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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday, April 24, 2017 <br /> Page 9 <br /> Ayes: Laliberte, McGehee, Willmus, Etten and Roe. <br /> Nays: None. <br /> d. Consider Amending City Code Title 2 (Commissions) Regarding the Human <br /> Rights Commission (HRC) and Community Engagement Commission (CEC) <br /> Noting his and Councilmember Laliberte's role as City Council Subcommittee, <br /> Mayor Roe reviewed the process involved and initial conversations with all par- <br /> ticipating members of the HRC and CEC concerning the pros and cons about op- <br /> erations and advisory commissions in general, and areas of concern over the last <br /> few years; as well as their thoughts about combining these two commissions serv- <br /> ing similar functions (Attachment B). After those initial conversations, Mayor <br /> Roe noted that further representation by three representatives of the CEC and two <br /> from the HRC were held, resulting in the subsequent recommendation for changes <br /> to city code, currently before the City Council tonight. Mayor Roe advised that <br /> the exercise had started by taking portions from both sections of city code to <br /> combine them for less repetition and more concise language while maintaining <br /> the scope and focus of both former advisory commissions (Attachment Q. <br /> Specific to the name, Mayor Roe advised that the proposed name "Equity and En- <br /> gagement Commission" may not have been the first choice of all those involved, <br /> but recognized that the City Council would ultimately make that decision after re- <br /> ceiving the recommendations of the subcommittee. <br /> Councilmember Laliberte concurred with Mayor Roe's summation, and thanked <br /> Task Force members represented by the HRC and CEC, noting the considerable <br /> effort put into this recommendation from several meetings. Councilmember <br /> Laliberte noted that the ultimate goal was positively enforced by those representa- <br /> tives to support this opportunity to lift up each member of the combined commis- <br /> sion to do more exciting things as individual advisory commissioners and as a <br /> whole for the commission in serving the community. With the exception of the ti- <br /> tle of the commission, Councilmember Laliberte noted that the role and focus of <br /> the combined group and agreement on wording and work was expressed in the <br /> ordinance itself. Councilmember Laliberte advised that both the former HRC and <br /> CEC ordinances had been reviewed with language from both incorporated into <br /> this new ordinance where relevant and representing the ongoing work of the new <br /> commission. Councilmember Laliberte thanked City Manager Trudgeon for his <br /> assistance in shepherding this effort and for his positive role in the work and con- <br /> versations. Councilmember Laliberte stated that she didn't feel any sense of divi- <br /> sion or concern from any members about the decisions and work proposed; opin- <br /> ing that it served to address the new priority of inclusiveness recently recom- <br /> mended by Councilmember Etten as a city priority. <br /> Attachment D (New Ordinance) <br /> Specific to the ordinance language, Mayor Roe noted the attempt to address past <br /> false starts of the commissions based on a lack of City Council direction conflict- <br />