April 15, 2025 — Human Relations Commission Regular Meeting

Transcript

Manually captioned by City of Boulder staff. All segments attributed to uploader — not individual speaker labels. [MM:SS] timestamps correspond to the YouTube recording.

[0:09] Okay. Uh we are live for the April 15th meeting of the human relations commission of the city of Boulder. I am going to share my screen very quickly and Carlos you may kick us off.

[1:07] I actually do and it is Just a error on my part with the agenda that I sent out. Um, you may have noticed last week I sent uh the finalized HRC commissioner manual uh and mentioned that we would be discussing that at tonight's meeting. Um, I neglected to put that on the agenda although we did discuss that at the agenda planning meeting. So with everybody's permission, I would just like to uh tack that on to the discussion andformational items. Gracias, Christian. Thank you. And just so we are aware, it looks like we have Ficker back. Welcome back, Vicker.

[2:01] Hi guys. Sorry about that. Christian. Gracias. [Music]

[3:02] for just do point out we have not approved the meeting minutes from the February um meeting. So we actually do those were in the meeting packet for approval. Um so we do have those um if anybody has any adjustments that they would like to make now would be the time to bring it up. Otherwise we would be voting on approving these minutes. But you are right Carlos. Last month we had the lab to combat human trafficking presentation in place of the HRC meeting. I think you actually attached the wrong um meeting minutes. The uh meeting minutes that got attached are the ones from November to the thing. But give me one second. Let me double check. I may have I used that as a Oh. Oh, never mind. It is the February one. It just has the wrong date at top, but I'm I'm like looking at the meeting minutes and

[4:00] I'm seeing they are they are the right ones. That is what I think I did. I used the used the prior months as the template uh and just did not update the date there. So, I will update the date before I send that for uh signature. That's my mistake. I move to approve the minutes. I second. Do we need any do we need to know that's that small change Christian? I don't know how formal we are with that. But Elizabeth, I would look to you. I've not had to update a minutes prior. We can just note the note the change just you know approve with on the condition that staff will update um to

[5:00] correct the date for the final version. I move to approve the corrected and meeting minutes. I second that as well. Thank you. And so um this would be the time for any members of the public uh who would like to make public comment. If you are able to see one person in the audience here, if you can um use the raise hand function which should be at the bottom of your screen and raise your hand um so that we may

[6:00] recognize you if you would like to make a comment to the commission. Perfect. It looks like we have one person. Um, thank you, Lorenzo. I am going to just very quickly read through uh a few items uh regarding public comment and then we will give you the floor for three minutes. And I'm going to share my screen again so you will see the text that I am about to read as well.

[7:04] Okay. So, public participation at city meetings. The city has engaged with community members to co-create a vision for productive, meaningful, and inclusive civic conversations. This vision supports physical and emotional safety for community members, staff, and board, and commission members, as well as democracy for people of all ages, identities, lived experiences, and political perspectives. For more information about this vision and the community engagement processes, please visit the website on your screen. The following are examples of rules of decorum found in the Boulder Revised Code and other guidelines that support this vision. These will be upheld during this meeting. All remarks and testimony shall be limited to matters related to city business. No participant shall make threats or use

[8:01] other forms of intimidation against any person. Obscenity, racial epithets, and other speech and behavior that disrupts or otherwise impedes the ability to conduct the meeting are prohibited. Participants are required to sign up to speak using the name they are commonly known by and individuals must display their whole name before being allowed to speak online. Currently only audio testimony is permitted online. Okay. So we have Lorenzo who would like to make comment. So Lorenzo give me one second. I am going to promote you to panelists. So you may ah here we go.

[9:21] Okay, Lorenzo, I believe you should be able to speak now once you come off of mute. Can you come off of mute and just say hello so we can see if you that worked. Okay, I'm going to ask to unmute you. Um, so you should see a message pop up on your screen,

[10:03] Lorenzo. Okay. Uh, see Let's say

[11:19] Lorent foreign. Okay, Lorenzo.

[12:55] I'll go and

[13:01] um

[14:03] Christian. Okay. Um, [Music] I see Lorenzo.

[15:20] [Music] much. Okay. Okay. [Music] Orchard Grove. [Music] Has

[16:06] forch. [Music] [Music] [Music]

[17:04] Okay. Carlos says you comfortable.

[18:03] Aquar for the Orchard Grove. Lorenzo. Um,

[19:23] form. The Christian.

[20:07] Yeah, I'm not sure if I have any questions, but um yeah, thanks Lorenzo for for coming and sharing with us. Um really appreciate yeah knowing knowing what's going on. Um, and just appreciate the the invitation for us to help and participate. Um, and just like, yeah, I'm interested in finding what can work. So, um, I don't have a whole lot, but I'm interested in what what we can do. And so, I'd be really curious to hear from Elizabeth and Christian like what's within our ballpark and what what supporting might look like. I want to echo what Erin is saying and Carlos, thank you for the context. Lorenzo, thank you so much for coming. Thank you for all you're doing for your community and really showing up during this time. Yeah, thank you. I am curious, um, Lorenzo, if you can share a

[21:02] little bit more. Um, I'm definitely hearing folks in your neighborhood are scared. Definitely validating that. Um, can you share a little bit more about why it's important to have the police at this meeting? for say much personas.

