10-03-2017Richfield Human Rights Commission
Monthly Meeting Minutes
October 3, 2017
Members Present: Sara Gumke, Jeff Wright, Carrie Chillman, Sarah Musgrave,
Ben Sunderlin, Debbie Eng, Will Ruckel, Mark Westergaard.
Mike Koob - Public Safety Liaison
Tim Polis- School Board Liaison
1. Meeting Called to order by Chair Sara Gumke at 6:30pm.
2. Motion to approve agenda Wright/ Seconded Westergaard; agenda approved.
3. Approval of 9/17 Minutes, motion Musgrave/ seconded Eng; 6/17 minutes approval,
motion Westergaard/ seconded Rukel, Eng moved to amend the document to include
the date of the meeting, Chillman updated the document to reflect.
4. Open Public Comment: Logan Schultz came to say goodbye, he recently moved out of
Richfield and resigned from the HRC.
5. Reports
a. Chair’s report: none
b. Secretary’s report: none
c. Vice Chair’s report: none
d. City Council Liaison: not in attendance
e. City Liaison: none
f. School Board Liaison: From an email sent to Chair Gumke after the meeting:
Notes from the Schools: -We had a letter that went out and is posted on the
website regarding DACA. An attempt to assure families and provide some info on
resources for those directly affected. It is on the district homepage. -We have an
election this year for school board as well as a couple of referendum questions
(capital improvement bond and general operating). My personal hope is always
for significant turnout and so any assistance we can get from the HRC to help
publicize the election is great. Please note that I am not advocating for a specific
type of vote-I just personally like more voters voting. (Full disclosure - I am on the
ballot but happily accept whatever outcome the voters choose.) -Student
Commissioner recruitment - is there anything that I need to know about
recruitment of students? I don't know the current process now, but heard some
discussion that it may not be ideal. Please let me know if there's motivation to try
to change how student/young person participation on the commissions, and if we
can help attract. -The School Board heard a report from RHS last night on the 7
period day and how it has affected enrollment in the most rigorous courses. We
had been, historically, deficient in having the participation in such course
matching our student body's demographics. With the new schedule we also
brought in some elective support courses to provide a safety net for those who
might be "reaching" for the more rigorous courses. We also did a better job of
encouraging students to "reach" instead of letting them self-select (or even
discouraging). Our breakdown of participants by race is much closer to the
demographics of the building as a whole. Lagging in matching the progress are
the math courses, as that curriculum requires predecessor courses. (Few just
decide to take calculus, for example. It takes a few prior courses in sequence to
get there.) Math course demographics in 2 years will be a future measure of our
success in completing this more equitable (and intentional) shift.
g. No reports from any HRC members on other commissions.
6. Committee Reports
a. Penn Fest Recap: Thanks to all who helped during the event, another great year
for crowd turn-out.
b. Trafficking presentation update from Mark: Date of the event will be November
11th at 10am at House of Prayer Lutheran Church (7625 Chicago Ave) the flyer
is finished and will be distributed, Will will assist with social media promotion,
Mark requested member of the RPD to be in attendance if possible to address
any questions attendees may have.
c. Community Engagement Committee:
I. Commissions demographic survey: Mark would like to push the poll out to
include Youth members after their terms begin which is likely in November; discussion of
wording of survey, small changes were suggested by group, Jeff suggested changes in
particular to the wording of public assistance question, group discussed changing that
question to reflect income levels with number of household members; Mark welcomed all
to email him suggestions on wording. Ben suggested HRC presents at other
commissions to explain purpose of survey, Sara G followed with suggesting city council
liaisons present to their commissions this information.
Ii. Discussion of City Board and Commission: recruitment and outreach and
partnership ideas in effort to promote diversity and inclusion; Deb suggested tabling
events in the community to directly reach Richfield residents, as well as using social
media and the Sun Current to get information out; Ben suggested asking all commission
liaisons to be part of this. Jeff would like one more sub-committee meeting before
action; Deb will email Mike Howard to get Council approval and inclusion, as well as
contact city staff to reserve room for sub-committee meeting on 10/11/17 from 6-7:00pm.
7. Unfinished Business
a. Ben presented DACA resolution, small changes were suggested by group regarding the
language surrounding social security and reference to the parents, motion by Deb to
make these changes, Ben seconded, motion carried. Bed will make updates to
resolution and send to Carrie.
b. Housing Development/Preserving affordable housing in Richfield; Deb communicated
some with Isela Gomez but did not formalize a partnership, Deb will follow up with her
again.
c. PMAC partnership; Sara G will follow up on this for next time.
d. BLM resolution; no new information.
8. New Business/Announcements/Open Forum
a. Jeff talked about an event with Planned Parenthood and would like to put discussion on
agenda for next month.
b. Mark contacted the circuit court to schedule next year’s naturalization event but date
was already taken; will discuss alternate dates.
c. Deb spoke about ACLU pamphlet and will try to get more to have at events and asked to
have discussion of on next month’s agenda.
9. Next meeting is Monday, Nov. 6th at 6:30; Carrie will contact city staff to reserve room.
10. Motion for adjournment at 7:53pm Eng/ seconded Musgrave; motion carried.