coming and thank you I'm not a Tech head so it's a learning curve um but my name is Veronica Bert I'm the legislative um a I just started a week ago last week so I'm very happy to meet you some for the first time some actually in person um you know participated as part of the um pregroup to this the advisory committee um and so I know we at that time we had a lot of Zoom sessions so I'm happy to see people um actually have some legs and arms and you know not just a torso but um I'll do roll call just to be sure who's all here today and I'll start with uh Joseph here uh Trin here Jeremy here Nyla here um edmon idmon okay uh Mr KH is here Authur here Nick here J here uh kulia kulia thank you Carla here okay have I missed anyone that everybody okay okay and we we start next with our labor acknowledgement Mr khik if you want to take it away we acknowledge that much of America including his culture economic growth and development has been made by Poss possible by the force Free Labor of enslaved African and their descendants who separate the horor of trans atanta slave trade chatt SE slavery Jim Cur segregation and acts of racism all cumulating in modern day disparities we pay homage to these ancestors and ask that they guide us and might I ask that almighty God guide us effort preparations commission and to correct the wrongs of those who are living and those who are yet born going to have a welcoming and grounding with our city council members um hi good afternoon everybody just GNA come up here so that I can see um I'll be very brief I am so grateful to be here with all of you today um my name is MRA jalali I'm now the president of the stall city council I was on the previous Council which voted to establish this commission and I've been trying to guide it um to this point in every way that I can so I just want to personally be here today to say thank you thank you for your patience thank you for your perseverance um there have been painful moments in this journey that I think that we worked through and I want to just really appreciate the the trust and just seeing the potential um I feel good that we took that time because we're here today with our staff we have new council members who can inform this effort and I wanted to clarify just my role as council president this is an initiative of the city council um I personally care very much about and have been involved with conversations to help set it off on the right foot today um I'm an Institutional leader who is helping manage all the work and initiatives of the council and in that way I provide thought partner support to Veronica who has stepped up as our new legislative aid for this commission um as well as to my Council colleagues who are new on the council um one of whom is not available to be here today her name is councilman Ena Buie but she's been very involved in these discussions had a scheduling conflict today um the other Bo you'll hear from in a moment um Council sha Johnson so very um proud to make that combination of council members as um I'm leading the council now and their um black women council members who have made history have lived experiences and care very deeply about our communities and they're bringing that perspective to really guide the work in a way that our previous Council was not um as positioned to do and I feel good about that um I also just want to say that it's important to me that your commission is able to begin on solid footing like we are today and I'm just uh I just want to make it clear that I would like a direct channel to me from any of you if you want to just um share anything about how it's going or just to be available to support um I'm not here to like interlope in the conversations or chime in and that I'm more like a guide on the side that um you may see me at Future meetings if I can be at them and if that's something that's desired also I am very confident and happy to um really just be here to help start the process and then um to get um information along the way about how I can be helpful I just want you to know that that's what supporting this initiative looks like to me it's not saying oh they'll figure it out and I don't have to think about it again it's um I'm here as needed and I'm here to support specifically our staff and Council colleagues who are really going to help this work um at the council level so with that I'm really happy to um uh welcome councilman Shena Johnson who's also one of our supportive council members who's helped be really part of this steering committee and uh welcome her to share a few words as well on yes good afternoon good evening I'm like I am so honored to be in this room uh my name is Shena Johnson I am a council member on the east side of St Paul I'm basically Al uh Jan Franc replacement um here in w s and on the east side it's really important for me to see this room be reflected of the community that we are needing to serve so I'm actually really excited about award seven person leading um in the Staffing position for this as well I'll chain this plug but my legislative Aid Melanie Johnson and I are also really committed to being able to be here as a support for you um I actually know that she and I have talked about just being really committed to showing up when we need to and so feel free to also lean on us and like ask questions I know council member Buie has a it's her birthday today and she has a fundraiser this evening and so otherwise the two of us we have literally been going back and forth about this so we just want you to know that it's definitely a priority and um in many ways we're both just like how can we be you know we understand as a council um committee but and commission but we really do want to be Hands-On as much as you'd like so as you're thinking through the work and kind of diving into things I would say some of my strengths really do lie within like being able to read the fine print being able to explain like ordinance language resolu language um strategy so I'm more than willing to get coffee with any of you and talk about that hear about your experiences like that's how I organize that's kind of like the background that I'm bringing I'm young because I look young I am Young but I I know quite a bit when it comes to just maneuvering the legal spaces and um maneuvering government so I've been blessed to work with some of the greats um some of which I've seen just really bring up a lot of work um when it comes to moving black policy black people black community members forward um and taken as much as I can from as far as knowledge and learning but I have a lot to learn from you all too and so just know that I I've read your bios I've read the things I've looked you up really excited about this group there's a lot of powerful people here and so just want to share with you that sometimes people talk about representation and like representation matters yeah it does because so often like we are reminded about just how far we've come but also like when you say things like Ana and I serving and it's the second time we've ever had black women on the city council since Miss Montgomery and it is literally still looking at the fact that between her and I we are the second and third um we is lot I want to do that's why this commission is there and so I encourage you to ask questions I encourage you to lean on us as a um as allies to you but also like genuinely the work you do will benefit me and my family um and so I just want you to know like that that just hits different um and I hope that you guys will reach out if you have any questions we'll probably be reaching out St brothers too but um part of today was really just to see this group together we were like we have to meet council president has been a huge Ally to it uh Bren you made a lot of significant leway into the work um but you have a lot of you have friends more so than you do Al so especially you also have black justed thank you I think am I supposed to do some more are good I'll C you okay now like to go around the table and everybody introduce themselves and tell us a little bit about uh why you're interested in this issue that we're dealing with and uh what you would hope that we would be able to accomplish as a result of Us coming together go ahead brother just I get start here my name is Jeremy English uh commissioner English I guess now um what were you saying Nick why why do we want to be here is that the question um and and what would you like to see us accomplish as a result coming together um well I grew up in the Rondo neighborhood amen um and I've seen uh what that neighborhood looked like in the 70s I've seen what that neighborhood looked like in the 80s um and my family was here since uh 1958 um I've got an old school uncle named Bill English um who has who has been an advocate yes uh within the Twin Cities area since he uh since he migrated here um from Brooklyn Illinois Brooklyn Illinois is one of if not the oldest black town in the country uh so I got a lot of history that's brought me here and um I definitely do work on that on behalf of black people uh from this country and Beyond and I just want to see this commission get together to do something stuff you have any specific ideas for what would be special uh I think that's up to the commission to do um I can definitely say I definitely have some some raw and genuine experience um in the streets talking to folks but I wouldn't see where everybody's experience is and how we can make this commission a special commission as a you thank you just my name is Nyla golden um I am J um Bill Engish daughter was born like right after me so she yeah she was yeah I came out first apparently her mom was not