[22:00] Amigos. [Music] And I can

[23:14] Carlos includ Principal.

[24:11] reporter. This is Yeah, I definitely hear and appreciate it. It sounds to me like some trust building with the police as well as direct um hearing directly from the police what their position and involvement or lack of involvement with ICE would be really helpful. My first thought is, and I'm wondering how others feel and how you feel about this, Lorenzo, would be to invite um some nonprofit, some immigrant rights nonprofit like the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, CIRC, um to give some sort of um know your rights presentation. And um I don't know how to

[25:03] do this without I wouldn't want to wouldn't suggest doing this underhanded or or um without directly saying but having some sort of community policing um unit or some folks who might have some police officers who might have already worked in your neighborhood um there and also speaking. Um, but I I do wonder if having a combination of a trusted advocacy group along with the police might support community members in um feeling like they would be safe. And I guess where that is coming from is I fear that um if somebody heard about some sort of event where the police were going to come talk about immigration um and what's going on there uh that they some of the similar rumors that you're you're hearing circulating might still

[26:02] circulate. Um, so some some way to pair the police with a a tr an already trusted organization or entity. Um, and and I don't have a good answer who that organization would be for um you all you and your um neighborhood. So I'm curious how that's landing for you, Lorenzo, or or Carlos, if you have anything to add there. Um, Carlos linguist.

[27:24] [Music] [Music] Emily ice.

[28:22] That makes a lot of sense. Um, Lorenzo, thank you so much for coming to talk to us about this and I'm so sorry that you and your community are having to face um face this together. I think that Emily, you make a really good point. I mean, the whole point, it seems like, is to create a space where um the community feels safe um with the police. And I think the more resources that could be there to um advise um and share knowledge on the situation I think would add to that level of comfort. Um so I honestly think

[29:02] if we could do something um I don't know if you would think Lorenzo an online meeting would be ideal um or an in-person meeting whichever would make people feel comfortable. I know you said that it it's a little uncomfortable to even you know leave the space or their homes in that area. So in that meeting if we can have like multiple speakers um sharing their different resources I really think that seems like a really great um like opportunity and I'm so thankful you thought about that Lorenzo. I wish we had thought about it sooner. Gracias.

[30:00] [Music] [Music] for the convenience. IA.

[31:06] Um, Orchard Grove. IA directomen. [Music] [Music] Emily, no. Go.

[32:20] full yes to that. Gracias. Gracias. Gracias. Perfecto. Carlos Lorenzo

[33:02] Gracias. Gracias. Gracias. Okay. is that [Music] um Bua. Uh, puno and mute.

[34:16] Gracias. Gracias. Adios. Okay, Carlos, I'm going to pop the

[35:00] agenda back up on the screen here. Second. Okay. And this commentary I did not have any uh for tonight. discussional

[36:07] Christian. [Music] Thank you, Carlos. So the training I thought went very well. Um especially on the metric of people who actually interact with people who may be at in at risk populations like we had healthc care providers and teachers. Um so that was very sweet and I thought potentially that was because of Carara herself and

[37:00] her network. But um we also got like a a random person who was visiting from Montreal and I just I thought that was so cool. Um Ficker there were about 20 people there total. Um I thought the audience the participants were very engaged. They all seemed very interested and passionate about the issue. Carara was like above and beyond incredible. Came so prepared and ready to go. Um, as you all experienced, she made it so easy for us to put on this training. Um, so thank you all for your work. Thank you Christian for finding the venue. Um, one question I had is I realized that I slashw we hadn't and maybe Christian and Elizabeth maybe you did this. We haven't sent her a thank you note to my knowledge. Um, at my old job, we had like a software that you could

[38:02] um each person could write like a little something on a an an ecard. And I was curious if the city had anything like that where we could send her a a collective thank you card. Yes. Cool. Yeah, we don't like have that software, but it's pretty accessible. I think we could get something going. Cool. Thank you. Yeah, I would love to um follow up with her and just thank her and then um given just how like supported it was, I thought like it's something to consider doing again. Um so we can talk to her, talk to each other um if that's something we're interested in doing. Um, but that's all I really have to report. I'm curious if anyone else who is there or Ficker if you have questions um about the event.

