Good evening and welcome to the ChazaHuman Rights Commission meeting for August. August 28th, 2025.Thanks for joining us at home and uh here in our city council chambers. Wedon't have a quorum, although we anticipate one of our members arrivingjust in a few minutes. So, we'll go ahead and uh begin our work this eveningby talking about some of our committee reports.Um and the first one on our committee reports is uh talking about the humanrights celebration and combined with Dr. King in January of2026. Sounds really weird to be talking aboutJanuary of 2026 now, but this is the time where we begin our active umsearching for a guest speaker. And um we it's only fitting that if anyof you have some ideas as a guest speaker for this event to kind of raisethem up at this point in time. Um I have reached out to um Stacy Kumar Nelson whois the Comcast liaison that has worked with this committee um the Dr. Kingcelebration committee for the past several years umactive in our community and she is more than willing to volunteer with us again.So that's great. But um wanted to think about if there was an anticipation thatuh somebody might have an idea to raise up. Um we certainly wanted to beincluded. And you you can see that we are nowfully um at commission level and um our newest member has joined us um in termsof the tiniest person on the commission. Welcome Brit. Um so let's see. Um Hanaand myself are on that committee. So we'll be um meeting soon I hope to beginmore extensive planning. Um, does anyone else want to join?>> You do have an idea? >> No, I said, "Does anyone else want tojoin our committee?" >> Um, I would like to join.>> Oh, woohoo. Excellent. Thank you so much. Look, your name is officiallygoing on to the list. Hey, >> y great. Thank you. Um, and for those ofyou who are viewing us tonight, if you're interested in taking a look atwhat the celebration looks like in January, it's on our YouTube page. Um,and you can see not only the former or the past winners of the do of the humanrights award, but also the guest speakers that we have had. So, take alook at that. Um and and it's timely because as we all know, school startsand um if we are going to engage with uh district 112 students, whether it'sthrough the middle school or the high school level, um now is the time to kindof reach out to those instructors at the district and ask for their help.Um, now that uh we're all here, can we go back to thebeginning of our agenda and do the roll call so we can officially have that onrecord? Right. Uh, Commissioner Hubard,Commissioner Duffy >> here,>> Commissioner Walbert >> here,>> Commissioner Sanderson >> here,>> Commissioner Han >> here,>> Commissioner Me, Commissioner Lassour, Commissioner Agatti, Chair Carlson>> here. Great. Um, can we go back to take a look at theagenda um that was sent out to each of you? Um,and please note that um the agenda has nothing from the our Julymeeting because sadly we didn't have a quorum at that meeting. So, our agendareflects the activity that we last held in June of this year, but initially I doneed to have um a motion to approve, excuse me, adopt the agenda.>> So moved. >> Thank you, Hana. Is there a second? I'llsecond. >> Well, I'll second.>> Okay. If that means if two of you second then all of us will probably say yes toapproving the agenda. All in favor say I.>> I. >> Those say no.>> Eyes carry. >> So the minutes that we have like as Isaid earlier reflect our meeting in June and I know that that's think back tobefore pride is when we had our last meeting. Um, and if there were anychanges or to the meeting minutes from that meeting,I would entertain them at now at this point in time. >> I make a motion to approve the Juneminutes. >> Thank you, Jen. Is there a second?>> Second. >> Thank you, Ki. Um, are there anyquestions? If not, all in favor of approving theminutes from June 26 signify by saying I.>> I. >> I.>> Opposed. >> Carry.>> So, our treasures report. Um, Elise is kind enough to maintain our our balancefor us. So, would you like to share or update anything on the treasur's report,Elise? >> Uh, certainly. There's not too much youhaven't seen already. I think um you had seen the June kind of expenditures whichcame from Pride. Um so kind of just wrapping up that umevent, you had the t-shirts in there. Uh you also had the cost of the River CityDays booth. But going back to Pride supplies that we had for Pride, the icecream, as well as paying the face painter. Um, so you had an unused pridebudget of $764, which is returned now to the balance because we've closed outthat uh celebration. Uh, River City Days, you spent $50, which was the costof having the booth there. And then we also determined that at the River CityDays booth, the tablecloth that we bought last year and we boughtclips for the tablecloth, they did not work very well. So, we had to buy newones. So, um, that's the expenditure that you see for July and there hasn'tbeen anything since. >> Great.Any questions for Elise? >> Well, again, I think um,thank you for those who participated at the River City Days uh, table. Um it wasit was warm as Jennifer can attest. >> Um uh but we had a good day on Saturday.Met met some good people. Um so certainly worth it. So thank you allfor for participating. Um, anything else with regards to ourfinancial situation at this point in time with regards to the treasuresreport? If not, let's go back to our committeereports. And I think that next up for discussion is our culturalheritage month. And there's a couple of things that are kind of in the works oncultural heritage. And I'll I'll look to you, Britt, to do some updating aboutour discussion from yesterday. I had back-to-back meetings and sadlydidn't participate except with texting uh with our meeting yesterday, but umlooking forward to hearing what you have to say and I'll add to it.