happy about that but anyways um so anyways um grew up in Minneapolis moved to St Paul about 34 years ago and um my background is health and public health I've been in health since I was 19 and um I really would like to see even though I know that it's not possible I'm very much an advocate for Universal Health Care and that doesn't fix everything but because of all the different things that have happened down through the centuries we have huge disparities um for black folks in Minnesota worse than around the country and um there's so many other things that contribute to that and so we need to have access we need to have uh individuals that are there and a system that welcomes us and understands who we are and what we need as far as the healthcare and understands from a cultural standpoint difference that it makes for us um again I know that's just a small sliver of of what I feel we need as um as black folks um and I'm really want to hear the background of other individuals and what they know and understand because I know I don't know everything there is to know about that um and that'll be factored in and as I hear some of that again I think we'll be able to put together something that's going to look comprehensive and good for us and I think that comprehensive component is what's going to make a difference for our community and for us as we serve thank you a question one more time the question is what broughts you to be interested in being of the commission and then secondly what would you like to see us accomplish as a result of Us coming together um I'm TR Cruz and co-founder of BLM Minnesota I got elected chair of the green party United States reparations working group I think in 2018 and the Mandate was to get hr40 pass but because of the green party of the United States uh the first tened to Grassroots democracy or participatory democracy which means that everybody should have a say of what happened so I was thinking that we should start at the local level and then work our way up to the federal level and then I did a presentation at the men by men conference and then um Jane Prince showed up she liked the presentation and said this is something she thinks we can get done but I know the communi so I said I think we should start a book club first and educate people about it so nobody can say well you didn't talk to me about it and then um so we and then a couple weeks after that Evans then passed theirs and then um we wrote a resolution and then it passed and um it kept passing now uh we're all here and so I'm excited about that and excuse me who's part of the we all of us in this room um because of that action that created a resolution 2177 that apologized for hold Dread Scott military slavery as for Snelling apologized for the destruction of the Rono Community via the I94 freeway and apologize for St Paul's role in practicing institutional racism against this black residents it also set up a limited term legislative advisory committee that uh some of us ser to make shortterm medium and long-term recommendations on how to address the racial wealth Gap in St Paul um so what I want to see happen is for us to address the harm that St Paul has caused to the black community in St Paul and for us as a group to make transformative recommend on how to close the gr wherea wealth Gap shortterm medium and long-term recommendations on how to close the racial wealth Gap and build generational wealth for the American descendants of child of slavery who reside in St Paul thank go ahead um my name is Joe blor everybody calls me Seth second so Joseph uh my family moved here in 1954 from um from New York City and uh we had a footprint actually a couple Footprints but we had a footprint in some people call it Rondo some people call it the Hill Summit Hill Summit University anyway we had a SWOT for 50 years um my contributions maybe will come from three directions um at least one of which would probably not be the most popular I had three careers one in law enforcement a long career in corporate Communications and a slightly longer career than the law enforcement One in public education my mother was a public educator my sister was a public educator my daughter was a public educator my grandmother was a public educator and um I'm with my companion here Tre Hearn on the building Community wal building Building Wealth that's obviously a huge gap and all by itself would be an amazing thing to put together um but I also think that and I just reread this recently uh tanesi coat's 2014 essay actually is to me a very uh potent and I'm going to call it a touchstone or framework for at least the kinds of things that we should be looking at and and what I would like to see happen is there's a consensus or there's some understanding gets built but I would like to see something happen that can be measured so that we could say this measurably changed this measurably Advanced um and I realized that not everything that goes into this would be tangible but I'm interested in the tangible part uh good evening everyone uh my name is is Arthur Ray McCoy most people know me by Ray my mother was really the only one that called me Arthur but first name so it shows up on everything but um in the future you'll probably just hear me go by Ray um I am interested in this uh commission first of all I want to thank everybody that uh did so much work to make this happen I think St Paul has already made history in the sense that uh it it uh established a permanent commission I've been tracking these conversations in other cities and around the country and very few uh established a permanent commission a lot of them were task force with a life a short lifespan and a lot of work to do in that time frame and so I I was drawn to this um opportunity uh in part because it did say there's an opportunity to build something permanently the conversation clearly can't happen on a short-term basis it's going to uh be challenging it's going to be difficult and that means it's going to take time uh so in my mind we start from a really powerful and positive position in that we have a permanent commission and not a task force uh with a short lifespan um secondly I was um I've been U kind of a child of a product of the desegregation efforts in this country uh and I think I said in my application um I was born in 54 um the year Brown versus Board of Education uh uh was decided uh I was um and 10 years old then when the Civil Rights Act was passed and one of the things that I saw as I moved into my college Years was uh efforts Nationwide to destroy U those desegregation laws the civil rights laws it also then alerted me to the limitation of those things and reparations offers a chance uh uh to not have to worry about balancing the interest of uh whites and descendants of slavery but to really look at the harm caused to the descendants of Catt slavery and talk about how we fix that uh I think the civil rights as you saw with the Supreme Court's recent decision um tossing out affirmative action uh that it's cut off another Avenue to make that process work the way it was intended so in my mind reparations offers an opportunity to change that conversation change that narrative um I come to this process with uh a legal background having helped um a lot of ired Institutions try to set up those desegregation efforts only to see those crushed and challenged at every turn and so what I'm looking for is really to uh one of the things I'd like to see come out of this process aside from the things that everyone else has said which I agree with uh is is the establishment of a a legal underpinning for reparations uh that can survive the challenges that are going to come um uh right now you'll see that even the Housing Initiative that uh St Paul has started it is really designed is an equity initiative it is not reparation it's about equity and so we we need to really have this conversation about what exactly we mean when we say reparations and is that something that's possible to achieve uh at the local level because there are a lot of naysayers who said you can't this is a national problem you can't fix it here but what I firmly believe is that we have the ability to establish a framework uh uh for structuring a process at the local level that can serve as a national example uh and that's what I'm interested in is Nick Muhammad um I'm here uh in the capacity of a concerned Community member also grew up in city of St Paul since 1987 transplanted here from Indianola Mississippi very very very small town I think the biggest thing there was BB King um and his Museum and for me I remember a St Paul where I could go down Selby Avenue and there were several black businesses that used to take us in and look out for us I I remember the first time I've ever seen a Rondo Day Parade coming down Marshall adamu and I was a young 11y old and the inspiration that the community had shown and exemplified to me at a very young age coming into this city and at that point I've been in some schools but I seen nothing but a bunch of white kids and so when I seen Rondo days and came into this particular area um it really lifted my spirits and I felt at home for the first time so that's one of the things that drove me to reparations work and drove me to this Council uh what I'd like to see this commission accomplish um much to some of the sentiments that have already been expressed I want to make sure that it is tangible that we're not just a uh recommendation that goes unheard and that we're actually thinking about things that are going to be quantifiable um young enough to still remember the great work that my elders do and try not to take advantage of the fact that they're