Ogden Community Engagement and Opportunity Commission

Meeting Minutes Ogden Diversity Commission Zoom Meeting WEDNESDAY, October 14th, 2020 – 1:00 PM In Attendance: Kathie Darby, Jeremy Shinoda, Taylor Knuth, Roger Snow, Kye Hallows, Betty Sawyer, Tom Szalay, Christen Ipsen, Iveth Vazquez Ogden City Staff Present: Viviana Felix 1. Welcome. 2. Roll Call. 2.1. Approval of minutes from 8/12/2020. (Motion made by Commissioner Darby, seconded by Commissioner Shinoda. Motion passes.) 3. New Business. 3.1. Commissioner Check-in (Chair Knuth – 10 mins). a. Commissioners were given a couple minutes to check in going into the meeting. 3.2. Dr. Jenny Gnagey – Housing in Ogden Presentation (Chair Knuth – 40 mins). a. Dr. Jenny Gnagey to talk about affordable housing shortages in Ogden and used data to inform the commission and community. b. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines affordable housing as: gross monthly rent is less than 30% of household’s gross monthly income. The less than 30% income range is the part of the community that have difficulty finding affordable housing. There is a shortage of affordable housing in Ogden based off the income brackets defined by HUD. c. Research information presented is for data collected on rental units in Ogden (Ogden is 44% rental and 56% homeowner). Renters tend to be in the lower income bracket. 1|Page  d. Dr. Gnagey explained the HUD framework on systemic racism in housing policy as “A housing provider violates the Fair Housing Act when the provider’s policy or practice has unjustified discriminatory effect, even when the provider had no intent to discriminate.” Dr. Gnagey said there is no clear process on how these policies are implemented at a national or local level. e. One aspect not reflected in Ogden zoning are Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU). An ADU is a small, separate living space that exists as a portion of an owner- occupied single-family home, or that exist on the same property as the owner- occupied single-family home. Allows for affordable housing in affluent neighborhoods and supplemental income for homeowners. It also brings in untraditional demographic to areas with single-family units. In 2016, City Council passed an ADU ordinance that allowed the units however, this ordinance also specified what areas are not included in this change. Dr. Gnagey highlighted the areas that were excluded from the ADU ordinance on a map and mentioned the historical relationship with redlining maps as high barriers for certain demographics. f. Ogden’s good landlord program requires participating landlords to categorically deny all applicants within 4 years of a felony conviction, unless the applicant annually applies for a “Good Landlord Waiver” with Ogden City. g. A conversation was had on the credit report and criminal background processes that are required by most landlords and how these may have consequential discriminatory practices. h. Chair Knuth encouraged others to reach out to Dr. Gnagey to further share her work and research on affordable housing and access to housing. 3.3. Strategic Plan Document Final Review (Chair Knuth – 30 mins). a. Chair Knuth reviewed each of the goal areas and objectives outlined in the strategic plan. 2|Page  b. Commissioner Sawyer raised the point to provide recommendation on how the city awards business grants through the Economic Development Department. Viviana said we can include sharing information on available grants that the city has through Goal area #2 – communication and outreach. She is unsure of the process for making recommendation to city administration about their grant awarding criteria but will ask. c. Chair Knuth invites everyone to provide written comments to Viviana by October 21st. We would like this document to be finalized and be presented to city council by the end of the year at the annual report meeting. 3.4. Outreach Committee Video Series Update (Commissioner Shinoda – 10 mins). a. Diversity in Ogden video series recording will be happening this Friday. People have been scheduled. Second step to this video series is to have a google form available all year round for people who do not feel comfortable recording in person or for those who would like to but the set recording time and date didn’t work for their schedule. More information to come as we get through this first phase to see what it looks like. b. Outreach committee would like this to be an ongoing process that can also be used in multiple platforms. c. Commissioner Szalay encouraged all the commissioners to participate in the video series. d. Chair Knuth will send Commissioner Szalay WSU special collections contact information, the department likes to archive things like this. 3.5. Racial Equity in Policing