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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-14 Human Relations Commission Action MinutesADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 1 of 29 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION Thursday, February 14, 2019 Community Meeting Room Palo Alto Civic Center 250 Hamilton Avenue 7:00 PM REGULAR MEETING ROLL CALL: Commissioners Present: Kralik, Lee, O’Nan, Stinger, Xue Absent: Brahmbhatt, Smith Staff: Minka van der Zwaag, Mary Constantino I. ROLL CALL Chair Kralik: Well, I think we’re going to go ahead and bring the meeting to order. This is the regular meeting of the Human Relations Commission, today’s date is February 14th, 2019, and we’ll begin with the roll call. II. AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETIONS Chair Kralik: The first – after the roll call, we have the item agenda changes, requests, and deletions. I’m going to ask Commissioner Stinger to stand in on the Community Conversation Gender Equity item given that Commissioner Smith is excused with his absence. Are there any other thoughts that anybody has? III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS Chair Kralik: Oral communications from the public. We do not have members of the public here. IV. BUSINESS 1. Report on status of upcoming events a. LGTBQ+ b. Community Conversation – Gender Equity Chair Kralik: So, we’ll begin with the business. The first item in the business section is the report on statues of upcoming events. One A: LGBTQ+ Summit, Commissioner Stinger. Commissioner Stinger: Thank you. We are making good progress on the LGBTQ+ Summit. You’ll recall that under the umbrella of the Council’s Resolution we were looking at several ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 2 of 29 groups that we wanted to spend our efforts with and this was one group. We did the Listening Forum last year and we are proceeding on the LGBTQ Summit. We’ve identified the target participants, people who are engaged and active in this community and able to make decisions so that they can come together and prioritize some events where we could move forward by combining their resources, leveraging their expertise, their passion, and their resources. We did hit a little bit of a glitch today in that we’ve scheduled this for March 6th which turns out to be Ash Wednesday so we are quickly reassessing our date. That’s particularly an issue because you’ll recall last year, we chose to do the Listening Forum on Maunday Thursday and it is unfortunate but I’m contacting the key players. People from the county, a group of about five or six key players, we’ll readjust and we’re looking at the following week. So, we should still have a report to the Commission for the March meeting. I will send a date out to the Commissioners. We would like to request attendance and help with the Summit. The format will be break out tables and it would help us if we could have Commissioners at the tables to take notes and listen to the conversation. We will send that out in the next few days. We will choose which day it will be, either the 11th or 12th of March. I remain excited, the people that I’ve talked to have been very supportive of the Summit, so I’m very excited about it. I think we have it all together. Questions or suggestions? Commissioner O’Nan: May I? Chair Kralik: Please. Commissioner O’Nan: So, what is the goal of the Summit? Commissioner Stinger: The goal of the Summit is to identify projects that participants in the room can come together and take on themselves. When we did the listening survey and a survey last year, the hope was we would find one project that the Commission or the Office of Human Services might take forward but we found so many good projects that are way beyond our capacity. It seemed a shame to leave them on the table so by bringing groups together we hope that, for example, space might be something that several people might come together to take forward and take responsibility for. So, we see ourselves as facilitators and I use that example of space not haphazardly. People have mentioned that to me that they’re making tiny steps and with some county resources or some shared programming they might be able to take medium size steps. So, we were hoping that bringing people together we will facilitate they're going forward on their own. Chair Kralik: Anyone else? Vice Chair Qifeng: Where do you plan to have the Summit? Commissioner Stinger: Well, we will revisit that. We have had I guess just one date at the Art Center and that works really well. We can set up tables and it works well to have the group conversation in an arch but then the small table discussions can be facilitated nicely. If we do a lite supper it’s easy to serve from there. Commissioner O’Nan: What role will the City play? For example, if there are suggestions or ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 3 of 29 proposals that come forward but they would need either City help in terms of finding a venue or City funding to get started. What is the role there? Commissioner Stinger: Well we’ll be participating; Office of Human Services; the Art Department; the Children’s Theater; Recreation Department. So, they would be at the table saying what role they want to take and be responsible for going forward. I don’t see us being in a situation of having something thrown to the City without their involvement in the initiation. Commissioner Lee: I think the idea is to really identify what are folks currently doing, what resources and expertise is there our in our community both at the City departmental level but also all of these great agencies that we work with. To what extent can we leverage and magnify existing resources and expertise to accomplish more potentially together or having groups partner together as opposed to them working individually. At this point I -- we’re presuming that there will be additional resources ask at this point. It’s really leveraging existing efforts. Ms. Minka van der Zwaag, Human Services Manager: I think part of it also what we’re hoping for are a couple things is there just be a real excitement around the table for everybody’s that’s there and some real collaborations can be formed. That could include the City with non-City or the City thinking oh that’s something we kind of talked before but now that there feels like this community effort on some partners in the community. I think the real aim is that people will, by that evening, be able to say yes. We’re either committed to doing that or committed to having serious discussions to consider doing it. Commissioner O’Nan: If I may, what is the role of the school district if any because in our survey we did hear from kids who said they were bullied and from parents who said that they had children who were having problems? Commissioner Stinger: The school district has several Committees and we’ve invited those Committee’s to be active participants in the working summit. Commissioner Lee: Those include their LGBTQ Committee, someone from the school district’s library, in addition to our library. They’ve been doing a lot of great efforts jointly. We have folks from the GSAs, from the Gay-Straight Alliances, their facility, advisors, and are they inviting a student representative as well? Commissioner Stinger: I don’t know that yet. I don’t know the answer to that yet. Commissioner Lee: Ok so Folks from GSA… Commissioner Stinger: We hope they will. Commissioner Lee: … from the library, from their district Committee… Commissioner Stinger: The Teen Advisory Board. Chair Kralik: Who’s going to lead the discussion, Valerie? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 4 of 29 Commissioner Stinger: Steven and I will but it’s mostly going to be driven at the tables. We will do some introductions to the agenda and to the flow of the conversation but it will be based at the tables. Commissioner O’Nan: So, will each table have a moderator or facilitator? Commissioner Stinger: Not in the same way that we did at Being Different Together. We really had a trained facilitator to mediate differences of opinion to keep the conversation going forward. I’m anticipating it will be more like the Listening Forum where a natural leader will evolve but we would be appreciative of having a Commissioner at the tables. Chair Kralik: Ok, let’s turn our attention to Item One B, the Community Conversation. On an email tonight Minka has sent out a wonderful invitation to the Community Conversation which turns out to be an even bright calendared invitation, is that right? Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, but that’s all thanks to Commissioner Stinger. Chair Kralik: So, I have signed up for it already. Ms. van der Zwaag: Oh, and obviously Commissioner Smith in the planning of the event. Chair Kralik: Sure. Ms. van der Zwaag: But the Eventbrite and the flyer is all Commissioner Stinger. Chair Kralik: So, it’s a very well-organized email with a wonderful speaker and Valerie, since you’re in that charge too tonight. We’re going to go ahead and ask your description of the event. I think it’s March 7th if I have that right? Commissioner Stinger: It is March 7th. Chair Kralik: Which is the day after Ash Wednesday so I think you’re covered there. Commissioner Stinger: Ok, yes, I think we’ve got that one ok. It’s also the Thursday before International Women’s Day, March 8th which was a coincidence. I think that’s kind of a nice coincidence that this is how we will slide into International Women’s Day. Chair Kralik: Good. Commissioner Stinger: We have two objectives in this; the first of course is civil discourse. Building community one conversation at a time and so we’re hoping that this will be a format we can carry forward to engage the community in different conversations. This time it will be on gender equity here and now. What does it mean in Palo Alto to be a woman? What are our issues beyond equality, beyond equity? What does it mean to walk in women’s shoes in Palo Alto today? We will kick that off with some I want to say exercises and that’s not right. When we did the Being Different Together, we had some games that we used to start a conversation and we ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 5 of 29 will do that again. Then have our speaker being to talk a little bit about her experience as a woman of color in an academic setting and then turn to table discussions. The objective of the program is more centered on civil discourse; learning and appreciating somebody else’s perspective, speaking in and practicing speaking and listening and enjoying the conversation, enjoying the comradery. Chair Kralik: Sounds like a wonderful speaker. I mean we’re in our public meeting; you might want to just describe the speaker for us. Commissioner Stinger: I’d like to, thank you. Dr. Adina Sterling spoke at a Stanford program that Minka, Mary and I attended a year ago. Can you help me Minka; I now have just blanked on the title of our program? Ms. van der Zwaag: The title of our program? Commissioner Stinger: Of the program that we attended. Ms. van der Zwaag: It was – we went twice -- every year we went to the Poverty and Inequality Summit that Stanford University puts and one year was on gender equality and the other year it was - you remember the one we went to? Commissioner Stinger: Well, it was the gender equality. Ms. van der Zwaag: It was the gender equality one that we went to last year which was very interesting because it was right after this Committee had started talking about gender equality issues. So, she’s a professor of Organizational Development in the School of Business but has a really rich background. We’re going to be meeting with her to really be able to craft a good opening to the dialog that we hope to have in the room. Commissioner Stinger: She presented at that forum some work that she’d done on employment and wage disparities for gender employment and gender wage disparities. She was very impressive and also very kind and so we think she’ll be a perfect introduction to lend some heft and some gentleness to a discussion that we want to take forward. Ms. van der Zwaag: She is in the field of business but we want the conversation to talk about gender equity in workplace, in the home, in the community and how that looks like for people from all walks of life. We have this little catch phrase like my gender equity is not your gender equity. The realizing that women make very specific choices about their lives and my choices might be very different than your’s Commissioner O’Nan but the point of the conversation is each women’s choices should be valued. Entering into a conversation about that and then talking about how we as a community can support women’s choices, whatever they are. Commissioner O’Nan: I mean I will just say that this seems to be kind of off mark for me because choices have no validity in a system where the deck is already stacked against women. We make our choices within a patriarchy system that is inherently unjust and unfair. So, I don’t really see what the point of this is. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 6 of 29 Chair Kralik: Is there an opportunity for Commissioner O’Nan to meet with the speaker at a time to talk through some of this? Ms. van der Zwaag: I think we’d like to meet with the speaker first because we’re still trying to get a sense of her and her presentation but I think we can definitely share those concerns. This is not going to be a conversation, how I understand the two Commissioners are looking at it, that everybody is coming there to agree. It’s they are there to hear about different women’s experiences so maybe my choice of the word choices, I – so I… Commissioner O’Nan: Your choice of the word choices. Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, so I hear your observation and your criticism of that because I would agree that in many situations it’s not choices. I was thinking about it from a very classic gender equity issue is the divide between women who stay home with their children and women work professionally. For a long time, they said each side was oh if you do that, that’s not great for your children. If you do that, that’s not great for your children and I think part of what we’re trying to validate with this is in that sphere those are choices that women make. I’m trying to think of the right word now. I think we want to respect choices in that setting that women make. I would agree with you that in many realms of pay equity or if you think about some social injustices – I’m trying to think of the right word – assaults against women. We’re not saying that there’s equity in all those situations but I think we want to have the conversation that what does it look like for you as a woman in Palo Alto today? How does your perception of gender equity look different to me and look different to you? How does that see different through different cultural and economic lens? So, I think that’s the real conversation is like what does it look like to me? What does it look like to you? How can we as a community learn from what each woman’s path through life is and learn from there? Chair Kralik: Does the event have an opportunity for break out discussions and questions to the speaker? Commissioner Stinger: That’s what to bring to the table to your colleagues, your neighbors. So, my thought when you raised your issue Commissioner O’Nan was great, bring it on, that’s exactly what we want to hear. We don’t want everybody to… Chair Kralik: We know your table will be lively. Commissioner Stinger: Yes, I would hope that you don’t step down. That’s exactly what we want to hear. Commissioner Lee: Will we be collecting notes from each of the tables so that we can get a picture of sort of the general themes of what was talked out about at each table? Commissioner Stinger: We’re not going to do notes in the way that you sometimes do to have each table report out. We will be doing a closing session where people may talk to what they’ve taken away from the sessions and volunteer that. It’s not as much a fact-finding as a process. So, that would get me to my ask, again we will be asking Commissioners to attend and help us hear ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 7 of 29 what’s said at each table and to the extent that we learn because you always learn when you’re exposed to people discussing, then we’ll have some ideas. The intention is not to collect – it is not a focus group where we’re going to collect and then take that forward to Council. Commissioner Lee: Can I just ask would it be difficult to add an element of fact-finding I think it would be very informative for me and for the Commission given that we are prioritizing gender equity. Currently, P&S will be discussing our CEDAW recommendation and obviously it is antidotal because it’s a small sample size but it would be interesting to get some perspective from the event even if we don’t necessarily tie it into something specific. Commissioner Stinger: I think it would be hard to have an event and not take away some learnings from it. Commissioner Lee: But there’s not going to be a sheet that folks fill out or anything like that or a moderator is not going to be taking notes or anything? Ok. Commissioner Stinger: No. The hope is that it will be more of a social event. When we looked at programs –I better paraphrase that word. Social, I don’t mean that. Casually but when we looked at successful programs two summers ago the phrase that came up with a lot of the programs was this was the place to be. Every quarter, every month, however, the programs were run, people came for the dialog and the sense of neighborhood comradery. That’s more of our goal than to – as much of our goal as the findings from the topic. Chair Kralik: Commissioner Xue. Vice Chair Qifeng: Ok so one quick question. The conversation will be more focused on Palo Alto, Silicon Valley, or nationwide when we talk about gender equity? Commissioner Stinger: We’d like it to be Palo Alto. It will be Palo Alto. Vice Chair Qifeng: Just Palo Alto, ok, thank you. Commissioner O’Nan: I just wanted to ask whether we are missing an opportunity here to connect with the Resolution that Council passed about gender equity several months ago. In which then Council Member Scharff mentioned that we should focus on one or two meaningful issues within the year. It seems like if one or two meaningful issues could be developed out of this gender equity conversation, we could then forward that onto Council because they’re sort of locked and loaded. This could help them pull a trigger on something meaningful to move forward within Palo Alto. Commissioner Stinger: I think that’s well said. I don’t want to promise and then fail but you’re right, we should hold that up as a goal. I think it will become obvious to the seven Commissioners, to hear what’s said and… Chair Kralik: We’ll have an opportunity in our regular meeting to talk through what happened I suppose. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 8 of 29 Commissioner Stinger: We will. I’m speculating and I don’t know that my guess is we will hear enough ideas and that might give us the structure of some interviews that we want to do in the community. I would be surprised if from the table conversations we came up with a conclusion that we thoughts was sound enough to take forward to Council. I think we will be comfortable taking forward another study mechanism whether that is individual interviews or focus groups or a community survey. We can follow up on the basis of what we’ve heard. Chair Kralik: Does Staff have plans to try and publicize these events that we’re talking about in Item One A and B? Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes Staff is always part and parcel of advertising all these events. All the other HRC events it becomes a real focus of mine. Chair Kralik: Tell us a little bit about your method. Ms. van der Zwaag: So, we have a list of people who have come to our events in the past that’s grown to about 250 people. I look for partner agencies in the community, we work with the City Manager’s Office usually to get it on Next Door, if the City puts it on their Twitter account, their Facebook, and we put in on the City’s calendar or get it in the newspaper. I’d have to look at my other list but we usually have a list of 15 things that we try to get the word out. Chair Kralik: How does the Council know that we’re holding these events? Ms. van der Zwaag: I usually either send an invitation specifically to the Council or every week Staff has an opportunity through the City Manager to make announcements to the Council. Every Council is a little bit different so now there’s a switchover and less of them I usually check in with the City Clerk’s and say ok, what is the current Council? What is this current Mayor’s thought of doing invitations to events? Do they want us to invite a few key Council Members for a certain reason? Do we want to send it to the whole Council? So, since this is probably our first event since the changeover. I’ll get a little bit of a sense of what that looks like. Sometimes for an event, we say is there a natural Council Member that a fit for this event? We might look at our HRC Liaison but that’s really a conversation that we have with the Clerk’s Office and say should I invite everybody? They are feeling a little bit with two less; that they are probably making a lot stricter guidelines about the amount of commitments that they can make because they’re probably being looked at to make some more commitments than when there were nine of them. Commissioner Lee: If there is a limited audience I would recommend, if you had to pick and choose, the Policy and Services Committee Members since they will be the ones who will be doing CEDAW, at least initially, before the Council. Ms. van der Zwaag: Ok. Commissioner Lee: So, if you have to choose that’s who I (inaudible)(crosstalk) Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, I’ll be in dialog like I said with the Clerk’s Office and my Director because often our Department Director also sets the tone for Staff as far as interacting with the ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 9 of 29 elected. Commissioner Lee: What is the capacity for this event or how many are we targeting? Ms. van der Zwaag: You know what, the capacity we could probably do like we did Being Different Together. Do you remember? That was about 70? Commissioner Lee: Seventy? Ok. Ms. van der Zwaag: Because we are looking at having the round tables so if we were doing the theater style you could fit a lot more people in the room so we’re looking at 70. Commissioner Lee: Do we typically have a sell out so to speak when we… Ms. van der Zwaag: We did for every Being Different Together, we had a waitlist. For every event now we know rules of natural attrition for events so we usually oversell or over reserve by at least 15 or so. We also make room for people who just show up because even if you say RSVP only, there are always folks that heard about it through a friend and the message regarding RSVP’ing really didn’t get passed along. Commissioner O’Nan: Minka, I wanted to check, are we on the community calendar for both of these events? Ms. van der Zwaag: We aren’t yet but we will be. Commissioner O’Nan: Ok and are we reaching out to the community office of LGBTQ Affairs and are we… Ms. van der Zwaag: For the LGBT event? Commissioner O’Nan: Yes. Commissioner Stinger: Yes, very much so. Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, they’re a key player in the LGBT event. Commissioner O’Nan: Are we reaching out to the Mountain View HRC for both events? Commissioner Stinger: Yes. Commissioner Lee: For the first one yes. Commissioner Stinger: Yes, I’ve already spoken with the Mountain View Commissioner on the first event and I can on the second also. Commissioner O’Nan: I would recommend… ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 10 of 29 Commissioner Stinger: Yes. Commissioner O’Nan: … it. I think that our two communities are very aligned around these two issues. You might get some extra help from them. Commissioner Stinger: That’s a great idea and I wanted to follow up on your question Chair Kralik. Our Liaison at the Office of Human Services spends a lot of time and has been very generous helping Commissioner Smith and I work through how we want to proceed, get the right structure, get us the location, the data checks, and an immense amount of time on the PR. Chair Kralik: That’s exciting. Ok so… Commissioner Lee: Could I ask a couple more questions? Chair Kralik: Sure, you have something else? Commissioner Lee: Yes, so regarding the second event I’d love to be as involved as you’re able to involve me on that just because I’m sort of taking the lead on our gender equity work this year. So, I’d love to whatever extent that you need help or that I can participate in please let me know. Commissioner Stinger: Thank you. Commissioner Lee: With the Chair’s permission I did have a question for Staff on proces now that we are getting around to hosting more events as a Commission. You know I know the first one, One A, we have mentioned at a previous Commission meeting. The second we’d mentioned doing community conversations and set up a Committee for that purpose. But in terms of moving forward, when we as a Commission decide to put on an event, is there a particular process that needs to happen so that we can put our official seal or stamp of approval on it as a Commission? Luckily, both topics I love, I love both events but I would hate in the future for us to perhaps host an event that maybe the entire Commission wasn’t fully on board. So, I’m wondering if there is a process that we need to establish or follow in terms of the Commission sort of blessing these events in the same way that we might co-endorse someone else’s event? Ms. van der Zwaag: Well, I think the Commission followed the process that is set up to do so. These were all things that came up during the annual Work Plan setting at your annual meeting in August and these two events are both very specific coming from those Work Plan. So, it isn’t just something that someone thought of at a meeting and say let’s do this. These ones are very specific coming from the Work Plan. The people on these subcommittees have involved me from the start. These were all items that they have been every month giving updates. Now the gender equity was most specific that they were giving updates on. For instance, the general conversation about how do you set up a template doing a community conversation and now the actual title is coming to you. I would say that this is the process that has been set up because all these items were identified at the annual agenda – what do we call it? Annual retreat. Chair Kralik: Yes so when Commissioner Lee asks that question and we have the subject meeting reporting on status, how do you see the status? Do you have a checklist you go through ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 11 of 29 or what is it that you go through in terms of the process to know that this event is going to move forward in the manner that we intend it too; invitations, things like that. Ms. van der Zwaag: That’s just a conversation so I’m on these subcommittees. So, these things are not happening in absence of me. This is happening with me and then I’m able to say to them you know the level that I can help you on this event given other work duties. The HRC is just a small portion of my duties so we have these conversations. I will say it was a little tough having two nights in a row which it doesn’t look like it will be anymore but it’s a conversation. It’s a conversation that at its nexus has the retreat planning and the Work Plan from the HRC. So, it is something that was on the schedule for happening at a certain time so I was expecting these events. Chair Kralik: Wonderful. Commissioner Lee: So, is it the intention that future community conversations be one of the topics that we had identified at the summer retreat? Chair Kralik: We might want to hold off on that. Is there… Ms. van der Zwaag: I’d have to look back a little more closely at the notes… Commissioner Stinger: It was one. Ms. van der Zwaag: … for that. That if there was a series of topics that were identified. Commissioner Stinger: It was. Chair Kralik: We can distribute the Work Plan again. Commissioner Lee: If I could just make a suggestion for us to consider at a future meeting. I think both for the Work Plan and for events like this, luckily again, I like the Work Plan, I live these events. I’d like for us, our Commission, to be a little bit more formalistic and actually adopting the Work Plan and agreeing to do events as a Commission having it as an action item for us to approve by a majority vote. I don’t want to get into that discussion right now but that’s a process suggestion that I would like to put forward for a future conversation. Commissioner Stinger: I guess I would like to… Ms. van der Zwaag: But it was approved by the Commission. Commissioner Stinger: …respond to that. Ms. van der Zwaag: The Work Plan was approved by the Commission. Commissioner Lee: Well, we put the stickies but I don’t believe we voted on it. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 12 of 29 Commissioner Stinger: No, we did come back with Committee assignments to (interrupted) Chair Kralik: I don’t want to get too far off the subject of the business meeting. Commissioner Lee: We typed it up but we never voted on it, did we? Commissioner Stinger: Yes, we did in the fall meetings. Chair Kralik: I don’t want to exceed our time. Commissioner Stinger: I will just say that each Committee that I’m responsible for, we come forward with a Work Plan for that confirms the location, confirm the speaker, confirm the moderator. So, we are, in terms of process… Chair Kralik: We’re following through on what we promised. Commissioner Stinger: Yes… Chair Kralik: Good job. Commissioner Stinger: … and it’s very – it’s probably not like a project plan with lots of charts. Chair Kralik: Right but we’re following through. Commissioner Stinger: We – it’s detailed. Chair Kralik: Sure, sure. 2. Consideration of an endorsement of the City of Palo Alto Library’s Lunar New Year event. Chair Kralik: So, let’s move to Item Two. The library this Saturday is hosting a Lunar New Year event, the City of Palo Alto Library. I think my family attended that event last year but I’m going to ask Vice Chair Xue to just introduce this item because it’s considering an endorsement. Go right ahead. Just give some background on it and the importance of the Lunar New Year. Vice Chair Qifeng: Well, I grew up in China so Lunar New Year in China is a big event, a big city event. Every year we would have 10-days off to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Besides that, the Lunar New Year has been spread out to other countries. In nine countries to my knowledge has already officially set up as a national holiday including the Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea. So, it’s very traditional for Asian people to celebrate this Lunar New Year. It’s not just a Chinese New Year anymore so it’s a big culture with the same tradition. Family gets together and talks about the traditions to celebrate. So, regarding the Palo Alto Lunar New Year celebration at the library, actually, I have never attended until Commissioner Lee mentioned to me that there is one. So, I didn’t know about this event so with regarding that part I’m not going to say anything. Probably I will refer to Commissioner Lee to give a little bit of background about that event. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 13 of 29 Chair Kralik: Great, thank you. Commissioner Lee: Sure. My original idea was to have a Commission Resolution recognizing the celebration of Lunar New Year and there were a couple reasons for it. I think one of the priorities that we identified in our Work Plan this summer was really outreached to the Asian American community. We see a greater need with a large and growing Asian American community in Palo Alto. I think the last census it was something like 31 percent of Palo Alto was Asian American. So, given that the Lunar New Year is such a huge cultural celebration my initial suggestion was for the Commission to pass a Resolution just recognizing not only the library event. That was just sort of one example of the way that our community celebrates Lunar New Year. Also just acknowledging the important place that Asian American play in our shared community of Palo Alto and recognition that community events like the library event play a great – it plays a role in terms of bringing cultural understanding and appreciation for the diversity of our community. So, originally that had originated as a Resolution as opposed to an event endorsement as sort of a broader recognition and outreach to the Asian American community. Obviously, it has resulted in an agenda item to endorse the Lunar Year even in light of the fact that I guess Staff and leadership want to set up a new process for the Commission considering a Resolution. So, that’s how it resulted in the form that it’s in right now. Chair Kralik: Have you attended it in the past? Commissioner Lee: I did last year. Chair Kralik: Tell us a little bit about it. What goes on at the library? Is it the Mitchell Park Library or is it all? Commissioner Lee: I believe last year, was it at Mitchell Park? Ms. van der Zwaag: It’s going to be at the Art Center. Commissioner Lee: Yes, this year it’s at the Art Center. Chair Kralik: Ok so this year the Art Center next to the Rinconada Library. Ms. van der Zwaag: That’s correct. Commissioner Lee: They have a lot of music and dance. They have a – what’s it called? The dragon dancers and it’s just a great cultural celebration community event. I think last year one thing that I will point out so last year when they had hosted it, they had called it Chinese New Year Celebration and luckily our library is very progressive and realized that it could be more inclusive. So, this year they made it a concerted effort to make sure that it was a Lunar New Year Celebration as opposed to just exclusively a Chinese New Year Celebration. So, that’s a great example of how our library is really doing great work. Ms. van der Zwaag: So, it’s going to be on this Saturday from 1 to 3 pm and this is part of a series that the library does on celebrating cultures. So, I think I brought some of the other ones to ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 14 of 29 you in the past when I think I forward the event Diwali and so forth. This one is in the Art Center auditorium with martial arts, dancing, crafts, and snacks. Chair Kralik: I know my son is a dragon dancer and my daughter has performed in for different community events for the Lunar New Year with her dance troop. So, I think the surrounding community is doing a lot. I know Mountain View does something, Los Altos, I think there was an event at the Cubberley Center for I guess one of the Asian communities. It was just like a weekend dance event. It was nothing that was pre-announced widely but I do think it reaches the number of people. I do have a brother that lives in China and I’ll tell him he gets 10-days off. I’m not sure he’s… Vice Chair Qifeng: That’s the holiday. So, just hearing you mention the small celebration at the Cubberley Center by a different group. Actually, Lunar New Year because of the cultural diversity, several different groups do celebrate differently. For example, mainland part Hong Kong people, (inaudible) in a group. They all celebrate differently. The group that you’re referring is probably from the southern part of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. They organized so for the people from the mainland, they will have a much bigger celebration. You know so not just in Palo Alto, in the Bay Area. Chair Kralik: Yes, I mean my children go to Chinese Emersion School so they had their celebration I think last weekend and it was an all afternoon event with all kinds of events around the school. It was extremely well attended. It brought in not only the students, their parents, but also an extended family that came in right through the rain and had a wonderful time. So, I think having it with the library is a nice center for the community. It is an exciting thing to celebrate. I know that in the Lunar New Year Celebration in China many of the workers travel home sometimes once a year. Commissioner Lee: I believe it’s the largest migration every year, right? Movement of people. Chair Kralik: It’s a lot of travel to be with family. Vice Chair Qifeng: So, based on what I read or heard this year there was over billions of people traveling around and some people travel in multiple trips right? From city to city so that’s the big busiest traveling time for the Chinese people in the mainland. So, it’s very hard to get any ticket; bus; for the train. Commissioner Stinger: Wow. Vice Chair Qifeng: Some people need to ride their motorcycle to home. I mean itis a thousand kilometers all to get home to celebrate Chinese New Year so, by saying that I do recognize the Commissioner Lee’s initiative. I, at the beginning, fully supported