##VIDEO ID:UKIHsHJ6RJo## good evening everyone and Welcome to our viewing audience and welcome to the chasa Human Rights Commission meeting for Thursday January 23 our city leaon Alise Durban is not with us this evening but we're fortunate to have Kevin Wright as our Lea's on tonight so welcome Kevin yeah hey great to join group again thanks um generally we do the roll call would you be willing to do that I I would be willing and honored to do that so excellent I'll uh fill a buster just a second or two to let commissioner me get my fellow Kevin over there all right so commissioner Hamza commissioner Hanan here is that did I say that right okay I was I was I'm not sure commissioner agatti commissioner lur commissioner aliar commissioner me here commissioner Sanderson here commissioner robbert here commissioner welbert here and chair Carlson here Kevin it's always a big one to get off the plate um the agenda was sent out are there any additions and delions Corrections that we need to to have for the agenda if not may I have a motion to adopt the agenda so moved EXC motion made by Hana second by Martin there's no further discussion all in favor signify by saying I I oppose eyes carry thanks um we do not have a guest presentation this evening but I'm wondering would we like to see the slides now or would we like to see the slides under item 6A we can just we can watch them now we could watch them now all right that works for me so the slides that we're going to be showing are just some highlights from our recent event the Dr Martin Luther King the celebration that we held this past Monday we had a great opportunity to to gather we had a wonderful guest speaker the author of echo in the distance um and so you can hopefully you'll see those slides and you'll say hey wait a minute I think I recognize those so yeah I think this is about everyone see him well enough this way yeah yeah all right so yeah so I'm just tell me if you need me to stop but I'll just kind of maybe do a slow sure that'd be great 3 to 5c process here so one of the things that we did at the Dr King celebration was award two human rights award one goes to the New Beginnings program and on New Beginnings program Representatives um former mayor Bob ripy who when I spoke with him today said said you guys really know how to do it thank you so that's off to us for that oh we have you can tell that by that face I think this is saying wow this this commission knows how to do it right there um Kaylee haga former uh member of our commission uh the communications manager for district 112 we had oh wonderful Middle School choir from all three middle schools here in jasa they gave they provided three songs three different songs all wonderful the second uh Community rights uh excuse me human rights award for 2024 actually did not go to this gentleman it went to Julie janky who was out of the country and uh when we get to that I'll read her message that she wrote to us uh that I received today on her behalf um our our generally our city liaison Al Le Durban there in the background along with Greg B here in our community and the person with the black and white check is Aaron link our partner with Parks and Recreation and you can kind of tell maybe how cold it was that day by Greg seemingly warming his hands with a cup of coffee minus something like that without windchill I don't know what it was with windchill but negative why did I move back to Minnesota exactly um our representative Lucy reene in the middle along with Heather Tran I Tran from a better Society an organization that works here in chasa and in the Carver County community the human rights award our plaque normally hangs here in the entrance to um City Hall to our council chambers and um as you go out this evening you'll can see all of those individuals that have been have received the award along with our two newest additions our new mayor Taylor hubard we asked her to give uh some opening remarks and uh um it was great to have her there and to kind of set the tone for us for our event Jill Engles swick the program director for uh Beyond New Beginnings one of the human rights award recipients uh oh there we go so Kevin Wright our Communications manager for the city of chasa uh meeting and greeting the public which is what one of the wonderful things that does so thank you Kevin and you'll notice I forgot my glasses at home that day so I remembered when I was about five minutes uh out of leaving from leaving or having left my house five minutes earlier so I said well guess I'm just gonna not be wearing glasses today so they would have fogged up anyways it was so cold out there well this is me telling Terell that he's like I didn't even recognize you from he's like I thought that was you but I didn't see the glasses so I was proving that I was who I said I was oh another one and another one with Libby Fairchild who if you recall was our host last year um she's also an original member of the chasa Human Rights Commission and um she helped us last year draft indigenous people's day if you recall that from last October excuse me September our wonderful I didn't take the photos what are you looking at me very studious yeah yes that was that's a sharp suit Monday comy Thursday Martin Jen and our guest speaker Shayla Michelle and Sarah oh yeah and Sarah in case I don't look the same um and then the next image is our guest speaker Shayla Michelle she is an Emmy Award um television individual from here in the Twin C speak to our city manager Matt poosi um are one of the five Carver County Commissioners Matt udman Molly hamaki uh the executive director of Beyond New Beginnings also a former member of the jaska Human Rights Commission R St John um I don't know what his title is he's on the board I believe right so maybe he's the president of the board of directors for Beyond New Beginnings I believe he was a human rights commissioner at one time too I do not know that he was on the Heritage preservation commission was he okay yeah for sure that one I know but again Russ ah yours truly I didn't I didn't know that Neil had included this one do I look a little intense there oh my gosh he the one that took all these yes he did he's our official Martin Luther King Jr Day photographer we can move off of that Shayla Michelle and our Host this year was Steve Curtis the executive director of the Southwest Chamber of Commerce Again Taylor Hub terrific photo of Taylor she was a human rights commissioner I know that she too was a Human Rights Commission member and and that is the these are the photos yeah okay can you do this when I go get my phone oh yeah okay um I should grab the gavel or something officially taking we'll move on um to item number four and um that is approving the minutes we did not have minutes from last month um because we did not have a forum but we did have minutes we need to approve still from our November meeting so um I don't know if everyone's gotten a chance to look through the minutes you have any questions or changes please let us know do you want to take over again having heard no comments um may I have a motion to approve the minutes of November 21st 2024 thank you a motion's been made is there a second a second is any is there any discussion if not all in favor please signify by saying I I opposed the eyes carry the treasures report because we are a brand new year see that our balance is500 and you'll see that we have some expenses for the do King celebration um authorized uh back in November I believe so the