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Regular City Council Meeting Monday,January 22,2024 Page 8 Councilmember Strahan wanted to make sure the City did not remove from the Commission the power to be a mediator through advocacy. She noted that when she goes the State Department of Human Rights website, it indicates specifically that "Local Human Rights Commissions are essential to building a thriving joyful Minnesota typically established by charter or ordinance, local commissions operated in a city,county,or regional level to protect civil rights and promote equity and inclusion. Local commissions engage in a wide range of activities, from mediation to education and outreach." She did not want to mute the Commission's ability to be an advocate for others within the city because if the Commission is not able to be that, then she did not see the Commission having `human rights' as part of their name because it is a part of the essence and the meaning of what a Human Right Commission is and does. She did not want to remove advocacy from their ability or goals and actions. She thought the City needed to find a way for people to come in and to make it easy for them to be able to engage, get involved, and stay on the Commission. Mayor Roe explained he wanted to be careful, noting that certainly the language at the State website is encompassing of all Human Rights Commissions across the State and different cities do have different roles for their Commissions.Just because it is mentioned in the State's general statement,does not necessarily mean it applies to every city. He thought the State was trying to encompass the range of things that different Human Rights Commissions across the State do. That would be his only caution there; that the City does not necessarily give themselves a role that is only there in another city because it has a specific charter provision that says it does that. He thought there was a concern on the part of the Council that representatives of the City, as an organization, take on a role of advocating for individuals in individual cases. He did not know if that would be considered appropriate by the community. He also did not think that was entirely fair to the members of the Commission either, to put folks in that role because that may not be something a particular individual or individuals are knowledgeable about, want to do, or feel comfortable doing.That would be his only caution.The Commission needs to think about it in a way that provides for the best preservation and advancement of human rights in the community, maybe not necessarily involving specific advocation for specific cases or specific individuals because sometimes there are factors that can be involved which everyone may not be privy to. Commissioner Tidball thought if it would be appropriate, just as a process of working on this, since he understood Councilmembers Etten and Schroeder are taking the lead on the scope together. He stated it is unfortunate that the part of his brain that likes to work with words and writing does not work well with the part of his brain that needs to listen to what people are saying. So,he jotted down a couple of ideas or possible different wordings. But, to sit at the meeting and actually do that, is not appropriate. If appropriate for the Commission to have some back and forth via email and suggested language to work around and take it back to the next