[39:36] [Music] Oh, to add, Ficker, something that I wasn't expecting for her to do, but she invited the um two law enforcement

[40:03] personnel who work on human trafficking in the City of city or county I um and they sorry go ahead Christian I was going to say they were uh members of the sheriff's office so they were Boulder County county okay thank you um and they like hearing their firsthand experience was amazing um and I thought really like lent a sense of like um the reality of the situation that this isn't just like something we see on PowerPoint presentations or at the airport signs. Um, so that was really sweet. And then afterwards, myself included, there were a lot of people going up to to the presenters, including the folks from the sheriff's office, asking them questions and thanking them. Um, so that was really a a great part of the event. And just additional, I did not expect her to

[41:02] do that. So that was amazing. Thanks for sharing, guys. I wish I could have been there. I just wasn't feeling too hot. Um, but it sounds like a great event. I feel like with events like this, you just never know who's going to turn up. And it's often less than you like, but I think like Carlos said, like I think you guys did a great job show showing up and then planning it. We did a good job doing that. And even if like one or two people learned something, I feel like it was worth the event. I would just um share with that again also thanks. I think it was a good example of how um the commission can use you know kind of for you a regularly scheduled meeting and turn that into something that's really communityf facing um to be able to have that dialogue um with community members. Um

[42:00] there were just one other um outcome I wanted to share is that one of the um participants actually a um city staff member who works for our family resource schools program and we were having a conversation about how you know just ways to make sure that um community members who are bilingual um have the same kind of access to kind of resources resources, guidance, and training about how to um help protect their children um from online kind of trolling um information kind of interactions that might come to them um unwanted that could be instances of of human trafficking. So or or other kind of similar situations. So um so we have already you know been working on followup just on that point. Um so just

[43:00] an example where I too thought the conversations as they were happening were really good and productive and very informative. Hopefully everyone who was there will share the information out to their networks. Um and you know sometimes it can just spark a different conversation that's related um and make something good happen. So, I just wanted to share that as well. And also to um add on to that as well, uh an indirect I think outcome of the night, we um by bringing this presentation to the community and through us connecting with uh Cara and Lab to combat human trafficking, we were able to um make a direct connection with lab and uh the manager for our family resource schools program. Um I don't have any

[44:00] um like update to share although I know that they have been um or had been in conversation around how to bring that training to um school staff. And so uh although she was not there that evening to attend the training herself um that connection did come out of the uh work of this group as well. So um just a little added added bonus for us. The thank you for the little ripple effects. That's great to hear. Gracias Emily. Gracias Christian.

[45:03] Um, yeah, I don't think there's anything too new on this. We discussed last meeting, I think we came to a consensus that we were interested in maybe going through some kind of training. And I think Christian, you said you were going to reach out and inquire with Jennifer. So, I don't know if there's any news on that front. Yes. So, I did reach out to Jennifer. She is at a conference. I got a out of office haiku from her. um which was something I had never seen before, but I was uh immediately inspired to do that next time I'm out of office. So, I will circle back with her um after she's back uh and settled in to continue that conversation. Um, Elizabeth and I did connect uh around after the February meeting around sort of um what support we could uh provide from the city

[46:02] um to um trying to think of a different word besides support but to support this effort and um if there is a cost uh associated with the training that is something that we can definitely look into um paying on our end. We just need more information um and then can go from there. But uh this commission does have the support uh to do that if there's interest. Thank you, Elizabeth. enable, ensure, and support my wow phon thesaurus thesaurus. Thank you. I try. And uh Christian, if you can share the haiku with us, that'd be great because I

[47:00] am also inspired. I would love to send out an out of office haiku. Yeah, it it was about being um at a conference surrounded by friends and colleagues. It was really quite nice. It was very much like ah what a nice idea. That's great. Cool. Well, I think that's enough for for difficult dialogues unless anybody else has anything to add. I think more to more to come and Aaron I will um pass along the information as soon as I have it for you. Cool. No, I appreciate it. One last one last bit on the difficult dialogues thing. I think when we met with Dr. Jennifer, she was talking about um there being a fall event happening and I think she even said like we might need to express our interest in that fairly soon as they are

[48:01] planning it. So, Christian um or Aaron, when you follow up with Jennifer, if you could just comment on that, inquire further for details cuz I I guess Aaron, correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not sure if we got very much information. I don't think we went through a formal concurrence process if whether or not we wanted to participate in that fall event. Sorry, I don't think I quite followed the the question in that just that I think there might be another follow-up item with Jennifer regarding an in a potential invitation for our participation in a fall event that may or may not require planning now and um you know understanding of what we're getting into and and concurrence on our end now.