plaques total 160 oh K do you want to do the treasures report you were doing a fine job so you can on okay um so plaques and the books now there will be additional expenses associated with the coffee and the duts sweet rolls and I don't anticipate that being so right now we have $591 129 um and you'll recall that we begin each year with a new balance we spend throughout the year our goal is not to have any money left in our budget as of December 30th um and so uh sadly we had some problems with getting the invoices in on purchasing of the books but we did it so there you go that way carried over from last year to this year it did not carry over that's a brand new expense for 2025 the books we tried to get the books purchased in 2024 and the invo in j y any other question is it possible to get last obviously can't be done today but get last year's I don't know reconciliation so we can see what the what we spent versus what we had left at the end of the year yes we can we can make that available next meeting if there are no questions um or comments about the fur's report may I have a motion to approve so moved is there a second thank you kevn motion's been made and seconded to accept the treasurers report from J opposed eyes carry well so here on our agenda is when we officially get to talk about the Dr team celebration um and Hana and Kevin and I were part of the planning committee so thank you so much for your uh willingness to attend those meetings and brainstorm and think about where are we going to get this and that um I'd be interested in in one in if you wanted to share any comments about the event um Hana I think you were there Kevin I think you schedule didn't allow you to be there but I thought it was nice yeah I thought cold again as we've said but um I really enjoyed the choir I thought that was a really good way to do the music that still kind of um you know was connected with askas and brought kids into the presentation which I thought was really cool and um the speaker was was great and I like that we were able to give away her books and so yeah thought it would good have some submissions to the coloring contest so that's exciting we'll have to take a look when they're all in but so that was part of our program this year was the coloring contest so people could turn in their contest uh there at uh on the 20th when we have at our event or they uh when are they due I'm sorry for the this month this month yeah and so we'll be meeting um we do have three prizes to award not to mention the fact that they'll be posted here in City Hall um and hopefully we'll have Carver County local news which is our new digital program digital newspaper um swing by take a couple of pictures and um maybe we'll be able to even photograph the the art the Young Artists so um I'm really pleased that we could offer that this year um something a little bit different we'll see how it goes um as we plan for 20 26's event I unfortunately was unable to make it um even though I've worked Youth Development for 10 years turns out I'm not immune to infant and toddler germs I am to elementary school Age kid germs so my kid picked something up at daycare and um was generous yeah and it was generous and he really good at sharing his daycare germs yeah I wasn't feeling good on Monday well perfectly understandable we we figured that the cold temperature would probably prevent some folks from coming and attending um echo in the distance is the book that Shayla Michelle wrote and uh we purchased uh 40 copies of this book um and we gave away 15 15 I believe um and the balance of those books will be distributed to the uh District 112 schools so we're really glad that we're able to do that in L of an honor AR and this was all in lie of an honorarium to be paid to her so um Martin you have a pretty exciting conversation with her after no I didn't mean it that way with her regarding potential other activities that she might want to participate here in jasa yes um I don't have my I don't have it with me but her Shayla and her boyfriend um or not boyfriend excuse me fiance they kind of do a Martin Luther King Malcolm X Type conversation and they do it for um grade school aged children and they'd like to bring that production out this way um so we'd like I we'll have talk about a later I was put on the spot but he just reached out to me yesterday so um kind of put something together for Black History Month they want to come out and something out in this are feary I have more details later it was exciting excited yeah it was exciting to hear that um they would be interested in coming to chasa and um and not that chasa is the end of the world of course not we're in the middle of the world but um I I was really pleased to to see their excitement and their engagement in with others after the event during the event yeah it it's very good I mean he used do a great job planning and taking pictures and all kinds of other things so it's I heard nothing but good comments and when I got to work um one of the uh people I work with like I saw you on a post and you were at the dmlk breakfast I was going to comment but didn't so that's proba good I just wanted to read to you uh Julie Jan's message to to us um she wrote I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart it is truly an honor to be recognized for the human rights award it means so Capital but very much to me thank you I would like to come to one of your meetings and get a photo with the group and my award I feel bad that I will not be there today to accept it we picked a good week she was out of town vacationing as we are back on Wednesday when it starts to warm up take care and stay warm thank you again Julie jeny so we're sorry that she was not with us but so glad that she did send a message and I will invite her to our next um February or March's meeting um I think that the challenge for Dr King celebration for us is um what do we provide to our community how do we educate do we entertain do we have a thoughtful speaker and so later on in our meeting we're going to be talking about our committees our subcommittees planning for this next year so um Jen has been part of the Dr King celebration committee for um a few years and then stepped off this year um so I don't know if you have any recap thoughts from Monday that you wanted to share as an observer not as a I'm in the woods I'm taking care of the donuts versus the the books sh um well first of all it was nice to sit with my husband at the breakfast um I've never gotten to do that before because we're usually stressing out about Donuts or something at the last minute um but I really was impressed with the program that was put together I like you have heard nothing but good things um I really always am impressed with the youth that show up on the coldest day of the year every year and it's a day off from school and they're there early and like this year they were singing and I mean that's really cool to see that you know and um I appreciate that a lot I hope we can continue to find ways to keep Youth and students involved because I think that really adds to the morning um I was going to tell you about a comment I got from my sister um she lives in the North Metro like Way North Metro and um she said I wish that we had something like this up by us and she said I'm so glad I can watch it on YouTube and um she just said to let the commission know that she's impressed with the the work that's put into it and I thoughtfulness every year because even through the screen she