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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-09-22 Minutes Adopted 10.27.2020 Meeting Minutes New Hanover County/City of Wilmington Community Relations Advisory Committee Virtual Teams Meeting September 22, 2020 – 5:30 PM Committee Members Present: Chair Evelyn Bryant, Vice-Chair Jeff Hovis, Liz Carbone, Reverend Charles Davis, Courtney Horton, Jen Johnson, Kathy King, Lori Wainright, Scott Whisnant Staff Present: Linda Thompson, NHC; Dahria Kianpour, NHC; Suzanne Rogers, CoW; Erica Jacobs-Graham Absent: Florence Warren, Chief Deputy Ken Sarvis, Donny Williams, Chief of Police I. Call to Order Chair Bryant called the meeting to order at 5:34 pm. Roll call was taken and a quorum was established. II. Approve Agenda MOTION: Vice-Chair Hovis MOVED, SECONDED by Ms. King, to approve the agenda. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. III. Approve Minutes MOTION: Mr. Whisnant MOVED, SECONDED by Vice-Chair Hovis, to approve, with the minor clerical changes, the minutes of August 25, 2020. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. IV. Sub-Committee Reports th Crisis Prevention/Preparedness: The sub-committee will be meeting on September 28. Programming and Public Education: Ms. Wainright reported that the sub-committee discussed the statues in the city and the 90-day window regarding making a decision on removing the statues. At this point, the City has not made any decisions due to the remaining public safety issue at this time, therefore the 90-day timeframe has not begun. The sub-committee will also be working to make further recommendations to remove other statues and the fountain near Market St. V. Old Business: A. LGBTQ Updates: Ms. Johnson met with the employee affinity group at NHRMC and was invited to attend their meeting this Thursday to learn more about the group and how to provide support. Ms. Johnson will also follow up with the City regarding appointing an LGBTQ liaison and with the Wilmington Police Department. Mr. Whisnant said a team at NHRMC who have worked on this issue will share a presentation to the NHC Resiliency Task Force on Thursday morning. The details will be emailed to the CRAC members. B. Next steps for school redistricting presentation th Mr. Whisnant said he worked with Ms. Thompson to schedule the school redistricting presentation on September 29 at 6:30pm. Superintendent Dr. Foust will also be present to answer questions. Mr. Whisnant met with Dr. Foust and Eddie Adopted 10.27.2020 Anderson from the school district and was pleased with the feedback received. It will be a virtual presentation and Ms. Thompson will share the link once a platform has been selected. VI. New Business: A. Discussion on CRAC Appointment Process: Ms. Thompson reviewed the County appointment process. Applications for vacancies are received until the deadline and then are submitted to the County Commissioners for review prior to the board meeting. The Commissioners vote at the board meeting to make appointments to the committee. Regarding if CRAC wanted to add another category, the CRAC would need to make the request to both the City and the County Commissioners. Then, an amendment to the bylaws would have to be approved by the City and County Commissioners. Ms. Rogers reviewed the City appointment process. Applications are received and there is a sub-committee that consists of several elected officials who make the recommendations for appointment to the committee. Discussion was held on the various categories and diversity of applicants and applications received. Further discussion was held regarding the information on the committee application. Ms. Thompson made a suggestion to reformat the application in order to make it more inclusive for applicants of various backgrounds and she will work to draft language for the change. B. Workforce Housing Survey: Chair Bryant emailed a link for the workforce housing survey and asked that this be shared with others. Regarding the response from the City about the recommendations made during the CRAC presentation at the City Council Meeting, the City is still working on the scoring for the MEI index. For the implicit bias training, the Wilmington Police Department requires employees to participate in it and the City Executive team does as well. They will be researching on how to include this training requirement for all City staff. The City has a new mission called “Rise Together” which is aimed at equity and inclusion both internally and externally. Chair Bryant reviewed the initiatives and stated that the City wants to include CRAC to assist with the initiatives. More information will be forthcoming. Chair Bryant reviewed status of the statues in the City. The City Attorney is looking into the laws of removing the statues and the community will be updated as more information arises. nd Chair Bryant also reported that the City will be holding the 122 observance of the 1898 massacre and they would like to have a representative of CRAC to be involved in organizing the event. Ms. Carbone volunteered to be the representative and Chair Bryant will follow up with her for the next steps. C. Discussion on Transition to City of Wilmington: Ms. Rogers stated the City will take over as overseeing the committee for the next two years beginning in October. She introduced Erica Jacob-Graham who also works for the City and will be assisting with the committee. Ms. Rogers will set up a meeting with Ms. Thompson and Ms. Kianpour to make sure everything is needed for the transition. She will work with the City IT department to determine which virtual platform to use for the meetings. Chair Bryant stated in October the officer elections will take place. VII. Public Comments: None. VIII. Announcements: None. IX. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 7:08 p.m.