>> All right. Excellent. Um well, we did confirm that we um have reserved>> in November I think it's the 14th. >> 14th. Yes. Um, we've reserved space atthe um, not the curling center, the >> event center.>> Event center. There we go. Yeah. Um, so we're a go in that regard. And the costof that reservation is $1,700. And so we it's possible that we'll beable to get um some of that may be prrated or covered either through thecity I believe is how that works at the end of the year if they've got budgetleft remaining. Um then we'll find out whether we can get some of the cost ofthat rental covered. Otherwise uh we are considering going to the Lions Club.um and or >> and the Rotary>> and the Rotary to see if we can um obtain some financial assistance thatway um to help cover the cost of of that rental fee. And we are working with amember in the community, uh Cheton, I think is how we pronounced his name.Yes. And um he has been in communication with various food trucks. So, we'regoing to try and get one or two food trucks there. And then he's also beentalking to other businesses in the community um with the thought being thatwe could set up some booths at the event for um either Indian like businessesthat are you know run by Indian community members or that are part ofthe community um or that might you know in some ways work within that community.And so, uh, we did discuss whether we wanted to have a nominal fee for peoplewho are coming in, um, and getting a booth for sort of more of a marketingexposure kind of plan. Um, I don't think it's been officially decided, but I, itseems like there's a general consensus that we for those kind of more nonprofittype of groups, um, the fee would be waved. And then we're also consideringwaving the fee if the businesses would like to offer um some other kind ofassistance for the event. So either decorations or food or you knowsomething of that sort. Um and then there would be I know Cheton isworking with some um youth in the area. uh he I think is directly involved inkind of managing some of those groups and is hoping that they'll be able toassist in various ways either by serving food or by MCing the event um or byperforming. So, which leads into the next point, which is that we are goingto offer up uh performance spots for groups to come in and um perform mostlikely dances. And I think yesterday the general thought was that we wouldperhaps um create we'd have slots for the regions of India. So like northernIndia, southern India, they have different um kind of dances andperformance styles that are specific to those regions. And so, uh, we think thatit would be nice to highlight each of those regions,uh, and have people kind of sign up for those performances. Um, the and as faras food goes, we so there is no confirmation yet onthe food trucks. We're still sort of exploring those options, but the hope isthat um they might be able to provide some complimentary food to start. So, itwould be either like a cup of chai and um maybe I I think there's a pizza truckone, so like a slice of cheese pizza. And we haven't yet established whetherthat's something that the commission would cover. Um the hope is maybe thatat an event with two or 300 people, the food trucks would maybe be willing tooffer these in Goodwill and then with the thought being that it would driveup, you know, further um sales, getting people out to the food trucks. Uh andone way then to kind of control for that is maybe to offer tickets when peoplearrive. So you get one ticket which would cover you know a cup of chai and aslice of pizza or something like that. Um so that's sort of where we're atright now. And I think one thing that we needed tocover today was the budget and what the commission would be willing to approvefor the budget for this event. um knowing that the event center is notinexpensive an inexpens inexpensive rental and last year we spent um I thinkit was just under $800 on food and so we were thinking conservatively we couldbudget for that as well. Um andlet's see am I forgetting anything? That's all I'mremembering right now. I think we'd be able to reuse a lot of the decorations,but yeah, I think the event center and the food were were the primary items onthe budget that we would be looking to to get approval on with the hope beingthat we would be able to get some assistance from other communityum organizations. >> Yeah.