2021-07-28 Minutes
Minutes
New Hanover County/City of Wilmington
Community Relations Advisory Committee
Zoom Virtual/ In Person Meeting
July 28, 2021 @ 5:30pm
Committee members present: Lori Wainright, Kathy King, Jen Johnson, Liz Carbone, Megan
Mullins, Florence Warren, Kimberly Gieger, Scott Whisnant
Staff present: Suzanne Rogers, COW; Erica Jacobs-Graham, COW; Crystal Williamson, COW;
Melissa Huffman (Assistant City Attorney), John Joye (City Attorney)
Public Present: Barbara Garrow, Veronica McLaurin Brown
Absent: Reddgo Long Jr., Courtney Horton, Evelyn Bryant
I. Call to order
Committee Member Lori Wainright called the meeting to order at 5:34 pm. Roll Call was taken.
A quorum was established.
II. Approve Minutes
Motion: Liz Carbone; second Florence Warren to approve the minutes.
Upon vote, the motion carried unanimously.
III. Approve Agenda
Lori motioned to amend agenda and move public comment to the beginning of the agenda so, the
representatives from Love our Children can provide their presentation.
Motion: Kathy King; second Florence Warren to approve amendment of agenda.
Upon vote, the motion carried unanimously.
IV. Presentation/Public Comment
Barbara Garrow- resident of NHC and representative for Love Our Children
Veronica McLaurin Brown- retired NHC public school teacher and representative for Love Our
Children
Presentation attached
V. Election of Officers
Kathy King and Scott Whisnant offered to be a part of the nominating committee. Lori will reach
out to absent committee members to ask if they will be on the committee as well.
John Joye stated that the bylaws state that July 2021 meeting is the time to present nominees, not
in August. There will be a vote in August.
VI. Programming/Education Sub-Committee Report
Programming and education sub-committee met on July 8 to coordinate the agenda items. It was
suggested to use a better format. There were four areas identified (race, disability, nationality,
LGBTQ+) for the committee to adopt. The purpose is to create a new model to address the issues
and to provide support. It was recommended that the committee be more involved with other
groups and committees that are currently addressing the four areas. Jen’s idea is to invite volunteers
to support and address the four areas so more efforts can be done on CRAC’s behalf.
VII. Update on Ongoing Projects:
Liz- there is a final draft of the renaming policy. There will be an end to private memorials on
public property. There is a cost of $500 application fee for renaming. She advocated for the cost
to be reduced should be based on income.
There were interviews for DEI evaluators. No decision made yet.
Suzanne stated that the housing task force will meet Wednesday August 4.
Jen- nondiscrimination coalition has formed that is community based. Encourage the City and
County to be more proactive with nondiscrimination. She sent the committee Durham’s
nondiscrimination ordinance in email.
Scott will invite Dr. Foust to the August meeting. He suggested having the next meeting at the
Monteith Building to view the paintings of the historical African American individuals. There is
not a definite answer to the location of the CRAC meeting because of the time frame with election,
number of public guest and other members from boards and committees that would like to be
present.
The committee is deciding on whether to generate a letter to the school board regarding the
suspensions of 4-7-year-old children. But if the efforts are already in place then, the committee
will not act. More research will be done by Scott to see if acts are already being done in relation
to this issue.
VIII. New Business
Jen announced that she has had conversations about crimes against women in our communities.
The local domestic shelter counselors state that all their clients are experiencing cyber harassment
and stalking is a major issue. Jen wants to see if the counselors can come to a CRAC and speak on
the issue. Wilmington does not have a cybersecurity investigation team.
Cpl. Williamson later sent an email in response to this statement “WPD does not have a full-
time detective dedicated to Cybercrimes, but if we receive a case, it will be investigated.
We utilize our liaison with the FBI's computers crime task force to go over digital evidence
from computers/phones etc. If our detectives need assistance investigating cyber
bullying, child pornography, anything that involves computers/phones/etc., then we reach
out to our contacts within the Law Enforcement community i.e. FBI, NHCSO, etc...
I hope this answers your question.”
IX. No announcements
X. Adjourn: 7:00