[49:02] Cool. I don't know if it was a question, but yeah, that make more sense. Yeah, it sound sounds like maybe that's just something that Christian can get more information about in his communication with Jennifer. Yeah, if I'm remembering correctly, they would the difficult dialogues series um that she puts on or the center for humanities and the arts puts on um sets their um like events. This is this would be their event planning season for the back half of 2025. And there um was an invitation if the commission is interested um in collaborating. Uh I don't think it was very defined um necessarily at that was

[50:00] at the uh interview game like pilot, right? Um, I don't think it was necessarily super defined at that point uh what collaborating looked like, but would be or at least I'm not remembering um but would be um something that we should be reaching out to her about nowish uh as they're getting ready for the fall slate of events. So, if that is something that um you all are interested in, I'm happy to do that. I just need to know that that is something of interest and I feel like I'm hearing that right now but just one clarification and Carlos and speaker yes as well. Yeah, seems like yes interest. So you can convey that convey the interest forward to her. Copy. Gracias. [Music]

[51:07] [Music] [Music] I think that would be a question for the the group. We we certainly discuss that but if there's um lingering questions or conversation around that uh now would be

[52:00] the time to have that or if everyone is okay to um with the conversation that we already had to move along we can also do that up to you guys. Guess one thing that comes to mind, Carlos, along the lines of this issue is hearing Lorenzo talk about how information was circulating, information was spreading about immigration in the community seemed to be by word of mouth. So, I'm curious in this case um in tandem with a community event if there can be some sort of pretty informal or loose word of mouth um persontoperson information sharing about law enforcement and immigration. Um, so that could be something as little as

[53:01] like at the event, um, the police bring a very short flyer on if they'd be willing to do this and that'd be great if they were on like what their relationship is to ICE. Um, and then giving each participant five, however many of those they wanted to then go and share that with five of their neighbors and have conversations about what they learned at the event with their neighbors. So something just like just like a a little tiny extra dimension part of the community event where folks are thinking about not just like keeping this information to themselves or like the next time I see Carlos next door I'll talk to him about this but like know this is actually something to to be

[54:00] speaking with your neighbors when you run into them um when they're taking their kids to school or whenever um so that the information can can spread even if people because I guess I still feel a little concerned that people won't show up to an event with the police. Um, I I could be very mistaken, but I guess I just fear that if folks are so scared they're not leaving their house and they're scared the police are giving information to ICE, I'm not sure how to how to have an event with the police where people feel like they trust enough to show up. um unless you know Lorenzo and um Carlos are going out there themselves and inviting people in personally and saying you know we've we've vetted these people we we know these people. So, just thinking like um in addition to an event, some other

[55:01] things to to add. I'm just knowing what I do about how other kind of organizations, neighborhoods, kind of how the liaison team works. I think any questions about um and concerns about how from the community members um they will definitely hear that and just want to work together with Lorenzo and Carlos and whomever else from the community to set up something that feels appropriate. Those are good flags. Um and you know as as you said it's it's really up to them. There's a lot of information that has been circling. Christian I think shared um some of the know your rights information that has been out in the community um a couple of meetings ago maybe at the February meeting. So I know that's circulating around there are other organizations

[56:00] doing that. So um yeah I appreciate that and obviously not speaking for Carlos but just saying I'm I'm assuming that those are the kinds of details that they will talk about offline once Christian and I make that connection. And we're certainly happy to to help with that as well. See the

[57:00] choreog. See [Music] Christian. [Music] Thank you, Carlos, for working on this and happy to support you however we can. [Music]

[58:07] One thing it was the agenda adjustment that I made um and sorry that it does not appear there is the uh commissioner review of the um commissioner manual. Uh, so I sent the the finalized copy out earlier uh or about midway through last week. Um, and just want to extend again a big thank you um to Emily Elizabeth uh Roberto who is not here who is our um deputy city attorney that works with uh housing and human services who all uh came together to go through um and revise the HRC manual that is uh

[59:03] provided added to commissioners uh during their onboarding. Um it sounded like an easy idea or a simple enough idea and like all simple enough sounding ideas, it turned into a bear. So um big thank you um and just wanted to open it up for conversation here. uh dedicate some time with you all as um fresh set of eyes who have not been uh picking through this with a fine tooth comb. Uh see if you had any feedback, see if you had any uh questions. Um and if not, uh we would love to get this approved and have this uh ready for the seating of a new HRC, a new commissioner.

[60:06] Don't all jump up at once to offer your thoughts. I know I know there was a there was a lot there. Um so yeah, just let me know if there are questions or anything like that. I looked over it. Everything looks looks good to me. There's nothing I saw that was like a big thing that I would want to change.

[61:01] I agree with both Erin and Carlos. I didn't have the chance to look into it in detail, but gen like with my general overview of how one. Oh, go ahead, Elizabeth. Uh, I was just going to say I think one of the things that um I mean there were stylistic edits, some things that you know were just a bit outdated, needed updating. the things that I think are um were also just intangible in a tangible sense. Just really making sure that even though we were putting we had put different practices in place across the city for board and commission meetings like you know meeting virtually not you know we we tend not to kind of post paper on

