Ogden Community Engagement and Opportunity Commission

Meeting Minutes Ogden Diversity Commission Zoom Meeting WEDNESDAY, August 12th, 2020 – 1:00 PM 1. Welcome. 2. Roll Call. 2.1. Approval of minutes from 6/10/2020. Motion made by Commissioner Shinoda and seconded by Commissioner Sawyer. Motion passes. 2.2. Approval of minutes from 7/8/2020. Motion made by Commissioner Shinoda and seconded by Commissioner Darby. Motion passes. 3. New Business. 3.1. Commissioner Check-in (Vice Chair Andrews – 5 mins) a. Commissioners shared how they felt about external factors coming into today’s meeting. 3.2. COVID-19 Multicultural Task Force in Ogden Updates (Viviana – 5 mins) a. Viviana shared information about free COVID-19 Testing be held today with the Weber-Morgan Health Department. 3.3. Ogden City Communication Parameters (Mara Brown - 15 mins) a. Mara Brown shared information with the commission that was also given to the Arts Committee on government forums of communication. Ms. Brown explained the difference between government speech and public speech. b. The resolution that Ms. Brown has used to explain the communication platforms and speech differences was a joint resolution adopted by city council and the mayor in 2013. 1|Page c. A traditional public forum is where individuals have the right to speak their first amendment right in public spaces like municipal steps and city sidewalks. Designated public forum is a specific location where the first amendment right can be executed during a main event that was scheduled or programmed. An example of designated public forum is the sesquicentennial celebration of the railroad, there were areas where the public could protest for that event. For this type of speech, the public must still have some access to the public who is attending the event. Limited public forum is something like the commission meetings, there is a section for the public to share comments and it is limited. Nonpublic forum is something like a closed session of city council. These are all examples of open speech. d. Ogden City has different platforms for speaking known as Government speech that can be found in written or electronic format. City communication platforms include social media, digital boards, newsletters/connection magazine, website, city email, city apps, channel 17, community calendar, city water bill, or any widely distributed city communication. The purpose of these platforms is to provide relevant city information to the public. These platforms may also be used to provide information on other entities as long as it follows the standards for government speech. e. City communication platforms are not public forums and shall not be used for the purpose of exercising free speech by the public. Additionally, these platforms cannot be used to take a stance for any political party or proposition. f. The resolution describes the city’s role on providing external information to the public. It allows the city to offer information on other government entities, educational institutions and other organizations providing information on art, culture and events. g. Viviana will connect Mara and Commissioner Sawyer to follow up on the request that was submitted to the city on using artist to paint Black Lives Matter on the streets of Ogden. 2|Page 3.4. Mr. Bill Knowlton (20 mins) a. Would like to tap into the resource that is the Diversity Commission within the Ogden City structure. Mr. Knowlton shared some of his background and personal/work experience. Showcased affordable housing projects that have been built by Knowlton Development, LLC, specifically in Salt Lake County. b. Mr. Knowlton is wanting to build a senior living development, 62 age plus adults, on 30th street and Washington. Was recently notified by city individuals that there are too many apartments in Ogden and put a 6 month moratorium on the construction process. c. Shared information on the lack of affordable housing in the nation and the state. Explained the different terminology like zoning, commercial zones and transit oriented development (TOD). d. Mr. Knowlton also share how his buildings are different from other affordable housing developers. He also mentioned that every thing they build is managed by his company even after being built. Mr. Knowlton displayed the chart that is used to determine housing payment for the new build they are wanting to do in Ogden. e. Mr. Knowlton described that the building property is in the CP-3 Zone. The company has approval letters from Ogden City for the project, however has been told that the city does not want commercial building use at this time. f. Mr. Knowlton mentioned that Diversity Commission use their resources to recommend city administration make sure any new construction in Ogden is enterprise green community certified and energy star – the state of Utah asks for this already. He also said to recommend that C2/C3 zoning require that apartment buildings be within 1/3 of a mass transit locations. 3.5. Outreach Committee (Commissioner Shinoda – 15 mins) a. Had to rethink what outreach means during this time. Looking to shoot a video series on diversity. b. Viviana will connect Commissioner Szalay and Commissioner Shinoda for a timeline for video shooting. 3|Page 3.6. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee with Ogden-Weber Chamber of Commerce (Commissioner Bernal – 10 mins) a. Commissioner Bernal provided some background for the idea to do this committee with the chamber. Has developed a proposal for the chamber from small things that can be done to larger items. b. Commissioner Sawyer suggested sending a letter from behalf of the commission to the chamber saying that we want to support their efforts to diversify. c. The recommendation was made for Commissioner Bernal to bring committee together. There is no committee under the chamber as of now. Viviana will connect with Commissioner Bernal for ideas. 