Human Rights Commission

MORGANTOWN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING ON JUNE 5TH 2023 At the Morgantown Public Safety Building, 300 Spruce St, Morgantown, WV Attendance: Commissioners Present: Chair, Annie CRONAN YORICK; Vice Chair, Bonnie BROWN (via telephone); Secretary, Keenan MCCLANE; Commissioner Danny TREJO; Commissioner Cal CARLSON Liaisons: City Councillor Brian BUTCHER; WVHRC Commissioner Tim HAIRSTON Members of the Public: None Present Absent: Commissioner Zoey VILASUSO. (1 Vacancy) Reason for a Special Meeting: The Regular Meeting for May 16, 2023, was canceled for the lack of quorum. This was scheduled as a “make-up” meeting. Call to Order: There being a quorum present, the Chair called the meeting to Order at 6:34 p.m. Public Portion: n/a Minutes: Regular Meetings were not conducted on January 19th, March 16th, or May 16th, 2023. The Minutes for the Regular Meeting on April 20, 2023, were reviewed in advance. Cal moved to adopt the April Minutes; Danny seconded. The Minutes were unanimously approved. Communications: Cal shared an email he received from a member of the public who attended the April Regular Meeting. The author questioned why the HRC was wasting time on Racial Inequity. He stated that the County is 85% Caucasian and the State 93%. He declared that the HRC was looking for problems where none existed. The group discussed the email and found no merit in it: if only one person is facing racial injustice, it is the HRC’s job to address it. Updates: Chair – • Annie reported that she attended an open house for Friendship Community for Recovery on May 4th, met with Jill Hess of the WVU Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on May 16th to discuss collaboration with the HRC, and attended the PRIDE Tie-Dye Party at Turtle Park on May 19th. She expressed her conviction that the HRC should work with local human rights advocates to improve our visibility and  effectiveness. Also, she will interview with the City Council tomorrow to renew her commission. • Meeting Minutes must document the absence of commissioners and scheduled meetings that did not convene. • She has had difficulty accessing HRC records; the electronic record is stored on the personal cloud account of the former chair. The HRC records should be on a city- operated cloud account to which all commissioners have access. She will ask the City’s Communications Director about our options. • The HRC should do another Community Needs Survey; we must know how residents’ needs have changed since the last study so we can best use our time and resources. Also, we must assess the City’s compliance with its Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), as adopted by City Resolution on March 3, 2020. The Plan mandates the HRC to compile an annual report based on information collected and shared by the City Administration and its departments. No report has been done since the Plan’s adoption. Vice-Chair – Bonnie has no updates to report. Secretary – • Keenan did a deep dive to find our online presence. He found an HRC Facebook page but couldn’t detect its administrator. He can’t access the current Chrome cloud account with HRC records because he doesn’t have the URL or password. He is investigating our best options for an online meeting forum and cloud storage for documents. • Complaints filed by residents can only be filed online from the HRC page on the City’s website. He could not find where the complaints go when they are filed. Currently, HRC commissioners cannot access them. Commissioner Trejo – • Danny spoke to the City’s grant writer, Robyn Hess, to learn whether the HRC can get a paid assistant to compile our more onerous reports like the Municipal Equality Index (MEI), Community Needs Survey, and DEI compliance. She referred him to the City Manager. • ICE did a local raid three weeks ago. They took three single men from Clarksburg and two married men (fathers) from Morgantown. It is difficult to track where the detainees are in the system, but they likely have been deported. Their families are left to fend for themselves without access to social services or translators. Commissioner Carlson – • Cal reviewed the “2019 HRC Bylaws” and is uncertain of their status. The 2019 Bylaws aren’t on the record with City Clerk. The HRC doesn’t have a copy of the document adopted by the City Council. Cal only found a document titled “2019” but dated 2014 without any signatories. • He agreed to work on the 2023 MEI report but can’t find guidance for the rules on the Human Rights Campaign.org website. Annie will assume the project when Cal has done all he can.  • He opined that under the current rules and policies, Volunteers should not be listed on the agendas or given meeting time to give updates – unless they have been charged by the Commission to perform a specific project. They are members of the public for record-keeping purposes and speaking privileges. Liaisons: • Tim Hairston suggested we contact Anitra Hamilton, Chair of the Kingwood- Morgantown NAACP chapter, to collaborate with them. He also explained that the Minority Liaison Committee of old morphed into today’s Human Rights Commission. • Brian Butcher informed us that the last (and only) Community Needs Survey was conducted in 2014; there were 657 respondents. The report earned us a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from HUD; it is in the City’s interest that we conduct another study. He also reported that Project Rainbow is having a fundraiser at Apothecary following the PRIDE Parade (6 p.m. on June 23rd). Project Rainbow is community-funding what will be the only LGBTQ+ shelter in WV. The PRIDE Block Party is scheduled for June 24th from 12 to 6 p.m. at the Ruby Hazel McQuain Pavilion. New Business: PRIDE Month Proclamation - Ash Orr informed Annie a few weeks ago that Morgantown PRIDE will be sponsoring the PRIDE Month Proclamation; the HRC will not be involved. Mayor Selin will issue that proclamation at the City Council meeting on June 20th. Juneteenth Proclamation – Ash also told Annie that they already prepared and submitted the Juneteenth Proclamation to the City Clerk on behalf of the HRC for reading on June 20th. The Chair objects to anyone entering a proclamation on behalf of the HRC that has not been reviewed and approved by the commission. Today, Annie learned that no Juneteenth Proclamation was filed with the Clerk; the HRC cannot enter one for this year due to procedural time constraints. The Commission resolved to do better next year. Adjournment: There being no further business, Danny moved to adjourn; Keenan seconded. The Chair adjourned the meeting at 8:55 p.m. The next Regular Meeting is scheduled for June 22nd at 6:30 p.m. at the Public Safety Building. Minutes by Annie CRONAN YORICK Adopted at the March 21, 2024, meeting. This is the last set of Minutes in arrears for 2023.