here I'm also old enough to have children that are now in their early 20s and want to start families and business businesses and have dreams of their own I want to make sure that they have every resource and opportunity available to them to make sure that those things can happen and so for me this commission is very much about making sure that we build the institutional supports that will free up future Generations give Justice to the the the elders who paved the way for us to be here and making sure that we're committed to going through each uh aspect of the city's business to make sure that can actually figure out reparations frames and legal Frameworks to Target and make sure that the black community is receiving the same amount of help that they were targeted with from the city for things like Rondo and that's my motivation I want to make sure that we don't lose sight of the fact that what happened to us was calculated it was supported by political entities it was supported by private entities and in order for this to work we have to get the same commitment that they had to put us in the condition we were in to get us out you know it's a universal law for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction so it's I think it's a perfect P dish for the nation and if we can get it right in this small City compared to the nation we have evidence that we have a model that just might be able to scale up to help people across the country that's that's what I hope this commission is able to do good evening everyone uh my name is Jam picket um I'm an educator in St Paul I was born in St Paul um raised on the east side of St Paul um my father came from Chicago in the 90s and my mother came from myr as well in the 90s um since childhood I was by my father was very ingrained and um pride of my ancestry was very ingrained to me and my history however as you age and you study and you grow up you realize it's not all happy and good things that have happened to your people um I particularly have an interest in pre-colonial Africa that's my favorite subject to read about and learn about however there has been a um huge crime against my people that has impacted us at the federal level as well as the state and local level as well um and it makes me really angry and it makes me physically angry and it it it's something that I want to put my energy into making a change in our community and also um making an impact that is something that people can actually say not just um in data but also that qualitative data as well as people are able to verbalize the changes in their lives and able to analyze those things um I'm not going to always say the things that people want to hear I I'm just going to say that right now I have found myself in a lot of situations where that has happened but I'm here to actually make a change and not play games and so um I have a big interest around housing I think that there are on goinging crimes against African-Americans in our uh City that I feel like need to be undone and need to be um addressed as well as past injustices that have never been brought up or have never been fully addressed um I'm not into uh saying just sorry and let's move on there are things that need to move and um yeah I'm already feeling a lot of energy right now so I'm sorry I'm just getting into it I um but yeah I I'm really happy to be here I'm looking forward to learning from you all at the table as well and also giving my insights um so thank you um hello everybody uh my name is kolia prangle and I am a um secondary Social Studies educator by trade I'm also educ advocate so that is the lens that I bring um to the table um I'm also um a descendant of you know African uh transatlantic slave trade via the Caribbean my grandmother came to the United States in the 1960s and um my father has you know been on Campell J since the very beginning he's the second longest person um at CJ next to cuar and then my uh one of my aunts happened to married into a um uh Rondo um Family the ransoms and the davises so these are my peoples and uh so yeah that um I I'm hoping and I know this city does not have a direct hand in education but I believe that it does because um education affects us all to me that is like besides the healthare once a child is born like the the disparities begin at Birth but then the child enters into prek and dispar for black people in Minnesota is disgusting and there's no outrage and I'm outrage and I feel like this is one way I could put my um anger into some sort of um reparations when it comes to the miseducation of black people in St Paul um and I feel like the city needs to be more accountable to all its citizens including um partnering with the education system in St Paul and I'm hoping that we come out with a clear path a clear plan concrete measurements um as been said before on how we could truly move and repair harm for the community and um I I hope there's like money attached to reparations because to me that's a part of reparations is money thank you good afternoon my name is Carla Robinson I am a not a NATA grew up in St Paul since four um moved away came back been back for about 20 years living in St Paul um grew up in Highland Park so not in the Rondo Community but spent a lot of time in the Rondo Community have always been a member of Pilgrim Baptist Church since I've been here so I have a deep connection to that neighborhood and many people who have grown up in that in that community so I know about um the disparities that were caused by 94 being um built and have heard about um some of the experiences of families that were displaced and had to restart um their lives and um the wealth that was lost through the process um I am very committed to um ID work I have a background in Corporate America primarily Finance data analytics cost Savings & work um is what I've been doing lately I'm uh the chair of the black ERG at um Best Buy and so I have like a lot of training in that in that area in that space um I'm a member of Del SL Thea stor Incorporated so we work heavy in the community I'm a member of the linksinc corporated we work tring the community so I have a lot of connections in in um spaces and places to to get into um different areas of the community to learn more about what people are looking for um what I hope to get out of this is just to elevate black people in the twin in in St Paul right like I'm for every body black winning right and this is one area where I know we have such huge disparities across all levels of life in the black community that if you start with the wealth that's one area where we can make a difference through reparations but when you make people um give folks access to more then you can have impact in all the other spaces right Health disparities educational disparities um all of those spaces where we need improve and so I also am am looking for a tangible way to give back to the community I'd like to see measurable outcomes as well uh because that's the only way you can see if you're successful or not um I'm just excited to be here I think this is very important work and I'm really proud of the city of St Paul for stepping up and saying that this is a place where we we can open impact thank you good evening name of God most gracious most merciful brother I don't know if you're the oldest or I'm the oldest but uh appreciate your wh actually I think I am yeah old you 49 1949 54 so 1949 1943 you [Laughter] win name God most gracious most merciful um I'm a child of Rondo not a scholar I'm just a brother from the street and the neighborhood that I lived in and grew up in up to the age of 13 years old was perfect in every sense of the word anybody that needed anything they got it right there whether you had emotion no problems was without hope whether you needed a meal whether you needed a place to sleep we didn't know anyone that was in institutions nobody we didn't know anyone gr up that was locked up in the criminal justice system and then all of a sudden because of government action boom they blew up our safe haven we didn't know anything about racism discrimination even though we were told certain parts of the city boy you stay away from there but we didn't have any reason Adventure outside of that and after that happened they turned a devil loose on our community they tore down our moral curtain that we had we knew what we could and couldn't do so when we talk about what we lost a lot of times people talk about the dollar amount but they don't talk about the moral Authority they don't talk about the generational trauma that that CA and so that's why I'm really inspired today to be among this group folks that uh sharp sharp sharp Minds here and I feel a sense of commitment but we got a long way to go and I think my brother mentioned about St Paul us black folks here in St Paul have been conspicuously silent some people would label me as a troublemaker a radical a racist and on and on and IIT may say some things that offend some people that's based on my experience and if you can't accept that and have empathy for my experience then that's your problem because you lack understanding let me just say this after the freeway went through they weren't down with us no they wasn't they came with urban renewal and I'm saying all this to make a case for reparations then it came through with urban renewal with great promises and then they allowed us to move South up on sby and brother as you mentioned here come some businesses and we said wow we rebuild that economic engine but it was all on a along with urban renewal and folks in my community stood by and watch folks that look like me kill each other the problem we didn't have on Ronda but