his suggestion. Whether we can do a Resolution or endorsement, it’s definitely a wonderful initiative. We have to realize this is a huge community, very diversified culture, we need to do something to show our appreciation or recognition for their activities. Chair Kralik: I know that we have a subcommittee if I’m right? It is Commissioner Smith that’s ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 15 of 29 on the subcommittee for trying to do outreach to Asian communities within Palo Alto. Is that right? Ms. van der Zwaag: That is correct. Chair Kralik: Ok and I did talk to him and in anticipation of him being here tonight and about this specific event in which he echoed your thought which is the idea is that it’s a much broader event than just Chinese New Year. It’s Lunar New Year and it touches many different cultures. He really thought that was very important to bring out. Commissioner Lee: If the Chair would indulge me, I know we’re not voting on a Resolution but if you don’t mind if I could read the text of it so that we get a sense of the spirit of what we were going for. Would you mind? Chair Kralik: Let me just say with respect to Resolutions and particularly that one, we held it in abeyance because the Staff had asked us to do so on the thinking that we need to come up with a process. The important thing about recognizing people is to have a robust recognition but also to be fair. So, one of the things that we’re trying to do is to come up with the right approach to do that. So, I want to stay on topic and consider this endorsement of this event. I’ll take a motion if anyone would like to make a motion. MOTION Commissioner Lee: I’ll move to endorse the event. Chair Kralik: Ok and is there a second? Vice Chair Qifeng: Endorsing it? Chair Kralik: Yes. Commissioner O’Nan: Yes, I’ll second the endorsement of the event. Chair Kralik: Ok and why don’t we go ahead, is there any discussion of that motion? Commissioner O’Nan: I thoroughly support the event. I’ve also lived in Asian in Japan where they have what’s called Golden Week which is their Japanese version of the same thing. Wonderful holiday and it’s culturally very, very significant. I would say though that as much as a Resolution or endorsement is meaningful as far as it goes. Probably if we want to do significant outreach to the Asian American community, we should have gotten more involved sooner maybe really participated in some way in this event versus at the last-minute piggybacking on top of it with an endorsement. So, I although I seconded the endorsement, I fully support it, I hope that next year maybe we’ll get our gears going a little sooner and be able to do something even more impactful. Chair Kralik: Commissioner Stinger. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 16 of 29 Commissioner Stinger: I second Commissioner O’Nan’s sentiments exactly. I think we’ve talked about things that we might do as part of the Lunar New Year’s Celebration and celebratory events would be useful but I think there’s also some content things that we can do. I would like to see us do those and I think it’s a good observation. Commissioner Lee: Related to that, one thing that I would propose the Commission consider doing is perhaps having a liaison to the library. I know the library again; there are so many great programs and events that intersect with a lot of the topics that we care about as a Human Relations Commission. Certainly, this is one event as part of their larger celebrating culture events which they started a couple years ago so, maybe one way for us to get ahead of future celebrations whether it’s this or other initiatives it to have a formal liaison to the library. I would echo Valerie’s statements about finding additional ways to reach out to the Asian American community beyond just celebratory community events. Chair Kralik: Well if we vote we’re started. Can we have those who are in favor of the motion say aye? No opposed. MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY 5-0 WITH COMMISSIONER BRAMBHATT AND SMITH ABSENT Chair Kralik: So, it carries unanimously. V. Reports from Officials 1. Commissioner Reports Chair Kralik: We’ll move onto the report from officials; Commissioner Reports. I’ll give my briefly is that I’ve met with and/or talked to each of the individual Commissioners because I am a new incoming Chair. I’ve enjoyed those talks. Commissioner Stinger: So, have we thank you. Chair Kralik: We’ll move to other Commissioners. Who would like to go first? Commissioner Stinger. Commissioner Stinger: Sure, I will report on three comments. I did attend some Martin Luther King Day programming and as an example of our involvement in the community with different groups. I was very impressed. There’s always a Martin Luther King Day commemoration at the United Methodist Church on Hamilton Avenue that LaDoris Cordell hosts. Our Commissioner Smith did an outstanding speech at that event and I have to… Chair Kralik: I went to Commissioner Smith’s church with my son and if you haven’t been, as a Commissioner I highly recommend it. He is magnificent as a public speaker and as a community leader. He really has his heart in the right place. Commissioner Stinger: It was remarkable. I am amazed at this event, every year they continue to ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 17 of 29 inspire me, and it’s been many years now. I also went to a program that the library sponsors each month, New Americans. As an example of working with the library, we approached them last spring or summer to say that we were interested in an educational event talking about government in Palo Alto. What it means, what does the Mayor do, what does the City Manager do, do you have to get a dog license, and they very nicely said well, why don’t you take January to run the program. They found us a speaker and we sent an outline together. There were some ups and downs with the programming. Basically, I think content wise it went very well, attendance-wise was marginal and the library recognizes that. I think it’s a good example of what you were suggesting Commissioner Lee that we work with the library. That can come I think informally. In this case, we’ve just worked so closely with the library, they helped us on Being Different Together, we were interested in the New American program, and so it’s sort of organic. It just comes together very strongly. The other event that I wanted to mention is in the future and this came from working with the Mountain View HRC. I will read this so I get it correct. “With respect to civility round table, the next one will take place on Saturday, April 6th. The time is to be announced and it will be held at the Mountain View Senior Center.” I bring this up for two reasons, one is that it will focus on how to engage in civil discourse about difficult issues with people with different viewpoints, and I have met the facilitator. It’s Marieann Shovlin from the League of Women Voters and she has an excellent program on civil discourse. The topic that they’ve chosen I believe will be they may adopt it but it will be living in RVs. I think this will be an excellent program on its own right and it also may be a learning experience for us how to proceed with collaborations to promote civil discourse. Chair Kralik: Wonderful. I’ll ask the Vice Chair to give a Commissioner report. Vice Chair Qifeng: I don’t have any report at this time. Maybe next time. Chair Kralik: Ok, very good. Commissioner O’Nan. Commissioner O’Nan: Thank you Chair. I have been working with Minka and the Committee on Aging which is a subcommittee of the Healthy Cities Initiative started by Liz Kniss and Karen Holman. We are going to be working on a project to develop a better sense of community for seniors at the Y who are already meeting informally in coffee groups after swimming and other classes. We want to see if we can formalize it and help them make stronger connections that might even continue on outside of the Y to increase their social network. Then coincidently I had mentioned to the Director of the Y, Lee Pfab that I felt a lack of community myself as a single person who goes to a Y that brands itself the Palo Alto Family Y. There has been some dialog with her around the fact that not everyone lives in a traditional family. In fact, something like 40 percent of adults in the Bay Area are in fact single and that we might want to take a more community-based approach to the Y. So, she’s open to hearing some of my suggestions and kind of getting beyond the mom, dad, kids’ paradigm that the Y has because there are so many non- traditional lifestyles and families these days. We want to really be inclusive for very so that’s something that I’m taking on myself. Chair Kralik: The Y took me on as a children’s basketball coach for my son’s first-grade team and well, I was grateful for that experience although it just pointed out how much more I needed to be in shape. That’s great, yes. Commissioner Lee. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 18 of 29 Commissioner Lee: Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been meeting with my co- Committee member Valerie to work on the LGBTQ Summit. We’ve also had a very fruitful discussion on a policy dimension that hopefully the Commission will consider at an upcoming meeting once we’ve ironed out some of the specifics on that. I also had a meeting with the Chair which was very productive. I attended the MLK event at the Mitchell Park Community Center that was really great. I think I got mistaken for a high school because I was at one of their tables asking what they do and they asked me if I wanted to join. So, I guess that should be a compliment. I also attended a reducing isolation and anxiety, an LGBTQ teen’s event that Outlet had hosted with the CHC. I thought that was very useful. Chair Kralik: You know for those of us on the speaker and on TV, there were a lot of words and a lot of things that you just said. So, when you say you attended something at Outlet and then you said something else. Maybe just go slow so we know what you did. Commissioner Lee: So, Outlet is a program hosted by ASC which stands for Adolescent Counseling Services. It’s a program geared towards LGBTQ youth and they hosted an event in coordination with the CHC which is the Children’s Health Center? Commissioner Stinger: Council. Ms. van der Zwaag: Children’s Health Council. Commissioner Lee: Children’s Health Council. Chair Kralik: Where was the event? Commissioner Lee: This was at CHC which is at Stanford? Ms. van der Zwaag: It’s across the street; it’s on Sand Hill Road. Commissioner Lee: Sand Hill Road. Chair Kralik: Wonderful. Commissioner Lee: So, that was a great event for parents. There’s an upcoming event that I wanted to highlight for the Commission that the Fletcher Middle School PTA Staff are organizing. It’s on Wednesday, March 13th, at 7 pm at Fletcher. It’s called Learn the Basic ABCs about LGBTQ+ youth. The subtitle is Understanding Gender Identities, sexual orientation, how to support LGBTQ+ youth in our community and more so, given our priorities this year in the work that Valerie and I are doing on that Committee that should be a great event for us to attend. I encourage as many people to attend that as possible. I was hoping for that event to be co- endorsed by the Commission. I don’t think it made the agenda this time around but hopefully, we can where appropriate, partner with folks in the community who host great events like this in the future. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 19 of 29 Chair Kralik: You know it’s so interesting to me; I actually went to church at Stanford this Sunday. Commissioner O’Nan: You go to church a lot, dude. Chair Kralik: Yes, I do and this is my own church but they had an item in the bulletin and the item that they were restarting LGBTQ small groups at Stanford. So, it’s a timely topic, they’re probably a lot of things. When I spoke to Commissioner Lee, I remember what he said to me about having some kind of community calendar where we put these events. I think it’s pretty important to try to gather these events if we know about them and maybe get them onto Staff ahead of time. Is that something – what is it – how do we (interrupted) Ms. van der Zwaag: On what kind of calendar? Keeping up a calendar is extremely difficult and then there’s the process of you included mine but you didn’t include that one. Chair Kralik: Which is why we need that process but… Ms. van der Zwaag: Well, that’s a different process than a community calendar. Chair Kralik: Do we have such a thing? Ms. van der Zwaag: No, the City only has a community calendar for its Council events, Commission events, City events for each of our departments for that very fact that the calendar itself could not hold the diversity of events that we have as a community. They really look for things like Palo Alto Online, that calendar, to be able to do so but keeping a calendar up to date is extremely difficult and monitoring what’s on it and what’s not. Commissioner Lee: I think we were thinking maybe of the same idea but differently. I was thinking more of an internal calendar for the Commission because I know we get a lot of emails about events and unless I remember to put it into my calendar it’s very easy for us to forget about it. I was thinking about it more in terms of making sure that at least one Commissioner goes and learns and just has a presence at all of these different events. Chair Kralik: Kind of like with respect to liaisons. When we’re liaisons and if let’s say Avenidas is having a meeting, how does that… Ms. van der Zwaag: Are you asking about a separate calendar or on the City’s Calendar? Chair Kralik: No, it wouldn’t be on the City’s calendar right because that’s not a City event. That’s an Avenidas event. Ms. van der Zwaag: Correct. It’s still I think any task of keeping any type of community calendar is extremely challenging. I think it sounds something that’s quite simple, hey just list it on there, but the process of vetting and doing that type of work. It’s challenging and time-consuming because just the requests just start folding in once you start hearing about it. Chair Kralik: In the thought process of the agenda I just want to pursue that briefly but if we ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 20 of 29 were to have let’s say Commissioner Stinger’s event ahead of time and Commissioner Lee’s ahead of time might we list those in our agenda as upcoming events in the community of interest? Something like that where if people know about these events that’s something that could just be listed not necessarily agenized for the purpose of voting but listed at the very least. Ms. van der Zwaag: I’d need to check. As far as HRC events I think if we start getting a format that comes out of our Clerk’s Office. I’d have to check with them about that but it still gets to that process of which events are listed. I Chair Kralik: (inaudible)(crosstalk) Ms. van der Zwaag: I hear you Chair but I think it’s always a lot more complex. I can see having HRC events but then it becomes well who’s our partner in the community that we list their event then you get one that you’re a little awkward, it’s like well should we include that event, should we – I’m happy to enter into a dialog about it but I think it’s always a lot more complex than it seems. 2. Council Liaison Report Chair Kralik: There is no Council Liaison here tonight. Ms. van der Zwaag: No, that is true. 3. Staff Liaison Report Chair Kralik: We do have Staff Liaison. Ms. van der Zwaag: We have me. Chair Kralik: Wonderful. Ms. van der Zwaag: I just wanted to give a little heads up on a couple things that are upcoming. So, at the next meeting, the HSRAP and CDBG review will before this Commission. The HSRAP subcommittee has been hard at work and it’s funny, they’re all on that side of the table tonight. I will be providing you with a program – well Mary will be providing you, I shouldn’t take credit when I’m not doing it; the program summary, budget and Staff request for all 16 applications. If you want the full application to review that is definitely something you can ask for. Just let Mary or I know and we can make that available too. One Commissioner has already asked for that. So, making HSRAP recommendations is a key task for this Committee and then it goes onto Finance as far as part of the City’s draft budget recommendations. So, I ask that you take this process seriously and that you carefully read the applications. Mary and I will work together to get those to you not next week but early the next week. So, you’ll have at least 3- weeks to review it before the March meeting. I’ve given a cover sheet that lets you know some tips on reviewing it and what you should be looking for being very clear that recommendations are made based on the evaluation a criterion that is in the request for proposal. The Committee will be given a report to the full Commission. They have knowledge about past performance of ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 21 of 29 the grantees and have taken a real thorough look into their applications. So, they will be bringing their recommendations forward to you all. CDBG, that’s also coming to you. That is on this side of the table except for Commissioner Brahmbhatt who is unable to attend. So, they will be bringing you their recommendations as well. Let’s see, the other thing that I will be sending out to you, it won’t be part of the agenda so there was a request to review the Project Sentinel contract which ends at the end of this fiscal year. The City will be going out for RFP, Request for Proposals, for mediations services in the next month. So, this is a contract for administration of the Mandatory Response Program, the vetting of the calls that come into the Palo Alto Mediation Program, and administration of the Palo Alto Mediation Program. Project Sentinel currently has this contract and this is a contract that I manage. So, to honor that request to have input on the scope of services I will be providing the HRC with elements of what’s currently in the scope of services in an email. So, scope of services is just a fancy word for the job duties. You will be able to email me with any suggestions you have or vision changes to the scope of services and I will take your suggestions under serious consideration. I will get that out to you in the next couple week so, this I the exact same process that I followed with having the Commission review the scope of services for the HSRAP contracts. It was very much in line in the decision that I made to have you review it in this