>> So, as a background, um last year's Celebrate India event washeld at the lodge. The rental fee last year was $225.Um, however, we were overwhelmed with the number of persons that wanted to bethere that could be there because of the space limitations. And so because ofthat just overwhelming success and uh desire to have another celebrationlinked to Diwali but more focusing on a celebration of light. Um the groupdecided that maybe it's worth doing an additional year focusing on the culturesof individuals from India. So that's just a little background. Total lastyear's expense was $1,562. So um I think it's probably a good ideathat we talk about whether or not um how much in light of the treasures reportthat we just looked at. Um, and also knowing that I have uh Kevin Wright hasconfirmed for me that I will meet with the CHASA Lions Clubboard uh next Tuesday. I have prepared a donation request applicationum which is a multi-page they ask for who we are umwhy are we doing this um any other additional information uh whatpartners are we seeking umuh what else do they ask for of course they ask for how much money we arewanting. Um, and I had a conversation um with not the president, there are twopresidents of the Chaza Rotary uh co-presidents this year. I have notspoken to them directly, but um I have prepared a similar request u which Iplan on submitting to the Chaza Rotary. The question is again, how much money doyou think that we can um ask for? And I certainly did not want to do thatwithout um your thoughts on whether or not we should proceed. Umand I think Jen, you were at our celebrate India last year.>> I don't know if you have any thoughts about uh why we would want to offer thisevent again. Um, well, I like you said, it was sowell attended. Um, I just feel like everyone who was there really justenjoyed it. We had so many people come and thank us for having the event andthey were like, "When are we having it next year?" And um, so that was good tohear, which is um, contributing to why weshould have it again this year, I think. um and just have it be a little bitmaybe spaced out so we can breathe a little bit. Um and I was glad to hearabout the um the dances that you were talking about dance performances becauseI think that was a real highlight last year. Um there was so much joysurrounding the people dancing and everything. It was really fun. Um, andyou know, they taught us some traditional dances and had everybodyjoining in. And so it was, you know, it was a great way to to celebratetogether. Um, I I think it I mean, it sounds kind ofdaunting when you hear that the the venue rental costs more than what wespent last year, but I think it would be money well spent.Um, and I think by thinking through the the food truck situation and offeringmaybe some samples, but then if they want to get more, they have to, youknow, buy it themselves, then I think that's a little better than last year.We just, I mean, we ran out of samosas so quickly. I mean, and uh, you know,people people were thrilled. they were there, but we didn't even think aboutany, you know, way of controlling how pe how many people got and stuff. So, um>> that's I think in part why we were looking to have some um youth>> volunteers. Yeah. >> To sort of control distribution if we doend up buying food to have inside again. >> Yeah. This way we'd have servers whomaybe put a a cap and you can go as much as you want, but as opposed to putting,you know, a heaping pile of food on your plate and then it perhaps not gettingeaten >> when someone else would want it. Um,>> in this way we'll be able to maybe control the flow a little bit better andthe distribution. >> Yeah, I think it's really been wellthought through, you know, the different aspects, the things we learned from lastyear. Um, >> I know Kevin was there last year and hewas at the meeting with you, correct? >> And so he probably had some insight intothat crowd control and stuff like that. UmI I would just say that um when you guysyou know let us know what the amount is you're seeking then I think you have puta lot of thought into it and I think that it would probably be an amount thatwould be realistic because we do have quite a bit of money left and I don'tknow what we still have planned. and for this year for big events, but>> there's nothing kind of big. Sometimes we try and pay for some of the MLK daystuff >> um in there, but you also tend to buyswag for next year's River City days out of this budget, which has typically beenabout $8 to $900. >> So that that gives you an idea of thepast three to four years, kind of how the end of the year rolls, but this isyour last big event for the year. Sometimes there's some requests for likethe offenda and stuff like that, right? >> We haven't um both um Elise and myselfhave been in touch with the uh team at Latino Voices. Umboth Elise and myself have sent the appropriate funding request format toLatino Voices. So they have that. Um there is a meeting next week um with thekey people um that have been participating with uh the aphrenaum and the Katrina celebration. So perhaps we'll have a better time framefor how that request comes in. um we'll just have to wait and see um with thatwith with their request for uh funding for the aphrenda. So that's not acommitment at this point in time. >> Correct. I have not received anything.So, um, when I submitted the proposal or when I prepared the proposal, uh, forthe Chasa Lions Club and the Chaza Rotary,um, I was thinking in my mind that we would try to offset the $1,700um, fee. Uh, that's a that is a big chunk of money. Um, we can certainly tryto reach out to other businesses um in the community. I I don't Iand I guess I'm willing to do that on behalf of the commission. Um, but mythought was is that we could go to the Chaza Lions Club for an amount of$2,000. Um and we could go to the um and to for asimilar amount to the Rotary Foundation or the Rotary organization here inChaska. I don't have I do not have apreconceived notion as to whether or not either would approve or grant a portionof that. Um, as in all things, if they gave it to us, they wouldn't give it tous September 16th. They would probably send it in the next bill or whatevertheir monthly cycle is. If we don't spend it, of course, we could alwaysgive it back. Um, but a lot of it just depends upon, of course, theirfoundation or their organization's funds.um the idea to offset some of the cost with um individuals um setting up kindof like a bizaar area um you know $50 is a nominal fee um against the the big dollar amount of ofthe rental. I think we're also I mean if we're talking about having fourdifferent regions that have dancers performing that could add up in costs ifthey get paid for performing. I know when we did the>> it's a volunteer it'd be um student students.