can feel the community stuff through it so um good job to everybody for that so I wanted to pass it along thanks um the the sub committee Kevin Hana Stacy Kumar Nelson who is with our who's our liaison with um I don't Tom cast thank you um we'll be meeting in the next couple of weeks and try to put together uh best practices maybe we won't maybe we should stay away from that next year kind of uh after Action Report like we do with all of our events so look for that in February um new business can I just ask one question Martin I know you were on the spot but are we going to meet before the folks want to come down and do the uh event I don't know um I can actually call them tomorrow and have a a real conversation with them to figure it out um I I I see it as um kind of us advertising or supporting something because they already have these sessions in place for February um but I'd have to have a conversation to see how how can we fit something into February or later on in the year whatever they have going on okay but I'll have a better answer and I can email a lease where she can spread it out this weekend vote by email right if we need to or we can and that's something um yeah we can if necessary I think that it the preference is always that we have a decision and we're in Quorum and we are together and we make a DEC ision um but there has been some decisions that have been made via email um and so we do have that flexibility although very protected and very guarded they they do this all year so if it doesn't happen next month it can happen later on in the year okay okay does this seem like something that we should add to our list of subcommittees and then um you can have some people at the ready in case you need to help plan something quickly uh I we can I don't know I I I haven't talked to them yet so I don't well we can have people at the radio yeah if it doesn't happen next month then you know it can happen in Mak June or whatever con did that answer your question yes I just wanted to make sure we yes that's fine I thought great um our action plan um was included I believe yep it should be in your packet in your packet and this is something J and I met with and we on our action plan we we planed an action plan um ever since we met with the city back in 2020 and established kind of a strategic planning session at that time and we said it would really be helpful for us to say these are the kinds of things that we think we should be doing and the ways that we are going to carry out that that mission so to speak and so uh we try to identify um we back in October or sep excuse me September because and October I think um to kind of walk through um an action plan that we thought was something that we as volunteers to our community could carry out and that we could commit to so um if you all have it in front of you um we're going to continue to FL actively partner and engage with community members and groups so we have a host of individuals that we have worked with individuals and organizations that we have worked with in the past and so we'll continue to do so um and of course always looking for new opportunities um I think uh the pride program last year reached out to various businesses for uh sponsor FS um we certainly done that in in years past did we do that at any other time during last year we reached out to the businesses just for like MLK I mean we asked for right just for Dr King and for our Pride Celebration so um reach out during heritage month not not for sponsorships sponsorship Partnerships right um since we partnered with Southwest Chamber of Commerce this past week I feel that we've got the opportunity to kind of explore that and even to reach into the downtown Business Association that's right here in chasa um no guarantees no promises no commitments but um we'll see I know that they'll be with us certainly in bodies um um we can certainly explore Financial sponsorships if we exceed our budgeting for um our event this year um can I add to that yes please when when we met as a subcommittee for um The Pride Celebration part of how we did it is we each came came up with 10 local businesses and decided that's who we were just going to go and let them know about the um the event and you know were they interested in either financially supporting us or finding some other way to support us partner with us um I was really pleasantly not surprised but I was very happy to um see the the support and the excitement that came from a lot of businesses who didn't know about this before and you know they they said oh keep us in mind you know right now we can't or whatever you know but so there's there's definitely an interest level there that maybe doesn't know about the Human Rights Commission and I think that that was a great way for us to kind of let them know we are here and to find out who we can partner with and we did that we weren't asking for a lot of when if we asked for the financial donation we didn't ask for a lot either so it wasn't like they'd be like oh that's a ridiculous amount of money um some of the businesses I approached like oh like that's all you're asking asking for so I think that helped in the at least on my side helped in the conversations as well sure yeah and I think that there's a trend and I'm sure that all of you have read about this um many businesses are looking at traditional diversity equity and inclusion programs and kind of taking them and saying we're going to take that out of our budget or out of our program um for our company or for our business and so how do we continue to engage our businesses our community in the work that that we do um might be a way to approach businesses this year I I don't know if that's going to be successful or not but we can certainly see I would say that advertising is advertising they have money in their advertising budget maybe that but also I would say not wait until the end of the year middle of the year to request funds because a lot of companies will divvy out whatever at the beginning of the year so if you have ideas like whoever it may be maybe throw out an idea to them now instead of later so maybe there might be something left right when we need it that was a struggle partly thinking Junior breakfast people are like well I've already committed for the year good information for us for when we've thinking about our sub committees um one other thing about the advertising is that the many of the businesses said that um they're looking for places to advertise now because there's not the chesca herald and so they were looking at ways they could you know advertise in other places and we had them um give us a logo to put on the t-shirts that we tiedyed and that was a that seemed like a really good way for them they were happy about that um so we can remind them it's just another Avenue to to get their name out there too well speaking of funding uh we requested from city council to authorize um a dollar amount of $88,500 for 2026 um and as we mentioned earlier with our Treasures report we have authorized $6,500 for this year um part of the plan of action is to create a belonging message at monthly meetings of the commission uh we'll see how that goes uh provide an annual presentation a year in review to city council so um I'll be working with our Communications Department for the city of chasa in helping prepare a program to bring to city council um when I came last year to city council they were one it's part of what we say we're going to do for the city so um so one