way. That should be coming to you, like I said, in next couple weeks and you can email me your suggestions and I will take them under serious consideration as I craft the final scope of services for program administration. I think there’s some confusion sometimes with what are Project Sentinel’s roles? What’s Palo Alto Mediation role? Palo Alto Mediation is the folks that are providing the mediation. The City doesn’t have a contract with them. The City has a contract with Project Sentinel to do administration of the Mandatory Response Program and the Palo Alto Mediation Program. Palo Alto Mediation Program says that they will work with the administrator of the City’s choosing. Project Sentinel currently has that contract so the contract itself is not a renewal process for Project Sentinel. They very well will probably be applying and will work on that at that point but it is for administration of the mediation services. Chair Kralik: How long have you been working through that contract? You said you are the administrator? Ms. van der Zwaag: I’m the administrator so I manage a whole series of contracts for the City with Avenidas, with Palo Alto Mediation – with Project Sentinel, and with Palo Alto Community Child Care. So, I have been overseeing that contract for several years. So that’s a contracting responsibility is for the Council and under the Council’s authority, I manage this contract. Commissioner Lee: Could you elaborate on what the timeline for this process in terms of when the RFP goes out? Ms. van der Zwaag: The RFP will probably be going out in mid-March at the latest and that’s under the direction of our Purchasing Department who I work with and Mary works with through all these processes. They are managing a lot of Request for Proposals so they are very inundated. Commissioner Lee: From there do you vet all of the proposals submitted and make a recommendation to Council or how does that work? ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 22 of 29 Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, I do that. Council only needs to approve contracts of over $125,000 so this is a decision that would be made with me and my department head. Commissioner Lee: Roughly how much is it? Ms. van der Zwaag: It’s $65,000… Commissioner Lee: $65,000, ok. Ms. van der Zwaag: …at this point. Commissioner Lee: And you’ll be making that decision roughly what time period? Ms. van der Zwaag: It depends so if it goes out in mid-March and they come in April – in probably late April early May. Commissioner Lee: Late April early May. Will it similarly be a 3-year contract or is that still TBA? Ms. van der Zwaag: That really depends on what we look at so it could be a 3-year contract. I think 4-years is really – what did we do last time? Is that the direction that we got? I think… Ms. Mary Constantino: It was 3-years and they added a few years. Ms. van der Zwaag: Right so 3-years is really what the City likes to do. Now all City contracts are in for 1-year with the option for renewal. That decision is made on an annual basis but every City contract has the ability for the City to renew it for the terms within the full terms of the contract. Chair Kralik: Well it’s very nice of you to include us… Ms. van der Zwaag: Thank you. Chair Kralik: … and have those comments. I do want to say going back just to the HSRAP at least, I can’t speak for the CDBG. You and Mary have done a wonderful job of putting together not only the binder but the criteria and hosting us. It was an eye-opening discussion for me. I think Commissioner O’Nan had a tone of experience and knowledge as well as Staff because Staff visited a lot of these… Ms. van der Zwaag: We visited everyone. Chair Kralik: Every single one of the 16. Ms. van der Zwaag: Of the current grantees, not… Chair Kralik: Of the current grantees. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 23 of 29 Ms. van der Zwaag: … there are some new applicants but of the current grantees, we visited everyone. Chair Kralik: Yes so, I mean just having the opportunity to serve on the Ad Hoc Selection Committee was a privilege. It was a privilege to also have the Staff and the leadership of Commissioner O’Nan to guide us through many of these proposals. There’re some wonderful, wonderful proposals. So, we’re moving on to the… Commissioner Lee: Sorry, could I… I have a couple more questions. Chair Kralik: What is the question about? Commissioner Lee: It’s related to the Staff report. Chair Kralik: Oh please, Steven go right ahead. Commissioner Lee: I know for the HSRAP process, was it back in January or December, we as a Commission were to weigh in on the priority of needs for HSRAP. I was wondering if there might be an opportunity for us to similarly have a Commission discussion regarding the RFP that’s going to go out in mid-March as a Commission as opposed… Ms. van der Zwaag: No. Commissioner Lee: … to just sending individual feedback? Ms. van der Zwaag: No, you will not have that opportunity. The process that set forward is a process for the Commission’s involvement in this RFP. Commissioner Lee: I think in the future I’d like to request that the Commission be slightly more involved with that process. This was something that I brought up I think back in December. Ms. van der Zwaag: Contract authority is given to me through the Council so as a way of involving the Commission, that is the process that I’ve set up to involve the Commission in your role as an advisory body. Commissioner Lee: If the Council wanted to involve the Commission more, they could provide that direction for future contracting, right? If they wanted too. Ms. van der Zwaag: I suppose so, yes. Chair Kralik: But we’re excited that you’re even letting us… Commissioner Lee: No, I appreciate you looking into that. Chair Kralik: ….and we thank you. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 24 of 29 Commissioner Lee: … yes, thank you. Chair Kralik: Thank you so much for doing that. VI. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING: Thursday, March 14, 2019. Chair Kralik: The tentative agenda for the next regular meeting, I’m just going to ask Staff to go through this because these are very busy discussions for action on these two items and there’s not a lot of room for other agenda items next item. I know this is a very… Ms. van der Zwaag: I know I heard Commissioner Stinger talk about the LGBT report. I thought that was coming in April so it was my understanding unless I was wrong. It was Staff’s understanding that there were just these two items. Chair Kralik: Yes because I think just as an example our team was meeting together for 2-hours. We probably studied the proposals for 2-hours and we have another meeting planned for 2-hours before this next meeting. So, our outside activities are indicative of how much time this really takes. Ms. van der Zwaag: Right. Chair Kralik: That’s just half of the agenda so I don’t know if your thought is that this is the March agenda. Is that right? Ms. van der Zwaag: I’m sorry; I was asking Mary a question. Chair Kralik: Your thought is that what’s listed here in one and two… Ms. van der Zwaag: Right if everybody agrees this can happen really quickly, but in all honesty, what’s going to happen is they usually are not on the same night. So, what usually happens is CDBG will come tonight and then n February and then HSRAP would come in March. So, with them both on the same night and with all the grantees maybe wishing to speak to us and even if we cut them down to 1 to 2 minutes each, that’s 10 to 20 people that are going to be speaking. I really don’t think there’s the capacity to have another item on the agenda. Commissioner Stinger: That was my mistake. I’d love to have the April deadline; I was trying to say that the change of event date wouldn’t affect our report out and getting the report out wrong. April is perfect. Chair Kralik: Great, let me just ask the Staff to just comment on agenda setting because I know that there’s a lot of discussion about agendas outside the meetings; maybe just a short primer on agenda setting for us that you gave me one when the Vice Chair and I met with you about how an agenda is created. When we hold the agenda meeting with the Leadership and what are your expectations? If you could just set those for us that would be helpful. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 25 of 29 Ms. van der Zwaag: Right, I think it’s been a little loose in the past and that process really has not been effective for Staff in the management of our duties with HRC and with the other duties that we have. So, to really look at the process that is set up in our HRC Guidebook that we will be following that more closely. So, I think the new item that is on those guidelines that I want to bring to the HRC’s attention is that the primary agenda settings happen at the HRC meeting. Commissioner O’Nan: Like a full HRC meeting or at the leadership meeting? Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, thank you for the correction. The primary suggestion for agenda items needs to happen at this meeting. Chair Kralik: For next time or a time in the future, right? Ms. van der Zwaag: Well, at a meeting so when we call for agenda items if you’re interested in having something on the agenda and you get a second and it comes to Staff and the leadership to be able to consider the item and see when it is best ready to be brought to the Commission for a discussion. The process calls for that and now I don’t have my piece of paper in front of me… Chair Kralik: I’ll give it right back Ms. van der Zwaag: … in front of me to read more fully but for the best use of Staff and leadership time we will be following this part that says, “Commission Members may forward subjects endorsed by at least two Commissioner Members to the Liaison any time up to 3-weeks before the regular scheduled meeting.” Chair Kralik: And you’re the Liaison, is that right? Ms. van der Zwaag: I am the Liaison so depending on if there are 4 or 5-weeks in a month that would mean the week or the 1 to 2-weeks after the agenda. Those are Commission driven items if they have a second can be forwarded to me. Then I work with the HRC Chair and the Vice Chair, when we meet, to be able to prioritize and talk about when something is ready to go on the agenda. Look, ok what do we have going next time? Ok, does that look like it’s ready to go next time? Ok, great. So, that has an endorsement of two Commissioners, ok so that’s great. There’s not a lot of Staff work that needs to happen to be able to bring it or there’s not a lot of work on behalf of the Commission who wants to be involved in shaping the agenda item as it goes forward. It’s like the same way it’s been happening but we will be following the guidelines that it needs to be at least 3-weeks before the meeting. Having items come the day before the HRC leadership meets or a couple days before. It does not give leadership or Staff enough time to be able to work with an item. Chair Kralik: Ok. Commissioner Lee: Are there any potential Brown Act concerns if two Commissioners forward a recommendation to you and then you discuss it with the Chair and Vice Chair? Ms. van der Zwaag: So, we’re very conscious of that. We look at who makes the ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 26 of 29 recommendations and then we will see if it comes that way, we’d probably only have one member of leadership. Commissioner Lee: If three Commissioners bring something and it’s neither the Chair nor the Vice Chair how does that… Ms. van der Zwaag: So what really needs to happen, if something is coming from a subcommittee that really needs to be brought as a suggestion for an agenda item during the meeting because you’re absolutely right if three members of subcommittee have talked about it and then they talk to the Chair and the Chair goes when can we best schedule that and so forth? You’re already at four people and I would say Commissioner O’Nan and Stinger were very aware of that in the past. When my meetings with the new Chair and the Vice Chair, that has already come to our very conscious attention. So that’s a good reminder, I appreciate that, so if your subcommittee has three people you really need to bring anything you’d like on the agenda to the next meeting to do so. Commissioner Lee: So, we would bring it up during a meeting and then would just you and Mary talk about it without leadership in terms of setting the agenda? Ms. van der Zwaag: No. Commissioner Lee: How does that work? Can you talk to them afterward? I’m just trying to understand the process so that… Chair Kralik: Well at some times during the process Steven I’m asked to leave and I’m left unattended with some oatmeal cookies in the waiting area that’s very dangerous so I think what she’s trying to say is… Ms. van der Zwaag: No, what I’m saying if you’ve said it… Chair Kralik: …yes Ms. van der Zwaag: …to three people already and then it’s like with any agenda item. Once it’s on the agenda… Chair Kralik: We’re meeting on an agenda. Ms. van der Zwaag: … you cannot meet with a majority of the Commission to discuss it because that would be a Brown Act violation. Commissioner Lee: Yes so if three members brought it at a meeting and it did not involve the Chair or Vice Chair. Would you be able to talk to either Chair or the Vice Chair about setting it on the agenda in your leadership meeting? Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes, because that would be like any other item that’s going on the agenda. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 27 of 29 Commissioner Lee: Gotcha, gotcha. Chair Kralik: Yes, let’s avoid leaving me with the oatmeal cookies in the waiting area. That’s the key. Commissioner Lee: Gotcha, ok. Commissioner Stinger: They have switched, they use to have scones. Chair Kralik: Scones, yes. Commissioner Lee: And another point of clarification, if a majority of four on the Commission during a public meeting wanted to place something on the agenda, what happens then? Chair Kralik: Seems like the same thing because the Commission… Ms. van der Zwaag: I don’t see how that’s any different then you have a discussion on something and then you say let’s continue this discussion at the next meeting. Then when leadership meets, they say ok, are we going to discuss that at the next meeting or the next meeting? Commissioner Lee: Or… Chair Kralik: We are meeting about the agenda not the.. Commissioner Lee: I guess the difference is if a majority of the Commission decides that it wants to discuss something, does that mean that it’s actually on the agenda? Ms. van der Zwaag: No, because if it gets at least two people to suggest it, it will be on an agenda. When it’s on the agenda is under the opuses of… Commissioner Lee: So, even a majority of the Commission cannot set the timing? Ms. van der Zwaag: There’s nothing the HRC can do to require Staff to have it on an agenda on a certain date and time. Commissioner Lee: Ok, gotcha, gotcha. Chair Kralik: It’s a learning experience for all of us and we are grateful for your leadership. At this moment I’m going to adjourn the meeting. It is… Commissioner Lee: Sorry, don’t we need to actually talk about the agenda? Commissioner Stinger: We did. Chair Kralik: We did. We went through the agenda, the HSRAP and… ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 28 of 29 Commissioner Lee: Can I ask do we know what’s on the April agenda? Do we know at this point what’s tentatively on the April agenda? Ms. van der Zwaag: The only thing tentative on the April agenda that I can think of at this moment is Avenidas is going to come and talk about their transportation programs for seniors and immigrant seniors and monolingual seniors. That’s at this point… Chair Kralik: Just keep in mind this is the tentative agenda for the next regular meeting. Commissioner Lee: Yes but the March meeting is going to be pretty full. Chair Kralik: I understand but we got to stick with our topics and I want to be strict about that. Commissioner Lee: May I ask Staff for clarification? Is it appropriate if we have items that we want to consider on future agendas, not the March one but April, May, June, to raise those as ideas right now? Ms. van der Zwaag: We have not traditionally done so. I think we need to work from meeting to meeting. I think if you’re thinking about those types of things, really what I’m hoping is next time when you do your yearly work plan we can more effectively talk about when certain things are on the agenda for certain months. I don’t want to start the practice specifically… Chair Kralik: Well it’s outside this topic here. Ms. van der Zwaag: There are agenda items that have been I think that would work best if an agenda item has already received a second and to say, Staff, when do you think that might be on the agenda? We say oh, I might be ready or that might be ready in April but to start the process every meeting and saying I want that on April or what’s on April… Commissioner Lee: Or if we just want it on some agenda, not a specific timing, would it be appropriate to bring it up now? I mean March is full. Ms. van der Zwaag: I’d really need to look into that. I don’t know if that’s a process that I’d like to start. Commissioner Lee: As something for the March agenda I’d like us to consider including on the agenda as Item Number – what’s traditionally Item Number Five, tentative agendas for the next couple of meetings. So, that we have an opportunity as a Commission to present… Commissioner O’Nan: Item Six? Commissioner Lee: Six, whatever Roman numeral it is, to suggest agenda items not just for the next month’s meeting but the next couple of meetings and Staff would determine when it’s ready. If I would like to have something on the agenda eventually, I don’t want to wait until the month before to propose it if that makes sense. ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org . This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting. Page 29 of 29 Commissioner Stinger: Can I speak to that? I guess I would like maybe to have this discussion at our retreat. I would like to see our agendas more Work Plan driven and I think that discussion needs to happen at a retreat. Commissioner Lee: In which case, I would like to request that the discussion of a mid-year retreat be on the March agenda so that we can get that scheduled and going. Chair Kralik: Ok so we have the suggestion but we are now down and we’re going to go ahead and adjourn. It’s… Commissioner Lee: So, can I ask if there’s – ok. Chair Kralik: … 8:26 and the meeting is adjourned. Thank you. VII. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 8:26 p.m.