>> Oh it would be okay because when we had the um Africa one then we had to pay thethe farmers. Yeah, >> this was so the way Chaitton's explainedit is that it's very important within the community to have um younger kidsinvolved and this is a way for them to perform in front of you know familymembers and community members and to get a better understanding of you know sortof where they're from. And so I think I mean there would probably be a fewadults involved in performances as well, but it would be more of a an honor forthem to be able to perform in front of their community.>> Yeah. So I my understanding is that there would no there wouldn't be feesassociated with that. >> Okay.>> Which is nice. >> Right.>> Have you talked about Hannah Artists? >> Yes, we did actually talk about that inour meeting yesterday. Um we are going tois very involved in all of this planning. So, I'm very happy that he ishas agreed to kind of help us guide the planning for this year, but he knows ofuh at least I think one or two businesses that he's going to reach outto um because it was Yeah, we discussed on the call yesterday how um successfulthat was last year. >> Yes. and how many people enjoyed it. Andso there was a discussion this year about whether maybe we should have morethan one henna artist depending on how many people want to get henna tattoosand or maybe putting a limit on the complexity of the designs to try andmove people through a little faster just so everyone can can participate. Um, butwe did not talk through cost, so I don't remember.>> Last year, um, we purchased tattoos or tattoo designs and supplies.>> Okay. >> Um, and that was part of our $288 thatwe spent, but that was lumped into an order that also included decorations,which we still have. And I'm sorry um Hana I didn't ask if you wanted to shareanything about your experience last year at Celebrate India.>> Um no I thought it was great. I mean I Iwas going to just ask if um they talked about the reader the children's book.>> We'd like to do that again this year. >> I thought she was really great and mykids really >> enjoyed that. My impression, so I didn'tmake it last year, but my impression was that everyone really enjoyed the readingum in particular because it was done both in English and then in a>> second. Yes,>> I was I'm not sure which dialect or Yeah,>> there are so many dialects from India. So,>> um but yes, I thought that was >> I thought that was one of the specialmoments from last year. I thought the like combination of likebeing able to observe things and being able to participate was really cool likeand it felt like the community was really sharing their community not justlike you know sitting taking things in but there was like so much participationfrom from the community so and and my children so that was they really likedit. I have a question for the So if the citywould reimburse it, how does that work practically? Because if it happened atthe end of the year, we wouldn't be able to use it.>> Yeah, it's it's most likely it would justit' be applied back to your budget and just show that when unused. And we'reKevin had mentioned this to me. This is a new way of doing it. So just toprovide some context, our event is an enterprise fund. It is set up like abusiness to make money. And so we do charge,we're trying to be more consistent in how we approach city events. So rightnow um kind of the way they plan to approach it is to charge any city eventsthat want to use that facility the cost to use that facility but then they willtake a look at it at the end of the year and determine if they can apply thatback to that department or whoever's budget. So when does that happen? I amnot sure because it's kind of new to this year. So, I'm trying to get somemore information that, hey, can we look at it in early December so we understandif we want to buy some additional supplies or something for next year, wecan do that. So, that's my hope that they will look at it at that timebecause by then they'll have the event center all booked out for the remainderof the year and so we'll have an idea of where things land. Mhm. >> The one other reason to not go back tothe lodge, not because that's not a wonderful facility, but we were packedum in there and because of the um I don't know if any of you have noticedthe construction that's going on anywhere near the community center. Andso logistically, if that if they begin that work, which the county thinks thatthey will start that work and maybe they'll have it done before I think Iread before the first snow flies. >> I'm a risky>> I thought that was a risky item to put into a Facebook page, but hey, um>> they're wishing for snow in September, I think.I think that >> Halloween>> if we would have a location it would probably be at the event center. I meanthat seems to be more centrally located and you can actually get to the eventcenter these days >> better too.