they created that problem up on Dell and Selby and we asked the man to help us come on man you what you gonna do about this and it was beny neglect they didn't do a damn thing about it until black folks stood up when we talk about black lives matter we put the stamp on that and said you got to come on here and do something and the black businesses up there that were establishing themselves little by little disappear folks would come down here can you help us out well no no we we want you to succeed and but we going to do something for you and then here come a group of people into our city and this may offend some people but like I said you lack empathy for my experience if this offends you they build new homes before before they came to us they didn't talk to no uh descendants or Rond or people like my cousins and others and said can we give you a house no you gave it to other people you came up with all these other programs but because we were deep in our moral fiber to a certain extent we didn't say anything about it and went along to get along and so what we have to do and what I would hope this body would do we got to educate the public we got to Ed educate the public that it wasn't just a matter of dollars it was generational trauma and many of my friends like me we didn't we didn't get in trouble except a little bit here a little bit there a little shoplifting here in the local store stealing some candies or cookies we didn't hurt each other and when you got in a fight with a brother you didn't kick them we didn't have that rage in us that was passed on from this generational trauma that uh that we went through and as a result of them busting our bubble and I don't want to blame everything on the destruction of Rondo but I'm damn sure gonna blame a lot because they planted the sea they live to FS when I was 16 years old I ended up in boy Totem Town for eight months and when I got up there I looked around and many of my friends from the neighborhood was up there wait a minute we didn't even it didn't even dawn on us how we really got there that that moral fiber was destroyed and so I just want to say that it's so important and I we demanded apologies thank you let's put that in the file and keep on moving because this may be in my lifetime the best opportunity that we have but it's so important that folks know our story and don't bring me that you know you don't want to do this and you you've already done it for others and you damn well can do it for us because we got a lot of blood on the table a lot of blood on the table and when I think about and over the years I was with the the head of the NAACP for almost 20 years and we peeled back the the scal off racism I mean I didn't realize it was so deep here in the saintly city of St Paul brothers were being strip search their drawers being pulled down on the streets in St Paul Minnesota they didn't even recognize our Humanity they would displace folks out of their rental property and go there with a bogus search warrant and the city inspectors would come and put a plaque card on the door unfit for human habitation especially if you lived in an area that was predominantly white so I just want to say all that and I can say a lot more but I'm not I'm going to respect everybody's time but I want you to think long and hard about us making our case so nobody can stand be in front of us and deny our generational traa besides the the generation of wealth and people talk about the the loss of equity you know land is the greatest transfer of wealth they talk about that loss Equity with own what about the businesses you said there couldn't have been 300 business yeah it was probably more than 300 businesses because a lot of brothers and sisters didn't have signs on their home but they ran businesses out of their home and when I spent my dollar or my grandpa spent his dollar it went all the way through the neighborhood and came back to him now we spent a dollar it's gone forever what little neighborhood we got left and um what we going to do about that and I just hope that you know and I know some of the folks here those that I don't know I'm hearing what you say and I hope your mind and your conscience Lead You by the grace of almighty God for us to come together and put some meat on the bone and to do some things that I'm gonna be gone and others gonna be gone but at least our children and Grand children can say that you planted the seed and then they can nourish the seed thank you right keeping heat down a little bit okay I know you personally I know you got a lot of eat in here well um again my name is Veronica Bert and just to you know maybe give you a little bit more background about myself so that you know you don't just see me as a a staff person but you see me as a fellow Community member as well um but I'm originally from Chicago I've lived here in the Twin Cities in St Paul primarily for over 30 years I went to view of Minnesota and when I first left Chicago to come to Minnesota go to school a lot of my friends I grew up on the southide in a predominantly black community my friend said where are you going to school I said Minnesota and they said Minnesota are there black people there and I said yeah and he said who and I for a minute and I said Prince and oh wow you say so so that helped put um you know Minnesota a bit in context uh for me and others but it really wasn't until I moved here and I got immersed and welcomed by people in the Rondo neighborhood because I first said you know well where's the black community in St Paul and um I was direct it you know around the Selby area to people like Nick deor Montgomery and I got engaged and I was really moved because I learned about the story of Rondo and the story of Rondo helped me personally reflect on my own history you know my own neighborhood in Chicago because I would I would take the train from the south side to the north side through downtown and I would say you know why does my neighborhood look bombed out you know no businesses there's you know not a lot of of of entrepreneurial traffic going on and opportunity but yet I would travel through downtown and onto the north side and just see a lot of bustling activity and I couldn't put it into context until I moved here and I learned about Rondo's story and from there I started to understand and connect a lot of the the history and the policy making um and align that with our history and connection with you know racist structures and once my eyes began to open around that I began to teach young African-American kids about their history and if you if you knew of people like Camal couy who used to do the underground railroads you know was I was part of you know folks like him and even did Youth Development programs that help young people go through those experiential educational processes so that their eyes would open up and as I explored a bit more and began to read more books aha you know years later Randall Robinson wrote his book The Debt and was through Elder mmud elati you know who elevated a lot of discussions around that and you know from there I wanted to be a part of the reparations issue and very early in 2000 you did a lot of education at that time and uh met with Randall Robinson you know along with uh other niik khik and others and got involved very early in the early 2000 of the reparations movement and um you know at the time when 9/11 came you know a lot of things had shifted because you know nobody wanted to be associated with terrorism and you know so you know movements e and flow and um and I think with you know George Floyd what happened here locally that has kind of resurfaced you know a a a lot you know of this issue and a lot of disparities that we face so I hope you know my role in this you know helps to bring my experiences my relationships and and my interest to really see something tangible um happen um that affects us for sure locally and affects us um as well nationally so I want to thank you again and and I'm looking forward to working with y'all so we're going to uh review the ordinance now and if anybody has any questions just hop in raise your hand yeah but what I want you to do is take out you know the first sheet here is the St Paul C ordinance chapter 1112 that set up the St Paul Recovery Act Community reparations commission so just broadly the city ordinance establishing the commission occurred January 4th of 2023 and then the city resolution appointing everybody as Commissioners occurred June 28th of 2023 so just so that you kind of see that relationship but I first want to point you to you know what our role is as the commission so that we're at least you know starting from that as a foundation so if you look at section 11201 purpose it says the St PA Recovery Act Community reparations commission serves as an advisory body to the mayor and City Council on matters relating to repairing the damage caused by public and private systemic racism in the city of St Paul which resulted in racial disparities in generational wealth homeownership Health Care education employment and pay and fairness within the gener within the criminal justice system among American descendants of slavery so really kind of highlight that and and and lock that um into your mindset cuz you know that's um you know primarily the purpose of this body and then the second um ke component is on page two section one two or section 111 12.05 powers and duties the commission shall act in an advisory capacity to the mayor and City Council in all policy and budget matters pertaining to reparations within the city through the following activities a should shall be empowered to make short medium and long-term policy program and