07-11 Work Session CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
Richfield, Minnesota
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July 11 , 2017
CALL TO ORDER
The work session was called to order by Mayor Elliott at 5:15 p.m. in the Municipal Center.
Council Members Pat Elliott, Mayor; Edwina Garcia; Michael Howard; Maria Regan Gonzalez;
Present: and Simon Trautmann
Staff Present: Steven L. Devich, City Manager; Pam Dmytrenko, Assistant City Manager/HR
Manager; John Stark, Community Development Director; and, Jared Voto,
Executive Aide/Analyst.
Item #1 EQUITY INITIATIVES
Assistant City Manager/HR Manager Pam Dmytrenko introduced Wokie Freeman and
Elizabeth Tolzmann as the presenters for the evening.
Wokie Freeman, assistant city manager of Brooklyn Park, presented a PowerPoint titled
Brooklyn Park's journey towards "A Thriving Community with Opportunities for All". This included the
work they have done with the Government Alliance on Racial Equity(GARE), their racial equity action
plan, challenges of recruiting diverse police officers, and strategies for the city.
Elizabeth Tolzmann, former assistant city manager of Bloomington, presented a PowerPoint
outlining their work with GARE, history of government and race and race in government policies,
Bloomington's strategic plan, the Learn to Lead Initiative, Suburban Law Enforcement Trainee
program, and racial equity toolkit. She discussed an analogy of a four-legged table for developing a
plan, with the following as legs: elected officials, city leadership, city staff, and the community. No one
has an even table.
Council Members all thanked them for their presentations and asked questions of the
presenters related to community engagement, toughest challenges and response from their
respective communities, and lessons learned.
City Manager Devich closed the topic with comments on Richfield's work thus far and stating
Richfield will participate in GARE in 2018.
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ADJOURNMENT
The work session was adjourned by unanimous consent at 6:10 p.m.
Special Council Work Session Minutes -2- July 11,2017
Date Approved: July 25, 2017
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