recording in progress. Air sign. Good evening everyone and welcome to the Chesa Human Rights Commission meeting for Thursday, June 26th, 2025. Um, first up, we normally do the agenda.
I mean, excuse me, the roll call. So, Elise, would you be so kind as to do the roll call for us? Commissioner Duffy here. Commissioner Huard here. Commissioner Walbert here. Commissioner Lassour here. Commissioner me, Commissioner Sanderson, Commissioner
Gotti, Commissioner Han, Chair Carlson here. Thank you, Elise. Uh we have no open forum or guest presentation tonight, but we do have minutes to take a look at from May 22nd,
2025. And if you've had a chance to take a look at them, if there are any changes, corrections, additions, or deletions, now would be the time to to share those. If not, I would welcome a motion to
approve. I make a motion to approve the May 22nd minutes. Seconded. Motion made by Jen, seconded by Ren. Are there any other questions? Having heard none, uh, all in favor
signify by saying I. Opposed. Thank you. The treasures report. Can you give us an update at least please? Certainly. Uh chair and commissioners, you will see here um
since our last meeting uh we ordered the t-shirts uh that were given out at Pride for tie dying. Um and then we also secured the booth for River City Days. And then um you
will see a line item for supplies for Pride as well. Um and then the remaining Pride budget uh that is based on the $2,000 that was approved at the March meeting. Um we still have several um
invoices kind of left to come in. We got to pay for the ice cream, pay for the face painter. I have a few other supply items that we uh purchased toward the event. So, they are not reflected here, but we will get it updated. You will be
under that $1,100 that are remaining for the Pride celebration. So, what we'll do is we'll finalize that for the next meeting and then anything not spent, we will put that back in the budget for you. That's great. Are there any questions? Having heard none, let's move on to our
business portion of our meeting tonight. Um, and I think we'll jump right to 6C, which is the Pride celebration. And I would just like to congratulate and thank um the committee of Jennifer
um Elise, Kevin uh for putting forth a wonderful, outstanding Pride Picnic. Thank you so much. If you haven't seen the pictures on Carver County Local News, is going to show us some. I sent her some. So, and Alisa is going to show
us some, but I don't know if she's ready yet. So, okay. So, keep talking about it. Keep talking and then when I get on, I'll It happened to be the hottest day of the year. Just in case you guys didn't know that, it was the hottest day of the year. What was it? 100 degrees. I think it was 101.
I think the heat index was 108. Yeah, it broke a record. It It broke a record. But it was our fifth annual event um at Mcnite Park. It was a wonderful event. Um we sponsored with parks and recreation department and we had I think
just a wide variety of family activities. Um and someformational booths that were part of the Chaza Parks and Recreation, Carver County Mental Health, Carver County Public Health. um a trio of
churches. I think that's significant. Um so, Shepherd of the Hill, Chaza Moravian, and Crown of Glory all joined us there and had some great activities. Um in fact, one of the churches, I'm not sure which one, did
rock painting. Um others had some great stickers and uh big bubbles, big bubbles, and of course, lots of treats. So that was terrific. Um, Sweet Salon and Barbershop out of Chanhassen,
they've been back with us. I think this is their third or second year, third year, I think. Um, our friends at Carver County Pride joined us. Um, and Chaza Public Library provided information.
Of course, I think the highlight of the event was um the incredible tie-dyed pride t-shirt collection. Our t-shirt said, "Oh, here we go. I should I should say bead bead classes or bead making
things beads I think or our friends at Chaza County or Carver County Pride Sarah and Nikico. Uh that was Ruby. She was there in her beautiful dress. Okay.
I don't know who Ruby is but she just made the rounds at the at the park. It was a lot of fun. um Jennifer and a person from that you know. Yeah, he lives in a different town. I just a lot of these
pictures are heavily of people I know because I sent them to Elise. So I apologize that there's a lot of He was the first in line for ice cream. I can just tell you that. Um the GSA from uh District 112 High School, Chaza High
School, gave us this wonderful art project um creatures of the sea. And so what you see here are images of people decorating the creatures of the sea and they will be somehow either glued or
affixed to these wonderful panels um that were hand painted. They're muslin painted. more. We have some other close-ups. Our great parks and recreation staff. Uh that's Carver County mental health.
