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2021-02-03 Diversity Commission Packetof ED4 AGENDA 0 0 Edmonds Diversity Commission OP w_ Zoom Virtual Meeting (access info below) Wednesday, February 3, 2021 r'� 1g9° 6:OOPM-8:OOPM https://zoom.us/j/95073349360?pwd=ZmZYclnpNVnJJT3ZXRnRoZlp6dlNIUT09 Meeting ID: 950 7334 9360 1 Passcode: 189565 1 One tap mobile: 12532158782 6:00 P.M. — Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement: "We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Sdohobsh (Snohomish)_ people and their successors the Tulalip Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water." - City Council Land Acknowledgment 1. Roll Call and Absences 2. Approval of Agenda 3. Approval of January 6, 2021 Summary (5 minutes) 4. Public Comment via Zoom (3 minutes per speaker) 5. Presentation about upcoming PROS Plan — Angie Feser, Parks & Recreation Director (20 minutes) 6. Update from City Staff and/or Council Liaison (10 minutes) 7. Budget Update — Megan Luttrell (2 minutes) 8. Old Business: a. Toolkit Distribution Plan (10 minutes) b. Films: Need Commissioners to volunteer to host/Q&A after films (5 minutes) i. February 21 st —Outside the House ii. March 21't — Teach Us All iii. April 18t1i —Homestretch iv. May 16t1i — I Learn America 9. Equity and Justice Task Force update on Mayor's response to Task Force —Pat Valle (10 minutes) 10. Subgroup Reports: (15 minutes) a. Policy (Dean, Nikki, Alberto, Alison): report update on what City is doing regarding hat speech recommendations b. Partnerships & Outreach (Mindy, Sarah, Alison): report c. Events (Sarah, Ardeth, Alberto): no report d. Place -making Highway 99 (Donnie, Sekou, Ardeth): report 11. New Business: a. Annual Report (10 minutes) b. Projected cultural events/dates to be recognized (10 minutes) c. Quick response to incidences from Chair & Vice -Chair (10 minutes) d. Roles & responsibilities of subgroups (10 minutes) e. Retreat topics (10 minutes) 12. Commissioner's Corner (10 minutes) Adjourn — 8:OOPM Next meeting: Retreat Wednesday, March 3, 2021 at 4:OOPM, Zoom Guiding Principles To ensure we meet our responsibilities as a Commission, we agree to: • start and end our meetings on time • demonstrate our respect for our fellow Commissioners, the City of Edmonds, and the citizens we represent by: being present, being prepared, actively listening, participating in meetings, completing our individual assignments, and holding ourselves accountable • "step up and step back" • establish goals and action plans that are results oriented • establish subcommittees as needed • engage in courageous, honest, and open dialogue when faced with difficult issues or questions • utilize the "Ouch Rule' (assume positive intent; resist the temptation to be offended) • embrace the education opportunities presented through the Commission meetings • strive to make decisions by consensus. In a case where consensus cannot be reached after a reasonable attempt has been made, the Chairperson may call for a majority vote. CITY OF EDMONDS DIVERSITY COMMISSION January 6, 2020 Meeting conducted via Zoom COMMISSIONERS PRESENT Ardeth Weed, Chair Dean Olson, Vice -Chair Donnie Griffin Nikki Okimoto Glaros Sekou Kone Alison Alfonzo Pence Alberto Orej el Malfav6n Caitlin Chung, Student Rep Councilmember Luke Distelhorst, ex off cio COMMISSIONERS ABSENT Mindy Woods - excused Sarah Mixson - unexcused GUESTS PRESENT: Pat Valle Courtney Wooten Brian Potter Sunny Strong STAFF PRESENT Patrick Doherty, Director Megan Luttrell, Program Coordinator Economic Development & Community Services Arwen Marohn, Diversity Commission Coordinator 6:00 P.M. — Call to Order and Land Acknowledgement: "We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Sdohobsh (Snohomish)people and their successors the Tulalip Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, fzathered, and taken care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water." - City Council Land Acknowledgment 1. Roll Call: Ardeth called the meeting to order at 6:09 p.m. Ardeth added a moment of silence to consider what took place today on the Nation's Capital. Donnie Griffin read the land acknowledgement. 2. Approval of Agenda: Agenda approved by consensus. 3. Approval of December 2, 2020 Summary: Approved by consensus. 4. Public Comment: Brian is concerned about Police Chief hiring process. He feels the work of the Diversity Commission would be supported, but he's not seeing this now. Citizens of Edmonds have said clearly that they don't have confidence in the Mayor or Council because of how things have been handled. He suggested that the Diversity Commission consider what future work would be the best use of their time and to consider what the Commission can do to provide guidance to the Mayor and City Council to provide a safe and equitable community. New Commissioners review of guiding principles and OPMA: Patrick pointed out the guiding principles that are available on the bottom of the agenda. Commissioners took a moment to read over them and ask any questions. He plans to meet with each of the new members to give them more detailed orientation over the next few weeks. Any meetings conducted by government must be open to the public and have public notice. Rules were DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission January 6, 2021 Page 1 changed to allow for zoom meetings. When a quorum of 5 meet at any time it is considered a meeting and has to have notice and be accessible to the public. Subcommittee can have up to 4 people to avoid having a quorum. Commissioners can send a one-way email to the other Commissioners with "don't reply all" or just send to staff and