06-05-2018Richfield Human Rights Commission
Monthly Meeting Minutes
June 5th, 2018
Members Present: Mark Westergaard, Carrie Chillman, Debbie Eng, Husniyah Dent
Bradley, Sarah Musgrave, Ben Sunderlin, Heather Eastlund, Brett Stursa, Will Ruckel,
Grace Verbrugge.
Mike Koob - Public Safety Liaison
1. Meeting called to order by Chair Mark Westergaard at 6:30pm.
2. Motion to approve agenda Stursa/seconded Sunderlin; motion carried.
3. Motion to approve remaining 4/18 minutes Verbrugge/secondedRuckle; motion carried;
regarding 5/18 minutes - Eng moved to amend from 7C the term “mission statement” to
“purpose statement”, motion to approve 5/18 minutes with amendment
Chillman/seconded Sunderlin, motion carried.
4. Open Public comment: none.
5. Reports
a. Chair’s report: Mark announced that he was appointed to the state’s coalition of
human rights organizations to support each other and is open to ideas to bring to
them. He reminds us of the commissioner recognition event in a couple of weeks
and encouraged attendance. Also, Mark met with staff at the Augsburg library
and Better Angel’s event and the RHRC will no longer be partnering on this,
spots are still available for observers (6/14 from 6-9pm), Ben will participate and
he explains that the event is about messaging and communication and more info
can be found at redblue@hclib.org. Mark also mentioned the committee guide
and event planning outline and encouraged their use and they can be found on
our Google Docs.
b. Secretary’s report: none.
c. Vice Chair’s report: Debbie shared the event planning document and talking
about its history and use. Also she shared the info that the current community
education flier has an announcement of commission recruitment.
d. Liaison reports: none.
6. New Business
a. 2020 Census topic: Sarah explained changes in census report and why an
accurate report is needed; proposes resolution for creating “count committee”,
Mike Koob suggested contacting city as effort for this is already underway, Sarah
will contact Pam with the city.
7. Unfinished Business
a. Pride event: Everything is in place, Heather and Ben expect to attend, thanks to
Will for getting event message out.
b. Citizen of the Year event: Reception is from 6-7pm on 6/12, followed by Mark
presenting the award winner and HRC Annual Report to the City Council at 7pm.
Deb will pick up cake and bring beverage supplies.
c. Islam 101 event: United Methodist Church will host but Will is having difficulty
contacting IRG, target date for event is fall.
d. Human Trafficking event: Plans remain in place for the event scheduled 11/1 at
RHS at 3:30pm, Grace will not be participating due to no longer being on
commission.
e. 2019 Speaker Series: Ben updated what was discussed at last sub-committee,
series will include Latino/African-American/Women/Native-American voices in a
multi-media event; Ben went on to say that details and community involvement is
still being worked on; Mark suggested Ben go with Debbie to meet with the HS
principal in person, Debbie suggested connecting with the Latino parent group,
Ben reiterated the group’s desire to create meaningful event to all people that
doesn’t “retraumatize” attendees, Heather suggested concrete action steps to
follow-up after events. Next subcommittee mtg on 6/24 at 11am at Lakewinds.
f. Pen Fest: Brett will register by 8/29, subcommittee will meet 6/17 at 11am at
Lakewinds to discuss details.
g. Recruitment of youth commissioners: Deb will follow-up on this process, she will
contact assist-principal of the HS. Deb will also lead subcommittee to review by-
laws which need to be done every three years; Heather and Sarah will assist and
will meet in July.
h. Online web page: Mark welcomes ideas to add to the commission webpage;
Heather suggests resources, Brett suggested info about what commissions can
do, Mark suggested looking at neighboring communities and what they are doing.
8. Announcements/Open Forum: Brett discussed what she learned regarding Bloomington
HRC declaring a proclamation of June being Pride month, suggests RHRC would
recommend to the City Council to also do this, Mark suggests we ask council liaison
Mike Howard for advisement and that it’s more realistic to do this with more planning
time and to connect it with an event; Deb, Mark, Husniyah agreed to continue discussion
in sub-committee.
9. Next meeting: Thursday, July 12th at 6:30pm.
10. Motion for adjournment: Eng/seconded Sunderlin, motion carried, meeting adjourned at
8:00pm.