budget recommendations to specifically address the creation and sustainment of generational wealth for the American descendants of chadow slavery and to boost economic mobility and opportunity in the American descendants of chatt slavery Community B shall establish a work plan annually which will serve to notify City officials of the commission's priorities and activities um shall develop time-based evaluations of City expenditures using quality of life metrics as indicators of progress and reparations D revise review and advise on City programming and budget in relating to reparations e serve as an expert for reparations policies and actions within the city and then F conduct all business in such a manner as to encourage and utilize maximum City participation so it's a it's a big charge but you know I think it's a indepth charge that a lot of what each of you are saying you want to see accomplish I think is is pretty reflective you know and what our charge is um and you know as I've talked to the city council members um you know historically um you know a woman Le city council uh representation they are um very much in agreement and in alignment um and wanting to see something substantial happen so I think we're we're in a good space a space that we may not have been in in a very long time so with that said um I do want to bring back up council member Johnson is she still here um to talk a little bit about um maybe discussing some policy related updates and maybe get some feedback so coun yeah want I just also want to I'll let you I will make this most shorter because I want to stick to the five time 530 time but basically this is the ordinance language that's put in place right now that is like how we are currently operating so one of the things like before today how many of you guys had seen the ordinance spread through the ordinance familiar with it wonderful were you all also a part of the drafting the language so you also know what was removed and wasn't removed okay so my encouragement really is that you know for folks this this is a great like I think great start have concerns about some things that I would hope that the commission could also like kind of dive into um I think the biggest thing is like this is a commission that's hous within the city council as you've seen like in the mission and in the purpose and the work behind you you have have two advisory like basically your advisor capacity has to be done also to the council as well so as the administration the commission is not a city commission it is a city council commission which is important for folks to understand the difference um being that there are planning commissions there are other commissions like in the city that operate and that also operate under the city and the city departments are in partnership with them and this one does not this one is house within our Council so your council members are truly in this capacity your your allies in this process because at this time that's part of the reason why we have um you know Veronica is a part of the commission she's a council employee and so she's also a part of like our circuit I would explain it differently but in simplistic terms she works with us on the third floor and there are many people who work for the city but who do not work on the third floor that is missing right now from this ordinance and I think that that's something to really think about as a commission uh another part that was significantly slashes your budget so I really wanted to bring that as points of places to really think through what this board could look like because as a council we are going to begin our budget process we are also going to be having conversations with the administration on that and so I would also encourage you while you were here to think about certain aspects of the city and also just like questions you may have for different departments for different leaders to inform you about the things that you will most likely need to request to be informed on so you can participate and be in advisement to that um I hope that that makes sense as well I'm I'm like I'm here to answer the questions Mr just just take that okay so so to help us out yes [Music] um and maybe to save time MH what I'm imagining is a comparison would be a congressional January 6 commission set up by Congress made up of congressmen and women and the Department of Justice which is part of the executive branch and what you're saying is we're over here with the January 6 and whether or not whether or not the Department of Justice the executive any part of the administration takes what we say we make criminal referrals or we don't excuse that's that's where we're at we're sitting over here in the legislative part and the executive part the judicial part they could pay attention or not am I understanding this in so many words and my interpretation I will also say for me I'm that I want to be very clear in my opinion because I want you to know like from what I've gathered I would encourage you to talk to other council members that are a part of it council president was actually involved in some of the process like understanding from what I have gathered as a council member and something that I really wanted to bring to the commission to see and get feedback but also to put on your radar is that the council is currently like your strongest alley in this capacity and as it relates to the commission and the mission that you put in place what is written in the ordinance pieces of the ordinance that was changed was the budget as well so as its placement so the commission is hous with the city council and I think that that is something to think about when you think about like implementations and what you're describing as tangible what you're saying are the things that are really like that you would like to act in um in ways to be most influential and so I hope that that's a part of your your work plan and the things that are in written are written down in here um as a way to share that with you because it's something that we've been we for me and Council buy I know we talked about it because that is something those are our two biggest things that I would encourage you to think about um in the process moving forward other than that plus side there's some yes sir just a quick question um I don't know if you know this is this the only commission that is under the council as opposed to the mayor's office yes sir right there's another is there another Council commission there used to be a council Commission on like Early Education but that had like a scope of work that wrapped up so there was a time where there were theoretically too but then one of them kind of wrapped up their stuff so right now it is the only one yes and and so when those changes were made was this was this a decision of the mayor's office or the council this was the council decision okay try so I think the people were notified about that and this is again I was not so I will just simply say it is not to say that that was maybe no actually I don't agree with the decision made but it s to say that there was like probably not extensive conversations in a reason this ordinance was authored by many people um council members who were who were no longer here as well so as council members that were and I would encourage you to ask those questions but also just to keep in mind that these are things that we can think about in the future of like informing and setting up the tools to be able to come back with a different ass which is within the purview of the commission to do and so when you think about just like what you're looking at we can and you know I think that it's really amazing one that this is the only this is the permanent commission it's being recognized already before you guys are even diving in as a nation Setter like a like a truly like recognizable thing to honor and we've heard that we've seen that represented by some of your colleagues here and so there's a lot to be proud of and when you're thinking about just like tangibles and outcomes I would highly encourage you to think about like what are the things we need to come up with some sort of proposal for council members to see what like what is it that you want to do like do you want to do community engagement efforts there's no money for you to do that right now do you want to do that because if you want to do that let's start thinking about that piece of like what does that look like for us so we you know for me that's a really important space I do have have things that I can send to as far Veronica as like Reflections but I didn't want to I didn't want to come in and do that with you I think that when you're looking at that I just wanted to bring that into a space of like the power in the ordinance is the language if you want the language to change think about structuring your conversations to do so and the budget session the budget season this year is actively built yes sir Mr who the ronic report to director of operations director of operations so Bren was here she had step off a minute she also within and what's her position in title and area of responsibility I mean she's right there yeah oh you talking about Bren yeah yeah the young lady that Veronica reports to the director of operation slash also Council so we have a council director who oversees like the whole city council staff team so like all of our executive assistants our legislative AIDS the central staff we do things like help people with their appeal stuff like that and also because this is a council initiative Veronica's role is within that and then in terms of the day-to-day of like supervision and support it's Brin