Minutes - 7.9.19Richfield Human Rights Commission
Monthly Meeting Minutes
July 8th, 2019
Members Present: Brett Stursa, Bob Mulcahy, Katie Goodemote, Michele Thompson, Sarah
Musgrave, Kris Anderson, Todd Diede
Public Safety Liaison: Mike Flaherty
City Council Liaison:
School Board Liaison:
1.Meeting called to order by Chair Brett Stursa at 6:32pm.
2.Motion to approve Agenda: Anderson/seconded Musgrave; motion carried.
3.Motion to approve Minutes: Thompson/seconded Anderson, motion carried.
4.Open Public comment: None
5.Reports:
a.Chair’s report: Presented annual report at council meeting; thanked, but no
questions. Stursa to work with the mayor and council to pursue closer
relationship. Minnesota Dept of Human Rights is moving to a new, more
accessible building in St. Paul. Celebration of the 29th anniversary of the ADA
coming up; see website. This past month we fielded questions about how we are
celebrating Pride; should offer a proclamation next year.
b.Secretary’s report: Mulcahy described the pending school board decision to rent
space from a local church that rejects gay marriage. Possible human rights
concerns include whether students will feel angry or degraded in that
environment and whether public funds, through rent, should support institutions
that undermine the human rights of populations protected under the Human
Rights Act. In informal conversations with school board members, the board
believes they’ve struck the best available balance of space in the district for
learning (the site was a former public school building) alongside strong
agreements that the space be secular. Further, the arrangement is temporary
until space is available in district buildings (two to three years). It’s also true that
the arrangement is not unique--that charter schools in recent years have also
rented classroom space from churches with public funds. After some discussion,
the HRC elected to take no action as a body due to lack of information and time
to research further before the July school board meeting. Stursa to send out
information on contacting the school board for individual comment or attending
the school board meeting as an individual citizen.
Discussion ensued about whether the fact that we learned about the issue from
social media suggests we need to pursue greater efforts to build a relationship
with the school board. The presence of an official school board liaison with the
HRC suggests that the school board feels it would benefit from counsel with the
HRC on issues such as these, but liaison attendance is infrequent. Mulcahy to
talk to Pollis about liaison relationship with RHRC. Further discussion ensued
about how to better engage with the wider city landscape, beyond the school
board, about decisions made in the city related to human rights. Suggestion
made to have the RHRC send a liaison to the planning commission, but no action
at the moment.
c.Vice Chair’s report: None.
d.School Board Liaison report: None.
e.Public Safety Liaison report: None.
6.New Business
a.Recap of Outstanding Citizen of the Year: City staff were awesome at getting
reception ready. Maybe a little informal? Good attendance, good space.
b.Recap of ADA anniversary proclamation: Thompson represented the RHRC at
the city council meeting presentation. It was fun! Should we do more to publicize?
Goodemote to work with the city to post to social media and/or city website.
Ostendorf attended RDAP and they are interested in furthering a partnership with
the RHRC.
7.Unfinished Business
a.Gender neutral bathrooms (Musgrave, Stursa, Eastlund): Flaherty reported that
final version of the memo to the city council is complete and brought copies.
Showed current signage on single stall bathrooms at Public Works building, the
Community Center, pool, and Penn liquor store, which is a bit binary but is still
gender neutral and thus meets the need. Puts this on the map going forward
(official record) for future city construction.
b.Proclamation committee (Stursa, Eastlund, Mulcahy, Apodaca, Trautmann): Met
to talk about National Hispanic Heritage Month. Working to have a draft to the
RHRC at August meeting. Trying to engage Latino business community as part
of this effort.
c.Housing committee (Eastlund, Chillman, Mulcahy, Stursa, Diede, Anderson):
Anderson reported that she and Eastlund attended the Family Stability Work
Group on June 19, 2019. Heather presented the potential of working together
with the HRC in tenant rights education. Membership in the Work Group include
VEAP, MIRA, People with Capes, CAPHC, and Richfield’s HRA. Encouraged
commission members to attend Bridges Out of Poverty event on September 27.
d.History project (Mulcahy, Chillman, Eastlund, Stursa): Mulcahy reached out to
That’s Rich podcast and will be featured on an upcoming episode later this
summer or early this fall, hopefully before Penn Fest. Materials for Penn Fest
boards and meeting with city council pending. There was a report of at least one
person having difficulty reaching the history documents; Mulcahy to fix.
e.Census committee (Chillman, Eastlund, Diede, Musgrave, Anderson, Ostendorf):
Flaherty brought handouts in case anyone wants to be a census taker.
f.Penn Fest committee (Chillman, Musgrave, Goodemote): Chillman met with Art
Commission; will defer to another year so we can focus on history this year.
Chillman to register us.
g.Renaming Columbus Day committee (Stursa, Diede, Ostendorf): Put together
background doc, sent to Flaherty. Figuring out process next steps. Similar effort
in 2015 was not voted on by the council. Realistically targeting 2020 Columbus
Day.
h.Naturalization Ceremony committee (Eastlund, Stursa, Diede, Anderson,
Thompson): Middle school has committed to hosting. Fed asking for a different
date than we’ve done it on in the past.
8.Announcements/Open Forum: Musgrave asked whether RHRC can/should do anything
regarding issue of ICE/FBI gaining access to motor vehicle information like driver’s
license pictures. A statement? Musgrave to draft.
9.Next meeting: August 8th, 2019, 6:30pm (NOTE: on Thursday, not Tuesday, due to
National Night Out)
10.Motion for adjournment: Thompson/seconded Diede, motion carried. Meeting adjourned
at 7:49pm.
Submitted by Bob Mulcahy 7/21/19