Mental health. Thank you. And that's their booth. More public health. Yeah. Um that's Shepherd of the Hill volunteers. They breath the big bubbles. That's my family.
That's um the rock painting with Chesca Maravian Church and some of their volunteers. And that's more of Chesarabian and a little bit of Crown of Glory. A little bit. Yeah, there's a picture of the whole gang from Crown of Glory coming up
there. And Pastor Reggie was there from Crown of Glory. Um the other two churches are without a permanent pastor right now. So, it was great to have Pastor Reggie there to kind of represent the clergy of these churches that work
together. Um, that's more Chaza Marabian. More rock painting. Ah, yes. That's sweet salon. And they did uh the things that were hanging on the like the string right by them.
Um yeah, that was some um glitter hair extensions that people could come and and get put in their hair kind of to add some bling or flare. I should have done that. That's what we needed on a hot day.
Yeah. And they had stickers and all kinds of fun stuff there. I think more bead making, right? Yeah, that's more bead making. Uh the tie dye. Yes. And a huge shout out to Gracia and Nancy who
worked tirelessly at the um at the tie-dye this year. They were both from Latino Voices and they helped us out manning that and I think they're professional tie dyers. They did
such a great job. They did. Those are t-shirts. Oh, that guy had fabulous socks. That's why I took his picture. Uh, that's our DJ DJ minivan dad Zack who's also a
member of the parks and recreation. The parks commission. Parks commission. That's the team. We even got a lease in there. That's just kind of a shot of people
enjoying themselves. Sarah and Greg. There's the ice cream soup that we had. It It was um well received even though it melted quickly. People were happy to have some cold ice cream that day. our outstanding
Christa uh Mark, right? Yeah. Mark from She's with the communications department here for the city of Chaza. She stood there and filled the tie-dye bottles. I don't know, a hundred times. It seemed
like a hundred times. I know because I cleaned up all the tie-dye bottles and I thought to myself, what a hero she was. That's me and Mary from Latino Voices. There's sea creature coloring, I think.
There you can really see the sea creature back panel. Now, those the panels are small enough we'll be able to take them to um River City Days. will be able to take them to the art uh area at uh the
community center. Um they're more mobile rather than the very large mural. So I they did a great job. And there's four different panels. I mean they're about the size of a picnic table at the park. So we can put up all of them somewhere
or we can split it up if we're out of space. So that's kind of nice. That was face painting. Sophie was great work. That's Luca. That's Kevin's little guy.
It was his first pride. And that's their family picture. That's my niece enjoying her ice cream. Kevin reading a story. Oh, Lucy Ree was there. Um she went around talked to people, enjoyed
herself. This is um a picture with with Randy who is Ran. Do you remember his name? Lawrence. Randy Lawrence. No. Randy from Lavender magazine. He used to
be the managing editor at Lavender and he has been coming to Chaza Pride since he found out about it when it was our second year and he just loves coming out. He said he loves seeing the smaller
towns getting into things. And we were one of the first ones to have a a smaller town um pride event rather than go into the Twin Cities. So, he makes a point of coming out every year still to
visit us. And we're just really happy to see him. That's tie-dye. This is Hana's littlest child. Yeah. Those other kids wear hers, too. Oh, that's right. Yeah.