[62:00] doors and in buildings anymore because we're in a virtual environment and and just over time you kind of forget that those things need to be updated. we're just living in a different world. Um, so those were just those really tangible things where somebody coming in say like, "Hey, aren't we supposed to be doing it this way?" Um, when we don't have to do it that way or we do it that way, but we have other options as well. So, those are the kinds of details I think that are really important for you all to just pay attention to. And again, I I I think collectively we got them all. any sections like that that needed updating. But um you know ficker if you need to read it over again I think that set of fresh eyes of like hey wait a second you know we don't only listen to audio anymore we have recorded meetings and we have you know just things like that. Um, and as well just with those fresh eyes, I think Emily um, in particular was so helpful because you

[63:01] did have fresh eyes. Um, to thinking like, well, if we're talking about this, like why is that? Like, tell me more about that. Is that something we're supposed to know? What's the history? You know, how did that come to be? Um, and so I think we just really tried to explain more where we could and really clean up some language and terminology so it's just easier to understand. Um, and a handbook is a handbook and so it will never incorporate every bit of history, right? And so just thinking about where to to draw that line. And so if there are things that similarly for the rest of you you have questions about and think actually we should know more about that maybe it doesn't have to go in the handbook but it can be something a task that commissioners take on with staff support or that you know Christian and I can try to help with to get answers to the things from the further past um that

[64:02] just explain kind of how how you know how things got to where they are with the commission's role and function or the ordinance itself or or what have you. So, in summary, if you have questions when you read it, we really want to you to be able to talk about that with each other and if there's some important piece of historical information or context, then we'll we'll help find it. Don't let the questions just stay up here. One thing I'm thinking about for the newest commissioner, and maybe they're a a better commissioner than I am, but is just how to motivate or make accessible this document. Like I Ingrid was like a great onboarder, very comprehensive, very open, and I have to be honest, I did not read the handbook before we started. Um, so I don't and again that

[65:02] that could be all on me. I don't want to I'm not going to single out my wonderful commissioners to see who else didn't read the handbook, but I'm like, uh, I wonder if there's like a a way we could just make like a a two-page like these are the quick and dirty things you like absolutely need to know before you start the Human Relations Commission. Um or like Christian when you on board the next commissioner say like uh really the first two sections especially the one that explains like what does the commission do like that is that is vital for you to understand some of the other things are more like need necessary as needed. Um but yeah, just to be transparent with with kind of like uh how it was to receive that document. Um again, could just be my like where I

[66:02] was in life when I onboarded. I very much care about this commission, but I was like did not read that handbook. So I that would be kind of like my my final feedback is like I I really found it helpful and again you two and Roberto were so patient with me as I asked a lot of questions and like okay yeah how could how could we make this even more accessible for people on boarding. I will give a big thumbs up to that. Um, I think expecting people to read a 29page document is pretty limited. Um, and like being honest, like I didn't review the whole thing. I like tossed through AI and asked some questions and like got the summaries that I needed and like used that to dive deeper. Um, and not everybody's going to do that. And so like if you if you take a thing and put here's the essential things in the in two pages and like here's how you can expand it, then it's going to make it a

[67:00] lot more palatable and then people will like dive in. So, I would definitely give a thumbs up to like creating a a minimized version that can then be expanded. And hopefully soon we could have that across all of our government systems where it's like easy to look into any of these documents and see the smaller version and expand as needed. Um, and I would love for that to be a thing that we were doing across, you know, all of these in like a more coordinated effort. I think a good place to start is like create a minimal version that conveys the essence to discourage that because I think we if that's something that you want to work on and you know we can support we can support that or I mean you figuratively maybe unliterally another complimentary option could be that you can decide as a commission um that you want to just take some time at a regular meeting and say, "Let's let's

[68:01] just take a look at section three, you know, and just take 15 minutes, walk through, have some discussion." Any anything like that is up to you. um if you want to use some of your meetings to focus on on some of the elements or a whole meeting or a retreat, you know, when retreat time comes up or all of the above. It's there's some ways that you can structure in time to do that um as well. Again, in addition to not not tossing the other idea, but yeah, I appreciate that, Elizabeth. I think I could see us um taking a section of meeting for would be like quite a few meetings, but um and then depending on what format we wanted to do, and this could be iterative obviously, but pulling out like the most important things from each section. Um maybe asking commissioners to quickly review

[69:00] and and pull out sentences or paragraph singular that they thought was most important. Um, and I think that would be a fairly painless way to to do it. I would advocate for incrementalism versus um all at once retreat, but that's just my preferred work style generally. that we can do a both and Carlos I'm sure seeant

[70:21] for speech. before we move on. Sorry, Christian. Do we need to have a vote? Yep. I was just about to ask um I guess I am a tiny bit unclear. Are we approving the

[71:02] uh handbook as it is now and then agreeing to pick up [Music] um work on a sort of a bridged version or what would the what would the I consensus of the group I personally think we should not put a bunch more energy into that. I think having an intention of an a bridged version, but like I think maybe that's something that's like should eventually happen like more um across across like government um that we should probably like figure that out. I don't I don't think we personally need an a bridged version right now. Um and I wouldn't want to create more work for y'all in this. So I would personally move to just approve it as it is. I think what y'all did was fantastic. Maybe we can revisit at the next meeting.