3.7. New Commission Member Recommendations and Process Information (Viviana – 5 mins) a. Viviana claified the nomination process for the commission. Mayor has final word on who is appointed to the commission. The nominating committee helps facilitate the appointment process by suggesting names given the application and interviews. b. New members waiting to be appointed are Christine Ipsen, Roger Snow and Iveth Vazquez. c. Vice Chair Andrews recommended that Viviana create a one page document describing the process and post it on the website. 3.8. Creation of New Functional Committee (Commissioner Sawyer – 10 mins) a. Commissioner Sawyer gave some background information on community efforts in policing. A community group is meeting with the mayor and chief of police on a monthly basis. Through these conversation with admin the group asked if they would be open to having a group review models and frameworks for civilian involvement in police oversight and accountability to build transparency. Administration said they were fine with the idea—Chair Knuth offered the Diversity Commission as a body to house the committee. Chief Watt also offered a couple police officers to help with this. 4|Page b. Commissioner Sawyer provided a draft outline of the functional committee hoping to have the committee established with the support of the commission. Commissioner Sawyer expressed concern of not limiting the committee on one issue meaning that the group will be looking at police reform but would also like to look at other aspects of policing. c. The focus of the committee would be to work collaboratively to support race equity and inclusion in policing and associated entities. As a committee they will review policies and practices and make recommendations to the city and chief of police. d. The committee structure involves Commissioner Sawyer as a representative of the commission along with one other member. Police Chief offered a couple police officers, and it will also include 3 people from the general community group that has been meeting with administration. Commissioner Sawyer would Chair the committee and would have a community member co-chair. The number of commissioners is limited so that there are no quorum issues and having to post these meetings as public. e. Vice Chair Andrews brought up time limitations and provided options for the commission to review, discuss and adopt the committee. f. Viviana acknowledge that we have limited time to discuss this in detail and also recognized that this matter is time sensitive, but that if the commission wanted more time to review the document the commission could call a special session to approve the functional committee. g. Commissioner Szalay motioned to approve as is with modifications as needed. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Darby. Motion passes. h. Commissioner Sawyer needs an additional commission member to participate in the committee. Anyone interested on serving on this committee is to contact Viviana and she will forward names to Commissioner Saywer. 5|Page  3.9. Planning Retreat Update (Vice Chair Andrews – 25 mins) a. Dr. Wesley L. Boykin presented a draft of goals and targets that the commission provide. Dr. Boykin walked the commission through the document and the identified areas in the document. Dr. Boykin said that the activities under each goal have been identified with a facilitator and a goal in mind to keep the body accountable and on track, but also allow for modification when needed. b. Dr. Boykin opened it up for feedback from the commission for thoughts on the document. c. Vice Chair Andrews thanked Dr. Boykin for organizing the document and taking the time to do the work. d. Dr. Boykin would like each commissioner to review each action item and the targets to see if they are appropriate to what the commission wants, keeping in mind accountability and time. e. Commissioner Sawyer posed a question for the goal listed under employment and economic empowerment. Is there a consideration splitting them up into different goal areas? Commissioner Sawyer believes that each of these areas could be worked on separately. f. Vice Chair Andrews mentioned that the merging of the employment and economic empowerment allows the group flexibility because of the crossover that happens in each of the different goals. Additionally, we are trying not to have too many goals. Previous plans had too many goals. g. Roger Snow explained how he processed the information listed under the employment and economic empowerment goal. h. Commissioner Sawyer ask for clarification on what is meant by economic empowerment. i. Dr. Boykin said that there were several items listed, and that many of them had overlapping themes. j. Viviana will put the document in a google doc for feedback. 4. Old Business. 4.1. Community Conversation Committee (Vice Chair Andrews – 5 mins). 6|Page  a. Not enough time. 5. No Action Required. 5.1. Poverty Committee (Commissioner Darby). 6. Comments: 6.1. Commission Staff. 6.2. Commission Members. 6.3. Public Comment: a. Angel Castillo – wanted to thank commission members and emphasis Mr. Knowlton’s presentation and consideration of support. 7. Adjournment. NEXT REGULAR OGDEN DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING WEDNESDAY, September 9th, 2020 Virtual Meeting Minutes prepared by: Minutes approved by: Date: _______________________________ _______________________________ 3/4/2021 __________________________ Viviana Felix – Ogden City Adrienne Andrews, Vice Chair 7|Page