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Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes
Thursday, December 16, 2021
Conference Room 241, Brookings City/County Government Building and Go To Meeting App
Attendance: Nieema Thasing (chair - online); Dianne Nagy (vice-chair - online); Lawrence Novotny, (recorder –
in person); Joel Gindo (online); Erica Moore (online); Charlene ‘Charlie’ Ward (county representative – in-
person); Jennifer McLaughlin (sustainability council liaison - online); Keith Theroux (police liaison – in person);
Casey Bell (city human resources & staff liaison – in person)
Absent: Dan Berg; Chisimdi Iheme (student representative); Meagan Irvine-Miller; Erinn Thomas; Mikaela
Neubauer (library liaison); Marty Stanwick (sheriff’s office liaison); Michele Vande Weerd (school liaison); Alex
Wood (SDSU liaison);
Guest: Tracy Chapman as an observer (online)
Chair Thasing called the meeting to order at 5:33 pm.
Tracy Chapman was introduced as the new member of the BHRC. She is replacing Irwin-Miller whose term
expires this month. Chapman’s term begins in January. She will be joining the media WG.
Novotny moved, Ward seconded, to adopt the agenda with the addition of legislative issues. Motion passed.
Nagy moved, Ward seconded, that the minutes of the November 18 meeting be adopted. Motion passed.
Compliant Training:
City attorney Steve Britzman is working on updating the procedures. He will be meeting with Bell about this on
Monday. The updates will be reviewed by the training WG then distributed to the BHRC.
Diversity Signs:
Clean Slate designed a sign that reads “Diversity is What Makes Brookings Great”. It has hands across the
bottom depicting multiple racial and sexual diversity categories. A 100 signs would cost $1600. In November,
BHRC allocated $750 towards the signs. Van & Barb Fishback pledged $750 towards more diversity signs.
Ward moved, Nagy seconded, that BHRC allocate an additional $100 to cover the cost of the diversity signs.
Passed.
Statewide HRC meeting:
Thasing has been in contact with the chairs of the Vermillion and Sioux Falls (and Rapid City’s???) HRCs
regarding a joint Zoom meeting of all of the state’s HRCs. Vermillion HRC is reaching out to the South Dakota
state human relations commission to see what is happening with them.
Ideas List:
Novotny made a change on the ideas list regarding evaluating the effectiveness of the BHRC. The ideas list will
be distributed one more time to the BHRC with a strong suggestion for each one to review it. It will be finalized
at the January meeting.
Effectiveness of BHRC:
At the last meeting, it was brought up to conduct a survey to evaluate the effectiveness of our programming. A
survey will cost money and will need to be budgeted. Nagy asked are there other data collection strategies we
can use such as focus groups. It was suggested that we need to decide what precisely it is that we want to find
out, then determine how to do it. Evaluating the effectiveness of HRC’s is a good discussion topic to be held
during the statewide HRC meeting.
Griffith Lecture:
There is a rumor that the Griffith lecture originally scheduled for this fall which was cancelled may be
rescheduled in early 2022. Bell will seek to carry over the $2500 budgeted for the lecture to FY 2022.
MLK contest:
Ward distributed the poster and essay contest materials to all of the schools. January 7 is the deadline to receive
entry submissions. A doodle poll will be conducted to determine who wants to judge posters and essays and to
select a judging date. The winners will be recognized at the January 25 city council meeting. Gindo obtained
permission to display the posters at the Children’s Museum and the Brookings Arts Council.
Besides the schools, Advance (the non-profit for the developmentally disabled) will also participate in the contest.
Thanks to Ward for thinking of Advance and inviting the organization to participate. We will establish a separate
category for the Advance students. They will not be separated by age or grade as we have for the Brookings
school system.
Ward moved, Nagy seconded, that we have this prize categories: Motion passed
Essay: $100 first, $75 second, $50 third – 3 separate categories for middle school, high school,
and Advance
Poster: $25 first, $15 second, $10 third – 4 separate categories for K & lst grade, 2nd & 3rd grade,
4th & 5th grade, and Advance
This is a total of $875 in prize money.
Moore left at this point.
Legislative Issues:
Novotny stated that due to the fast pace of the Legislature, it would be difficult to seek timely and rapid approval
from the entire BHRC on each bill. Novotny proposed a motion that gives blanket approval to the legislative
committee. Novotny will monitor the bills and generally draft testimony to be approved by the legislative
committee. Thasing as chair will submit the testimony electronically. Nagy moved, Gindo seconded, to
authorize the legislative committee to submit testimony on bills regarding human rights issues to either our
Brookings legislators or to the applicable legislative committees. Motion passed. The legislative committee will
consist of Novotny, Thasing, and Nagy.
Miscellaneous;
Nagy tried contacting a representative from an organization called All of Us that is seeking individuals from a
diverse background to participate in their national health research program. She has not heard back. So this
topic is closed.
Thasing will review the past minutes to see which BHRC members and liaisons have not been attending meetings.
A student Carter Mueller who attended the November meeting was asked to evaluate our social media. Since we
have not heard anything from him, we are presuming this will not happen.
The city will be issuing a PR about Brookings receiving another perfect 100 MEI score.
Kas Williams received a standing ovation when she was presented with the Butler award during the ceremony on
December 2.
Liaison Reports:
Theroux reported that the Christmas with the Cops was held yesterday. Thirty families participated in the event.
Theroux reported that there is a new TikTok challenge to threaten local schools on Friday (tomorrow). The
Brookings Police Department will be having a strong presence in the schools on that day.
McLaughlin gave the Brookings Sustainability Council (BSC) report.
• They are working on their 2022 plan
• They heard a report from the Streets Department. One of the topics was about the environmental impacts
of road salt.
• The city’s electric vehicle charging station (located on the south side of the City/County Government
Building) was used by 188 unique users during this year.
• The council is looking at fabric and textile recycling.
• This is McLaughlin’s last meeting since her term expires in December and she is not renewing it.
The question came up as to what groups can have a liaison. Any group that wants to have a liaison has to apply
for such a position. Novotny gave this history of the liaisons.
The SDSU liaison started when SDSU established a diversity officer position.
The police department liaison started around 2013? which was required by the Human Rights Campaign
as part of the MEI score.
Marty Stanwick volunteered to also have a liaison with the sheriff’s department.
The school liaison started when Steve Beyer served on both the BHRC and the school board.
The library liaison began last year when Mikaela Neubauer became the new community services
librarian. She approached BHRC about some joint programming.
The sustainability council liaison started this year. Novotny is the BHRC’s liaison to the sustainability
council.
Novotny also is a member of CLEAR (Community Law Enforcement Action Response) Partners. He
right now serves as a liaison between the two organizations.
We probably should have a liaison with the Disabilities Committee.
Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 7:43 pm.
Submitted by Lawrence Novotny, recorder