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Regular City Council Meeting Monday, March 11, 2024 Page 9 not know about the work that has been done so far, which has been a lot of work led by Commissioner James, Commissioner Tidball, and Ms. Olson who turned these into focus groups so that the Commission could develop a scope and workplan for the Council. He thought it would be wonderful if, when the HRIEC holds these meetings and starts to get the actual work done, if at least one Councilmember could occasionally attend a meeting. If that cannot be done, he suggested the Council at least look at the meeting minutes and have a little discussion amongst the Council and communicate directly through the HRIEC Chairperson. He explained communication is everything, the meeting tonight is wonderful for everyone, and the Commission appreciates this conversation, and appreciates the ability to serve the community. Mr. Namit Bhalla, HRIEC Commissioner Mr. Bhalla explained he wanted to bring something different to the table other than the things on paper, that what is being talked about is humans. When the City puts out their wordings as human rights and looking for people to come on as volunteer positions, the City is going to get people who are very sacrificial and passionate. That is what he sees on the Commission overall, a very compassionate group of people. Ms. Amanda Becker, HRIEC Commissioner Ms. Becker indicated her last meeting will be this month as a Commissioner, but she is excited about this discussion, and she thinks it is important to have tension, which is what the HRIEC is all about. She thought this was a very passionate Commission and she encouraged the City to think about how to use people like herself and other people on the Commission within the ’s parameters. She thought it was important that people like the Commissioners are invited to the table. She knows there is some formalization to being invited but that is an opportunity to feel included, separate from having a volunteer Commission where anyone can participate. She thought it was important to have a part of government struggle through this publicly, and to show vulnerabilities, to talk about when the Commission feels like it is not represented enough at the table or have trouble speaking at the table. Some of her concerns that bubbled up were hearing about some these frustrations. Ms. Becker stated she joined the Commission at the end of the creation of the SREAP and wondered what role the Commission would have with that. But, no one knew because it was new and was a learning process for everyone trying to figure it out together. She thought that was a part of the process and these are all growing pains but to just walk away and abandon it distresses the Commission because that is the struggle the Commission comes to every month. This is why she shows up for the meetings, with the hope and intention of working through these challenges and trying to figure out how the Commission can participate in City government. Ms. Becker stated she was pushing the idea of ambassadors because that is what it felt like when she was at the meetings. She felt it was a group of people that wanted to be ambassadors that showed up, gave their time, had a lot of passion for the work being done, cared about the umbrella idea of human rights, and the idea of not being excluded. She appreciated all of this dialogue and was saddened that next week would be her last meeting. Qbhf!92!pg!354