is this new I can't tell we on so I will call the meeting of the chesa Human Rights Commission on Thursday February 27th 2025 to order I will start with roll call commissioner Duffy here commissioner Hamza
commissioner G here commissioner me commissioner lur here commissioner hman commissioner Sanderson here commissioner Hub here commissioner wber here commissioner Carlson here and we'll start uh this is our first meeting with
um newly appointed and reappointed members so uh the newly reappointed member is Jui as our youth representative um and so I just want to call that out she's been on the commission several years already but um
if there's anything else you want to say happy to be back for my last term with the commission and our newest commissioner is Commissioner of Dey and um she was appointed by the city council for a three-year term
and I will let you say anything you'd like to say about yourself hi my name is Ki Dy I've been a resent of chasa for over 18 years and I was inspired to be part of the committee because I love the city of chasa and I love how divers is
becoming and I want to be a part of making sure that everyone has a voice and that I'm part of that celebration so I'm happy to be here well welcome we're so glad you're joining us uh so the first of business that we
do in February is uh select a new chair and vice chair uh it's shown on your agenda as recommend because it will hold a city council on be night for official approval that is the spe movements uh so with that I will take any nominations
for chair can I nominate chair or commissioner Carlson so I have a nomination is there a second I second second are there any other nominations to be
made all right with that I have uh a nomination in a second for uh commissioner Carlson as chair for 2025 all those in favor any days all right commissioner or
chair Carlson I will turn over to you for the vice chair thank you so much Elise well welcome and again particularly glad to see you um we've got some exciting stuff to do tonight so let's get started with I'll
call for nominations for vice chair do you want to do it again you've done a great job well thank you I'd be willing to do okay so we have a nomination for uh
Jennifer Weller to be Vice chair is there a second or there excuse me I should ask are there any other nominations then I guess I should ask for a second all right any other further nominations I think I have to ask this
three times right yep are there any other nominations for the position of Vice chair having heard none we have a motion and a second for Jennifer to be our vice chair she has graciously smiled and
accepted the position all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed eyes carry thank you okay let's get started well tonight we have some special guests with us and the first thing that we're going to do
is we're going to meet and greet our human rights celebration coloring contest winners if you'll recall at the Dr King celebration in January we announced the coloring contest we provided photo or a a copy of Dr King um
to the individuals to color and turn in and we've received um numerous uh responses uh the committee met the committee the subcommittee for the Dr King celebration of Hana
Sanderson um Kevin me Stacy Kumar Nelson um met and we have selected three winners we've invited those winners to be with us tonight and we've got special awards for them sadly our uh
one uh coloring contest winner um is not here tonight her parents could not bring her she's aged too so I hope you understand um when I when I talked with her mom this afternoon she said that she would love
to come and meet all of the commission members and um so we'll perhaps see her in March but Hana if you want to join me sure you want to explain the cont well they were pretty simple to
color pages and turn them in um do the best you can and be as creative as you want to be so and these are the three different age um brackets that we had four and under five to eight and gate to
12 and so bridgid our two-year-old is now with us this evening but we're fortunate to have Leila Hassan and Lea are you here would you like to come forward we have a little prize for you and we want to make sure that you're on
the camera so this is a good spot yeah you yes's do you want to show us the drawing on the poster you remember that yep that's you it's stuck on the board that board is going to be posted in the city hall Library
so everybody who comes to City Hall will see your picture so here we have a special gift for you thank you very much so our oldest category to partici although I will tell you that there were some
adults Mar were you part of that [Laughter] last category was ages 8 through 12 and we're very happy that Shante pman can be with us this evening and would you like to have
shant please and I understand that you have something that you would like to share with us tonight okay so you can right into the microphone first my name is Ashanti Coman and I would like to thank the
chasa Human Rights Commission for celebrating the black community every year at the MLK breakfast and I would like to also thank my family for bringing me every year to remember those who made it possible for a girl that looks just like me to be
here standing here with you today thank you and good night which one was hers yes do we want to take a photographic moment break would that be good okay so commission members do you want to join me down here in front I
