09-01-2015Richfield Human Rights Commission
Monthly Meeting Minutes
September 1, 2015
Members Present:
Debbie Eng
Mark Westergaard
Todd Chase
Sara Gumke
Mike Kuehn
Jeff Wright
Katie Eagle
Chara Blanch
Also present:
Mike Howard-City Council Liaison
Mike Koob-Richfield Staff Liaison
Absent:
Emilia Gonzales Avalos
Shrestha Swopnil (student representative)
Kirsten Klosinski
1. Meeting called to order by Chair Mark Westergaard at 6:30PM.
2. Approval of Agenda
a.) Debbie moved; Jeff seconded; Unanimously approved
3. Approval of Minutes (from July)
i. Todd moved; Debbie seconded; Unanimously approved.
4. Guest Speaker: The Multi-family Housing Program coordinator for the city of Richfield,
Lynette Chambers spoke to the commission about the ‘Kids at Home” rental assistance
program and section 8 housing in Richfield.
5. Reports
a.) Vice-chair’s report: Debbie said that the discussion of the planned landlord/tenant
workshop will be moved to the October meeting.
b.) Treasurer’s report: Jeff reported that there is $134.02 in our account.
5. Unfinished Business
a.) Community Conversation Report: Mark stated that the the community conversation
report will be presented at the next city council meeting by him and Debbie.
b.) Changes to RHRC city webpage: A subcommittee was formed to suggest changes to
our webpage to make it more user-friendly and to update some of the content.
c.) Penn Fest: The Penn Fest subcommittee has met once and will meet at least one more
time to discuss our booth at the September 20th event.
d.) Holocaust/Genocide event: Mark spoke with Jan Seidman of the Edina Human Rights
and Relations Commission about her experience holding a series of events in Edina that featured
Holocaust Survivors. The RHRC agreed we should hold our own event possibly for students
and/or open to the entire community. A planning subcommittee was formed.
6. New Business:
a.) Naturalization Ceremony Event: Mark and Mike Howard talked about sponsoring an
upcoming naturalization ceremony. A date, probably next year, will be decided upon at the Oc-
tober meeting.
b.) Mark noted that someone from the Center of Victims of Torture will speak at an a fu-
ture meeting. Fraser school has also been contacted about speaking at an upcoming meeting.
7. Open Forum:
a.) Deb proposed that our November meeting be moved to November 17 due to elections
being conducted during our regular scheduled meeting night. Jeff moved; Sara seconded; Unan-
imously approved.
8. Next meeting: October 6, 2015, 6:30PM
9. Adjournment at 7:55PM: Jeff moved, Sara seconded, unanimously approved.
Minutes submitted by Todd Chase