HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRCMinutes_2024_04_11
Brookings Human Rights Commission Minutes
Thursday, April 11, 2024, 5:30pm
Brookings City/County Government Center and Zoom
Attendance:
Commissioners Liaisons
Attendees • Dianne Nagy, Chair
• Behnoosh Amandi, Vice Chair, County (exited after
New Business)
• Carla Gatzke, Recorder
• Nieema Thasing
• Joseph Ulloa, Student Representative
• Emma Qurashi
• Casey Bell, staff
• Lawrence Novotny, CLEAR Partners
• Michele Vande Weerd, school district
• Police Chief Drake
• Guest: Erica Moore (exited after
presentation)
Absent • Lee Mallak
• Pastor Mark Johnsen
• Cole Sartell, LGBTQ
• Marjoanne Collins, SDSU
• Chloe Wisser, SA Diversity
Chair Dianne Nagy called the meeting to order at 5:30pm.
Approval of agenda: motion was duly made and seconded, passed.
Approval of meetings with corrections: motion was duly made and seconded, passed.
Public Comment:
• Dianne Nagy – reported on offer by a community member to do projects for HRC
• Lawrence Novotny – will be presenting a hybrid OLLI class in Sioux Falls on April 16 about the
MEI (Municipal Equality Index) score
New Business
• Human Rights Training
o Dr. Erica Moore is a previous HRC member; while on the commission she had opened
conversations about expanding HRC’s focus from DEI to Human Rights. Dr. Moore has
been trained in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights | United Nations.
She proposed a training for HRC on these human rights definitions, followed by a
discussion about if/how HRC might choose to invest efforts in some of those areas. She
then excused herself.
o The Commission recognized that our scope is defined in City Code and summarized on
our site Human Rights Commission | Brookings, SD - Official Website (cityofbrookings-
sd.gov). We agreed to re-read these and be prepared to discuss the idea of Human Rights
training for HRC at our next meeting.
• Open HRC positions: The Commission considered the applications from Cole Sartell and Denia
Warne. Motion by Joseph, seconded by Behnoosh to approve both candidates. Motion passed
unanimously.
o Tabling at events: We are scheduled to have a HRC booth at Juneteenth on June 19 and
Pride on June 22, and anticipate additional events such as Indigenous Peoples Festival.
In the past, the Commission has borrowed a table and canopy for our booth. Motion by
Nieema, seconded by Joseph to approve spending $200 for a table and canopy tent.
Motion passed unanimously. Lawrence volunteered to make the purchase.
• Benhoosh excused herself.
Old Business
• Follow up on Listening Session for elderly population – no report.
• Budget – the carryover from 2023 was approved by Council. 2024 HRC Budget.xlsx
Liaisons
• Police Department – Chief Drake. The department reviewed the processes around the incident
reported at the last HRC meeting and verified that processes were followed appropriately.
• School district – Michele VanderWeerd. Thank you for invitation to Upstander training, most
principles attended.
• LGBTQ+ – Lawrence Novotny. Requested $25 for the fee for the park for the Pride event.
Motion made by Joseph and seconded by Nieema. Motion passed unanimously. Also reviewed
new requirements from groups in the high school; assigned to the working group.
Task Forces
• PEAK – Novotny reported that CLEAR had informed the task force about a bullying incident in
an elementary school. Dianne reported for the task force that they suggested to the
superintendent that the school start with an assessment first, and the task force shared survey
instruments. Michele will follow up.
• DEI Initiative – Casey reported the task force’s recommendation of
https://visitbrookingssd.com/events/list/ to post DEI events. Any group can Submit an Event | Visit
Brookings (visitbrookingssd.com), which Visit Brookings views before posting. Visit Brookings
expressed support for this idea. The Commission concurred for the task force to proceed. The
task force is also moving forward with the master plan assignment to benchmark with other
communities. Casey will identify similar communities with progressive DEI activities (may be
references in the master plan), then the task force will choose communities to research further.
Working Groups
• International Outreach – no meeting. Emma and Joseph regrouping.
• Inclusivity – next Listening Session would be parents of young children. Mark Johnson will
lead. City proposed May 6. FYI: Disability group is planning their first Listening Session, with
parents of children with disability.
• Complaint – Casey is scheduling meeting. Nieema and Carla, is this enough resources to
accomplish goal of revamping the complaint process.
• Africans in the Diaspora Culture Awareness. Nieema and Dianne reported on Juneteenth
planning, evening of Wed 19 June. We have $1400 in donations earmarked to Juneteenth.
Motion made by Nieema, seconded by Joseph, to spend up to $2400: $1000 from HRC budget
and $1400 from donations. Motion passed unanimously. The working group can choose the
expenditures without individual purchase approval. They’ll submit expenses to Casey.
• Due to recent membership changes, the Commission intends to review working groups and
membership.
Meeting adjourned at 6:30pm.
Upcoming community DEI events:
• June 19: Juneteenth
• June 22: Pride Celebration