the
community common read events. The walk will be on the evening of Wednesday, October 24, and will start at
the city/county government building and end on campus. There will be several 5-minute stops with
presentations (still being arranged) along the walk. Miller is seeking the involvement of the mayor and the
police department in the walk.
Awards Event:
Everything is in place for this event on August 30.
Holmquist left at this point.
MEI:
The Human Rights Campaign is asking us to draft a feature article about Brookings being the first city in SD to
receive a perfect score of 100. The MEI committee worked on the article just prior to this meeting. We will ask
the mayor’s permission to have the article come from him. The tentative release date of the scores is October
9.
Staff Changes:
Laurie Caruthers, who worked under the city clerk’s office, has transferred to work under the city manager’s
office in a communications role. This leaves the city clerk’s office with reduced time to handle the staffing work
of the BHRC. Commission members will be called upon to help out. A revised work plan will need to be
developed for the remainder of 2018 and for 2019.
Commission:
Bayer reported that the school superintendent invited him to be the BHRC liaison with the school board.
Miller’s and Hauffe’s terms expire at the end of December.
Complaint:
The complaint about having an emotional or service support animal in a rental unit went through a day-long
mediation process. The resolved agreement was signed by all parties involved. A retired judge from Milbank
was the mediator. His cost of $1000 came out of the BHRC budget.
Adjourn: Motion made to adjourn at 1 pm. All approved.
Submitted by Lawrence Novotny, recorder