[72:01] Um, I don't know cuz it seemed like there was some enthusiasm for a two-page version. Um, so I'm hesitant to just not pursue it. Um, but maybe we could think about it between now and next meeting. How do you feel Carlos and Ficker? I do think that the two pager would be useful for new people, new commissioners in the future and even for existing commissioners if we want to reference it. I don't know how we should go about that. Like if we should dedicate a meeting to creating that, if we should throw this into chat GBT and ask it to generate something. I don't know how we should proceed or like what the most efficient way of doing that is, but I mean I don't know Christian and Elizabeth what you guys think.

[73:06] I'm I'm over here like I feel like I could if if all the if all of them are up there like I could write a script in 30 minutes that like gets an a bridged version of every handbook not just ours. Um so I think if there is um enthusiasm within the group what uh we can do as staff what I can do as staff is support that um so it it's really not necessarily up to uh myself Elizabeth please reign me in if I am wrong um but I I think it's really up to this group If that is something that um you all believe is a worthwhile endeavor and would um like to accomplish then I it is my job to

[74:00] support that and I will support that. Uh it would not be something that I'm just doing necessarily on my own. It would be um likely another subcommittee um or something along those lines or some dedicated um meeting time to make that happen. I would suggest that the commission needs to at some point approve this handbook and it doesn't kind of matter whether there's another you know kind of shorter condensed summary as well. Whether you do that now or thicker if you needed to have a little bit more time to review it totally fine up to you as to when you do that. Um, it could be the next meeting if if folks need time, but that's kind of a standalone task. Like you do need to kind of vote any ch, you know, kind of vote to approve or modify any of the changes from the draft. Um, and I I would support what Christian said. I think um the, you know, there's definitely the city has a

[75:01] commitment to trying to use plain language, right? So, if just having a simplified version that is um not replacing but just helping provide a summary um to what Carlos said, I I also agree like commissioners like we just need our boards and commissions just like any other nonprofit board or commission or you know group that you're in. Um you know, nobody's expected to recite by memory an entire handbook, but it is important that everybody know it. So that's the only caution I would have is that if we create that for onboarding purposes totally fine you know and it doesn't take the place of of using that that that handbook as a reference. I will also just share um I I anybody who knows me well enough will know that I am not a huge fan or user of AI, but regardless of that um the city does have as of um 5 days ago um a new policy

[76:02] regarding AI. And so, um, um, I think we can, you know, all joking aside or all all of my own feelings aside, um, it is meant to be protective, um, of make sure that we're being really responsible and accountable as city staff and certainly I think that extends to our boards and commissions. So, um, if if there was any desire um, to create a two-pager that would involve you all, um, I think it would not just be on on Christian or on both of us. we'd we'd want to get get somebody to to help with that. And then we'd, you know, be sure to review the the policy um get permission from city manager in order to use AI for city business. Not to go down the AI hole, but since since you opened the door, I thought we better walk through it. I I I personally think that like yeah, it's I I I suspect it's not worth diving

[77:00] too deep into this right now. And there's like so many moving pieces and like I don't want to create more work for Christian. Like I don't want to do that. And I I I don't get the sense that having this two-pager is a huge essential thing right now. And I think that like it's personally I would I would like the whenever we onboard somebody it's like maybe we can help them get on boarded with with that and we can convey what's in the 29page document and also like give that to them um and let them you know they can use AI if they want. So, I think I think I'll I'll say again, I don't want to create more work for Christian and like I think we should probably just move to um yeah, approve approve this one since it has all the necessary pieces and the a bridge thing like we've said is like another conversation. Okay, that makes sense, Erin. And I do agree with him. I do think that doesn't

[78:00] have to be It's okay.

[79:07] Good. I think let's let's I move to approve the new handbook. Okay. I thought we were going to do that next meeting. I Yeah, I just heard Carlos say uh give some more time for folks to read it. Just wanted to make sure that was affirmed. Yep. Okay. By everyone. That sounds good to me. Okay. So um one more time we will revisit the handbook at the next uh meeting and at that point we will uh vote to approve or continue the conversation and I appreciate everybody's consideration for my workload uh greatly. Thank you very much. Okay.