ask that it be shared with the Commission. Use city email for communication only. New members to get their emails in the morning from the City. 6. Update from the city: Patrick announced that Arwen's position is approved and will continue through 2021 and the fulltime social worker position is approved for Human Services. Mindy has done a lot of work on building the program during her part time position. This Friday is first staff meeting on Highway 99 planning meeting and Mayor Nelson has stated that the notion of government presence on Highway 99 is worth exploring and would be a step toward greater investments in the future. The work the Commission has done has helped bring awareness to this the needs of this area. Luke shared that at the Council meeting last night it was confirmed that the Mayor is in charge of the hiring process for Police Chief. Council and staff are waiting to see if the Mayor will formally move forward in his search for new candidates. Due to time constraints, Patrick suggested we get Courtney's report earlier. Approved by Consensus 7. Budget Update: Megan shared that all funds were used for 2020. Nikki purchased 6 books each for 6 schools, Ardeth purchased 12 books for the Waterfront Center. The Diversity Commission will start the year with $5500 with $2000 earmarked for grants. 8. Old Business: Toolkit discussion with Courtney Wooten — Courtney gave an overview of the Toolkit. The packet begins with the pledge for businesses to accept. Tools include justice and racial equity impact assessments and multi -cultural evaluation. There are books and workbooks with multi -entry points and they are interactive & action oriented. Podcasts recommended are also multi -entry. Website references include local leaders and trainers that do this work. Highlights in the process included finding resources that fit Edmonds that help push the envelope, but not push them away, resources that were intersectional, and also created this to be a living document that the Commission can update. Donnie said this is a rich toolkit with wide spectrum on the issues. He wants to know how the Diversity Commission will implement it and incorporate it within the Commission and for City Staff — need to define how can we serve as a model for the community on how to use the toolkit. Ardeth inquired on what the plan was for distributing the toolkit and for supporting the project. How can we make this fun and exciting for the community? Pat is working on a press release that includes information on what we are doing as a Commission and will also include information on the toolkit. Mid -January is the timeline to launch this to businesses. Patrick said staff will be laying the toolkit out graphically and creating a pdf to include on website. DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission January 6, 2021 Page 2 Nikki noted that having an ambassador to spread the word and advocating for this would be helpful. Pat will announce it to the business members that have been working with the subcommittee. Sunny chimed in about creating an ambassador through the Chamber and to take the toolkit for a test -run out before sending out. If it is successful, then that is a great way to get other businesses involved. Alison agreed that this is a wonderful toolkit. She shared that in her experience in the Seattle Human Services Coalition, they tried this, but many organizations run by white people did not want to participate. She said creating a white caucus helped to create safe environment for questions and conversation. Alberto agreed that the toolkit looks great and mentioned creating a place on the website to hold businesses accountable with their pledge Courtney referred to Just Lead Washington example to make the toolkit an exciting thing, add business names on list, give free advertising and then movement will happen; make it fun to use. The bulk of toolkit is put together with Edmonds business owners in mind with a focus of giving easy entry points with the books and workbooks. Dean suggested awarding Edmonds businesses that do the things from the toolkit; provide a small note or certificate for them and focus on using a positive approach. Luke offered his support through the Council. He asked if this is only for businesses or does this also include non -profits, medical offices, etc. Pat shared initially it is a downtown Edmonds business & ED, focus is businesses the bowl, but liked the idea of expanding this. Donnie wants to make sure we talk about all the businesses on Highway 99 and that we need to be expansive beyond the bowl. One thing we could do is consider who key influencers are who can jump right in. He reminded the Commission that ED was not excited to do the stickers as they didn't want to offend anyone to come in the store and affect their business. Sunny shared that quite a few businesses in Firdale and Highway 99 are also supported by the Chamber. Alison shard that she is a member of Edmonds Rotary and she can use her connection to get the word out about the toolkit. 