it's important that we do it and then two I guess the feedback was is that uh I heard from all of the city council Representatives that said you know cha is really proud of what the Human Rights Commission has one created and two that you do and we really want to see it continue so our year in review will bring certainly bring all the highlights from 2024 uh probably include some from 2025 is Dr King celebration and then we'll ask them to help us carry forth our mission to to make chasa a home for everyone so um Jim do you want to talk about how we worked on trying to engage City departments or how we plan to or how we plan to thank you um well we had talked about this and thought you know probably these different departments are working on things for you know maybe not necessarily human rights but for Community engagement and for Dei type things um and if we could let them know hey we're here you know and we'd like to know how we can support you better do you have events we can partner with you or do you have people who would like to partner with us to help when we have different events or celebrations um maybe another thing that we had talked about talk talking with them about is how how could we be supportive um not necessarily at events but let's say with the um like the ches utilities for example and so it's like the power company what could what could we do as a commission to help make that a more Equitable and inviting place for people um what barriers do they see obstacles do they see um another example we talked about is like Public Works um let's say there's a senior community that there's a apartment building or a neighborhood of seniors and they find that even though we're required to um have clear sidewalks there's not people that live there that can physically do it so um is there some way we can help to find like some sort of solution for that you know when could they identify problems that maybe we could collaborate on because we've been really well supported by um city council and I would say with parks and wreck but there's a whole list of other um departments that I think we really could tap into and just see what we can do in the future does that sum it up I think it does great um I think one of the challenges that we'll see um and not necessarily just in chasa but everywhere is um a collaboration and working relationship with our law enforcement and um I think we may see some challenges in that area um from from a human rights perspective in 2025 and going forward so I think how we uh work with certain members of our community um in law enforcement and continue with community policing efforts um Touch a Truck in terms of the fire department I think are all good ways that we can be kind of a bridge to another part of the city that that whose goal is to um engage and promote from within our community so uh good stuff um we want to continue working with the communities of belonging effort you know we started working with them um I would say that uh we've been taking kind of a kind of an extended break here in chasa I know that other areas in that idea continue to have kind of a relationship with with that group um we also kind of established some exciting activity for 2025 and you'll see that on page 9 or 12 um where we talk about what kinds of things we've talked about what kinds of programs we've delivered in the past that have been successful um with beginning in January with the Dr King celebration Black History Month civil rights and Humanity engagement um women recognition acknowledgement programming in March Asian and Pacific Islander focus in May and June of course we continue with our pride event uh our River City day presence uh our cultural events last year we did two cultural events um one was celebrate India um great event um people want it again um the uh also we partnered with uh Latino voices on the celebration of the Dead um in uh early November which was a a fun event excuse me late October um indigenous people's day acknowledging their presence and their uh their land veterans acknowledgement we did a little bit this year and of course we want to um look at other opportunities where we can um build our communities so any ideas are always welcome um we talked about implementing an HRC presence on Instagram recognizing that Facebook um and that platform might not be all any update about social media platforms that you would want to add Kevin yeah I believe the the conversation revolved mostly around Instagram uh and creating a specific page for the Human Rights Commission on Instagram so uh that is something uh that from a Communications perspective we can support uh so it's it's as easy as setting it up and starting it uh I believe the next step was creating a plan of how we were going to continue to provide content for it so that's that's always the key it's always very easy to set up page and set up an account uh but then you want to make sure it's active so we would uh we would definitely be willing and happy to support and provide content as well but we would also you know look to the commission to to help and if that's you know so a lot of that can be done you know early on and you know with if there's monthly messages and and other opportunities like that and with events coming up obviously there's content that's going to naturally get generated there but just thinking through a a calendar um and saying well you know this month is something we want to post so if you look at it as once a month that's probably um an okay posting kind of timeline uh you know you would probably want to try to build up to maybe a little bit more frequently than once a month but I think to start off with once a month is something that you know if it's achievable then that's something we can help provide one of the questions I was asked um on Monday was what social media platforms are you on and I think I said um oh oh all the usual and then I thought hm maybe I don't know what all the usual are for the city of chasa so can you share I can yeah so the city itself uh we have we also have you know obviously our Police Department our fire department uh but as far as the city government itself where where you'd see a lot of the Human Rights Commission posts would be we have Facebook we have Instagram YouTube uh we also have threads uh which is kind of a newer Twitter type uh platform if you haven't been on threads yet um and then we also have X Twitter as well uh next store and Linkedin are the main ones we're on not on the Tik Tock the Tik to not on the Tik Tok the Tik Tok is on the agenda to create an account though so and now that we're through the the potential uh or the the brief moment in time that Tik Tok was no longer available that uh so we can definitely approach that with uh full force now TR Tic Tac Trends I don't know if we'll I mean it'd be great if we could start one um I don't know if I can commit that we'll start one but um we can definitely uh we we definitely will hop on some of them that are already going on for sure we do it um already a little bit on our Instagram page we've we've committed more time this past year and going forward to internally with our Communications team discussing Trends and then figuring out how we can do those in a way that either promotes um a city function or city initiative or a city department so we've done that with like the Gen Z script the Gen Z edit um the one where we had the mayor fill in for us filming some stuff at our Public Works and the the end video is just