[80:03] Um staff update. Give me one sec here. So, if it's all right with you, I'll just read them off. Um, selfishly, it has been nice to see folks faces rather than sharing a PowerPoint screen, but if you would like, I'm happy to put the PowerPoint uh back up there. Um I have one community event that is upcoming and we'll share out a flyer um with you all for it is a housing resource fair that is being put on by the city of Boulder Emergency Family Assistance Association or EA. And there is one more partner who appears on the

[81:01] flyer that I am forgetting. Elizabeth, can you help me? I know you've been um working with this. Oh, Boulder Housing Partners, the housing authority for the city of Boulder. You got it. Um so, those three those three organizations are coming together to um put on a housing resource fair for the uh entire Boulder community. It will take place next Saturday, which is the 26th, from 1:00 p.m. to 400 pm at the North Boulder Rec Center. 3170 Broadway. Um I will be there as well as representatives from uh numerous um city work groups that support housing efforts as well as uh other service providers. Um the intent and I believe uh what will happen is all information there will at the very least

[82:01] um there will be an interpretation service uh provided if needed. But the request out to uh presenters was that we have bilingual staff there so folks can engage with the um service providers and have uh open conversations in English or Spanish. So um I hope to see some of you there. I will be there the whole afternoon as well as a bunch of my friends um from all over the city. So, please do come out and there will be a flyer that I'll share um that you all uh can hopefully pass on to your networks. Um next up we have Elizabeth with an update for the childfriendly cities initiative. Yeah, just really quickly, um, the city childfriendly cities initiative

[83:01] continues to move ahead and as a reminder, this is a partnership between the city of Boulder, the nonprofit organization Growing Up Boulder and UNICEF International. We are at the stage of the process now where a group of youth who that includes middle school and high school youth have been working on an action plan around kind of three priority areas that have come from like all the big ideas down to this down to focus down to focus. So now it's um they've been working on three um priority areas that's being turned into a um youth action plan kind of report that will be um shared with city council in May. And that is just kind of the next step toward deciding exactly how the plan will be enacted. um ultimately

[84:01] how funds that the city has available through sale of the Broncos stadium now a couple of years ago is is you know could be used to to help support um the action plan and so there's there's a lot to come but we're really looking forward to achieving this major milestone in in May and so um if any of you are interested we'll be happy to kind of share out some details about um when that will get presented at a city council meeting. Um so you can have that information and and feel free to um feel free to to listen in or watch. Um and Emily um it was one of those things where I'm like I was eight years old when I learned that that was a whole thing. But whenever a sale like that happens um the funds are actually distributed um statewide um kind of around the state um

[85:01] so that different municipalities um and government aid you know government um municipalities at state and county level decided to do different things um with the funds. Um, city of Longmont, for example, had kind of a fund round um for, you know, youth programming. I believe um the city decided to um use this opportunity to engage in the child-friendly cities initiative process as in part in order to then determine um how to use that special amount of of one-time funds. So anyway, but it's really great. um the youth will be, you know, presenting um the plan themselves with adult support. Um so it's just been a great way to um watch youth get engaged in the context of um the rights of children internationally and what that would look like in our community. So just let us know if you have any interest in more details and we'll be happy to share.

[86:06] Cool. Thank you. Um and then two more items here. A update as we have uh mentioned a few times this meeting. Um the boards and commissions recruitment uh cycle has ended. Uh we were looking for one new commissioner for the human relations commission. So, if you have been paying attention to city council meetings, um you may have heard that the decision was made to actually reopen uh recruitment for a handful of boards and commissions of which the human relations commission was one. Um so, and a I wish JH was here um so we could

[87:00] recognize and appreciate him. tonight would be his uh last meeting with us. Um and we do not have a member to fill the vacant spot. Uh we will be the there is a recruitment committee that will be meeting a little bit later in this month. Um and then more info to come on that new round of um recruitment and application uh for human relations commission as well as the other few. Um so we will be a group of four for a little bit here uh until we have a new commissioner uh come on board. Lastly, oh before that Christian, just um not too early again to reach out to people in your network of friends, colleagues,

[88:02] um folks who really care about the community and like you all do and um want to might be interested in serving in this way. You are our greatest ambassador. So please um do uh encourage folks that you know uh who are eligible and um maybe showing some interest but are maybe on the fence uh or maybe um considering uh do encourage them to apply. And if there are questions um about that uh or if they have questions about what that commitment looks like, I'm happy to um pass along any information uh that I can to be helpful there. Last but not least, in addition for uh folks who may have been paying attention to city council, um there

[89:00] is interest uh among city councilors for a some type of uh dinner and meet and greet with the human relations commission. Um so per their request uh we'll Elizabeth and I will be working with the city manager's office um and uh staff supporting city council to make that happen. We don't have anything set in stone just yet. Um it is very uh like in the initial phases of conversation but just wanted to um let you all know that that interest is there. uh and we will be working with um sort of internally to set up the details and logistics of that and there will be more info to come. Just curious, Christian, if um so appreciate and feel excited to um meet

[90:02] and work a little more closely with city council. Is there any more context to this meet and greet? like is this something they're doing with other boards and commissions or maybe is there something specific they want to talk to us about? You want me to take that or do you want to Okay, there. I saw you come off mute. I was going to let you go for it and I a little bit. Um so we'll work to get some more clarification on exactly kind of what what topics and scope. um it's not something that happens often and so at the um recent council meeting which you're all welcome to watch um and if you're not sure which one um Christian I can you know send the link out um to that so you can watch the conversation but essentially um some some of the issues are just wanting to um talk a little bit about the the ordinance and protected classes