think that's the best place sure I wasn't kidding about should I did not [Music] yeah you guys tell me where meting is everyone SM runs away here's
the official City you guys thank you all that was fun so the second part of our evening tonight is um an official presentation
to Julie jany and so Julie if you'll come to the podium thank you hello everyone I just wanted to come tonight I reached out to Sarah I was um truly honored and um about this award from the
CH from you um from your um chest Human Rights Commission I truly means a lot to me and um I love chasa I love this community I worked here for 26 years and um just retired in May so when I got
this letter um about this award like I said I was truly um I just want to give you a heartfelt thank you for because being truly led me and I felt bad I wasn't here in January for the presentation for having me tonight
absolutely so officially let me read or hopefully talk through what it is that I said in January it's truly my honor to introduce the re a recipient of the human rights award for 2024 an indiv idual whose
dedication to fostering Community Connection has left an indelible mark on the city of chasa for over 26 years Julie janki has dedicated herself to the community she loves leaving behind a legacy built on
trust respect and a deep belief in the power of collaboration whether it was leading a soccer camp for our youth ensuring the safety of cyclists by fitting them with the right side Helmet or helping new
parents make informed decisions about the right car seat for their children Julie has been at the heart of countless Outreach efforts she has worked tirelessly to bring people together whether it was through community events like coffee with a cop ice cream with a
cop Heroes and helpers holiday event ongoing initiatives like National Night Out or the neighborhood crime watch always striving to build a bridge between our citizens and the police officers who serve them her ability to
connect with people especially in those historically undeserved or trust hesitant communities has been nothing short of transformative Julie's work has empowered chasa residents to feel heard understood and
included she set a high standard for Community poliy one defined by professionalism kindness and a steadfast commitment to making sure every voice is valued Julie's Innovative Spirit led to
an initiative called growth through opportunities program a groundbreaking initiative designed to inspire young people living with disabilities to explore careers in public service this program embodies Julie's
deep empathy and her Relentless drive to create a more inclusive accessible and support supportive Community your wisdom and your compassion not only guided the chasa police department but has had a lasting influence and among the people who
worked with you she exemplifies what it meant to lead with integrity and heart and doing so raised the bar for all of us who work in the city of chasa how we interact communicate and care for each
other on behalf of the chasa community Julie it's my my honor to present to you the human rights award to you lifting up others and helping them find a place in the world particularly in our city of
chasa to be more connected and more compassionate thank you Julie thank you would you like a Kodak moment yes okay so we'll break for a moment and we'll do aod moment Commissioners you five you would get exercise tonight
right I thought I was joking on my makeup [Music] [Music] part is it official yeah it's official it's looking good okay so back yes
be know what I congratulations thank you congratulations I'm entirely yes I know she handed me my bike helmet six years ago oh really yeah thank you again everybody you're
very welcome okay Wow Let's right move on to our business of the evening so we have minutes to approve from our January 23rd meeting should we adap the agenda first oh gosh
a near technicality yes let's do that um yes may I have may I have a motion to adopt the agenda or or are there any other additions or deletions so moved second it excellent there's been a
motion made and seconded to adopt the agenda all those in favor signify by saying I I okay now we'll move on to approving the minutes from January 23rd um you received a copy of them um are there any
corrections um I have one yes please um on page three number 68 the human rights Award winner is Julie janky not J great thank you any other
Corrections having heard none may I have a motion to approve moved Thank You Ren is there a second second is made a motion made and seconded to approve the meeting minutes all in favor signify by saying I I I the
treasures report we've got both the uh final treasure report for 2024 and our report for hear that as I understand it uh at the
January meeting there was a request to see the final 2024 you have that in front of you um what you see here kind of um from when the commission
last was um additional items that were um purchased in December such as the logo tablecloth which was used at the MLK event in January as well as a plain black tablecloth that can be used at other events um we did purchase some
clips for the table class so when we're at River City days or somewhere they're not flying all over the place uh Additionally you approved uh the purchase of giveaways and I am blanking out on the giveaways that we purchased for this year but um there were two
different types of giveaways and I know they've arrived they're downstairs we get the frisbees again or the sers yeah yes okay that's right okay so those are all purchased they're ready to go for the upcoming here as well as some