>> Parking's better. Yes. >> So all of the reasons are why we went tolooking at the calendar for the event center. So the question isum do we want to authorize or perhaps do you want to make the recommendation tothe commission that we consider a budget authorization up to and including adollar amount? >> You mean to request thedollar amount from >> from our budget?>> Yeah. Um, we can I had thought it might be more prudent to wait until ourSeptember meeting when we have a better idea of uh whether we have some outsideassistance and then that way because that will thatwill still put us about two months away from the event itself.Um, >> when do we have to book the>> Well, it's booked. >> It is booked.>> Yeah. >> Okay.>> I'm not certain how payment works. if we had to put payment down already or ifthat is something that will get charged at the time of theevent. Um, >> I'll have to ask Kevin. I don't knowwhere he's at in that. >> Okay. All right. So, TBDum you should know that um on our agenda itsays that our next meeting is going to be in October.>> Oh, oops. Um so uh we will not have a meeting in inSeptember. Um both Jen as vice chair and myself willbe unavailable to attend in September and so therefore we won't have ameeting. >> Okay.>> So maybe it would be prudent then to approve a a budget.It might be something that that that way um you know going forward that you havex amount of dollars when you're looking at items that youmight want to spend like for food. If you do reach out to the localrestaurants um or you take a look at the supplies in the basement and say, "Wow,we really need to have XYZ." >> Umit's certainly not a requirement. I just >> Yeah. So, and if the So, the rental feeis 1700. If we assume food, you know, we we pay forfood either subsidizing the food trucks or bringing in additional food to haveinside would you know would be similar to last year so that's another 800 sothat would put us at 2500 um I think the question then is do wewant to increase that amount to accommodate for more decorations or sortof miscellaneous expenses and if so >> how much Um,so I mean we could just say maybe another $250. So that would put us at$2750. My math is mathing right. Yeah.>> Um, which would leave us with 1,500 approximately in the budget.Um, and I that was I mean that would cover theeight or 900 that we were maybe slotting for.>> Yeah, I'm not sure. So, do people want todiscuss that amount? Do we think it's an appropriate budget>> and hopefully get some assistance with it?>> Yeah. Yeah. And if we are able to get assistance, you know, let's say we getthe full $4,000, that would obviously cover the event center. Um maybe then wecould cover food trucks for people or we could offer, you know, wider variety offood. We could increase sort of the decoration budget.Um I'm sure there are many other ways we could, you know, spend the money toimprove the event itself if we wanted. 2750>> 28 I guess. Um, >> is there a motion?>> I'll make a motion to approve the budget of $2,750for the for the um>> Celebrate India. >> Yeah, for the Celebrate India event. Iwill make a motion for um approving spending up to 2750.Did we say >> for the event?>> Is there a second? >> Second.>> Thank you. >> Excellent. Okay. So, we have a motionone. Are there any further questions or discussion? I will just offer this one thought andthat is is that this umthe event itself is a celebration of light and it whenyou read about the celebration of light or the Diwali time it talks about good over evil,hope over despair, um, love, family, and community. Andthose are all synonyms, I think, to the work that theHuman Rights Commission does. So, just my thoughts. So, we have amotion on the floor made by Jen, seconded by Hana. No, Kichi. Thank you,Ki. If there's no further questions or discussion, um, all in favor signify bysaying I. >> I.>> Opposed? The eyes carry. Um certainly I will uh communicate andlet you know as soon as I hear anything if I hear anything from theorganizations um for funding requests.Um indigenous people's recognition. Um the only issue or not issue uh the onlyconnecting thread to that is is that you've probably noticed if you've cometo downtown Chaza the continued improvements to downtown Chaza citysquare. Uh we hope to have Nate Kat uh with us at some point in the future togive us an update about the city square and the uh Native American mound indoburial mounds that are there. Um, I don't think we have anything aboutveterans acknowledgement. So, >> chair, I do have an update fromCommissioner Huard on that. >> Great.