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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.19.15_CEC_AgendaFalcon Heights Community Engagement Commission October 19, 2015 7:00 p.m. Agenda 1) Review and Approval of Minutes from September 21, 2015 2) Report from Fire Department Liaison of their Open House – October 3 3) Apartments Outreach Strategy 4) Plan Human Rights Day Event - December 10 a. Guest – Human Rights Commissioner Kevin Lindsey b. Movie selection c. Discussion Format 5) Begin Plans for Annual CEC Gathering – January 25 6) House Keeping Items 7) Meeting Schedule & Adjourn Falcon Heights Community Engagement Commission September 21, 2015 7:00 p.m. MINUTES Members Present: Chair Melanie Leehy; Commissioners Ahmed Hassan, Gary Kwong, Shirley Reider, Felicia Turner, Dick Carlson, Jay Colond; Staff Liaison Tim Sandvik, Council Liaison Mayor Peter Lindstrom, Staff Liaison Katie Thrasher, Police Liaison John Ohl Guest: Falcon Heights Resident- Hawa Members Absent: Commissioners Amino Mohamed, Gwen Willems, Clem Kurhajetz; Fire Liaison Assistant Chief Anton Fehrenbach Call to order: 7:04 pm 1) Review and Approval of Minutes from May 18, 2015 a. Shirley moved to approve 5.18.15 minutes, Felicia seconded the motion 2) Prevention Incident Committee Report a. Concern around email responses- do not reply all b. Refresher for CERTs- suggestion to make it CEU style c. Resident sign up for SAPD Citizenship Academy i. Unfortunately cancelled this year due to low registrations d. Black Lives Matter protest update: SAPD’s biggest priority was to control traffic and keep the situation safe. Dan Johnson Powers, 15 SAPD officers, and the Falcon Heights Fire Department were all involved and committed to these priorities. 3) Events & Outreach Committee Report 4) Ice Cream Social Report a. Ice Cream Social was staffed by Gwen, Dick, Melanie, and Felicia. The Commission gave away some door prizes. 5) Block Party Report a. Totals from Staff & Police Department i. There were 29 registered bock parties for the year 2015. b. Live Music i. Four of the thirteen block parties on Night to Unite requested music. It was a great success! Most of the musical participants were residents. c. Apartments i. The goal is to engage with apartments to get involved in not just block parties but also city events. There is a lot of traffic at City Hall on Election Day, and having visible flyers would be a good strategy. Melanie has experience and an interest in helping engage those who live in apartments. She is asking those that are interested to contact her. d. Ideas for next year i. Working towards creating more connectedness: some nearby blocks are in discussion to combine for a big block party. ii. Block party music: Some ideas are to get a music series going, potentially utilizing some of the parking lot spaces to host these. More music resources could be available if we offer a stipend. There was good energy, and we would like to continue with offering music at Night to Unite. 6) House Keeping Items a. A follow up from a past Human Rights event on approaching Falcon Heights Elementary School’s PTA, Principal, the Superintendent, or School Board to increase communication with the Somali community and to be on the same page. There is a need for a liaison with the school. Both Jay and Hawa have expressed an interest in this work. This will not be a Commission action, but concerned residents that includes may Commissioners if they desire to do so. b. Committees moving forward: initially it was a trial to see if this would work to be more proactive. The committees risk having a quorum if there are too many commissioners present. We are going to go away from the concept of committees and come back as a whole. Rather than committees we will establish task forces to accomplish specific goals. i. If people want to help with the apartments they can directly contact Melanie and she will provide direction. Tasks will be decided with the commission and then we will proceed forward. ii. There is a difference between being tasked by the commission or doing something as a resident outside of the commission jurisdiction. iii. This also pertains to email, whether informative, social, or creating discussion. Tim will send a follow up email about Minnesota laws on quorum. Melanie will also follow up with sending pictures and video from the block parties. 7) Upcoming Events a. Fire Department Open House – October 3 i. The Fire Department does have notice of the meeting minutes from May about listing the ingredients in the chili and will move forward with this task. The Commission will not be tabling the event unless interest in otherwise noted. b. Human Rights Day – December 10 i. There has been a request to publicize more that the Human Rights and Neighborhood Commission have combined. This will be put out on the weekly news and made more public on Human Rights Day. ii. The Ramsey County Library was not able to do their movie event in November. This allows us to continue our thought of having a movie on the Human Rights Day. Some thoughts on movies are still being worked on (i.e. Selma or a movie similar to Trail of Tears). iii. For Human Rights Day, the Commission would like to invite the State Human Rights Commissioner to introduce himself on December 10th, host a movie, and seek out someone of expertise to lead the discussion the movie.  Jay volunteered to reach out to community members for ideas on a movie. Jay is tasked with coming back to the commission with three movies. c. Annual CEC Gathering – January 25 i. The Commission would like to invite the State Human Rights Commissioner back on January 25th for a longer discussion and meet and greet. 8) Meeting Schedule & Adjourn a. The next two meetings will be October 19th at 7:00 pm and January 25th at 7:00 pm. Meeting adjourned: 8:43 pm _____________________________ Melanie Leehy, Commission Chair Dated this 19th day of October, 2015 __________________________________ Katie Thrasher, Staff Liaison