2020-07_minutesRichfield Human Rights Commission
Monthly Meeting Minutes
July 7, 2020
Members Present: Brett Stursa, Heather Eastlund, Katie Goodemote, Michele
Thompson, Todd Diede, Tasha Ostendorf, Mara Glubka, Ava Noack, Hannah Milton,
Kris Anderson, Fountia Thompson-Robinson
Public Safety Liaison: Mike Flaherty
City Council Liaison: Mary Supple
School Board Liaison: Allegra Smisek
Note: meeting held via WebEx
1. Meeting called to order by Chair Brett Stursa at 6:31pm.
2. Motion to approve Agenda: Glubka/Thompson seconded, motion carried.
3. Motion to approve June Minutes: Thompson/Glubka seconded, motion carried.
4. Open Public comment: none
5. Reports:
a. Chair’s report: Talked to attorney from MN Association of City Attorneys. They
are working to remove racial covenants from deeds and are hoping to partner
with Human Rights Commissions. They are beginning the program in Golden
Valley and may then look to involve Richfield. They are looking to possibly
schedule an outdoor meeting with the HRC to present what they would like to do.
b. Vice Chair’s report: none
c. Secretary’s report: none
d. School Board Liaison report: A new wellness policy passed in June that includes
anti-lunch shaming provisions.
Conversations regarding whether to continue using school resource officers at
the High School and Middle School have begun. Currently, each school has one
officer and the contract extends through the 2020-2021 school year. The Board is
seeking feedback from parents, students, and community members. Smisek
summarized the arguments on both sides of the issue that have been raised thus
far.
The Board is also planning for the potential return of students to school in the fall.
e. City Council Liaison report: The Transportation Commission has come up with
equity standards that are used when projects are proposed, and that have been
applied to two recent projects: (1) 65th Street, and (2) 494. The 494 project was
sent back for further development due to the initial plan not conforming to the
equity standards.
f. Public Safety Liaison report: none
6. New Business
a. Housing committee: Proposal for use of the grant at Richfield Towers: 150 gift
bags of ready-made food and other items, such as paper products and hand
sanitizer, and perhaps educational materials (including census and absentee
ballot information). Eastlund is going to find out more about the logistics
surrounding such an effort and report back.
b. Police use of force data summarized by race/ethnicity: Two years of use-of-force
data (2017 and 2018) was recently released on the city’s website. Deputy Chief
Flaherty feels more data is necessary for meaningful analysis and that is a top
priority for the city. The HRC members will review the data currently available
and it will be discussed at the next meeting. Deputy Chief Flaherty also
mentioned that an embedded social worker will be part of the police department
beginning on September 1.
c. Penn Fest: no update, though it was noted that Penn Fest may not happen this
year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
d. LGBTQIA proclamation recap: The proclamation was read at the June 9 city
council meeting with Glubka attending. Glubka also participated in a video
interview with Mayor Regan Gonzalez, and the That's Rich(field) podcast.
e. ADA anniversary proclamation update: The proclamation has been forwarded to
the city and will likely be read at a city council meeting in July.
f. 100th anniversary of 19th amendment proclamation: A motion was made by
Glubka to approve the language of the proclamation/Thompson seconded,
motion carried.
g. Partnerships: Anderson proposed a plan for engaging with various groups. HRC
members will review it and discuss at the next meeting.
7. Unfinished Business
a. Naturalization ceremony: no update
b. Census: the city has mentioned three areas in which the HRC can help with the
census: (1) phone bank; (2) social media posts; (3) hard to count tracts. The
census committee will work with the city to get more details on activities and
bring them back to the group at the August meeting.
8. Announcements/Open Forum: Glubka announced that she was appointed to the
National Delegation of the DNC.
Supple asked that members email her with any questions they would like her to look into
prior to the next meeting.
9. Next meeting August 4, 2020 (via WebEx)
10. Motion for adjournment: Eastlund/Anderson seconded, motion carried. Meeting
adjourned at 7:41pm.
Submitted by Todd Diede 7/22/2020