of the other ones that we had just of um accumulated over the years that we haven't quite given away and then we were before the end of the year able to purchase some supplies for the um the celebration in January it had been our intent to purchase the books prior to
the end of the year um however we were not able to get that accomplished before then so you ended the year with um spending roughly over about $5,700 uh as we move into your
February um report you can see the expenses in January and I think most of these you saw last month there have been no new expenses uh since last month so right now you have a balance of
5654 thank you Elise are there any questions for Elise no okay um so do I have a motion to approve the treasures report so
move seconded sir so to clarify the motion are you approving the final Treasures report for 2024 and the current February 2025 Treasures report I am making a motion to approve both reports presented
to us by at least and that's what I was seconding so excellent okay great so is there any discussion having heard none all those in favor signify by saying I of approval I I opposed
great um I wanted to go back to item number three again wel would you like to share anything with us you'll see that we can be a pretty informal um I think do we like fun we enjoy FJ
fun adjacent yeah I like to share well fact I lived here for almost 19 years I have four well two kids and two bonus kids excellent and I work as a consultant for Target Corporation so that's why I was
right here at the Nick time come downtown traffic was not my FR today but um in my spare time I like to DJ um I'm also done comedy so I like making people feel good so this is why I'm here
because I want people to feel good because when people feel good they do good so that's great cool cool we've got lots of opportun there some ask me the tell jol I can't do it on spot um we can put that on the agenda
for next month okaying um which kind of leads us to our big discussion item this evening which is committee assignment you um and you'll see the sheet of paper that that
was included in your packet of all the program activities that we were planning to do or thinking about definitely want to do anywhere in that bandwidth um for
2025 and um for those of you who were not here in our last meeting Ren ji um we were going to sign you up but we didn't we resisted the opportunity sometimes I like being told
what to do so that would have been okay oh all right but I have some oh excellent I'd love to be uh River St days uh I'd love to help with cultureal Heritage and with veteran acknowledgement and um would it be helpful for you um if
we talk a little bit about each event I think that would okay um well Jen you signed up for Pride so oh well I guess we could begin with the Dr King celebration um each year it's been our practice to honor Dr
King um with an event at we we've been at the Chase event center for several years now and we do two things there we um uh I like to think that we lift up our voices uh in honor of some of the words
many of the words that Dr King gave to us um when he was alive we generally have a guest speaker uh this past year or just a month ago we had um Shayla Reeves Shayla Reeves who was a WC
oh yeah I guess I can say that I already said it out loud I'm on camera okay um she is a TV journalist an Emmy awardwinning journalist and she came and she shared her book with us and spoke to
us about the words of what the words of Dr King has meant to her um we had a coloring contest as you saw um and we award the chasa human rights to an individual an
organization uh in this past year um we awarded it to two individuals um excuse me one individual and one organization um so that's in January
um our next big event is our Pride Celebration and Jen since you signed up for that committee do you want to talk a little bit about what the Pride Celebration is I will this is a big year this year I'm it's our fifth annual it
it amazing to me that it's been five years already because I think of it as a new event still but um it's growing each year and it's a lot of excitement um we've really focus
on allowing the lgbtq community in Chad to find a fun place to celebrate together to be celebrated to be welcome as part of the community um really made
it a community events so we have people from that Community we have people that are allies that are saying we see we love you and you know it's just been a whole lot of fun we we've had many fam amilies that come out we have a lot of
family we're geared towards family activities a lot of the time um we've done things like had ice cream we've been able to serve fre School Ice Cream to everyone who wants one every
year with Superman flavor being the favorite so that's fun um we've done things like face painting ' done tie dye um done different activity you know
crafts and things um we' had actually story time because we partnered with the library on a lot of things and they are great Partners they come up with all kinds of fun stuff to do last year they did a story time it was pretty exciting
and then um we've had a DJ so if you're ever interested or you know a DJ you know just let us know um and then we've expanded our
Partnerships with different Community organizations and even businesses um that have become either sponsors or they have a booth there to you know um just educate the the
