12-01-2015Richfield Human Rights Commission
Monthly Meeting Minutes
December 1, 2015
Members Present:
Debbie Eng
Mark Westergaard
Todd Chase
Shrestha Swopnil (student representative)
Judith Dominguez (student representative)
Sara Gumke
Mike Kuehn
Jeff Wright
Katie Eagle
Chara Blanch
Kirsten Klosinski
Also present:
Mike Howard-City Council Liaison
Mike Koob-Richfield Staff Liaison
Absent:
Emilia Gonzales Avalos
Simon Trautmann
1. Meeting called to order by Chair Mark Westergaard at 6:37PM.
2. Approval of Agenda
a.) Chara moved; Debbie seconded; Unanimously approved
3. Approval of Minutes
i. Jeff moved; Debbie seconded; Unanimously approved.
4. Guest Speaker: Diane Cross, the President and CEO of Fraser schools spoke to the
commission about the history of the organization and the services it provides in Richfield
and greater Minnesota.
5. Reports
a.) Chair’s report: Mark talked about some of the probable changes to Richfield
commissions in the next year such as residency requirements and a limit to meeting
absences allowed.
b.) Vice-chairs report: Debbie mentioned some of the positive press in the Richfield Sun-
Current regarding the diversity report that the commission had presented at a city council
meeting in October. Debbie also suggested changing the RHRC brochure to make it a 2-
sided document with English on one side, Spanish on the other.
c.) Treasurer’s report: Jeff reported that there still is $134.02 in our
account.
d.) City council liaison report: Mike Howard talked about the possibility of conducting
“Commission Fairs” as a way to recruit new members for Richfield commissions. He also
suggested that the city might open up recruitment of new members to a few times a year
instead of just January.
6. Unfinished Business
a.) Naturalization ceremony: the ceremony will be held at city hall on January 20 at 10am
in council chambers. We are still looking for a singer to sing the national anthem at the ceremo -
ny.
b.) Capitol Art Project: This will be discussed at the January meeting.
c.) Holocaust Survivor Event: No updates. Looking at a late April date.
d.) Annual RHRC event calendar: More decisions will be made about the calendar at the
next meeting but we decided that we will ask the city to put the calendar on the city council web
page when it is completed.
e.) Landlord/Tenant Rights Workshop: Date still not chosen for event but it will added
under “education” section of annual event calendar.
7. New Business:
a.) Officer elections will take place at the January meeting
8. Next meeting: January 5, 2016, 6:30PM
9. Adjournment at 8:06pm: Chara moved, Deb seconded, unanimously approved
Minutes submitted by Todd Chase