>> Um, he reached out to um, one of the social studies teachers at Middle SchoolWest and inquiring how the Human Rights Commission could partner with or supporttheir Veterans Day event that they uh, have every year. And because uh teachersare just getting back um he acknowledged uh Commissioner Hubard's email and umthey are just going to start the event planning for that here in the nextcouple weeks. Obviously getting back to school so he will be in touch but Iwanted to let everybody know that that works. >> Thank you Martin if you're watching.Um so new business um the human rights award nomination.Uh would you like to talk about that,Elise? >> Uh certainly. Uh chair andcommissioners, what I have before you is um what staff has put together for thehuman rights award nomination form. And so as a a kind of some history for ournewer folks and just a reminder, we revamped this nomination form last yearin response to the 2023 nomination. We had like 10 nominations and it becameit needed some more detail in order to kind of weed through those nominations.And so, um, uh, the commission worked together,developed this nomination form just to, you know, um, elicit a little bit moreinformation about the nominees and that sort of thing. And it's up to folks howmuch they want to write or not write. Um, but it provides the commission someadditional details in order to make a decision. Um, so I made no changes to itbecause I didn't receive any feedback from folks after last year's round.Doesn't mean we can't make u things now. What I am suggesting though is thatnominations are due on Tuesday, December 9th. And then the human rightscommission will review them on December 18th. And typically how that works isyou'll review them at a work session prior to the meeting, kind of um giveyou a chance to review it, talk about it, and then you'll make the actual umrecommendation of the ward in at the meeting later that night. So, I'mlooking for um any feedback that you might have on what you have in front ofyou as far as that nomination guidelines and the nomination form. And if it looksokay, a motion to approve that. We'll get that out and going in the community. Can you remind me if we is this thething that we did like that the um rubric or whatever so that we would havecriteria that we would judge these things equally.>> Yes. Okay. So what I failed to include this time was a copy of what that lookslike. Um basically it would be a a spreadsheet. It has it all. It allowsyou to kind of fill it in so you can evaluate, but it just takes kind of allthese questions and gives you an opportunity to kind of compare andcontrast the nominees. Any questions? I think we put significant discussioninto it when we were making the changes and so I don't think unless somebodysees something glaring on here I would um make a motion to approve this and setthe deadline for the December 9th. >> I I do have a question. Did the formseem to work better last year when we were reviewing nominees?Did it provide the additional I guess >> we didn't have as many nominees lastyear. >> Okay. Okay.Prior to that, we would get um various uh forms of recommendations oryeah recommendations and they they would include handwritten um some informalum uh messaging um and some of course wroteout a large proposal or a large recommendation>> word of mouth even that said, "Oh, can you nominate this person at yourmeeting, right? So, the sense that we have a formatfor folks to follow that um I think is helpful.>> Okay. >> As we evaluate the recommendations.>> Um I don't Last year we had two.>> Okay. >> Um I think the year before we had 10. Imean it so the numbers vary. >> Yep. Yeah, I was just curious if the form ifyou weren't able to obtain better information through use of the formor more thorough information. Well, I think following those questions kind of>> gave us the >> it allowed the the the people nominatingto answer the the questions that we were going to be looking at when we weredeciding, >> okay,>> who was going to receive the award that year. >> All right.As in all cases, it's a good guideline. >> Yeah. So Jen has made a motion. Is there asecond? >> Second.>> Thank you, Hana. So there's been a second that we move forward with theformat for the uh Chesca Human Rights Award. Um and then getting that out intothe community now so that people can begin um thinking about and actuallycompleting and submitting a nomination for us to consider. All all if there's no further discussionthen all in favor of that motion signify by saying I>> I >> opposed.Eyes carry. Thank you for for putting that together for us to consider alease. And uh next on our new business is aCinco de Mayo event discussion. So this is a new item for discussion. Um andElise will share the information with us.>> Sure. Uh chair and commissioners, this request came to us from Matt Padoski.He's city administrator, but he's also the co-president of this year's Rotary.And so this uh request actually came from the Rotary rather than internallyto the city, but I just wanted to share that. And so um since 2022, the ChescaRotary has been putting on a Cinco deayo event. usually um beginning of Maytypically around that May 5th time and so um it's it's a breakfast event andvolunteers are recognized who have given their time and talents in the communityare recognized. So uh the 2025 recognized were Charlie McDonald of theChesamarabian Church, Officer Godinas of the Chescape and Kevin Wright uh here atthe city and Patty Synynic of Bountiful Baskets. And a few years ago the humanrights commission was um awarded um given an award at that event. Umadditionally at that event there are speakers um I think some dancers andmore just an opportunity to celebrate that culture as well.So the request is given the time and capacity of those serving on the Rotary.they're having a hard time getting this event put together on a annual basis.And so given the um the work that the commission the human rights commissionhas