of his face so kind of he had the camera facing the wrong way so that was kind of that's a fun one to in the like point of view to with the one night choir we we did that um that was kind of that event uh that council member Wong at the time um had thought of because of the Tik Tok trend for those two so we've been slowly getting a little bit more trendy I'm not on Tik Tok so I don't know any of those Trends have a lot more time at night then you know because you can spend a lot of time on Tik Tok and it is always interesting to see what is what some of the trends are I will be the first to tell you I don't necessarily understand all of them but they do uh really help with engagement so um kind of being a part of them we we typically try to then pull in some other staff members uh typically ones that are who are younger than me uh because they understand those a little bit more but um but yeah it's fun well I think the key words that you said in addition to everything else was uh Community engagement and that's what we're looking for that's how we want to get our message out uh that's how we want to invite our community to participate with us and our role I think we've got some great programs throughout the year I think some of us have kind of said to ourselves oh gosh if only there was more people or if only there there was more more people said something so um how do we expand um until uh vote about all the well if any of the Commissioners are willing to do viral dances those are always a good one too so okay well I'll let you know yeah we don't need an answer now yeah haven't even adopted the plan yet so right right exactly so one of the other things that we're going to be doing is we're establishing the subcommittee work in January now in February next month we have the opportunity to hopefully perhaps um add additional members to our commission um they those interviews are probably scheduled for if they're not already ongoing early early next week so we may have a new commission member or two joining us in 20 in February um but I think it's probably a good idea that we start our committee planning now as opposed to waiting until March and then we're oh my gosh we've got our first activity and what are we gonna do a good idea did anyone roll off this memory uh I know there's one open position I'm not sure came off the I don't have that I know there was one open position an open position yeah uh for the majority of 2024 oh um schedule pred her pending and then I think uh her other well life happened other commitments happened and um so Jui is our uh youth representative and I I believe that she'll be staying on continuing on in her role I think that our plan would be to move her to a one of the slots or one of the commission members and then sadly we'll have to bid Ado to her when she goes away to school in September uh or perhaps August uh hopefully we'll be able to another student uh to join so that's kind of the general plan um so I think um let's talk a little bit about our subcommittee d Carlson real quick yes please sorry um you will need to I don't know if was a motion made to adopt the 2025 action plan um we did not so is there any discussion or further uh clarification that Jen and I could provide regarding the action plan yes well yes Mar please J hop in join us comment yes so there is the the line where you go and you go in front of the city council and yes we've accomplished I would like us to move our whatever month that's going to be take our meeting and move it to that day so we're there to support you instead of you showing up by yourself I believe you were you attended last year's presentation yes that way everyone can be there and they can see that we do care sense absolutely great idea I just have a question about the like what we're saying when we pass this are we committing to do reach out to every single one of these departments and do are these just like ideas of okay we're this isn't like the last action plan was what we say 2020 no we did one in 20203 okay so that was just kind of a a road map for how the next few years would go it and so we just um Revisited that and thought we better make sure that we either are staying on track or we want to add or subtract things from the one from 2023 it is not a like um instruction manual it's more of a guideline you know like let's stay Within These boundaries or at least their goals I guess there's one thing that um thank you there's one thing that came up at the I'm forgetting what it was called in New Brighton that Gathering that we went to um or something yeah the of all the other human rights commissions um but one of the I think it was the New Brighton one so that they were soliciting um feedback I suppose from their Community about like what they were worried about and you know I think we do a lot of really great things and address a lot of Human Rights issues but I'm just curious if there's things that like members of our community are really worried about that we're not talking about I don't know exactly how to do that I think they were door knocking and that's a big commitment um but if there's a way we can figure out how to like ask the community what they want us to talk about I would suggest not door knocking I that's a good idea only because I did that this summer and I and I think you end up meeting people that you probably don't want to meet and they become hostile um just from a safety standpoint yeah but then I have a suggestion there's the new paper or digital paper yeah Cara County local news you think like that FL there do you think maybe we could put something on that or put it out there like a survey or something yeah and we I mean we could you could also utilize you know City facilities or uh you know postcard or something that you wanted to send out that can ask people to take a survey as well um that's another possibility as well sled in electricity you could that y MH yeah I mean if we develop something like that it could we could just use like we could have it at River City days we could um at that food pickup at the gy yeah fact we could like put it in the bag or have it there for people to fill out just like we could kind of spread it around and maybe just gather information this year and see what we hear yeah we may be missing something that is very important to a bunch of people in this community and we just haven't thought of it yet so I think it would also give us an opportunity to let the community know what we do I think at River City days a lot of people were I don't know confused but they didn't really know what the Human Rights Commission did or represented or what did it mean and by soliciting Community feedback it would give us an opportunity to sort of explain what our purpose is and you know what we try to accomplish as a committee and and we can very clearly ask people you know is there anything you're aware of that would fall within the purview of you know our efforts and work I think it could be very meaningful to community members too if they brought an idea forward to us and then we said at that you know and I think they would feel like they were even more a part of what we're trying to advance in the community and stuff yeah good suggestion yeah um I think I shared with each of you uh an event that happened this past Saturday it was a community meeting sponsored by um Latino voices his house foundation and the Crown of Glory faith community and they they talked about in the two-hour session uh what is immigration what