Yes. Latino Voices team. Great volunteers. And that is it. Okay. Great. So, um, thank you Elise for your great assistance and that. Please extend
our thanks to, uh, Tabitha and to your son Jake for their help. Um, towards the end, I think we were all kind of wilting just a little bit and so, uh, young arms and hands were most
welcome. Um, so, uh, again, thanks to Christa, um, and everyone else that was there. I think you hit all of the highlights of all our volunteers that were there. Um, shout out to Pizza Karma Food Truck and
to Mr. Coffee Cart. Um, I know that there was some sustenance provided to by them to our attendees over and above ice cream, melted ice cream. So, it all it all worked. That
iced coffee at the coffee cart was probably one of the best things that could have happened that day. I think it kept you stimulated. Yes. And alive and awake. So, thank you. Thank you to our committee and to all the many hands that
made Pride a success. It was it was I thought a great event. Um we had over 200 people there on the hottest day of the year. Amazing. Um, and you know, a lot of them stayed for a
long time. And so it was really great to see that people were moving around, trying out all the activities, talking to the booths that we had. And um, I just thought it was a lot of fun. I did get feedback from several people that
they were happy it was back at Mcnite. They enjoyed it there because it could be spread out. Um, A couple mentioned they liked it there because it was close to a a playground. And um although it was too hot to go running around too
much on the playground, um they said, you know, that was something that they appreciated for when it was maybe a little bit cooler. Um the other thing I was going to ask you, Elise, is did you ever hear from Zendan
Yoga? I did not. Okay. I didn't either and I want to reach out to them just to, you know, check in and say they're welcome to stop next year. It would have been hot yoga if we had yoga this year and that might have been, you know, why
they couldn't make it or something. Um, but you know, I think overall everything just went super. That's great. It looks that looks fantastic. We had a good time.
So, thank you. Um, which leads into our next big guaranteed hottest weekend in July, which is I'm turning to my left, Ren and Kichi. Yes. River City days. We meet tomorrow to Okay. Yeah. So, we will have more
details tomorrow. Just any thoughts from the broader group on what works, what doesn't work, anything that we'd like to try that we've never tried before. Uh we've had the Jeopardy game the past couple of years. Um
that works particularly if we can draw people in. Um anything that will get them to come to the booth. Yeah. We've in previous years we've just handed out literature which doesn't bring people in. Yeah.
I shouldn't say that it doesn't, but we also handed out fans. So on the hot days, they would come get the free stuff. I know we bought um tumblers, correct for River City Days this year to hand out. So I was hoping to part and the spin
thing has been repaired. Yes. So if you remember the spinner spun forever. Yes. She had it fixed. So it should What is the spinner? It's It sits on a stand and you spin it and it goes round and round and round and then it stops and you can
label the uh what are those little triangles? I know there I'm sure that there's an official name for that size triangles wedges. Thank you. wedges so that you can get a piece of candy or you can get
one of our swag merch items. Um or you can get um what else? Uh yeah, that's it. do in other as I've been thinking about this in other events we had previously talked about some type of
inter interactive opportunity for people to talk to talk about what an inclusive chat looks like to them but we've never I don't know that we've ever done anything like that is is we've done something like that one year where we had people write on a on a
paper and then everyone just had you know a like a word cloud of of what they liked to see in Chaza and what they liked about Chaza. Um, and I was going to say at the at the Pride event, one of
the booths when you spun the wheel, then you asked a question or answered a question before you got whatever was on the wheel. Okay. And so I mean it was just things like you know um
it doesn't even have to do with whatever you know whatever our booth is but it would be nice but just saying things like you know what makes you feel like you belong or you know how can you be a good friend or something depending on the age of the person you can kind of
just have them answer questions and if you want to you can keep a list and that you know or have them write it down or something. Yeah. Okay. That that might be a little safer than an open-ended, but I don't know. I'm just thinking out
loud of ways that we can make it interactive for people. So, I do have a large speaker that has lights built into it. Okay. Microphone is not um wireless. It's corded. Yeah.