community about what services they can provide and um it's just a lot of fun and we have it rain or shine because it was really raining last year and it's been really warm and hot sometimes that's good summation um do
you have a location yet it m McKnight mcnight Parks here that's the second weekend uh June 21st thir weekend okay okay River City days who wants to talk
about River City days it's like R yeah I'm happy to really we just um so River City days is the local celebration and and we have a booth uh the last couple of years we've had an interactive event as well and both spinning a wheel
which never stops as well as um but but we had new parts oh oh and Martin has the the machine or the spin and a couple replacement parts in the event that some of the parts should
break again because enthusiastic Spinners so I think we're good that's good we'll have to come up with new jokes because it was fun to tell the little kids that they were so strong you'll have to come up with a new joke yeah so and then also um there was a
Jeopardy game as well that uh we'd have people come and play and and you know giving away lots of Swag just really trying to support the community as much as we can and talk about what we do so nothing it it's just a it's showing up for sure so yeah there the entire Riv
days like firstday in the morning till like 12 night no I think it's I think it's Friday night and then um Saturday till kind of five or six and then that's about we sign up for shifts so um there's usually two or three people at
the booth at a time okay so you're only there I mean you're there about two hour blocks and you can sign up for as many as you want to the subcommittees are planning the events but everybody yeah so Ren I spoke with the
coordinator for River City days today and she asked me if we had filled out the form for us to be at River City days no we will do that though and that okay just wanted to give you a
heads up I'll reach I'll reach out to Kevin I didn't know there was a she asked yes she asked me she said have you signed up yet and I said oh no but we'll be talking about it tonight okay so great I will reach out to Kevin and we will fill it out um cultural heritage
Brit's not here uh Ren you helped with our African celebration Jui and I worked on our celebrate India uh event last year uh do either of you want to talk about you have the most recent
experience I mine's dated I was there for both I mean true well how about you go first then I'll follow so really it's just an opportunity to celebrate a culture um yeah two years ago uh we did all of Africa um although we focused on
a few um countries in particular and had dancing some dancing demonstrations and food um we had kind of representation on the different what makes each country a little bit different um and um and so and then this year we decided to
highlight India so you want to yeah sure so initially it we went through quite a few um Hoops with that one this year we initially wanted to have all the cultures of the world represented or as many as possible within our community so we put out a Google form and tried to
get or solicit ideas for things that could be represented at the celebration and also just the general demographic makeup of who is within this community uh went through a lot of challenges of that one didn't get as many responses as we wanted to and then when we went to go
find people within the community to actually represent said cultures it was really difficult getting participation from all those groups so ultimately our plan B was to go with celebrate India and that's what we ended up doing we put that together remarkably fast actually
but it ended ended up working out beautifully I think we had almost 100 people in attendance and we outgrew the space we cannot be in the lodge anymore which is where we were last year so that's really excited to see where that goes this year
but pretty much up to interpretation I would say but it's a really great event and I had great people working with me so a lot of fun you'll notice on this sheet of paper that there's generally spots for three
people that's because three Commissioners can work together um with with a staff representative any more than that is uh perhaps a conflict and uh so we always limit our Comm subcommittee work to
three members and then a city staff liaison of either Kevin Wright um or Christa I wanted to say her last name but I know that she's now married and I would thank you so okay um other
activities um women's appreciation that's a that's an acknowledgement during the month of March um and Bridge who is not with us tonight um is heading that up um we may or may not do something in
June for Asian and Pacific Islander recognition um indigenous people's recognition veteran acknowledgement last year we had well ren do you w to share that um I think the biggest thing is we had um a gentleman from
Veteran Affairs kind of come in and present and talk about the services that they offer um I think we tried to highlight some veterans and it didn't go as well so this year hopefully it'll be a little bit more proactive there's a school one of the middle schools does a a great celebration and so the intent is
to reach out uh to to the school and see how we can maybe um help and and you know maybe combine effort yeah um so and then community outreach which we try to do throughout the calendar
year so for those um ji are there any of these committees that sparked your interest to participate in just thinking timeline wise in my head which ones are most appropriate okay it just feels so much more real now
