Human Rights Commission Meeting Minutes - October 20, 2022
The Regular Meeting of the Board of Human Rights Commission of the City of Fargo, North Dakota, was held in the Commission Chambers at City Hall at 12:00 p.m., Thursday, October 20, 2022.
The Human Rights Commissioners present or absent were as follows:
Present: Matuor Alier, Carolyn Becraft, Sarah Boonstoppel, Nancy Boyle (via telephone), Hamida Dakane, Jacqueline Dotzenrod, Barry Nelson, Cody Severson, Ahmed Shiil, Sekou Sirleaf.
Absent: Cheryl Schaefle.
Item 1. Welcome and Introductions
Chair Severson welcomed Members to the meeting and introductions were made.
Member Shiil welcomed the new Members, Jacqueline Dotzenrod and Sekou Sirleaf.
Item 2. Approve Order of Agenda
Member Becraft moved the Order of Agenda be approved as presented. Second by Member Boonstoppel. All Members present voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
Item 3. Approve Order of Minutes
Member Nelson moved the minutes of the September 15, 2022 Human Rights Commission meeting be approved as presented. Second by Member Shiil. All Members present voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
Item 4. Public Comment
Wess Philome said he is still fully committed to the initiative to hire an independent firm to look into the death of Shane Netterville and would like to see some transparency within the City.
Madison Bogart said she would echo what Mr. Philome said.
Reverend Karen Van Fossan said she would urge the Human Rights Commission to move forward with an independent investigation into the death of Shane Netterville.
Item 5. Discussion regarding last meetings motion regarding consultant
There was a great deal of discussion on the motion that was brought forward at the last Human Rights Commission meeting regarding the initiative to hire an independent investigator to explore the death of Shane Netterville.
Member Dotzenrod moved that the Human Rights Commission draft a letter to the US Attorney’s Office asking them to investigate the case of Shane Netterville. Second by Member Nelson. All Members present voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
Item 6. Update on the Voting Issue with the County
Member Severson said there was a questionnaire sent to the County on how voting procedure happens and that has not yet been brought to the Human Rights Commission. He said he believes that the City Commission will be addressing this issue at their next meeting and are trying to schedule a new meeting with the County.
Member Nelson moved that the Human Rights Commission recommend to the City Commission to follow-up with the County on where they are at with setting up a meeting to discuss voting issues. Second by Boonstoppel. All Members present voted aye and the motion was declared carried.
Item 7. Presentation from Dr. Terry Hogan
Dr. Hogan presented to the Commission a refresher on the role of the Human Rights Commission.
Member Boonstoppel asked how as a Commission work can be done on the priorities, as presented.
Member Dotzenrod said she feels that the Commission needs to do a better job with outreach as she didn’t know this Commission existed until about a year ago.
Item 8. Announcements
Member Nelson said this week is the 13th Annual Human Rights Summit and Arc of Justice Award on November 12th and registration is now open for that event. He said the full agenda will be on Facebook.
Member Shiil said on November 12th the Kondial Kel Youth Empowerment Forum will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Dakota Medical Foundation and they will be discussing youth mental health.
Dr. Hogan said at the last meeting there was a comment made about how to add items to the agenda. After review of the by-laws, he said, there isn’t any language included, therefore, he put some language together for the Commission to review and discuss. He said he would like the language implemented into the by-laws.
Member Severson asked that further discussion on this item be delayed until the next meeting.
Item 10. Adjourn
The time at adjournment was 1:18 p.m.