Minutes - 12.3.19Richfield Human Rights Commission
Monthly Meeting Minutes
December 3rd, 2019
Members Present: Brett Stursa, Heather Eastlund, Bob Mulcahy, Katie Goodemote, Carrie
Chillman, Sarah Musgrave, Kris Anderson, Todd Diede, Tasha Ostendorf
Public Safety Liaison: Joel Griffin (sitting in for Flaherty)
City Council Liaison: Simon Trautmann
School Board Liaison:
1.Meeting called to order by Chair Brett Stursa at 6:31pm.
2.Motion to approve Agenda: Eastlund/seconded Chillman; motion carried.
3.Motion to approve Minutes: Eastlund/seconded Ostendorf, motion carried.
4.Open Public comment: None
5.Reports:
a.Chair’s report: Hennepin County had its first labor trafficking prosecution. Took a
lot of advocacy to beef up the state statute. One of the sites was in Richfield.
RHRC fund balance is $333. Discussion about whether we should acquire a
board and stand for events. Seem to be good on basics like brochures. Maybe
RHRC t-shirts? Trautmann encouraged us to not approach the budget with a
scarcity mindset as the city can address our needs. Motion to buy ten male
t-shirts: Anderson/seconded Chillman. Motion carried. Eastlund to buy. Next
meeting is Musgrave’s and Mulcahy’s last meeting. Everyone bring an app or
something to say goodbye next month. Officer elections in January. If you are
interested, talk to one of the current officers. Youth commissioners update: City is
working on it and just placed a couple youth commissioners. Stursa working with
city to clarify quorum rules and whether we need to have a quorum against
full-strength or current membership.
b.Secretary’s report: Mulcahy to open new RHRC Google account.
c.Vice Chair’s report: None
d.School Board Liaison report: None
e.City Council Liaison: None
f.Public Safety Liaison report: None
6.New Business
a.Richfield Foundation grant: Received $2000 grant for Indigeounous Peoples Day
Event next year. Will partner with American Indian Education Parent Advisory
Group. Check will be presented at Dec 10 City Council meeting. Feel free to
come.
b.ParentsShare: Dec. 12: Volunteers and Gift donations: At Hope Presbyterian
Church. Anderson sent out a list of needed gifts and will come by and pick them
up if anyone is willing to give a gift. Anderson to send out list again as a reminder
along with other details about the event. Thanks to Anderson for coordinating
that. RHRC t-shirts just fine.
c.Redlining in Richfield: Former commissioner Ben Sunderlin spearheading an
effort to hold an event about redlining history. RHRC supportive--fits with our
history. First meeting this Saturday at 10am at Local Roots. Trautmann to
forward information about that meeting to this group. Sunderlin’s work shows that
where there were racial covenants are still very white parts of Richfield. Hennepin
County History Museum interested in partnering. Trautmann to attend Saturday
meeting.
d.Richfield Counts meeting (Eastlund, Ostendorf, Diede): Meeting was about
forming the committee to do the strategic planning. Counts is interested in
communicating to citizens that the citizenship question will not be on the census.
They are trying to fill paid positions, $20/hour to knock on doors and spread the
word. Door knockers are huge for driving census turnout. Ideally, neighborhood
people, but there will be plenty of positions to go around. March and April the
census mailings begin and door knocking starts early in the summer. Discussion
about how to change the conversation to acknowledge the fear that people feel
around the census and the RHRC’s role--strategic partners or tactical help?
Blanca is running point on this for the city. Musgrave to forward information to
Stursa about next Richfield Counts meeting on Dec 17; she will forward it on.
Diede, Chillman, Ostendorf, and Eastlund to continue to attend meetings and
report back so we can engage as needed. Griffin pointed out that the RHRC
brings “a ton of credibility to the process.” Eastlund to email Blanca to clarify our
role.
e.2020 Work Plan: See evolving plan on Google Drive. Trautmann commented on
housing capacity as a priority and supports all of our “committed to” efforts. Is
interested in leveraging RHRC history work. Census work is huge from a dollars
and cents perspective--probably number one issue from his perspective. City is
moving forward with body cams so may not be as much of a priority for this
group. Discussion about whether Penn Fest and 4th of July should be
“automatic” on the commitment list. This year in particular may be important
given census. Stursa to move Penn Fest to the commitment list, but not 4th of
July yet. Suggestion to tie Indigenous Peoples Day with land designation;
agreed. Suggestion to be more structured in how we monitor other commissions;
agreed. Looking forward to Flaherty’s input from working with the city on his
return. Discussion about proclamations committee.
7.Unfinished Business
a.Housing committee (Eastlund, Chillman, Mulcahy, Stursa, Diede, Anderson):
Waiting on information back from Lynette; Eastlund e-mailed her last week.
People with Capes went into Richfield Towers to run an assessment of needs
and is building a report that will guide what action we should take.
8.Announcements/Open Forum: None
9.Next meeting: January 7th, 2020, 6:30pm
10.Motion for adjournment: Anderson/seconded Diede, motion carried. Meeting adjourned
at 7:56pm.
Submitted by Bob Mulcahy 12/3/19