Human Rights Commission Meeting

NORMAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION MINUTES CITY OF NORMAN October 28, 2019 The Human Rights Commission of the City of Norman, Cleveland County, State of Oklahoma, met in the Municipal Complex located at 201 West Gray Street on October 28, 2019, at 5:30 p.m., and notice and agenda of the meeting were duly posted 24 hours prior to the beginning of the meeting. Item 1, being: ROLL CALL PRESENT: Commissioners Kay Ham, Marjaneh Seirafi-Pour, Daniel Dukes, Jackie Farley, Chris Nanny, Sage Mauldin, Ellen Kraft, Trey Moore, Christina Owen ABSENT: (none) STAFF PRESENT: Assistant City Attorney Kristina Bell, Major David Teuscher, Legal Admin Tech Sarah Encinias Item 2, being: APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 16, 2019, HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING Commissioner Jackie Farley moved to approve the Minutes of the September 16, 2019, special meeting, and the motion was duly seconded by Commissioner Ellen Kraft. Chair Ham called for a vote: all approved, and none opposed. The Minutes for the September 16, 2019, meeting were approved by unanimous vote. Item 3, being: DISCUSSION AND APPROVAL OF 2020 HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION MEETING DATES Members discussed various meeting frequencies and ultimately decided to hold meetings every other month beginning in January, 2020. Meetings will occur on the fourth Monday of these months. Commissioner Dan Dukes motioned for a vote, and the motion was approved by unanimous vote. Item 4, being: DISCUSSION OF CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR ELECTION PROCESS AND TERMS Kristina Bell reviewed the current election process and discussed how it could be changed to include things like limiting terms and holding elections on a yearly basis. Commissioner Farley moved for elections to be held yearly beginning in January, 2020, and the motion was duly seconded by Commissioner Trey Moore. A vote was called with all members approving, and none opposed. Said motion was approved by unanimous vote. Item 5, being: DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD A total of three nominations were received for the Human Rights Award. Commissioner Chris Nanny motioned to consider all three nominations even though one was submitted after the Norman Human Rights Commission October 28, 2019 Page 2 requested submission time. Said motion was seconded by Commissioner Farley, and no objections were received. Commissioner Christina Owen recused from voting on whether to consider all three nominations since she worked with one of the nominees in founding Yes All Daughters. Members then discussed the merits of each nomination and unanimously chose April Heiple to be this year’s award recipient for her work with Food and Shelter. Item 6, being: DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD CRITERIA Ms. Bell provided members an annotated version of the Human Rights Award criteria currently in place and advised that the language needed to be updated for consistency with the wording of the recent Civil Rights Ordinance amendments. Ms. Bell also advised that this would be an opportunity for the Commission to modify or change any of the other wording or eligibility requirements if they wanted to do so. Members reviewed the documents, and Commissioner Farley motioned to accept the proposed changes updating the policy language to make it consistent with the updated ordinance language. Commissioner Seirafi-Pour seconded, and a vote was called. The motion was approved by unanimous vote. Item 7, being: DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING 2020 INTERFAITH BREAKFAST Commissioner Seirafi-Pour said she has asked La Baguette to provide a continental type breakfast. They will provide food at $8 per person and service at $25 per hour per server needed. Attendance is expected to be around 300 people, and the invoice will be paid from the Mayor’s budget. Ms. Bell said she was getting the contract together for signature. Ms. Bell advised that Mayor Clark has asked Dr. George Henderson to be the keynote speaker and that the Mayor would also be presenting the Inclusive Community Subcommittee recommendations at the breakfast. The Commission discussed whether to continue holding the breakfast at McFarlin Memorial United Methodist Church as it had been the last 3-4 years or whether to go back to rotating between different churches as the Commission had previously done in years past. Members discussed different options and found McFarlin to be the best option for this year’s event. Ms. Bell confirmed that the City’s public transit system, including paratransit services, would be running full service on this day for transportation needs. Item 8, being: INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY SUBCOMMITTEE UPDATE Commissioner Dukes (Inclusive Community Subcommittee Co-Chair) said a working group meeting was scheduled for October 30, 2019, where Subcommittee members would split into smaller groups to sort and discuss recent survey information. Norman Human Rights Commission October 28, 2019 Page 3 Item 9, being: DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING THE PROHIBITION OF CONVERSION THERAPY Commissioner Mauldin requested that this item be postponed until March, 2020, due to the pending state legislation process regarding this same issue. The Commission agreed to such postponement. Item 10, being: MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION Ms. Bell reminded Commissioners that they are always welcome and encouraged to attend City Council meetings when proclamations recommended by the Commission are presented to show their support. Item 11, being: ADJOURNMENT Commissioner Dukes motioned to adjourn, and the motion was duly seconded by Commissioner Mauldin. Chair Ham called for a vote: all approved, and none opposed. The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.