[91:00] as far as we understand and also just in light of um the fact that discrimination continues to take many and varied forms in Boulder. Um that's my own you know summary which I'll which I'll kind of own um from the conversation. And so um while you know again there are 30ome I believe you know boards and commissions um not even including committees that are spread throughout the city. Um it's not kind of typical council practice to have an engagement like this with all um but they are interested in in in meeting with the commissioners to talk about some of those issues. So, but like Kristen said, we'll we'll work on not only um kind of clarifying the scope um what specifically they might be interested in talking with you about, but also um uh logistics, right, to make sure that if they are interested in moving forward,

[92:02] um that this would take place at a time when when y'all are available. Great. Okay, that's really helpful. And sounds like maybe if they are wanting to talk about like the human rights ordinance and stuff um maybe we'd want to put our heads together to make sure we were all uh refreshed about that um specifically. Um and glad we had our handbook conversation today because also important for us to know um what we're doing as Carlos said as commissioner. So thanks There are no more questions or comments. That is all I got for you for staff update.

[93:12] [Music] Cool. [Music] Fore speech.

[94:10] Just quickly, Carlos, do you have a um do you know when the next meeting would be so that we might attend? [Music] Thank you. Yeah. So, it's part of the uh Carlos, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's part of the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan. Um framework that uh we have mentioned in past meetings. Um and so they will put that information online. Um if

[95:03] I receive anything, um I think I get one newsletter uh from that one in particular. So if I get anything uh regarding events um I will push out to you all as well. Um but if you are interested in following along Elizabeth just put the link in the chat. Thank you Elizabeth. Um uh following along you can you two can sign up for the um updates as well uh and get the information the same time that I do. Thank you. I think I actually am already sub subscribed. So, thank you. Uh, I just have a couple of updates. I wanted to make sure that folks were following maybe of more information than I do about the NAACP Boulder County. Um it was maybe two or three weeks ago

[96:03] the chapter sent out an email um to its email list saying that they were dissolving and um I can I can email that out uh to Christian, forward it to Christian so that everybody on the call has the same information I do. Um the only other information I have is from a Boulder reporting lab. um uh article. Um it seems like there was um quite a bit of tension between the chapter and the city and um that it was the chapter's decision to dissolve rather than um I think they used the words like performative um to be a performative body. Um, in the article I also learned that it seems like there's

[97:02] like some um possibility from the national chapter that an independent chapter can't decide to dissolve on its own. So, um I don't know if anyone else on the call has more information um than I do, but just wanted to bring that to the attention of folks. very important body for um combating anti-black racism um in the community and um I think just will leave a um gap in organizing and I'm not again I'm not speculating at all how that gap will be filled. I have no doubt that it will be filled but um something we as a commission I think need to be um aware of. Uh Alina, I don't know if you want to say anything, but thank you for saying in the chat, um you attended the

[98:00] press conference on behalf of KGNU. Okay. Um yeah, I don't know if anyone else wants to say anything about NACP dissolving. Okay. Well, I will keep an eye out for news. Um, okay. Ficker don't have much info on it either. Yeah. And I don't I unfortunately don't know um any of the people on the board directly. Um but I'll be keeping an eye out. Um and I'll update you all the next meeting if I have any updates. Um, my other update was I wanted to make you all aware about the Boulder one read for the Boulder Public Library is See No Stranger by Valerie Cower uh Carr. She's such an amazing activist. um she really promotes

[99:01] this idea of radical selflove and revolutionary love as um an act of of power and um act of resistance. Um so super powerful book for this political moment. Um see no stranger again. And uh even if you don't have time to read the book, she's giving her author talk on April 24th at the Boulder Public Library. it's open to the public. Um I wish it was streaming, but I'm not sure it is. Uh but she's an incredible public speaker. Um amazing, uh activist, and so I'm really excited to be there. Um wanted to share with you, Christian. I can send you the details too to include in the um minutes, but hope as many folks as possible can join. Uh again, just I think a really important message for this moment.

[100:14] I'll give mask. Okay. Christian. Yes sir. Um so I have I will follow up with Dr. Ho on difficult dialogues uh the train the trainer for the interview

[101:00] game. um as well as uh collaboration with the commission uh and difficult dialogues for fall events just to get some more information and we'll share that out. Um, I will also look for uh information from Emily's um commissioner update that I'll include in the uh sort of general followup for uh this meeting. I feel as if I am missing one action item um in here somewhere, but I am not totally sure. We decided that we were going to table the a vote on the manual for next meeting and continue that. So there's nothing there. Is there something else that I am

[102:01] missing? I think just to follow up on the staff updates recruitment information out and then we'll be in touch about a future council event. But depending on the timing, that may just be a May meeting update. We'll see. Sure thing. We can do it.

[103:02] necess I motion to adjourn the April 15th meeting. Second. Thank you friends.