9. Films Update: i. Sunday, February 21St4pm-6pm: Outside the House (Darnell has sent the DVD today) ii. Sunday, March 21"4pm-6pm: Road to Peace (may need to choose an alternate movie) DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission January 6, 2021 Page 3 111. Sunday, April 18t'4pm-6pm: Homestretch (Will rent this closer to the date —all set) iv. Sunday, May 16' 4pm-6pm: Teach Us All (DVD is purchased and on the way) — move up to March and replace May with I learn America. Equity and Justice Task Force — Pat shared that the task force met with the Mayor yesterday for a couple hours and reviewed the work that has been done. They have been meeting every two weeks since August. Policing and community safety have been the main focus. Pat, along with Laura Johnson, were able to interview separately Judge Coburn and the Edmonds police department. The topics included the focus on community/social justice systems. The interview experiences between the two parties were quite different, according to Pat. The recommendations below have been sent to the Mayor to review. General Recommendations: • Workplan should be developed and implemented in no later than 6 months. The discussion about placemaking and what a precinct looks like on Highway 99 is already taking place. • Strongly suggest police have community engagement training. • Strongly recommend mandatory implicit bias training program with ongoing training. • Suggested using a checklist with the interview team before hiring and in retention and promotion activities. The social worker position is back in front of City Council. Judge Coburn knew the current social worker was being shared between Lynnwood and Edmonds police. For Edmonds the use of the social worker was characterized as often requested as an afterthought. Lynnwood though, has a social worker teamed up with police officers when responding to a situation. In interviewing the police department, it appears that many answers given were non -answers. They were given the questions a week prior to interview date and came back mostly with answers pointing to funding issues. When asked about getting out and engaging community, they responded that if anyone in the community are concerned about something, they need to come to the police. • Suggested to utilize this task force and that there needs to be some accountability here. Existing gaps need to be exposed. The police department did an internal audit, but an transparent audit must have had an outside auditor. • Develop a plan for implementation of hardwiring these activities and that someone outside the city government needs to make sure that they are held accountable. Sekou asked who funds the police department. Luke said it is the City Council and the money comes out of the general funds. The body camera program was funded by the County, not the City. He also said the new social worker position will be separate from the police department. Alberto asked if there was an audit on how funds are used within the police department. Luke responded that the City is audited by the State every year overall, but not focused specially on funds within the police department. DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission January 6, 2021 Page 4 Donnie appreciated the report from the task force. He referred to all the comment sections in the news and on social media about how Edmonds love the police and feel if it isn't broken, don't change it. But it is broken, and we need new leadership in the police department. What's our role as Commissioners to bring these diverse opinions together? Sekou shared a personal story about neighbors calling the police on them twice in one month for nothing (but what might be microaggressions) and that after living in Edmonds for 20 years, they do not know the police nor do the police know them. Pat feels the Mayor is genuinely open to making changes wants this to be a community focused police force. He's working hard on his white privilege and wants to find the right police chief for the city. Police could not answer questions regarding diversity or mental illness. The task force is meeting again on the 19'. She suggested sending these racial incident stories to the Mayor and wants the Commission to keep coming back to Donnie's question on the role of the Diversity Commission in this. Luke can share with City Council members as well. Donnie mentioned that in two years, the Commission has not made an annual report to the City Council on the work we are doing. The Chair, Vice Chair and new Commission members need to collect this information and prepare a power point to present to Council. • Book donation update: already visited 10. Subgroup Reports: • Policy — no report • Partnership & Outreach — no report Events — no report Place -making Highway 99 — Donnie summarized the committee's recommendation on placemaking for the Southeast Highway 99 to support the community economically and culturally. He emphasized that we need to make sure the community is engaged in this planning process. He wants to see a collaborative effort from City departments in order to bring a solid recommendation moving forward. 11. New Business: • Proposal of retreat, March 3' from 4pm-8pm approved by consensus. 12. Commissioners Corners: Alison asked if there was a buddy system for new members and Donnie volunteered to connect with her. Alberto said he appreciated the moment of silence at the start of the meeting. Donnie mentioned the LEVL 3rd annual virtual Martin Luther King, Jr. event, and request that the Commission support the event by making an announcement on social media and the City website and encouraged commissioners to share with their connections. Sekou mentioned that his work at Manor Care has been a struggle with COVID19 and that they've lost some patients. Good news is that as of today, they now only have one person in isolation and they are receiving vaccines tomorrow! DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission January 6, 2021 Page 5 Sunny offered to post the Martin Luther King event and would love to help deliver the Equity Toolkits. Adjourn: Ardeth adjourned the meeting at 8:12 PM — Next meeting Wednesday, February 3, 2021. DRAFT Meeting Summary Diversity Commission January 6, 2021 Page 6