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  • May Task Force Meeting Summary

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    Date: May 21, 2025

    Time: 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

    Location: Edina Public Works – Multi-purpose Room

    Task Force Member Attendance: Jim Nelson, Bianca Dawkins, Jan Stone, Pranika Kumar, Jasmine Stringer-Moore (remote)

    Task Force Members Absent: Elly Doscotch, Jonathan Rogers

    Staff In Attendance: Thomas Brooks, Zoe Johnson, MJ Lamon

    Public Members in Attendance: Colleen Fiege, Leann Weber, Hilda Martinez, Bonnie Padilla, Meriwether Felt, Ron Jarvi Jr., Theresa Farrell-Strause, Tim Scully, Alana Zbaren, Cory Lukens, Joni Bennett, Roger Bildsten, Ann Curtin, Dave Schneider

    • Welcome & Introductions – Co-Chairs Dawkins and Nelson
    • Meeting Topic(s)

    A. Staff Presentation – 15 minutes

    Staff Liaison Thomas Brooks presented on Board and Commission Experience Survey Results

    Current and former board and commission members had an opportunity to complete a survey administered March 2025 to evaluate boards and commissions. Participants were able to rate satisfaction in a number of areas and provide direct feedback to better understand successes, challenges and opportunities for improvement, and ways advisory bodies can be improved in the city.

    B. Group Table Discussions – 50 minutes

    Community Engagement and Special Projects Manager, MJ Lamon to facilitate workshop discussions on commission for all attendees on Recruitment, Communication, Diversity & Inclusion, and Roles.

    Recruitment (i.e. application, interview, orientation)

    Successes Word of mouth, neighborhood associations, large applicant pools, social media, improvement of application
    Challenges Gender and racial imbalance, lack of accomplishments, continued attendance challenges, no chair involvement in the interview process, lack of minimum qualifications, clarity of commissioner roles
    Solutions
    • Involve the chair in the interview process when one commission is selected by applicant
    • Expand panel and duration of interviews
    • Sensitivity to cultural diversity on specific commissions
    • Training specific to each commission charter
    • Opportunity for in person interviews
    • No seniors: recruit sophomores and juniors
    • Add video component to application process


    Diversity & Inclusion

    Successes Broadly defined diversity at application, deepen diversity within application pool, have initiatives that provide direct support with community
    Challenges Lack of cultural awareness on commissions, language barriers, lack of funding for translational services, modes of engagement, more presentation from renters
    Solutions
    • Diversity training
    • Demographic data per commission
    • Enhance outreach efforts to underrepresented communities
    • Connect with Jack & Jill, Edina Give & Go, and other nonprofits to build diverse relationships
    • Spread more awareness of resources available to help people in need; shine a light on city partners


    Communication

    Successes Staff liaisons to commissions, regular email communications, member to member communication, info distributed timely
    Challenges Inconsistent communication with different structure of meetings, communication with other city staff or liaisons, multi-city communication, respect among members, toxic masculinity, tendency to go off on tangents
    Solutions
    • Improve collaboration with commission and city staff
    • More transparency around budget and work plans
    • Improve feedback from city council to understand limitations; commissions do not want to work on projects that will not be adopted by council
    • Shift commission priorities to better align with city goals
    • Commission chair training
    • Stay on time, focused agendas


    Roles

    Successes Funnels up into elected roles, transparent and published information to the public, work plans, onboarding packet, passionate commission members, good engagement, staff liaisons are great, develops experience to better serve community
    Challenges Work plan binding, lack of transparent of requirements/roles, lack of understanding roles & scope, untapped resource of professional expertise, changes to work plans not communicated, very slow process for tangible results, lack of understanding of Roberts rules, inconsistent design student work allocation
    Solutions
    • Should be advisory and not a buffer for council decisions
    • More info upfront during application process
    • Orientation in person or online to ask clarifying questions
    • Specific orientation for each commission
    • Improve interactions with commissions and council; commissions often left in the dark from council decisions
    • Chair/Vice Chair training on meeting facilitation
    • Intra-commission discussions to evaluate commission challenges and solutions


    • Final Updates & Adjournment

    Feedback received through the workshop portion of the meeting will be used by the task force in future meetings to identify possible recommendations for commissions and advisory bodies in the future. Attendees were made aware of potential legislative changes that may impact commission attendance and accessibility, specifically remote attendance requirements. Next Meeting is June 18th and will be held at virtually through Microsoft Teams to receive the Final Equity Strategic Action Plan (ESAP) Presentation and is open to the public to attend.

  • April Task Force Meeting Summary

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    Date: April 23, 2025

    Time: 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

    Location: Online

    Task Force Member Attendance: Jim Nelson, Bianca Dawkins, Elly Doscotch, Jan Stone

    Task Force Members Absent: Jasmine Stringer-Moore, Jonathan Rogers, Pranika Kumar

    Staff In Attendance: Thomas Brooks

    Public Members in Attendance: No public members were in attendance

    1. Welcome & Introductions – Co-Chair Dawkins

    2. Co-Chair Appointment – 5 minutes

    Co-chair Daisy Khalifa resigned from the task force on April 15th but stated she is very supportive of the work of the task force and will continue to attend meetings as work and travel scheduling allow. Co-Chair Bianca Dawkins called for a new co-chair and Jim Nelson volunteered and selected as new co-chair.

    3. Meeting Topic(s)

    A. Staff Presentation – 20 minutes

    Staff Liaison Thomas Brooks presented on Equity Framework Final Draft

    Thomas presented on the Equity Framework Final Draft which was adopted by the Executive Leadership Team and Race Equity Advancement Team also on 4/23. The final content of the Equity Framework will be added to the final ESAP document. Staff will work with Communications on ensuring the information is accessible to both staff and the public. Input was received from staff stakeholders in addition to the HRE Task Force. Task force members provided good insight into ensuring the document did not include “othering” language and centered community as well as staff.

    Feedback was provided that the term partner should be further clarified and the term heritage within the Vision statement should be revisited.

    B. Staff Presentation – 25 minutes

    Staff Liaison, Thomas Brooks presentation on DIA Gap Report Analysis

    Thomas Brooks presented on the results of the DIA Gap Report including demographic information collected in aggregate as well as the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities identified through the results of the 8 dimensions in the Diamond Inclusiveness Assessment (DIA).

    • Natural Environment, most closely connected to Environmental Sustainability, was identified as the organization’s strength
    • Built Environment, most closely connected to the City’s physical facilities, was identified as the organization’s weakness (most dimension of opportunity), as it had the largest percentages of disagreement among staff and community members.
    • Human Development, most closely connected in investing in people – staff and community, was identified as the area of opportunity with potentially the most impact for change, based on the needs of the organizations, other strategic initiatives, and DIA results indicating higher percentages of disagreement and “I don’t knows” between both staff and community.

    City staff leaders determined on 4/23 to focus on developing strategic priorities for Built Environment and Human Development. Within those two dimensions, staff project teams are being formed to develop SMART goals and project plans to achieve the following statements (or a variation of):

    • Built Environment: “This organization’s spaces accommodate different cultural needs and includes easy-to-see and understand wayfinding signate throughout its space.”
    • Human Development: “This organization uses demographically diverse data and input from people involved in or affected by the organization to meet its mission for all residents, community members, visitors, program participants, and employees.”

    Next Steps: The identified SMART goals by city staff will be communicated to task force members in May for consideration and feedback. The task force is scheduled to receive a presentation on the final report at the June task force meeting.

    4. Final Updates & Adjournment

    Next Meeting is May 21st and will be held at Edina Public Works to discuss the Board and Commission Experience Survey Results.