10-06-2015Richfield Human Rights Commission
Monthly Meeting Minutes
October 6, 2015
Members Present:
Debbie Eng
Mark Westergaard
Todd Chase
Shrestha Swopnil (student representative)
Sara Gumke
Mike Kuehn
Jeff Wright
Chara Blanch
Simon Trautmann
Also present:
Mike Howard-City Council Liaison
Mike Koob-Richfield Staff Liaison
Absent:
Emilia Gonzales Avalos
Kirsten Klosinski
Judith Dominguez
Katie Eagle
1. Meeting called to order by Chair Mark Westergaard at 6:30PM.
2. Approval of Agenda
a.) Sara moved; Debbie seconded; Unanimously approved
3. Approval of Minutes (from September)
i. Debbie moved; Jeff seconded; Unanimously approved.
4. Guest Speaker: Tom Dzik with the Center for Victims of Torture spoke about the work
that CVT does and noted that the organization has served some Richfield residents.
5. Reports
a.) Chair’s report: Mark said the League of Human Rights Commissions has been
very unresponsive to all his inquiries. He has asked them to refund our membership fees.
b.) Treasurer’s report: Jeff reported that there still is $134.02 in our
account.
c.) City council liaison report: Mike Howard noted that there was recently a
city council work session where the topic of paid parental leave for city employees was
discussed. The draft policy calls for two weeks of paid parental leave for both parents
at birth of child.
d.) Staff liaison report: Mike Koob spoke about 2 upcoming events, a community-
building event called, “Voices Heard-A Conversation Between Youth and Cops” and a
community conversation event that will be hosted by the Richfield Police Department.
Mike also spoke about a recent “use of force” incident involving a young man and Rich-
field police officer.
6. Unfinished Business
a.) Mike and Debbie told the the commission that they had reported the community con-
versation report to the city council where it was well-received. The council recommended one
small change to the text. A motion was made to amend the draft and was moved by Chara, Jeff
seconded and unanimously approved by the commission. The finished document will be put on
the city website in English and Spanish. Debbie suggested that we form a subcommittee to de-
velop an action plan based on the report.
b.) Naturalization ceremony: Mark has spoken to the district court about the event. We
need to find a singer to sing the nation anthem at the ceremony.
c.) Website changes: Chara, Jeff, and Mark met once to discuss updates to our page on
the city website. Some progress was made and they will try to finalize the changes by or at our
next meeting.
d.) Penn Fest: Volunteers at the street festival reported that traffic at our booth was slow
but they thought our presence was valuable and was good for collaboration with other city com-
missions.
e.) On a related note, Jeff suggested holding bi-annual meetings of all the Richfield city
commissions.
f.) Landlord/Tenant rights workshop: the subcommittee will meet before the November
meeting. The commission has decided it will not hold this event until early 2016.
7. New Business:
a.) Mark said that a representative/s from Fraser School will be at our December meeting.
b.) Planning Calendar: Chara suggested that we plan our our yearly events ahead of time.
The commission decided we will come up with a 2016 calendar of events at our next meeting.
We will also assemble subcommittees to organize these events.
8. Next meeting: November 17, 2015, 6:30PM (Moved from 1st Tuesday of the month due to
elections).
9. Adjournment at 8:13pm: Sara moved, Deb seconded, unanimously approved
Minutes submitted by Todd Chase