that I'm having to consider that oh dear um do you have any idea of what you would like to do I'd like to give you first pick since I've been here for a couple years now that's so of um River City days that's one and I
guess my other question is zero limit to no anyway um so [Music] and you follow your name oh K C
okay you there's one more but I'm still thinking it's s excellent JY I think I'll do Pride this year and then River City days as well and then let's see I think
maybe women's appreciation oh great I know Brit will enjoy working with you um and these are uh this kind of sets the the stage for
us to begin our work in these various um activities and events uh reach out to our community ask for our volunteers or ask for Community participation um and see how we can be
effective in 2025 in communicating our community what chasa does best um any other discussion about our subcommittees I have one more yes
I can joy that okay looks good for the rest pardon me up for the rest yes let's do that Yousef yes let's put Yousef in on the others how's that
perfect okay um let's see what's next I have a I have a thing to ask Elise about the Pride Celebration um it is almost March could you send out an email to the subcommittee for Pride um so we can pick
a date to do an initial meeting to start planning things I think March is a good time to get going on that I agree particularly if you're going to uh
tap into outside or uh to businesses in the community yeah okay great and probably in March you'll want to come back maybe with a recommendation for expense yeah we'll take a look at what
we spent last year and think about what we're want want to dream about this year and okay we'll try to come up with something excellent great all right anything else for subcommittees what about new
business any new business um I have two thing or one thing to share about new business and that is the um a better Society
U Mikasa and the Southwest Chamber of Commerce has started a three-part series on building a thriving Community um their first session um has
already occurred which I attend Ed and I'll share some information about that but they do have another upcoming um session which is scheduled for Wednesday May 21st
2025 from 11: to 1M at the Chanhassen Community Center and they've sent a little blur about about who should attend Community leaders business owners and organizations who are dedicated to fostering inclusive
and thriving communities what you'll gain strategies to address shared Community challenges optimizing the utilization of Community Resources insights for sustainable growth and
Partnerships the engaging sessions include Foster a deeper understanding of the valuable contributions of the Latino community at both the natural excuse me and local levels developed strategies to
address Education Health Care economic challenges and create plans for inclusive and sustainable Community growth um the first session which I did attend um talked
about the many contributions that the Latino Community is currently making in Minnesota and in the United stes States um the individuals who were there
represented uh the Bountiful Basket Food Shelf masasa representatives were there a better Society was there um Southwest Chamber of Commerce representatives were there um our former
mayor Bob ripy was there um and I didn't honestly know what I would hear and I was very pleased to hear the the discussions that came um encouraging
us to think about the value of our community um how can we be more inclusive and I thought it was well worth the time the difficulty part part of this is it's right in the middle of a
workday um so I don't know if any of you have the flexibility or desire to attend as I said the next session it's a three-part series is on Wednesday May 21st from
11:30 to 1 um if that you are interested in attending um there is a a fee um that um it's unknown to me what the fee is going
to be they s which fber indicated that they were going to reduce their initial uh ask for money and so um that's to be determined but if you are interested if you want to put it on your calendar and
then perhaps let at least know that you are interested um and at least as soon as I hear from the chamber I'll let you know about what the fees are going to be Fe the fee to participate if there is going to be a fee would be an expense
that could be covered by the Human Rights Commission so please know that if you're interested the cost should not deter you um so let me know or let Alise know I should say is that good
Elise and we'll get you signed up and we'll use the city membership to do that great uh um let's see any other new business that we need to talk about
tonight I do this now um sure you have something you wanted to share with us well it was in everybody's packet um there's an email here from Charlie McDonald the pastor at CH maravian Church um and he just wanted
to invite all the Commissioners to um a training that he's having uh well he's they're having it at the Moravian Church it will be put on by um to be continued which is an organization
that um serves kver County it's located I think in Arlington or Glen Co somewhere in Western Carver County um but they do a workshop about suicide prevention um and they are coming out to
Eastern Carver County next Friday um again in the middle of the workday it's 9 to 1:30 at the chesa maravian church um there is no cost for this training um but they are taking AAL