does immigration look like in terms of um Refugee uh a person without documentation uh what will it look like in chasa in 2025 um are there safe harbors um and certainly I would say there was probably a hundred people there across a wide range of City County uh school um community members Faith communities uh people from Shaka motanka um excelsia talking about what what what does human rights look like and that was a question that was posed to me is well what what does human rights look like in Jasco it relates to that particular topic and um I know that uh the HRC was approached and asked again if we would do other immigration related events Andor partnering with our law enforcement our peace Community our police community relations folks um in 2025 to provide more understanding more explanation more uh more facilitation I don't know if that's something that um we would necessarily pick up on a community survey but it certainly was a hot topic on a very cold Saturday um to like I said approximately 100 people were there and I was surprised at at the turnout uh an attorney from uh the Brooklyn Park area came and spoke um and provided legal definitions of terms that perhaps we hear uh as it relates to Human Rights um but that we haven't understood clearly um or or understood the impact of what those words meant and that legal definition so it was helpful I think that what I heard was that we they would the community would like to see more of that in aska now whether or not the Human Rights Commission wants to take that on as a in a role in a sponsoring role in a facilitation role I would leave to us for a discussion but I think surveying the community uh through whether it's the utility bills or through Carver County local news I think that's a great idea um I agree people don't always understand what it is that we do we we say we do this this and this but what are we really trying to do so um absolutely we we need to ask the question did I answer the questions about the action plan or sufficiently have I given you enough food to to think about and to digest in the next 30 days or so okay yeah I think this really nicely summarizes a lot of the discussion points we've had over the last year so thank you guys yeah and it can be an evolving document it does not have to be set in stone so if we say oh we want to Pivot and go this way and the commission agrees to it then we do that but there there's something to refer back to of making sure that we're we do have a plan if if we're Beering off too much or something I would suggest raising the just in case I'm not around in November or September the 8500 I would raise that you know I was gonna say that I didn't I I think I would start at 10,000 I realized that's a big number it's scary number but you're also talking about 2026 I think in the next year cost living is going to go up so we asked for 85 and they said no is that what happened or they're pondering our request they will ponder our request in 2026 to $8,500 this year we have $6,500 okay because the budget is end of the summer that they talk about that yep conversations start around June and then it goes to council for preliminary tax levy in September so they start talking about it in August to the council so that's why we can't ask right now for them to up it so got it and then the final piece of the action plan just just to be clear is that um and Jen and I talked about this with aase and there are um commission operations and that we really do want to have subcommittees do the do the work as individuals we can't do it collectively we're a large group we can't always be there on the same day and the same time uh but through our work in subcommittees limiting ourselves to Tre on each to ensure that within the confines of restrictions of the open meeting laws um it's really important that if you commit to a subcommittee that we that you participate if at all possible possible um and I think that one of the ways that we determined was so successful and I I don't know who started it but was using Google Drive um to kind of keep up with the notes of each of the meetings and um and of course there's probably other other means by which to do that that are not within my scope yet um but uh since I was kind of late to the Google drive but um Now understand the value of Google Drive and certainly uh the work that can have occur in uh in sharing information within committees so um if this is acceptable to you as a guideline for 2025 I would like to have a motion to alove it I move to approve the 2025 Human Rights Commission plan thank you a motion's been made by Brit is there a second second it's between Kevin and Mar first Kevin first thank you Kevin so motion's been made seconded by Kevin to adopt the 2025 action plan for the Human Rights Commission if there's no further discussion may I have a motion to approve all in favor sign ify by saying I I I opposed I carry okay let's take a look at those core events that we we think we want to do for 2025 which include planning for the human rights celebration in 202 The Pride celebrate uh River City um a cultural heritage month we've also uh talked about doing women's appreciation acknowledging uh Asian and Pacific Islander uh recognizing the work of the downtown community with preservation of our uh Indian Mounds in City square and incorporating an indigenous people's um event veteran acknowledgement and uh uh continuing black history I don't want to take away any of your enthusiasm but do any of you want to just jump right on in and say I want to do this in 2025 I will I'll take uh veterans acknowledgement thank you Mar um can I say something that we talked about too was that as we were looking at these we we were talking about that it we think it's important to have at least one experienced commissioner on each subcommittee um meaning someone who's been on that committee before or at least attended the event um just to have an idea you know of things that need to be thought about or if someone says um we should do this in the person experience could say well this is why we haven't done this or what you know or this is why we should do this or whatever um I just think it's really helpful to have somebody carry over from other years um that doesn't mean you have to do it for seven years in a row like I did for one sub but and I loved it so um but I've also had times where we're like well what are we doing you know so um I think it's important to have that and the other thing is at previous meetings for the commission we've all talked about we need to start planning this sooner we've said that about every event so I have a note here that I wrote to myself check in early and often with your subcommittee um because even if you're not working on something until October it's good to at least keep the conversation going so that we don't get to September and go what do you want to do you know and um so I think that starting to choose the Committees in January is a good start to it and then we just need to continue communicating anybody want to jump on to any committee I'll be on the pride committee again excellent thanks Kevin I would really like to do that again I I thought that was a great one that's wonderful I'd like to help out on women's appreciation thank you br and you know because Ren is not here we should just assign him and remember you will also have a new commissioner right as well so this just kind of kicks things off I think um just won't want to fill up every spot because then you will