Human Rights Commission Meeting Minutes Regular Meeting August 18, 2022 Virtual/Electronic Meeting 6:30 pm Click HERE to access rebroadcasts of past Human Rights Commission meetings on YouTube. Click HERE to access an archive of past Human Rights Commission work on the City website. 1. WELCOME a. CALL TO ORDER i. Chair, Jessica Harris, called the meeting to order at 6:36 pm b. ROLL CALL i. Jessica Harris ii. Ernest Chambers iii. Kathryn Laughon iv. Andrew Orban v. Lyndele Von Schill c. MISSION (recited by all): Act as a strong advocate to justice and equal opportunity by providing citywide leadership and guidance in the area of civil rights. 2. MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC a. PUBLIC COMMENT i. None b. COMMISSION RESPONSE TO MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC i. None 3. MINUTES a. Review of Community Engagement Committee meeting minutes from 06/08/2022 (2 out of 5 present Commissioners attended this meeting) i. Vote 1. In favor: 2 2. Opposed: 0 3. Abstained: 3 b. Review of regular meeting minutes from 06/16/2022 (4 out of 5 present Commissioners attended this meeting) i. Vote 1. In favor: 4 2. Opposed: 0 3. Abstained: 1 c. Review of Housing Committee meeting minutes from 06/28/2022 i. No present members of the Commission attended this meeting, so review of minutes will be postponed d. Review of Equity in City Government Committee meeting minutes from 07/12/2022 (2 out of 5 present Commissioners attended this meeting) i. Vote 1. In favor: 2 2. Opposed: 0 3. Abstained: 3 e. Review of Community Engagement Committee meeting minutes from 07/14/2022 (2 out of 5 present Commissioners attended this meeting) i. Vote 1. In favor: 2 2. Opposed: 0 3. Abstained: 3 4. BUSINESS MATTERS a. CHAIR UPDATE i. Shares Summary of HRC Work Jan 2021-April 2022 document to review what the HRC has gotten done in the past year and a half 1. HRC has taken action in the area of resolutions, Council recommendations, letters, community engagement, panelist & special meetings, and others b. OHR STAFF REPORT i. OHR Outreach Specialist 1. OHR now has completed printed brochures for fair housing, the OHR, and an OHR one-pager in English and Spanish a. Have been bringing the brochures to other offices 2. The OHR has resumed attending in-person events like Westhaven Day a. More outreach with Region 10 and Soul of Cville b. Future events to attend include Cville Sabroso and Pride 3. Hybrid/virtual educational programming is in the works, though no solid plans yet a. Late September time frame for planning a program regarding the rights to fair housing’s intersection with disability 4. Outreach Specialist and OHR interns are working on PSAs about each protected activity a. Recorded audio, and will now work on visuals to be broadcasted on television or online ii. HRC Director 1. CY2021 Annual Report is in the agenda packet, and schedule for upcoming approval with Council is more solidified a. Commissioners should plan on reviewing the report and sending feedback to HRC Director to vote upon the final version during September’s regular meeting b. The Ordinance should be in September’s agenda packet for review before a final Commission vote during October’s regular meeting and presentation to Council 2. Interns from last summer continue to work for the OHR a. Two other individuals have inquired about internships, but there are no means to pay for the position at the moment i. HRC Director will pursue a line item for interns in a future budget ii. They would be directly helping the Commission with projects, research, clerical work, notetaking on relevant Charlottesville Commission/Council meetings, etc. 3. Highlights from report that the Office had more incoming and outgoing contacts in 2021 than any year prior a. Now, there is an average of 14-15 incoming contacts per day 4. Conclusion of the report is that if Council wants the OHR to pursue a FEPA and FHAP agreement, it must fund staff a. An ideal staffing model already exists b. Startup money could come from the general fund, ARPA, or passing the Ordinance iii. Commissioner asks for some brochures for personal reference 1. Commissioners can pick up brochures at the Office 5. WORK SESSION a. AD-HOC COMMITTEE UPDATES i. Community Engagement Committee (Chair: Lyndele) 1. Met twice; in the recent meeting, committee decided to create a spreadsheet of the tabling events at which the OHR will be present so that Commissioners can sign up 2. OHR Director suggests creating a Teams Drive for the HRC so that Commissioners can share files with one another and the Outreach Specialist, and Commissioners can collaborate on the community engagement spreadsheet a. Also makes it easier to find for FOIA purposes b. Commissioner asks about instead using Office 365 i. IT recommends Teams for its sharing purposes; can experiment with the best platform ii. HRC Director, Outreach Specialist, and Lyndele will meet after this meeting to go over Teams setup 3. Worked on A22-1 plain language document and flyer, which are attached in the agenda packet to discuss and/or approve a. Director clarifies that there is a plain language resolution already in existence that says documents will be written in plain language and/or translated to plain language; there is only one version of the Community Engagement Resolution, and it is in plain language b. Will change the language on A22-1 to take out “version” in “Plain Language Version” c. Director clarifies that this document is different from the Language Access Plan recommendation to Council from last year 4. Having another listening session is on the table with having either an established topic or an open forum a. Director advises Commissioners to pick a topic that aligns with the Commission’s goals or is from the survey b. Community Engagement committee can identify focuses for the four listening sessions (two in person, two