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Home My WebLink About2014-08-26 HRRC Minutes MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS & RELATIONS COMMISSION August 26, 2014 7:00 PM City Hall – Community Room I. CALL TO ORDER Commissioner Seidman called the meeting to order at 6:59pm. II. ROLL CALL Answering roll call were Commissioners Arseneault, Bigbee, Carter, Davis, Kennedy, Sanders, Seidman, and Winnick. Staff present: Staff Liaison MJ Lamon and City Management Fellow Lindy Crawford. III. APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Motion was made by Commissioner Arseneault to amend the Regular Meeting Agenda of August 26, 2014 to add guest speaker Lt. Tom Draper from the Edina Police Department. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bigbee. Motion carried. Motion was made by Commissioner Kennedy to approve the Regular Meeting Agenda. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Arseneault. Motion carried. IV. APPROVAL OF July 22, 2014 REGULAR MEETING MINUTES Motion was made by Commissioner Arseneault to approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of July 22, 2014, Commissioner Kennedy seconded. Motion carried. V. COMMUNITY COMMENT None. VI. GUEST SPEAKER A. Lt. Tom Draper, Edina Police Department Lieutenant Draper explained his new role as the board and commission Police Department liaison. Role and responsibilities are still being developed. Lt Draper gave an update on the various projects happening in the police department. Commissioners had an opportunity to ask questions and receive responses for as much as Lt Draper had information available for. VII. REPORTS/RECOMMENDATIONS A. Updated: Bias Offense Response and Prevention Plan (Winnick) Commissioners reviewed the revised Plan; this plan includes City Manager Scott Neal’s comments and recommendations. Commissioners noted that the revisions give the City Council a couple of options in paragraph 7. Commissioners agreed to include the additional final sentence to paragraph 7 that Commissioner Winnick drafted, as follows; “However, if the owner or operator of the Other Public Property requests the Edina City Manager to not implement the Plan, the City Manager shall notify the Mayor and City Council and the HRRC of such request, and shall seek Council guidance on implementation.” Commissioner Bigbee moved to have the revised Plan approved and sent to City Council on September 16th. Commissioner Arseneault seconded, motion carried. B. Community Conversations (Bigbee) Commissioner Bigbee noted the Community Conversations working group has 18 interested members. Students and a few non-residents have expressed interest in joining this working group. Commissioner Davis shared that the HRRC is open to having others join the working group. Commissioners Bigbee and Davis are looking to have a two-hour training session with the working group since these are the people who will be facilitating the discussions in the coming months. C. Homeless Youth Housing Resolution (Winnick/Bigbee) Commissioner Winnick stated the City of Edina has nearly no low-income housing options, and informed the HRRC about the August 13, 2014 Planning Commission meeting that addressed the Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative project. Commissioners discussed the meeting. Commissioner Winnick presented the Resolution of Edina HRRC and acquired feedback from other commissioners. Staff Liaison Lamon recommended the option to change the proposed resolution to City Council advisory communication for the September 2nd City Council meeting. Commissioners showed positive interest in resolution and felt a resolution had greater weight than an advisory communication. Commissioners requested staff to provide more information on the difference between a “resolution” and “advisory communication” for the September 23rd meeting. It was noted by Commissioners, the goal of this communication is to show the City Council that the HRRC supports this project. Commissioner Winnick suggested changing the current language of the document to turn it into an advisory communication document for the City Council. Commissioner Arseneault motioned to move the document with Commissioner Winnick’s revisions, Commissioner Carter seconded. Commissioner Kennedy suggested a friendly amendment to change the name from Advisory Communication to Advisory Resolution; Commissioners discussed the friendly amendment. Commissioner Arseneault moved to close debate, Commissioner Carter seconded. Commissioners Davis and Kennedy opposed. Motion carried. Commissioners voted on the motion on the table, motion carried. Approved Advisory Communication Language: Advisory Communication Recommendation to Edina City Council from Edina Human Rights and Relations Commission August 26, 2014 Low income and special needs housing is desirable for diverse, healthy communities; as is business, quality schools, housing for the majority and medical and social services. The Edina Comprehensive Plan has been amended in the past to encompass needs reflective of the changes in our community and its priorities. The increase in homeless youths, their needs and the availability of private non-profit resources coupled with vacant real estate within Edina has been brought to the attention of the City by Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative. Its plans to convert the TCF Bank Building into a 39 unit apartment building with space for counseling services to assist homeless youth by providing housing, educational resources and job finding services is modeled after successful projects elsewhere in the Twin Cities Area. The sponsor estimates approximately 250 homeless youth live in the Edina-Bloomington- Richfield area. This would be the first special purpose apartment building for this community in the Western suburbs. Accordingly, the EHRRC in its role as the advisor to the City Council on human relations and matters within the scope of its mission: RECOMMENDS AND SUPPORTS the Edina Planning Commission’s recommended zoning changes and plan of Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative to create a 39 unit apartment building for homeless youth with space for relevant social services directed to such youth with the further recommendation that the City Council enact such changes and take all other actions necessary to support such initiative. D. 2015 Work Plan Preliminary Plans (Seidman) Chair Seidman motioned to table the 2015 work plan discussion to the September 23rd regular meeting, Commissioner Davis seconded. Motion carried. Commissioner Bigbee motioned to have the September 23rd regular meeting begin at 6:00pm, Commissioner Arseneault seconded. Commissioner Sanders opposed, motion carried. VIII. CORRESPONDENCE AND PETITIONS Commissioners reviewed the meeting packet items. IX. CHAIR, COMMISSION MEMBER, AND STUDENT COMMENTS A. Next Meeting: September 23, 2014 B. Convening on Racial Equity Commissioner Bigbee gave an update on the conference he attended about Convening on Racial Equity. Commissioner Kennedy discussed discrimination at the local level. Commissioner Winnick said he will be attending the Edina Community Resource meeting and extended the invitation to others. Commissioner Carter noted that there was a lot of time spent on editing documents during this meeting. He raised the question if the Commissioners should use a subcommittee for editing documents. X. STAFF COMMENTS Management Fellow Crawford asked for the last call on RSVP’s for the Vision Edina workshop sessions in September. Chair Seidman and Commissioner Kennedy will attend. Staff Liaison Lamon gave an update about the Human Services Task Force and asked for volunteers. Commissioners Davis and Sanders will be in touch with Lamon about possibly serving on the Task Force. Lamon informed the HRRC that physical attendance at our regular scheduled HRRC meetings is required. Commissioners may want to do something about this and would like to allow commissioners to attend via phone or video. Lamon requested action on the left over Edina Reads books. Commissioner Bigbee volunteered to take one set of books and see who would be interested in having these books. Commissioners suggested to have student commissioners deliver the children’s books; Chair Seidman will assist with this. Chair Seidman would like to have the Commissioners think about when we would like to have our work session with the City Council next year. XI. ADJOURNMENT Motion was made by Commissioner Kennedy to adjourn the August 26th meeting, Commissioner Carter seconded. Motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 9:14pm. Respectfully submitted, ____________________________________ MJ Lamon, HRRC Staff Liaison Minutes approved by HRRC August 26, 2014 ____________________________________ Jan Seidman, HRRC Chair