HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRCMinutes_2023_09_14
Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes
Thursday, September 14, 2023
Brookings City/County Government Center and Zoom Meeting App
Attendance: Dianne Nagy (chair – in person); Behnoosh Amandi (vice chair & county representative –
in person); Lawrence Novotny (recorder and CLEAR Partners liaison – in person); Amanda Fickes (in
person); Carla Gatzke (in person); Mark Johnson (online); Erica Moore (online); Nieema Thasing
(online); Caleb Johnson (police liaison – online); Nancy Olson (city human resources & staff liaison –
in person);
Absent: Emma Qurashi (behavioral health liaison – excused absence); Joseph Ulloa (student
representative – excused absence): Asledi Castillo (SA diversity liaison); Marjoanne Collins (SDSU
liaison); Michele Vande Weerd (school liaison)
Chair Nagy called the meeting to order at 5:27 pm.
Novotny moved, Fickes seconded, to approve the agenda. Motion approved.
Gatzke moved, Moore seconded, to approve the minutes of the August 10 meeting. Motion approved.
Public Comment
The Brookings Multi-Cultural Center and Bienvenidos a Brookings is inviting BHRC to join them in an
informational training on labor trafficking on October 05 at 7 pm at the Brookings Multi-Cultural
Center.
Mission Statement
Our mission statement as posted on the website is: The mission of the Brookings Human Rights
Commission (BHRC) is to improve human relations in the Brookings area by fighting discrimination
through education and a complaint resolution procedure. The Commission seeks to protect the rights of
and prevent and eliminate bias and discrimination against individuals or groups because of their sex,
race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, disability, familial status, national origin, age, marital status,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or political affiliation, with respect to employment, labor
union membership, housing accommodations, property rights, education, public accommodations or
public services. The Commission promotes educational activities to make Brookings an inclusive and
welcoming community.
Someone questioned the phrase “to improve human relations” – are we really working or accomplishing
improving relations? Can this be re-worded to give a more positive statement? “Improve” implies that
we are deficient. There are also other groups in Brookings working on “improving” human relations.
Amandi says the mission statement is too long to include in the brochure. Can it be shortened?
Novotny cautioned that all of the categories listed in the statement are listed in our ordinance. These are
the categories on which we are authorized to base discrimination on. Can these be listed elsewhere or
in a different format?
Gatzke volunteered to work on a re-draft of the mission statement. She will consult the city attorney
regarding the listing of the categories.
Budget
The remaining un-committed balance is $7151. First Bank & Trust donated a $1000 to the Juneteenth
event bringing the balance in the Juneteenth account to $1419. Nagy mentioned we may be asked to
help fund the MLK marade on campus.
$500 is budgeted for swag merchandise. Bell should proceed with obtaining BHRC stickers and pens.
We will stay with the same design for the diversity signs as was used last year. Moore moved, Gatzke
seconded, to approve purchase of 200 diversity signs at a cost of $3180. Motion passed.
Amandi talked about seeking a grant from Allegra to print the brochures.
Thasing moved, Moore seconded, to approve $750 to purchase 1000 diversity stickers. Motion passed.
Novotny was asked to inquire about the cost of window decals in addition to the diversity stickers.
Purchasing of a table and tent was tabled for future discussion.
Educating ourselves
Only 4 BHRC members showed up for the book discussion on Nice Racism.
Nagy posed the question do we as BHRC members need ongoing DEIA training? If so, how best to go
about this? Moore posed can we require BHRC members to attend an annual mandatory training on
human rights or DEIA or require them to attend X number of similar events per year. After a brief
discussion, this topic was tabled.
On September 26, we will have a DEIA presentation by Julian Beaudion at 5:30 pm.
Public statement
Nagy submitted a statement (both via e-mail and in person) at the Sept 11 Brookings School Board
meeting. BHRC supports the importance of intellectual diversity and BHRC supports the availability of
age-appropriate books representing different perspectives. The statement was posted on our Facebook
page and received numerous comments. Nagy suggested we should do more public statements.
Complaint process
Gatzke visited with the Sioux Falls Human Rights office. They have 3 full-time staff people (some
attorneys) that provide support to the Sioux Falls Human Rights Commission and a disabilities
awareness review board. The office receives and handles all inquiries – most of them dealing with
housing and people not understanding their leases. The office has a formal relationship with the federal
EEOC (equal employment opportunity commission), which forwards complaints dealing with
employment to the SF HRO. They receive about 150 inquiries per year; about 5% result in a complaint.
Most complaints are resolved thru a mediation process. If that does not work, then the complaint moves
to conciliation, if that does not resolve the issue, the complaints move to court or the Human Relations
Commission for a hearing. The Commission has not had a hearing for a long time.