virtual), and then Commission can decide upon the timeframe at the next meeting 5. Community Engagement committee decides to meet on 8/30/22 at 12pm (subject to change depending on committee member availability) 6. Director suggests voting on A22-1 on this meeting, as well as using a listening session to solicit ideas for legislative agenda ideas a. Vote on Resolution A22-1 (with earlier amendment in the title) i. Motion to approve: Jessica ii. Second: Ernest iii. Vote 1. In favor: 5 2. Opposed: 0 3. Abstained: 0 7. Commission decides that it wants to print out flyers for community engagement tabling opportunities a. Commissioner suggests printing different flyers on a front and back of a page b. Can use regular paper and the printer from the City Manager’s Office c. Director will look into the several flyers that the HRC has on file to print them for future community engagement 8. Commissioner suggests sharing flyers/resolutions on the City’s social media a. Director will ask Communications if this is possible b. The HRC has been advertising events on City social media so far; a potential problem with using social media is the possibility of advocating for a particular viewpoint contrary to other departments ii. Housing Committee: not present iii. Equity in City Government Committee (Chair: Kathryn) 1. Committee members will correspond with each other about timing for an informal meeting to talk about ideas (rather than do work) b. Language Access Plan Council Recommendation Letter i. Commissioners review the letter ii. Commissioner observes that the request to Council seems rather broad 1. Director says that a specific policy recommendation would probably be difficult for the HRC to draft; this letter is mostly to urge Council to take some kind of action 2. Commissioner suggests that the letter have a more specific follow-up request 3. Director responds that usually the process for letters in the past has been sending one to Council, then following up about it at the next Council meeting's public comment a. During this time, the HRC can offer to set up a time to further discuss or hear from a Councilor who is especially interested 4. Commissioner suggests breaking down the letter or providing examples to make it more digestible to Councilors iii. Chair can email the letter to Council and follow up with Councilor Payne to find a Councilor to support the Language Access Plan iv. Commissioner advises that this is a great time to send the letter given budget season 1. Says that it will be Council's responsibility to decide what the plan will look like v. Commissioner recommends making the last statement more specific in requesting to meet with Council about the Language Access Plan 1. Director says that Commissioner can use her power as Chair to modify this statement 2. Chair will make this change and send it out to Commissioners for final comments, then send both the letter and Resolution A22-1 to Council via email a. Asks Director to resend the letter to her c. Recommendations to City Council for Legislative Agenda i. Director summarizes that legislative agenda recommendations are a responsibility outlined in the Ordinance that is never asked, but occurs around this time so Council can send recommendations to the Thomas Jefferson Area Planning District 1. Could think about these recommendations in an ad-hoc committee and compile recommendations throughout the year into a recommendation letter around this time 2. Past letters are on the HRC documents website ii. Commissioner asks if there is a legislator with whom the HRC can connect 1. Director says he talked to at Sally Hudson at Westhaven Day; suggests the HRC invite her to an HRC meeting 2. Director will reach out to Sally and copy HRC Chair about Sally attending an HRC meeting iii. Director asks Outreach Specialist to work with Community Engagement Committee to develop another poll to ask the public about potential focus areas for legislation recommendations d. Commissioner asks Director about HRC's livestreaming capabilities i. There are a few Commissions that have extra requirements to livestream by law ii. The current process is to record the meeting then send it to Communications to publish to YouTube; cannot livestream at this time 1. The link is present at the top of meeting minutes iii. CitySpace has the capability to do livestreaming and hybrid meetings, though there is no date set yet for going to in-person meetings 6. MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC a. PUBLIC COMMENT i. None b. COMMISSION RESPONSE TO MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC i. None 7. COMMISSIONER UPDATES a. Ernest i. Reminds Commission about the beginning of Charlottesville City Schools next week, meaning there will be more children pedestrians and more cars on the road, which will require more City cooperation 1. There is currently a bus driver shortage 2. Drivers are hired by the City, not the schools 8. NEXT STEPS a. Housing Committee minutes from 6/29/22 still need approval b. Upcoming committee meetings i. Community Engagement: 8/30/22 at 12pm c. All Commissioners i. Send comments about the CY2021 Annual Report to HRC Director by 9/5/22 d. Victoria i. Assist Community Engagement Committee in drafting a poll for the public to give input about legislative recommendations e. Todd i. Email Sally Hudson and copy Jessica and Ernest about meeting with the HRC in September or October to talk about legislative recommendations ii. Look for HRC's old flyers to print for future community engagement opportunities iii. Ask Communications about posting resolutions/flyers on City social media f. Jessica i. Make last statement in Language Access Plan letter to Council more specific in requesting a meeting and send to Commission for final approval ii. Send letter and Resolution A22-1 to Council via email 9. ADJOURN a. Meeting adjourned at 8:08 pm