leave that new person with no options and if there's openings we can choose to join it later absolutely and we won't hold your feet to the fire if you say uh I've thought about it no I don't want to do that again um but well I I would only ask that you think about what it is that you your time and your life uh allows you to participate in this year and please remember that with all of these events we're we don't have to do these events we we can look at other activities or other educational or other community forums to to bring an awareness to uh create diversity within our community um so please know that these additional events and recognition um we are flexible okay so just to confirm Kevin and Jennifer are on Pride very important you should probably kick that off soon um and uh Brit you're going to take over our women's appreciation sometime for in Spring Martin you're going to take over our veteran acknowledgement in sometime in November or in the fall shall I say and you're going to get back with us about uh perhaps a a community activity associated with black history thinking that our new partner with Shayla Michelle might be a possibility if not certainly just forwarding that information so we can consider it we'll figure something out I would say that I would like to help you with that if there needs to be some help sounds good sounds good and if you say I don't need help that's okay um I like how I category today so this isn't it wouldn't necessarily be like event or calendar based but what is I guess what are people's thoughts about having like a youth Outreach subcommittee which I mean it kind of goes along with the black history but it would be maybe more General and it could cover a variety of different sort of inclusion topics what do you what do you mean by that do you mean like getting youth volunteers or programmed toward geared towards youth I think what I yeah that's a good question I just had the idea so it's not very well formed um but I in my mind I think I was envisioning it like a maybe a partnership with the different schools and maybe going in and offering um discussions kind of discussion topics uh I yeah I don't think it would be so much like bringing youth representation into our current events but I do think that by having sort of external youth Outreach that could be a nice side effect I I'd have to think more on what the had this idea a while ago but we didn't come up with anything so okay I was asking you for you had more okay yeah look a subcommittee of three that would be a great idea how do we how janr alluded to it earlier having the youth at the Dr King celebration uh kind of builds a thread um for for engagement and um certainly something that would be just terrific if we could get with the schools um and maybe work with the sore team students organizing students organizing against RAC racism yes um you know they have been our partners in the past um that certainly would be a great place for us to begin good idea Brad thanks thanks um what if we had like an an Outreach sort of subcommittee that W both the youth and the like whatever postcard or whatever we talked about that was just kind of like a community outreach community outreach like external that you know met throughout the year and kind of brought stuff to the group as the Committees are planning the events I think Hana you just set yourself up for a new group I like it I'll join you all right sounds good great that would probably be helpful for you know the Instagram page as well oh man the dancing what are we calling that youth Outreach has moved to community outreach I'll join the community oh excellent okay hey we don't even have anybody for River City days three on the community outreach huh yeah do all right um I can do M okay again I'm I stick with that thank you Hanah you're welcome I and I will join you all right um ji um Kevin no excuse me Yousef Yousef uh worked on celebrate India um and I don't so I think there's a it's appropriate that do a cultural heritage I don't know what that looks like but I'm willing to to be on that group so the only one that we really don't have a name to yet is uh River City days and [Music] gosh maybe maybe we should talk about whether or not we want to be at River City days um but we've certainly enjoyed ourselves we've certainly exposed people to with the Human Rights Commission even though they weren't sure what we did um but maybe we should spend some thought as to what the benefit is for us to be there I think we have to be there I think yeah I think it we just the focus maybe should be more on educating the community about who we are and what our goals are yeah um I wasn't prepared yeah well I was on yeah I was on the committee I wasn't prepared for that question and so I didn't have you know a 10-second elevator speech to provide um but I think that if if we kind of make that the focus then it would be beneficial to be there great I did like the trivia the Jeopardy the trivia jeopardy games were were terrific and we had some great prizes this past year um so okay um we'll work on River City days Sarah you had mentioned this um immigration program you had gone to and we're talking about the possibility of us partnering I'm wondering if it would be good if we just attended maybe the next one if you hear about it and see kind of what it's like and then decide if that would be a subcommittee or not that' be that's a good idea Latino voices is planning another event here in chasa I'm not sure the exact date but as soon as I have that information I'll pass it on to Elise and she'll get that information to you can I just make a suggestion I yes sir you're talking about the previous Saturday event correct there's another one I think we should just let that float and let the city and count decide what they want to do first before we put our feet in the water okay what they want to do with whatever whatever way they want to go or whatever their statement or whatever I it's a little too political right now for us and I think we should wait to see what the city has to say I hear what you're saying Martin um I work at a church and so I um quite aware of political versus human rights and what messages we can send and I think there's been a lot of really good resources put out there of ways you can support people who are either fearful or wondering about different things um where you can just be there to be a you you don't pick a side necessarily you're just giving facts and you're you know you're you're giving whatever the city is saying that their policy is or whatever we're just helping spread the word about it or something I'm not saying we have to do it but I'm saying that there are ways that we can just focus on the human rights part of it rather than making it a political thing and we can be very intentional about not doing that so I mean that's just fot for I yeah I felt like the the sort of path we were thinking about was more educational in nature as opposed to political which I guess sometimes those get confused but yeah it's educating about what resources are available like like you were saying the attorney from Brooklyn Brooklyn Park simply providing definitions of certain terms mean right exact so that people just understand yeah and I think it's important to know what the city and the county are saying and we can help amplify what the messaging is so that when people ask you know what's going on we're able to help them understand it better okay why is food for thought thanks Martin um our