Ogden Community Engagement and Opportunity Commission

Meeting Minutes Ogden Diversity Commission Zoom Meeting WEDNESDAY, November 18th, 2020 – 1:00 PM In Attendance: Stacy Bernal, Jeremy Shinoda, Taylor Knuth, Roger Snow, Adrienne Andrews, Kye Hallows, Betty Sawyer, Christen Ipsen, Excused: Kathie Darby, Tom Szalay, Iveth Vazquez Ogden City Staff Present: Viviana Felix, Mara Brown 1. Welcome. 2. Roll Call. 2.1. Approval of minutes from 10/14/2020. (Motion made by Commissioner Sawyer, seconded by Commissioner Ipsen). 3. New Business. 3.1. Commissioner Check-in (Chair Knuth – 10 mins). a. Commissioners were given the opportunity to say a few words on how they are feeling today. 3.2. Strategic Plan Document Adoption (Viviana – 10 mins). a. Vice Chair Andrews asked to correct the title page which lists her as co-chair, her official role by the Commission’s rules and procedures is Vice Chair. b. Chair Knuth welcomed a motion to adopt the strategic plan with the changes made. Commissioner Snow motioned to approve the strategic plan with the changes. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Sawyer. Motion passes. c. Chair Knuth gave thanks to those who helped with the strategic plan including Dr. Wesley Boykin who facilitate and created the strategic plan draft.  3.3. Racism: A Health Crisis, Workshop Review and Next Steps (Vice Chair Andrews – 15 mins). a. The Diversity Commission received a request to assist Ogden Civic Action Network and partners on conducting a town hall conversation on “Is Racism as a Health Crisis.” b. Vice Chair Andrews gave an overview of how the conversation was organized, what anchor institutions were involved and who helped facilitate the group conversations. c. Vice Chair Andrews recommended that the commission adopt that Racism is a public health crisis. Vice Chair says this would be a great opportunity for the commission to set an example in the city. d. Chair Knuth provided further information on the process to organizing the event. e. Commissioner Snow provided some feedback from his participation in the event. f. Vice Chair Andrews invited Commissioner Snow to work with her to know and understand more about Racism as a Public Health crisis and report back in February to the commission. g. Commissioner Sawyer gave brief history on the work that has been done behind the scenes to have these conversations. h. Vice Chair Andrews, Commissioner Snow, Sawyer and Ipsen would like to have these conversations continue and plan something for next year. 3.4. Virtual Annual Report with City Council December 8th at 4PM (Viviana – 5 mins). a. Council Chair Choberka requested a summary of the event, Racism as a Public Health Crisis. b. Viviana shared the draft of the annual report with the commission and requested that commissioners send her any images they may have. c. Chair Knuth reviewed the annual report and asked other commissioners to provide feedback to Viviana. 4. Old Business. 4.1. Community Conversation Committee Update (Vice Chair Andrews – 10 mins). a. Vice Chair Andrews expressed that there has been a request from many police departments from Weber County to help facilitate conversation with them and the community. Vice Chair Andrews anticipates that her committee will continue to help facilitate these types of conversation including Is racism a public health crisis? b. Chair Knuth reminded everyone that functional committees are meant to work outside the regular commission times. 4.2. Outreach Committee Video Series Update (Commissioner Shinoda – 10 mins). a. Commissioner Shinoda mentioned that the video is in editing. The committee will also be working on generating an ongoing survey to follow up with the video series. b. Viviana said there were some issues with the audio, Commissioner Szalay and Ogden’s marketing team are working on it. We were hoping to have the video out by the upcoming break, but it doesn’t seem like it will happen. c. Commissioner Shinoda talked about the purpose of the video series by telling the story of the diverse individuals that live in our city. Please send any suggestions about the video series and opportunities to engage with the community to Commissioner Shinoda. 4.3. Racial Equity in Policing Committee Update (Commissioner Sawyer – 10 mins). a. Commissioner Sawyer said that the committee has not met. Currently, they are research and compiling information on citizen’s review body. b. Last week Commissioner Sawyer had the opportunity to talk to a consultant in policing and community, it was last minute opportunity but will share summary with the Commission. Commissioner Sawyer has also reached out to Dr. Monica Williams about information and research on civilian review boards.  c. Commissioner Sawyer and Vice Chair Andrews asked for clarification on additional commission member participation in the committee. Viviana expressed that in the Functional Committee Outline Commissioner Sawyer stated that no more than 2 commissioners could sit on the committee to maintain a higher level of engagement from the community. In addition, with an overrepresentation of commissioners on the functional committee would have to abide by public meeting laws. d. Commissioner Snow asked for further clarification about the number of commissioners on functional committees. Chair Knuth mentioned that a good rule of thumb is to have less than 4 commissioners be members of the functional committees to avoid having to navigate extra workload due to public meeting notices. e. Commissioner Snow requested that all commissioners are made aware of the functional committee meetings so that there are options to attend or let others know of the meetings. f. Mara Brown expressed that keeping the number of commissioners down in functional committees gives the commission flexibility with meeting times, dates and individuals involved. Transparency is provided by having the functional committees report back to the commission at the regular meetings. g. Viviana will reach out to functional committee chairs and request meeting dates and times. 5. No Action Required. 5.1. Poverty Committee. a. Viviana expressed that she talked to Commissioner Darby and both agreed that their great organization in the community working on this topic and that the commissioner can serve best as support and connector rather than opening a new path in this area. The conclusion was to disassemble the Poverty Committee and focus energy on other topics in the newly adopted strategic plan. 6. Comments:  6.1. Commission Staff. a. Viviana expressed that she sent a calendar invite to all the commissioners about the annual report meeting with city council. Commissioners welcomed to attend – Viviana and Chair Knuth will be speaking for the entire body. b. Viviana mentioned that she reached out to Brandon Cooper, Deputy Director of Community Development to have him discuss the MAKE Ogden plan with the commission. c. Mara suggested that the commission invite other areas of community development to engage in conversation with the commission. d. Viviana reminded everyone that there are free flu shots available to the community at any of the 3 Midtown locations in Ogden. In addition, there is a COVID test site at Odyssey elementary this Saturday. 6.2. Commission Members. a. Commissioner Sawyer asked a follow up question about a functional committee on a community and economic development. b. Chair Knuth reminded everyone to stay diligent during the holidays on COVID, it is still impacting our community and communities around the world. 6.3. Public Comment: a. Derek Williamson – expressed that he would like to see the commission continue partnering with Project Rainbow to display flags at the municipal grounds. 7. Adjournment. (Motion made by Commission Hallows. Motion seconded by Commissioner Bernal). 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