but then like honestly heavily informed by the three council members who have said you know three up to three of us can be working on something at a time without it turning into like an open meeting Quorum violation so council president councilwoman Johnson councilwoman Bowie we're the the Pod of council members that are like heavily involved at this stage just to help it get started and to really um support things starting off down this path so um that's how that all works together that's okay thank so the budget season how is that because this is opposite from the so it's all in one so the budget season for the city the budget for the city is in is one process and so there areas like think of it kind of like the administration also has their process the council has their process we meet together to discuss the big budget process at they so like so it's always annual though it's always annual okay so every fiscal year always annual okay y so if you guys like you need strong discussions and to get on the same page to Define different things I encourage you to take that time and also know that like you're not on our plaque we don't expect you to come back with like this isn't going anywhere because the ordinance has protected that so the ordinance has in place put in place that you guys can truly take as much time as you need so like it's more of just like we can move in a direction that you would like to see but when you think about the language and what you're absorbing here today I'd also encourage you to follow the resolution numbers and just go back to what the language was as well so as the the Committees that were in place beforehand there was a there was a task force that basically provided recommendations to the city um and the administration about what they thought this could be it's it's a page 19 pages I think there's several things that we really can start talking about including like some of the recommendations that were implemented so just think about that there's a lot of things that you guys were all a part of and there's a lot of information that you don't have to be create the real but I wanted to share that with you all I had you all in one one space to share with you the things that like if I had a wand I could change so yes M quick question you said the budget was Slash and that we don't have money for Community engagement what is the budget there wasn't a budget a in the ordinance that so this is where like the council partnership and why I'm here and why I think this Council like steering committee is valuable is that working towards a Community engagement Vision I imagine at some point you all want to hold Community meetings and like fund that engagement right understanding what that could entail is it $200 for hot dinner for everyone we can work on like tapping sources to cover that like if it's we know that we want to have an additional person that we hire and like what just we need to understand like what's even on the table for discussion for like getting the work done so that in the year where we're starting together right the budget is the staffer and then stiens and then beyond that like we want to grow this with you and understanding in the short term how to meet those needs we want to support that and then in the long term we want to come back to you all as we do our annual City budgeting process to look at like what are the ways we can continue to strengthen this commission over time for with like program funding right so that's part of what we're talking about here in addition to like the Departments and so to talk more through that but I how much more time do we have left in this meeting I think we have the room to fix so okay so we're okay I mean we're almost coming to the end okay well know and and that's not the that's not the issue I just want to make sure that we're able to get through some of you know most of the agenda you know what I mean because I mean you know yeah we can wrap up if there's maybe one one last question but yeah not to you know this a little bit short to know yeah you know not to take W of course whatever you are when you're kind of thinking about ways to dive in that's so that is where I think some of the council members can be helpful with but you can also like in this commission if something is about like it would be helpful to meet with someone to have this explain to us it will be helpful to meet with someone to have the budget process brought in those are some of the things that like I would also encourage you to take advantage of because you're also with you are a house within you know the council butcher also like inti within the city too so lean on that all I'm going to say for now have you have any questions or anything like that I'll put my cards I'll give them to Veronica yeah thank discuss so now we're going to uh talk about election of officers and and the bylaws that were Guided by to complete have okay so again referring back to the ordinance um if you look at section 11204 that talks about meetings um here it's laning out that the commission shall establish a regular time in place and shall meet monthly unless determined otherwise by the commission so there is some wiggle room um if you want to meet more frequently um at its first meeting each year the commission shall elect this chair and vice chair now today we have um Elder khle as an interim chair but going forward you know at our next meeting hopefully we can actually select I want that's uh I'm glad you brought that up uh Veronica because um you know with all due respect to my great Elder um I kind of want to just real fast take a take a real quick minute minute about why it's important for us to elect the chair and why we're here um excuse just a minute you done L I finish and then I can recognize yes okay um and I think this will get to where I'm thinking you may be going exactly um but that is something that we can start that process um today um we don't have to put the elections on the table but at least we can talk about you know a process to do so that's I'm okay um we do have to do that today don't we have to make the election today yeah we're not waiting for the next meeting to elect the chair exactly I think you should do that today okay yeah all right we good is there a consensus or majority you know can I can I speak real quick just real quick how many want to hold off and how many how many want to hold off look like everybody's shaking their head to have it today is that right well anyone want to wait I do okay I I would like to have a chance to to understand who's interested in positions okay excuse me brother he he had the floor I'm sorry I thought it was being asked a question the M reason the main reason why I think we need to elect the chair to today is because we need to start the process of some of um what uh Metra and uh shenik where were talking about and we already have somebody at the table who not only understands all of this language along with me and Nick and others who were part of that kolia who were part of that leg legislative advisory or but who wrote it basically and that's Trey Hearn Cruz and I I think that needs to be said you know on record that Trey basically almost authored this himself and I I appreciate you brother and uh I have no problems with nominating Trey Hearn Cruz as the as the chair today I don't have a problem with that no no you had something you were saying when I I don't need to say it okay okay want to open the floor up now we can open the floor up now that's so we'll open the floor up now for nominations and uh those that are nominated if they agree to put their name in the Hat would give a two- minute spill on why they should leave this body could I just ask aess standpoint B I don't know how we determine this but from under open meeting law if it was noticed that we're actually discussing this today do they have to take a procedural action to then change that so we have on I'm sorry what was the question sorry the question is that this is a commission that follows open meeting law which means the notice agenda topics then dictate like what can get decided and so I just want to make sure like is there additional action if they want to proceed from the agenda so that that can be bed I think the agenda list discussion about election of officers I think that if the body is choosing to have that discussion lead to the I think that's fine with how thank you that we can yes conduct a business Nick your yeah I was going to thank you chair I was going to say that we should probably hold off have the discussion but hold off on the actual election only because we want to make sure that we can get out of the way time commitment figure out what if anybody else would like to be the chair and get that out because to throw everybody into the middle of it in a rush fashion I don't think does Justice to the that we have at the table so people might want to take some time to consider and think about you know who they would like to see or if they they themselves would like to be dominated and then mold that over and really weigh this thing out because right now a lot of people for the first time are going through some of the by laws and the processes we want to give them an opportunity to process that and see if they're they're suited to to handle that because as council member Shenika brought up there's things that were in the original that have been stripped out so there's a lot of things that have to do to re Center ourselves so we actually have the power to impact what we say we want to impact and being able to navigate those systems with all due respect you could be the author that doesn't mean that you