Committee Update (Commissioner Sawyer – 10 mins). a. Commissioner Sawyer is incorporating feedback to the committee outline document. She has also received a list of names that would like to participate in the committee. Commissioner Andrews will be sitting on the committee to have an additional representative from the large Diversity Commission body. 3|Page  b. Commissioner Sawyer mentioned that Salt Lake City recently created a new committee called the Racial Equity Committee. Commissioner Sawyer will be using documents used to create the committee so that the commission’s functional committee can take a look at these. c. Commissioner Sawyer is planning to have the first committee meeting by the end of the month. Will reach out to people to arrange a meeting time. d. In the meantime, Commissioner Sawyer has been pulling information on citizen’s review boards and committees to see what they look like in the state and across the country. 3.6. November Meeting Date Change to 11/21/2020 (Viviana – 5 mins). a. Viviana explained that November’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting falls on Veteran’s Day which is a city overserved holiday. Talking with Chair Knuth we came to the conclusion that rescheduling out meeting to the 3rd Wednesday of November would be a better option. b. Commissioner Sawyer moved to schedule November’s meeting to the 18th. Motion seconded by Commissioner Snow. Motion passes. c. If there are any pressing issues, please email those to Viviana or Chair Knuth. It is acknowledged that changing the meeting date and time may conflict with other’s schedule and understand that some people may have difficulty attending on Nov. 18th. If you will not be attending, please let Viviana know. 4. Old Business. 4.1. Community Conversation Committee Update (Vice Chair Andrews – 10 mins). a. Viviana will take over the coordination of the community conversation committee to allow Vice Chair Andrews time for recovery. Vice Chair Andrews had expressed the idea to have the community conversation committee take on a book club type of feel to it and start with the book written by Dr. Pepper Glass. However, no details have been specified or confirmed. b. Commissioner Sawyer suggested to have some community conversations on a smaller frame of reference such as a TedTalk video that can be more accessible to people. 4|Page 5. No Action Required. 5.1. Poverty Committee. a. Commissioner Darby said that she needs to reach out members of the committee to reconvene on this topic. Many members of the committee have left or had to attend to different matters and the committee is in need of new members. 6. Comments: 6.1. Commission Staff. a. Viviana has cloth masks available that we can provide to you or organizations who are in need of these. b. Viviana also forwarded the letter from City Council on recommendation to be made on Racism as a public health crisis. 6.2. Commission Members. a. Commissioner Szalay would like to have backstock footage of people celebrating the holidays. Please get in touch with him if this is something you are interested in or if you know someone who would be a good person to participate. b. Commissioner Shinoda mentioned some names and organization that Commissioner Szalay can connect with, he will provide contact information. c. Commissioner Sawyer mentioned the constitutional amendment on the ballot to abolish slavery. She also mentioned that Project Success received funds to support families impacted by COVID-19. d. Chair Knuth mentioned that COVID-19 numbers among the Latinx community are lower, however we need to take that information with caution since many underrepresented communities do not have access to medical attention or testing. He encouraged everyone to continue testing and taking the precautionary needs if you are sick. 5|Page  e. Chair Knuth explained the Bill Cook from Ogden CAN wanted Vice Chair Andrews and Chair Knuth to facilitate a conversation on Racism as a public health crisis, in order for this to happen a request needed to be made by City Council or admin. The request was made by city council and that is how the commission is able to move forward and support this conversation. All commissioners are invited to participate in the conversation on October 22nd, Viviana has sent out the information for the meeting. 6.3. Public Comment: 7. Adjournment. (Motion made by Commissioner Darby, seconded by Commissioner Sawyer. Motion passes.) NEXT REGULAR OGDEN DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING WEDNESDAY, December 9th, 2020 Virtual Meeting Minutes prepared by: Minutes approved by: Date: _______________________________ _______________________________ 3/4/2021 __________________________ Viviana Felix – Ogden City Taylor Knuth, Chair 6|Page