next meeting is February 27th um I hope can I put my name down for one more yes please I would love to help with cultural heritage month oh yeah we will have so much fun okay no matter what we do yeah we had celebate and so much fun at Day of the Dead celebration krina parade Kina parade yeah so great partnering wooo great partnering which that date has already been picked this year the Day of the Dead parade correct okay and I should have looked gone a little bit quicker to look it up before I said that it's uh Friday October 24th the Event Center fills up very quickly when it comes to Fridays Saturdays so we pretty much had to book that I think by the time the event had ended last year there was only I think like two two Fridays left in October 2025 that's yeah so you have to move quick for for that venue fair enough okay anybody else before we move on um I I will put my name down for River City days only as a resource what what that way if anybody has questions they can ask what we did in the past but I don't want to influence anything does that make sense so I kind of stick with the plan so you would you be like number 3B on there like areour I'm sorry your name just got put in the box I put it three [Music] times should we say that in a form of a question who is Martin [Laughter] hubard so my my suggestion that I started in uh informally in December because we didn't have a quum was to have a belonging message and the throughout 2025 and the idea behind belonging messages is just uh is to give um some food uh [Music] some plant a seed in and in our fellow community members about what it is that we hope to see and want to do in throughout the year so I had a I thought a very good little story in December um and it was holiday related so I cannot repeat it for January and I um put some thought into my belonging message for tonight's meeting and so I looked at um what individuals had suggested about what to do when you don't know what to do and I kind of see that a little bit in our society today what will happen in 2025 and so I found this quote uh that I thought is my belonging moment and the quote is this what we have to do now is to find a way to celebrate our diversity and debate our differences without fracturing our community our Beloved Community is chasa so let's hope that we can do that this year with those positive thoughts in mind next meeting date February 27th are there any Community announcements Kevin com NOP Martin yes great put me on the spot though um Polar Plunge is this year it's February 8th Saturday February 8th at Lake Bonia I think it starts at 900 am 8: am or 9:00 am even if you don't sign up to participate you can if you don't want to jump you can still sign up and raise some money without jumping in come out support city of Chas I believe will be there I think Kevin are you jumping this year I will be jumping again y Kevin is jumping for the city of chasa I'm jumping for Carver County Sheriff's Office come out and get wet and the funds raised go towards what good question Kevin uh Special Olympics Minnesota see how I got us both involved in that well that's it's really fun it's actually a really fun experience uh and it obvious obviously goes to a good cost but I don't really believe you I I mean honest I would say I was warmer in the water than I was waiting to jump in the water so Frost I think I will agree with that yeah it's then you know after that you're kind of like oh I'm good for a little bit at least hard PA I'm glad you're doing it it's not that bad my son did it yeah uhuh what nine he was nine then yeah eight okay I still have to go I am so sorry because I have something this time so excited um the AARP Foundation does this every year um it's a nationwide program but they offer tax preparation assistance it's free um it is for seniors you don't have to be a member of a ARP however these people are wonderful and they will welcome anyone who has what they call a basic Tech tax return so if you don't own a lot of property if you don't have a lot of Investments if you don't have complicated taxes you can bring them in and if it's too much for them they'll tell you you know this isn't for you but um I've I don't think I've ever seen anyone turned away in the 10 years that I have been working with them um they they prepare taxes um at chasca maravian church um on Mondays in February through April um and everything is by appointment I have this flyer I'm going to email Kevin and a lease and they can send it out to the Commissioners you can feel free to pass it out to anyone in your networks because they also have locations at Waconia Shorewood and Chanhassen great so different days of the week um there's different numbers to call for appointments on each one but they do work together so um the can coordinate what works for you but I just really think it's a fantastic program the um people that do the tax preparation are very well trained um most are retired in some kind of Finance field or have been doing this for years they get trained on the new tax laws every year so it's you know legit for the you know you're not going to go oh this happened at 20 or something um but I really recommend it to to suggest it to anyone you know who is looking for some help with their taxes so I think it's a great community service thanks JN it seems like just last year we were talking about this yes it's a well-received program and certainly lots of people take advantage of it um so good stuff if there's no other news or information that needs to come before the commission I would entertain a motion to adjourn I do have one yes sorry that's good this is why I don't get invited back but um uh Christmas in May this year in chasa is the date has been set it's May 3rd so the first Saturday in May um right now the big push uh for our uh board is getting uh homeowners so people to apply to the program so if you're uh it's on the website so Christmas and may cha.org is the the website and there's an application I'll also send out a PDF to the commission as well so if you do know someone um if you're unfamiliar with Christmas and may it's a program that's been going on for 29 years now here in chasa so every May uh we bring community volunteers uh together typically between 100 and 200 people show up and we focus mostly on outdoor home repairs for people who are physically or financially unable to make them um and the the the where we find a we we always have a pretty want say easy but um we seem to get a lot of volunteers where we tend to struggle some years is is getting applicants so if you know anybody or you know know through your networks of other people that might uh need help um encourage them to apply um we typically help about four homes every year with projects so that can include gardening you know planter beds painting our you know deck repair uh some minor carpentry items and then our electric Department also goes through and does a energy audit in the home and then we'll help them uh with and more energy efficient light bulbs Andor appliances depending on their situation so there you go and then two minutes that's great wonderful program if you have not participated as a volunteer it is so fun um it and it's great to see some of the faces that you know um are uh long-term volunteers to to come out and and to help our community members so great program okay so it's officially um the end of our meeting May I have a motion to adjourn if we're good with adjourning so moved so moved second all in favor so much for