have to abandon the rest of the talent that you have that can help this thing be executed in a better fashion so there's a lot of people with experience at the table and I I would like to be able to kind of mle over who's here and think about who I would want to throw my support behind well you mentioned something about the language that was taken out so you saying between this meeting and the next meeting that the commission or Veronica should go back with the three or four members that put that language together about putting it back in there well I want people to have time to consider who they'd like to have as the board chair in the per the discussion and the part that was taken out was raised by commissioner Johnson and that's something for us to consider which is going to be a a very heavy task to engage in Reverse yeah so you saying that should be Revisited in between the meetings or or after the new chair is elected no we don't have to revisit it during the meetings I'm saying in light of that we want to think about who's best to put in a position to tackle being our spear Point our our the tip of the spear to get that done okay so generally he's saying he wants you know maybe more time to decide on who should be our elect officers brother had his hand yeah I'm I'm a little concerned about delaying a selection of a chair if we're going to get work done we need to get into it the chair runs the meeting the chair is not dictating the conversation we need a chair to kick off our meetings and get this process started once we have a chair and a vice chair we can get to work running the commission which is what we're been tasked to do so the conversation about what changed from the initial legislation to this one is a part of the work that we need to do and the chair calls the meetings conducts the business and so I don't see that unless somebody doesn't understand what that role would be and we need to talk about that I thought that the agenda item was to select a the chair so the next meeting the chair is calling the meeting instead of having someone else call us to meet uh and then we I feel like we'd be wasting time I and the chair not only runs the meetings that they speak on behalf of of most bodies yeah in absence of a meeting go ahead and then the ordinance says that we at our first meeting we shall select the chair and this is our first meeting I think and we've been waiting for a year and a half is that in you and I just want to add hold on y'all let's let's speak one at a time were you done um yeah well I think we've been waiting a year and a half and then at least since the summer was it last summer or this summer so I think we need to kind of get started and start she just read it it's section 11204 it says that it's first meeting meeting each year the commission self select its chair Vice chair it does say that that's this is the first meeting does say that I think that um we have the experience at this table to get some special things done but I think it starts with us getting our work done today and there's something to be said for us holding that back I think we know in our minds who we want to focus in on who the chair is going to be yes there are absolutely fabulous Minds at this table but I think the business of this commission is to get things done and get a true focus on where our where our agenda's going starting today it's good to meet everybody it's good to see everybody but I know know folks want to go home saying we accomplished something tonight and I think putting a face on this commission would be that and I'm and like I said everybody can vote well I think what I'm going to do is call for a raise of hands of those that it's in the Ordinance do we want to follow through what's in the ordinance or do we want to diverge from that how many are in favor of following the ordinance and holding the ction tonight for chair and vice chair do we have to like vote yes or no can we vote that like we don't there should be an obstain Asain you can do that how many in favor two three four how many oppos extensions four so a tie obain is obain isn't isn't it's not no it's still not a majority of forum so just process points Forum in the room or majority vote for your ordinance for votes is not a majority nor is it a forum right and so that motion would fail right and can I just got to be the majority of the folks that are present I just so part of in order to sorry my interest is that people are like following the process and that they have the information to make the decision and I think this is a worthy conversation and I respect it toward that end for toward having information to make decisions Veronica it was my understanding that you were going to present what the chair and vice chair do and actually explain what that is and give people that so that they can decide how they want to decide so I know that we're supposed to be in time I do care about just she had it's my understanding our staff member had things she wanted to present that didn't get to be fully explained because then this also conversation so what about the language in so the we have the authority to sort of circumvent that so you can you can my understanding is that you can uh vote at the next meeting if you want to you would just notice that topic ahead of time um you can vote at this meeting if you want to and I think that's what that motion that we just did was so I would like in order to inform the conversation Veronica had other things she wanted to present that I don't think we've gotten to yet so yeah I'm just trying to support just just to add as well for context so what just happened and it will be reflected in the notes there was a motion to make a vote the action requires a form and a majority vote that's what happened it failed so moving forward just in a process standpoint that action has been already discussed and voted on moving forward you can choose to hear from you know would you like to have the discussion that is on the agenda at this point that's that's kind of what we're deedi everybody understand that we didn't get a majority one way or the other yeah so we're done with that topic then right we can move on to the next agenda item that's the discussion the discussion exactly let her present the roles was asking yeah in and just generally you know in terms of the role itself I mean there is according to the ordinance you know if you look at the next paragraph here um we do have to establish our own rules and procedures and so that means you know investing some time to create our own bylaws and even within those bylaws we can definitely dictate a lot more specifically what the role of the chair and the vice chair should be but um you know if we're looking at it today or even tomorrow before establishing our bylaws um you know there isn't anything clear in the ordinance that outlines what that role is but if we look for example and I did bring an example of the parks and wreck um commission that kind of outlines the role of a chair and a vice chair in that situation not that we have to follow that but just as a jumping off point for us um it has here and that's on page two under article 3 section one um bylaws rules procedure for parks and recs so that's the second handout you have here it says the chair shall have the duties and Powers usually attended upon the office of chair as such duties and Powers as may be provided from time to time by the commission uh the chair shall preside over the meetings of the commission um if they're present and at each meeting the chair shall make such reports to the commission as they may deem necessary or as may be required of the chair and perform such other duties as are incident to the chair's office or are required by The Chair by the commission the chair with assistance from the director parks and reist case shall be responsible for submitting the commission's annual report to the mayor and city council and as with the vice chair allow simplified they shall perform duties of the chair in the absence or incapacity and or because of resignation or incapacity of the chair until a new chair is elected um so again this is very particular to Parks Andre um but we do have the room within the ordinance to set up our own rules but you know that's creating our own bylaws and that itself you know will take some time but if we want to elect our chair you know talking this discussion today or even at our next meeting you know generally the chair's role is presiding over the meeting um until we can get some more specific rules around that within the bylaws I think it would be helpful for the body if those that are interested or would accept being nominated as the chair to show show a hand anyone else and how many of you here would be interested in the vice shair position there no secretary so only chair and vice chair okay so we have two who are interested in the chair position one interested in the vice chair position then Le then as uh the uh interm chair said that maybe what we could do is and I'm putting this on a table but we can still discuss this is to have the two who are interested in the chair maybe submit a statement well make a presentation tonight and if you want to submit a written statement and get it to the staff person to disseminate to the board so maybe we can give you a week yeah I'm I'm asking yeah I'm asking I think we could do it tonight I'm looking at the interest of time I'm sorry but um how much time do we have we have until six okay I thought I thought we had minutes three to five minutes yeah so do you you both are okay with that tonight okay is the body okay with hearing from both tonight yes Okay who wants to go first