been doing putting on events and um the great um things that have come outof this commission that Rotary is looking to see if the human rightscommission would be interested in helping to um coordinate that event.Now, all the monetary um obligations would be covered by theRotary. It would not impact the commission's budget, but we would need agroup of commissioners to help put that event on. Um there would likely beRotary members who would be helping with that, too. But some but the commissionwould help to spearhead getting that event put together. So, uh, as Iexplained to Matt, um, I would bring it forward to this commission to discussand see if there's interest in in helping to coordinate that event.I will turn it I'm happy to answer what questions I can. I know Cher Carlson andCommissioner Walbert have attended that event in the past.>> Did you? >> And Commissioner Han>> in Washington. Brand new. >> Yes, that's right. Brand new. Yeah.>> Yes. Thank you. And so if you want to provide some more context about theevent, um happy to answer any questions you have too about the request. Erica Kennedy with the Carver County umhealth department has is also a Rotary member and has been kind of spearheadingthe activities for the Rotary organization. Um they've had some greatspeakers at the events. Um, and I believe last year, um, the Aztec dancerswere there. Is that correct? um great decorations, all all of thethings that one thinks of when you think about uh a Cinco deoenvironment celebration um butalso supported with uh good opportunities for connections and umeducation. So umand the community events or the event center is filled once again filled withpeople interested in not knowing about the event um and then opportunity toconnect and build goodwill here in our community. So>> So the the awards given are not related to the Mexican community, right? It's aseparate or what is the connection with Cinco de Mayo and the awards?I think that they've been given out by Latino Voices the past couple years and>> and they've selected individuals who have supported orcontributed to, you know, like some time or some effort or whatever to um theLatino community in Chaza, you know, they've made some kind of impact that inthat way. Um, I don't know what their exact criteria is or anything, but doesthat sound kind of accurate? >> Yeah.>> So, Latino Voices is a partner with the Rotary on the in the event.>> I think they're heavily involved with it.>> Okay. >> They've done the like the they they talkabout the people that are winning the awards that you're receiving the awardsand then um and they hand them out and stuff. So I think that they are prettyinvolved with the planning part at least that part of it.I think if the commission wants to uh partner with the Rotary Foundation orthe Rotary Club, excuse me, then that would certainly be a logical reach outto Latino Voices and perhaps even Mikasa,>> uh the other organization that's present in activities in in Chaska to see if ifthey are interested um in joining that partnership. I think that's a veryreasonable thing to do. >> My impression of the event was that umit aligned very well with the types of events that we already put on. Um, youknow, it's about honoring certain community members and,you know, being grateful, thankful, showing thanks for the support thatthey're obtaining in Chaza by various means and then celebrating,you know, celebrating a specific community and, you know, highlightingwhat is important within that culture um in, you know, a way thatrequires some sort of larger organizational capacity.>> So, >> and are they looking for volunteers atthe event or for planning for both? >> For both.>> For both. >> Um, the planning is the big piece>> of it. Um, the Rotary would also help volunteer that the day of, but I thinkso the planning is the big piece. >> Big piece. Okay. I>> mean my impression is that we have the capacity to assist. So>> why not? >> Did they say when they kind of starttheir planning in full force or anything?>> No. >> Okay.>> Just wondering hearing the direction from you thisevening and I think it would be good to have a vote from you as well. I will goback, get more information and start to put together um the information neededand then solicit like we do the rest of our committees. Find a committee of twoor three that are willing to kind of help work on this with as uh ChairCarlson mentioned Erica Kennedy, Latino Voices, uh Mikasa, those that have beenregularly involved in the event as well. Could we make a vote for like doing itfor a year and see how it goes and then like>> Yeah, >> opposed to permanently adopting the>> Yeah. >> Well, if I I think that that's areasonable thing to to think about. We we have several core events. Um youknow, we've we do Dr. King. Um, we do River City Days, we do Pride,those are our two summer activities. And then we do a we do some smaller eventsactivities in October and November, but we try to have a another cultural event.and whether or not the cultural event next year would be something associatedwith the Indian culture or another culture orcultures from around the world or wherever. I mean that is certainlyalways up for discussion. Um but so I think limiting our volunteercapacity because we all are volunteers. Ummakes sense to me. But >> do we know was this requestmeant to be like an ongoingkind of request or or was it just for next year?there was