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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes December 15, 2020 Page 11 Chairperson Westrick thanked Commission Neumann for her service over the last three years. 1 She also believed Commission Payne will no longer be on the Commission as well and she 2 thanked him for his time on the Commission. 3 4 Commissioner Payne indicated this has been a good experience and was leaving because his 5 family is moving to Stillwater. He appreciated the opportunity to be of service to the City and 6 will miss it. 7 8 Commissioner Neumann thanked everyone and stated when she came on the Commission 9 three years ago, it was on the heels of the active fight that was going on with residents being 10 upset about what was going on at Lawry Grove. During that time, she had seen proposals 11 come through, for example, a mural honoring Philando Casteel who was murdered by the St. 12 Anthony Police Department in 2016, and she has seen things that do not look right, fair, or 13 ethical. She has also seen some good things come out of it. 14 15 Commissioner Neumann stated she is not leaving because she is disgruntled, her term is 16 ending and she was not provided with how to renew a term. But she understood why because 17 she does not keep quiet about things such as environmental justice and what is happening in 18 the City because she lives here and cares a lot about the community and there is a large 19 segment of the community that gets ignored, even in these meetings. What she is always 20 hearing and who is being catered to is the “silent majority.” To her, that is a dog a whistle, but 21 a lot people think that is normal language in the City who have a voice. She hoped in these 22 three years she has given voice to the issues that a lot of the residents face communicatively, 23 and she hoped that other people watching this who have views like hers will at least try to 24 apply even if individuals like Mayor Stille will not necessarily want a vote to have them be on 25 the Planning Commission. She thought it was still very important to hear voices that may not 26 agree with what your beliefs are because this is not a ‘Stepford’ community. We are diverse, 27 there are a lot of different people here, and everyone respects a voice unless it is hate speech. 28 29 VIII. ADJOURNMENT. 30 31 Chairperson Westrick adjourned the meeting at 9:00 p.m. 32 33 Respectfully submitted, 34 Sue Osbeck 35 TimeSaver Off Site Secretarial, Inc. 36 11