The Sioux Falls complaint flow chart is attached to the minutes
Gatzke asked are we as commissioners qualified to investigate a legal process? Moore expressed a
concern with us as volunteer citizens sitting in judgement on other Brookings residents. It was pointed
out that the Brookings Planning and Zoning board consists of volunteer citizens and make such
decisions but following investigation and recommendation by city planning staff.
The complaint WG will meet with the city attorney and the city manager to formulate a plan of action.
It was requested that both the city manager and the city attorney also meet with the entire BHRC.
Moore left at this point.
Library liaison
Mikaela Neubauer resigned as the library liaison due to she being overextended with work. None of the
library staff were interested in being the liaison. Neubauer will continue to keep us informed of major
events. It is presumed that Neubauer has also resigned from the working groups. She was heavily
involved in the MLK contest and we will need others to now assist with organizing and managing the
contest.
BMC liaison
Amandi is currently serving as the liaison between BHRC and Brookings Multi-Cultural Center. It is
hoped that someone from the BMC will submit an application to become the liaison.
The BMC collaborated with BHRC on hosting the spring diversity potluck. Some of the BMC members
were not happy that less than half of our members showed up for the potluck. Did BMC feel that more
of the burden of working at the potluck was on them and not us? We will volunteer to collaborate on an
event hosted by BMC.
Other business
Novotny will e-mail the MEI PowerPoint to members for them to view on their own and bring questions
to the next meeting.
Fickes withdrew as the person to arrange a meeting with the police chief. She wants to focus on
international relations instead.
PEAK campaign – Thasing and Moore had or will be meeting with the school superintendent.
City staff is seeing if there is an alternate site to TEAMS to host a shared calendar.
Butler award recipient Penny Hauffe already has a Puerto Rica vacation scheduled and will not be able
to attend the award ceremony. Her friend Patty Bacon will stand in for her and a read Hauffe’s
statement.
Reports
Police (Johnson)– Around 8 people are participating in this year’s citizens police academy.
SDSU
-There will be a new RAD (Rape Aggression Defense) course for the woman that live on campus within
the next couple months.
-“Fizz with the Fuzz” has happened at the dorms. The officers present information in regards to drinking
while underage and having fake identification cards. Soda or root beer floats are present during the
presentation.
BPD
-The Citizens Academy has started a few weeks ago and is currently in the middle of its program. The
purpose of which is to show enrolled members of the course various phases of the law enforcement and
first responder responses, such as police officers on traffic stops and how they handle certain situations,
detectives show the basics of what an investigation is, fire department and ambulance services and how
they respond to emergencies, states attorneys show their side of the law enforcement response.
Dispatch also did a presentation at the beginning of the program.
-Breakfast with Badges at Camelot school once a month at around 0730 for an hour.
-There was a meeting with the local bar owners and the police department. Subjects such as vandalism,
police presence, the presence of fake ID’s, and various other topics were discussed.
-Create with a cop the last month had a good turn out, Coffee with a Cop will resume next month.
-National Police Women’s Day the PD shone a spotlight on our own Officer Jorrie Hart.
-National Night Out in August had a huge turnout at Pioneer Park, close to 500 guests arrived.
SDSU (Collins via e-mail) is hosting these CommUNITY events:
Friday, September 29, Ally Training- Basic and Advanced; Student Union, Hobo/Campanile room (169).
Basic Training 2:00 PM- 3:15 PM, Advanced 3:30 PM- 4:45 PM.
Wednesday, October 25, Empowering Individuals: Advocating for Accommodations; Student
Union, Pheasant Room (253A) 2:00 PM- 3:00 PM.
Wednesday, November 15, Krystallnacht: Remembering for Tomorrow; Student Union, Ballroom, 5:00
PM- 7:00 PM.
Friday, December 1, Dialogue & Development; Student Union, Dakota room (250) 2-3:30
CLEAR (Community Law Enforcement Action Response) Partners (Novotny) – had a meeting with the
police chief regarding what information regarding investigations that can be released to the public.
CLEAR will also be meeting with the sheriff.
International Outreach (Fickes) – The WG is discussing what to do. Some issues to look at are:
• Lack of transportation accessibility for international students
• Healthcare issues
• Language barriers
Inclusivity/community outreach (Nagy):
Planning a fall listening session involving the elderly community
Explore training the trainer for bystander training and DEIA training
Explore holding discussion groups following movies dealing with HR issues
Adjourn:
Meeting adjourned at 6:55 pm.
Submitted by Lawrence Novotny, recorder