offering if people want to contribute something um lunch will be provided too so um that's part of your free will offering or free showing up um
and we know it's last minute so um it's probably best if you know as soon as you know if you want to come to get signed up so that we can get you on the list um Pastor Charlie is on
vacation right now and it says to let him know as soon as possible but if you want to let police know or let me know I can get you on the list if the church great thanks um any other
announcements community activities Jen can I ask real quick if if others that are not part of the commission wanted to attend is this B2 continue. org is that where they'd sign up um no they would still want to I would sign them up through the church but they would they
would be responsible for their fees I would assume there's no fees oh no fees okay no it's it's free unless you want to donate oh you know something to help deprey lunch costs something sure okay got it thanks yeah so just let me know
if you know some people that are interested yeah okay they recommend it for people ages 15 and up so um I assume it's you know geared towards all ages the Spectrum which I think is a really
important skill to have those listening and um like being able to refer when you need to and things like that especially for young people who may not you know they may be just talking to their
friends they may not be aware of what's out there and stuff okay awesome things great um our belonging moment this month uh was included in your
packet and um it touches on the issue of generational diversity and so I ran across this and I just thought it was really interesting um it takes a look at how Americans think about generational
differences and being in the workforce as well as us being on boards uh and of course we always have to say generalizing all groups of people is not a good thing to do but I I thought it
was interesting to see some of the uh perhaps characteristics of traditionalists versus Baby Boomers versus genx versus Millennials and gen Z
and no no need to disclose where you fall on this piece of paper it's just an informational graphic but it is I thought kind of um interesting to take a look about how um something as simple as
well why can't you learn a work the new software program and then tying that into perhaps an individual who um just participated in minimal television opportunities so I ask you to
take a look um see where you are see if you can match up some of these things to others that you may know in your work and in or our organizations and um see how you can collaborate to be more accessible to both your workmates and certainly to our
community um our next meeting is March 27th c25 uh right here in this room um I don't think there's any other business that we have this evening but generally I go through and I
ask everyone is there anything that you wanted to share so where shall I begin I won't put you on the hot spot yet um Hana you have anything any updates I do not okay but it's always
good to see you thank you ran no it's also good to see I was worried you weren't going to say that so Jey my school's culture fair is tomorrow oh wow so that's exciting it's my last one feels kind of surreal but then the other
thing I wanted to add if you have any um if you need any recommendations for the cultural heritage celebration I have a bunch of people who I've whove been contacting me so just let me know I can give you those things that's it okay who else is going to be on our
commit I am look at R I can send or I don't know if that violates open meeting laws I can get it to you somehow think you can send it to me just like a oneof thing and my email address is on here so sounds good I will do that is that right
if she just sent me an email you can send it yeah just to me otherwise sometimes on Like official matters just copy me on it and then that way we'll keep it okay should I put you on there when I email okay all right I will do that that's always the best practice
sounds good Jen nothing else okay Martin nothing oh Mar how was Polar Plunge it was cold uh I ended up for those that don't know I jumped with car County Sheriff's
Office I know that chasa PD was there they jumped right after us it was cold that day there were a lot of officers out there it was good we I don't know how much money we raised I think chasa raised more
moneyy this year next year it's about so why you always put me on the I don't mean to I don't honestly I don't my from Texas because her daughter wanted to do it really bad so I think
she might have been more cold oh yes was her first experience I cheat I wear a shouldn't say this I wear a wet suit underneath my uniform that's not cheating that smart yeah yeah that's just Intelligence on that
chart look like the work done faster or something Ki this is just that we share something or or Nothing at All a DJ I'm not that okay all right
wonderful Elise anything else we missed tonight thank you for helping set up with the um the our young artists um if our youngest artist wants to come in March I guess we'll extend that invitation to
her um and if not this poster will stay in uh downstairs in the lobby for the month uh um or longer um as we said that that was a way for folks could um appreciate the the contributions from
our youth in our community so having heard that there is there any other business if not I'm willing to adjourn if you all are is there a motion I moved to adjourn excellent and there's a second thank you so much for
being here for