Citizens’ Engagement Advisory and Review Commission (CEARC)

City of Hampton, VA Citizens’ Engagement Advisory and Review Commission Meeting Minutes Attendance: Crystal Carrington, Alice Callahan, Corey Palmer, Shawn O’ Keefe (Chair), Dwain Alexander II, James “Jim” Williams Absent: Michelle E. Benson, Charlene T. Johnson, Shannon D. Freeman, Debbie Hudgins, Michele Riddick Hamilton, Ryan Taylor, Leroy Foster, Jr. Staff: Imara G. Diaz (Interim Executive Director), Hugo J. Morrison (Education Manager), Steven D. Bond (ACM) _______________________________________________________________ Date: November 16, 2021 Time: 6:30pm Venue: Ruppert-Sargent Building, Veterans Conference Room, 1 Franklin St., Hampton, VA __________________________________________________________________ Call to Order: Shawn O’Keefe, Chairperson called the meeting to order @ 6:31 pm Roll Call: Imara Diaz, Interim Executive Director Action Items Item 1: Welcome and Introductions  Interim Executive Director, Gabe Diaz, welcomed everyone and thanked Commissioners for being present. He acknowledged those commissioners who communicated their absence in advance. He also formally introduced Hugo Morrison to the commissioners and his role in the Unity Office.  Gabe Diaz, Interim Executive Director stated at the joint meeting with CUC, we made the announcement of the office change with Former Director, Latiesha Handie taking another position within the city as the Director of Youth and Young Adult Opportunities. As a result, Interim Director Gabe Diaz ensured all commissioners that the work of the office would continue climbing in the spirit of excellence as we are committed to our core values of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Cultural Competency and Unity. Item 2: Review and Approval of Meeting Minutes-January 14, 2020.  Due to lack of quorum, this item was deferred to our next scheduled meeting at which time we hope to adopt minutes from 1/14/2020 & 11/16/2021 as presented with any corrections should there be any. 1 New Business Item 1: Department Annual Report FY2021  Provided commissioners with a copy of the annual report and Interim Executive Director Gabe Diaz gave a few highlights from the report, namely the Healthy Equity work that the office has been doing and how we adopted a strategy from the Virginia One Plan.  CUC Department led our Executive Management Team in developing a collective impact statement to achieve a common goal of unity and high performance.  Hampton Diversity Training—Hampton’s first ever designed training for the entire workforce. 76% of employees completed the training based around the core philosophy of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Cultural Competency, and Unity. Item 2: Update on Police Chief Search  We engaged both Commissions and Youth Advisory Group with the announcement of the retiring of Former Police Chief Terry Sult. It was the direction of the City Manager to fill this position quickly as possible with the best possible candidate meeting the standards outlined. Many of you were on the initial call with the agency the city retained to assist with the search. We selected and Chief Mark Talbot has joined our team. We will schedule a meet and greet with the Chief at a later time.  Assistant City Manager Bond echoed the announcement stating after an extensive search we hired Chief Mark Talbot. We had over 15 different groups and engaged over 30 members of the community during the preliminary process and before we settled on the candidate. It was a three- tier process and Chief Talbert rose to the top at each level. He leads with a laser focus on saving lives in our community.  Commissioner Alexander II asked if part of the Chief plans for the city has a youth engagement piece? o Assistant City Manager Bond talked about an effort that has recently taking place at our police training facility hosted by Chief Talbot involving two other localities and the plan to further engage youth and offer the program more often.  Commissioner James “Jim” Williams asked how long should it be in Hampton that we attribute success or impact to the Chief? o Assistant City Manager Bond stated the Police Chief has set a goal of reducing gun related violence and homicide in Hampton by 50% in five years. Item 2: Debrief – Commitment of Excellence Those commissioners whose term is already expired you will receive a letter from City Council. Assistant City Manager Steve Bond spoke to Council’s heighten interest in attendance and commitment of board meetings. We take celebrating our diversity seriously and want to make sure that the citizen’s thoughts are represented on boards and commissions. 2 Item 4: Recording & Facilitation Training This item was deferred to the next meeting due to low attendance. Interim Executive Director, Gabe Diaz’s goal is to have the whole group benefit from this process thus made the decision to defer to the next meeting. Commissioner James “Jim” Williams asked if it was possible to extend appointments, and officer terms by one year due to a year of non-productivity and what’s the process of changing the quorum? Mr. Diaz, answered that we are looking into the possibility of this with our legal office as it came up within the Unity Commission meeting. Legal is researching to see who created our by-laws. If by-laws were created by the commission we can adopt some changes, and if they were not then council would have to make the change for the quorum or to extend any term lengths. Announcements: Mr. Gabe Diaz announced the name change of the department. To better align the mission of the office and to differentiate the work of the Citizen’s Unity Commission, we requested a name change of the department. Name change was approved and we are now: Office of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion…The Home of the Citizen’s Unity Commission. Next Meeting: Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Meeting adjourned at 7:35 pm. 3