You can use that. Okay. I was going to say I was thinking about the the uh Jeopardy game if we were going to do that again if we had access to a microphone um or or something to amplify because we
can probably always draw some people in, but it'd be fun to have it. Yeah. It's really only like the eight people that are there get to see it, right? If it was louder, you could you could draw more people in. And I do have four wireless mics. If it's the speaker is
Bluetooth. Yes, it is. Or else I do. I have a Bluetooth speaker. This one's I don't know. It's on wheels. I can bring it. You can Okay. Okay. Um, so you're meeting tomorrow. Yes. You'll keep us posted through Elise
as to what you need, when you need us, when to sign up. Yep. All of those things. Yes. Okay. Before our next meeting, because usually our next meeting is like the day before. Yeah, that's right. Start. So, right. So, make
sure we're all here. Okay. Deal. Get us to commit. Yeah, sounds good. Um, so we'll wait to see if if you need anything. we will need people there but yes
um cultural heritage month is our next one um I've sent a message to Brit is on that um and um we're looking forward to seeing Britt next month um but we'll be
talking about our cultural heritage activity. Um Kevin Wright will be our staff liaison and so we'll get together with Kevin um and start talking about that um indigenous people's recognition.
According to my list, I don't think we had anybody sign up for that. Um but I did write myself a note to ask um can we um have an update on City Square Park.
We can get you an update for next month. I'll put that on the agenda. Great. Thank you. Um you if you've been downtown Chaza, you've probably seen the fencing, the repairs going on at the gazebo. Uh I think there might be some more recognition with the with the uh
uh Indian mounds there. So that's good. Um, veteran acknowledgement. Martin, any updates? Um, we've made we're getting we're getting there. So, we'll have more closer to I think August when school
starts up again. Okay. Plan on partnering with one of the local schools, uh, community outreach. Um, I don't have an update. Okay. Um, and the only other item for new business
or old business, excuse me, is our banner update. We do not have an update for you. Okay. Uh, let's see. City Square Park. Do we think we will have a banner before River City days? A new one? I don't think
we'll be able to get one, but you have your new tablecloth which has your logo on it. So, okay, it you should be able to display that pretty prominently. Okay, that's the banner. It has the old
like a pullup banner we had talked about that you'd be able to put off to the side. Okay. Any new business? doesn't sound like it. Doesn't sound like in fact we're all kind of coined on the new business. Okay. Well, so
um Chaska Communications have any new business for us? No, it just says that. Well, we do have the family resource center is going to be at the church. Okay. Um I don't know if that came
across to all of you, but the Chaza um a better society uh is partnering with others in the community to have a resource center and it's going to be at the Chesa Marabian Church. Thank you uh to the congregation and the elders of
the Chasabian Church to support that effort. they will be starting um just getting started in July getting into the building and kind of um making a calendar of different
activities and events that they will host. So, um I would think next month we might have more information about that. Right now it's very new. hasn't really even started yet, but it's an exciting new development in our city.
It'll be great. Great addition. So, the voice from above, are there any other new announcements? That's the main one. Thank you, Kevin. Um, so our uh although
we just finished with our June Pride celebration, I wanted to talk a little bit about what July is. And July is our disability pride month. And um we never really recognized uh the disability
community or the community of individuals that have disabilities which include sensory, emotional, they're non-visible, neurodeiversity, and physical. I read an interesting statistic about people with disabilities and that at one
point in all all of our lives um we may be disabled. We may be considered without all of our faculties our abilities to move, to think, to talk, to hear, to uh to to look, to see. So I thought that was a very interesting
observation made by uh those that do statistics. Um, but it's been 35 years ago with since uh President George HW Bush signed the Americans with Disability Act. And
this month is always celebrated as the month that challenges us to think about people with disabilities um needing to conform to norms to live meaningful lives. And
um I'm encourage I was encouraged to uh share with you and to our the members of CHASCA that disability rights encounter increasing challenges in health care, education, employment,
public life and it is important to engage with individuals with disabilities. Learn about disability history rights and movements. advocate for disability rights and inclusion and encourage all of us if possible to
attend the disability pride month events which here in our cities uh is sponsored by Ark of Minnesota. It'll be on July 17th at the state capital from 10 until 1 p.m. So there's our belonging moment
for the month of July. Is there any other business? It's so great to see you all. I've missed seeing you. [Laughter] Thank you for being here. We'll see you next month and then at Chesca River City
Days. I'll call for adjournment. So moved to Excellent. All of us say yes. Yes. meeting journal.