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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRCMinutes_2024_01_11 Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes Thursday, January 11, 2024, 5:30pm Brookings City/County Government Center and Zoom Attendance: Commissioners Liaisons Others Attendees • Dianne Nagy, Chair • Carla Gatzke, Recorder • Nieema Thasing • Joseph Ulloa, Student Representative, exited at 6pm. • Casey Bell, staff • Marjoanne Collins, SDSU • Michele Vande Weerd, school district • Lawrence Novotny, LGBTQ and CLEAR Partners liaisons, exited at 6pm Police Chief Drake Absent • Behnoosh Amandi (Vice Chair, County Representative) • Erica Moore • Amanda Fickes • Mark Johnson • Vacancy – Chloe Wisser recommended to Council • Caleb Johnson, police • Chloe Wisser, SA Diversity • Emma Quarashi, Behavioral Health After waiting for quorum, Chair Nagy started the meeting at 5:40 without quorum. Announcements: • Brookings Library and Briggs Library are hosting their first African American Reading on Feb 22, 2024, and are looking for volunteers to read literature excerpts. HRC membership: • Amanda Fickes has resigned since last meeting • Joseph Ulloa will be graduating in the Fall and then will no longer be able to serve as SDSU student representative. • Chloe Wisser has a scheduling conflict with our meeting time. • The attendees reviewed the HRC Commissioner Vacancies Process and Timelines. The City advertises for applications for one week and then provides HRC with all applications from past twelve months • Lawrence Novotny nominated Cole Sartell to serve as LGBTQ liaison. The Commissioners in attendance accepted the recommendation and intend to invite him to the next HRC meeting and schedule a vote for the next meeting where quorum is present. Diversity in Police Department. • Chief Drake reviewed the hiring teams’ approach regarding diversity and inclusion and responded to questions. • A summary of his comments: Diversity has many aspects. The hiring teams consider diversity of protected classes, and other diversity aspects that would further the diversity and inclusion within the community. For example, the diversity of their experiences, representation of marginalized or minority communities, different generations, have lived in different locations, etc. Chief Drake also described the diversity aspects of the most recent hires in the police department, the department’s efforts to expand the diversity of candidates and increase the pool of candidates, and the candidate assessment processes such as criminal records, psychological testing, and polygraph testing, Old Business • Working Group Attendance – tabled • HRC calendar and file sharing. All Commissioners were able to access. • Budget spreadsheet. Bell reviewed a draft 2024 budget. The Commission estimates revenues and expenses at the beginning of the year, and adjusts the estimates as opportunities arise and as actual expenses are approved and paid. Liaison Reports • Police department: Chief Drake offered to respond to any questions. The Commission expressed appreciation for the Chief’s frequent attendance to HRC meetings. • School district: Michelle Vande Weerd reported that the district is reviving its Inclusivity group. • SDSU: Marj Collins reported on the plans for the Marade on MLK day, Monday 15 January at 11am. Due to weather conditions, the event is planned for indoors at the Student Union. Reverand Francis Davis is speaking at the Marade and on 16 January 10:30-noon in Room 169. Working Groups and Task Forces • DEI: meeting scheduled with Assistant City Manager later in January. • Common Read: The following books are in consideration. HRC’s intention is to contribute to the Common Read effort in 2024 through participation and social media advertising, but not to contribute funds. Therefore, we are observing the book selection process rather than influencing it. The books in consideration are: The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin, The Optimist’s Telescope by Bina Venkataraman, The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. • Inclusivity: The Spring 2023 Diversity Potluck was the most successful ever in terms of attendance and positive feedback, which we believe was due to the Multicultural Center’s involvement. We contacted the Multicultural Center about participating in a Spring 2024 Diversity Potluck and learned that they have chosen not to help this year in order to focus their resources on their own potluck type activities for this community. We suggested that HRC could potentially help with some of those activities, which the Multicultural Center is interested in. Our working group recommends we not plan our own Diversity Potluck and instead explore how we could help the Multicultural Center. The Commission members in attendance concurred. • Cultural Awareness: MLK – 7 essays submitted, winners have been chosen and winning essays sent to the Register to publish and to the Marade planners who will schedule the winners to read their essays at the event. Poster contest deadline for submissions is noon tomorrow. Space is reserved in the Brookings Public Library for judging starting tomorrow at 1pm through Sunday noon. Posters will be displayed at the library through the end of January, and we’re exploring if the Multicultural Center is able to display them during Black History Month. Further Announcements • Juneteenth Celebration Date TBD - proposals are Wednesday 19 June or Saturday 22 June. Meeting closed at 6:45pm.