no specific timeline attached to it. So I think it is easy to go backand say the human rights commission is willing to do it next year and thenwould like to have that opportunity to evaluate it as they do every other eventthat they put on and determine their capacity>> um to do it for the following year. I mean, we always try to have anafteraction report to determine whether or not our time was worthy um of ourefforts and um to support the goal that says we're here to promote goodwillum and establishing our community for all here in Chaska. So that makes senseto me that we would take a look at what it what what it would take after nextum in June of 2026 and say is this something that we want to continue orpursue, continue to partner. Um certainly the Rotary and the Lions umare community members that we always want to engage with alongcertainly along with all of our other uh city departments and our countydepartments. So >> I just think I mean I it sounds likeit's similar to some of the events we do and it's a community with a largepresence in Chaza that we have not done a lot ofevents around. So I I think that's you know it's not like we oh we already havea Latin American Heritage Festival the next month or anything like that. So>> right makes sense.>> Okay. Is there a motion? >> Did someone>> do I need to give more than that? >> Um, so>> next year, >> let's see. Um, so it's the commission'sdesire to uh partner with the Chaska Rotary organization to help celebrate aCinco deayo in May of 2026. umwith the understanding that we would evaluateuh to determine if we would move forward. >> Is that your motion?>> Precisely. >> Yeah.>> Is there a second to that motion? >> I second it.>> Thank you. Is there any further discussion? Having heard none, those in favor ofsupporting this motion signify by saying I.>> I opposed. >> Eyes carry.>> Do we need to come up with a committee right now or is that something we do inJanuary or >> No, I think I think given the time ofthe event, we'd want to form a committee soon. Let me go back. Um I will followup with the commission and we'll get a committee form when I understand moreabout kind of what the expectations are um who who from the Rotary and otherorganizations are working together so I can provide more information so you candetermine if that's a committee you want to be on.>> Okay. um our belonging message.Um I don't know if any of you get the StarTribune, but this is the headlines. Um, in the past, uh, we have developedempathetic, excuse me, empathetic statements with regards to issues thathave happened in our community or has affected the world.And um I couldn't help but think that our belonging message tonight has to bea little bit about what has happened in in our community in our neighboringcommunity. And so I read the words of the principaland the priest from Annunciation Catholic School.No words can capture what we have gone through. what we are going through andwhat we will go through in the coming days and weeks. But what we but we willnavigate this together. And then I turn to the words of someonewho came from Gary, Indiana, um my home state.In a world filled with hate, we must dare to hope. In a world filled withanger, we must still dare to comfort. In a world filled with despair, we muststill dare to dream. And in a world filled with distrust, we must still dareto believe. They pro those words probably wereaccompanied with a strong beat and incredible dancing.Neither of which I can offer you tonight other than the fact that we are abouthope in our community and moving forward.So, um, are there any, uh, announcements, Brit?>> Um, I have none. No, I mean, other than >> welcoming.>> Absolutely. >> My newest addition.>> Yeah. >> She has fully participated in ourmeeting this evening. >> Has. Yep, she has.>> She, for the most part, was a good one. a little fussy at the beginning, butthat's >> raise your voice.>> Yeah. >> Yeah.>> Hana, any announcements? >> John, um the Family Resource Center hashad a soft launch, they're calling it, at the Chesa Maravian Church. Um whichmeans they're kind of getting their feet under themselves right now, figuring outwhat their scheduling is going to look like and what their programming is goingto look like. They've had a few different organizations come in and trysome meeting times and um had some community members come in, but there isnothing that's available for the general public yet. But um don't be surprised ifthey ask you to come to the Moravian Church instead of some other place thatyou go sometimes. um because we're just trying to figure out what what is goingto be best for the community and makes the most sense for hours and stuff forthe family resource center. >> And the family resource center is apartnership between the Moravian church and uh a better society.>> Yep. >> And right now they're I think they'reworking with um Carver County um at least one day a week. I'm not surehow many days. I'm only in the office. They're one day a week. Um, but I thinkthere's two other organizations that they've been partnering with lately totry and figure out this scheduling and stuff. So, it'll grow, but you know,they want to make sure they're doing it right. So, it's great.>> Great. GG. No announcements. Elise.>> Okay. Okay. So, we will next be together onOctober 23rd, 2025. Um,thank you all for being here tonight. We'll see you then.Motion to adjurnn. >> Thank you.