if not I'll flip a on I just have a question there needs to be emotion Veronica and a second and a full like when you're taking business actions you do need to follow Robert's Rules and it needs to be documented and I usually my question so yes Guided by Robert's Rules you are you have to make a motion to make to make business no no I I know but are we Guided by In This capacity yes in this capacity because you have a you actually have meeting minutes that are taken that will be published for public record okay so about that yes so just just so you guys understand and I will also ask we're doing clarification at this time you are Commissioners if any time more than a certain amount of you are in a room at the same time you are subject to Public beting Law so even in your like this is something that we have to deal with there is 11 of you if if you have maity a simple majority so like Lally a quum so anytime if at any time you are discussing business and there are six of you in a room you are now violating public Med law and that includes things like hey yo Mr Mr Cruz has a has an event at his house we're going to talk about reparations and we're going to have a conversation and now six of you are in a room that is breaking open meeting laws and which you are subject to please don't get caught up here um so in that capacity just think about that that doesn't that doesn't include like things like oh we're going to birthday party and we're kicking it but just be very clear we're kicking it which means no business no business somebody starts like I got to go over here like any you know like we had we were like chatting those group chats had to stop those technicans had to stop so just think about that because if at any point in time somebody in community decides to foer you meaning that they decide to request your emails they decide to request your meeting minutes they decide to request your text threats they legally have an obligation and you legally have an obligation to abl so just keep that in mind as y are moving forward and yes because there's a your there's no secretary because you literally have meeting and you will to have that for meeting so you guys can engage in the conversation so just know that that is that is why you do it so just be very clear about what you're asking be very clear about what you're voting for so that way there's documentation of every decision you make so if somebody comes in and says Mr this way you're like actually the meeting minute says so just do it so when in doubt follow Robert yes sir okay hearing that I'll entertain the motion that uh the two candidates be allowed three to five minutes to give a presentation can I am I allowed to ask a question about this there a discussion or I'll second the motion discussion the motion has been made in second discuss so are we going to have a presentation from our chairman candidates and then they're going to do a statement or they're just doing this the presentation tonight just doing a statement and then I if they want to do both they want to do a high sale yeah you know I mean you know if the if the body agrees you can do your statement but then present a written statement as well and I'll send that out you know to the commission uh before the next meeting can well we want to leave just knowing like who's the chair and who's the vice chair you what are we going to leave KN who's the chair and who's why I'm ask the question no again process just process voted on that no from a process standpoint Miss Veronica proposed a process to nominate yourself and turn in information about your candidacy it is due one week before the April commission meeting oh uh that date escapes me right now but we will make sure you have it in writing um that could include if you vote right now that people get the chance to talk right now or could include not doing that you could just say turn in your candidate statement of interest and then Veronica is going to share that with people ahead of the next meeting at which point there could be further things that you all want like if you want to hear people talk about their candidacy that could take place what will not happened today because of the earlier motion that failed which is why we were talking through all that is that there will not be an election today at least that's what my understanding was because the vote was held do you want to do that today and only four people voted for that which is not a quorum and it's not enough to decide so we're talking right now about what information people need to submit their uh nomination of Interest I hope that's clarifying but procedurally that's my understanding of what's Happening well I think um there's a motion on the floor okay and discussion go in we with the procedure we did we kind of skipped the step because we didn't go through the description of of of what the the chair Vice chair no she just did but oh we voted before we did that okay so that's why they're saying we can't vote on that now I think the confusion is the confusion is we got the instruction after that initial vote in other words when we voted initially the question was did we want to delay selection of chair or not that was the That Was the vote do we want to delay selection of chair now that was because what um ni Nick said was that we needed to have some time to get to know one another to sort things out and think about things then you ask the question who's interested we found out we only have two people interested and one people one person who's interested in being Vice chair so in my mind you know that kind of negated that first issue now we're already into the discussion about uh who we want to be chair and we know who the candidates are now um so my I'm asking well well that's that's not preventing anyone that got the information about the the description and the duties and responsibility of the chair no I know that they got that information and now they can still raise their hand it doesn't exclude anybody no I'm not saying it excluded anybody I'm simply saying that when we initially voted whether we should vote for chair tonight and and there were four saying yes and four extensions what I'm saying is at that moment we didn't know how many people were interested in running now we do it's just two people and so I'm asking that if we had known that before that initial vote that might have been a different vote you know but but we're we're doing this there a motion on the floor now yeah and so if after this motion if someone make want to make another motion yeah we look at it yes ma'am are we able to reintroduce it after the even though the motion has failed Weller it would be somebody on the prevailing side can you speak up just a little I'm sorry um a person who voted on the prevailing side so somebody who well tied so there's no prevailing side but I no the motion failed because it tied so somebody who voted no um can make a motion to reconsider the previous motion and then the body will vote on the motion to reconsider and if that passes then you can vote revote on the motion to have your election and is that person obligated then to vote in the no no okay just thing when were um someone so there were only four yeses and there were at the time no but there were 9 N 10 people someone not so I think in that case that someone do not vote or raise their hand or do anything to people a few people obained yes okay but I don't think I don't like there was only four yeses room of people of like 10 people so I'm just saying the prevailing side at that time is the is it not the six that are like not accounted stains since the motion failed is anybody who somebody anybody who anybody who did not vote Yes I guess somebody from that group of people would have to Red decide so if you would like to you were one of the if that's something that you'd like to do after the motion with one person left does that change anything it doesn't change the Forum because theum is when the meeting started yeah so anyway there's a there's a motion on the floor any more discussion the motion in to allow them tag to speak to allow time to present your statement for running for the position of cheer any more discussion so if I'm correct after they make your statements um are we saying these Commissioners right now no we're waiting till next week to decide after these brothers make their stat if one excuse me excuse me yeah if one person that voted no want to entertain a motion to reconsider then it's up to the board because because what I wanted to say is is I think whoever was a part of the abstaining or the the the no was I no just obain whoever's a who just whoever was a part of that position of the vote um I just want to say that um if these brothers are going to uh make their statements real quick it would just be in the best interest of who was on that side to to to ADM men that if we can real quick that way we can kind of move that's the only way we can do you can't say that can vote please can we can we vot we got to move 10 minutes yeah so we have on we have on the table um to have the two candidates who want to run for the position of chair to make a statement that's the only thing that's on the table right now any more discussion here and not all those in favor say I I propos exensions okay heads and tail H you want to go first or why go um according to um the African-American redress Network our uh the same part Recovery Act Minnesota's ranked second in the nation when it comes to reparations legislation and that's because of the St paa Recovery Act and then the Minnesota migration Act is an extension of the St Paul Recovery Act and both of those came I started the St Paul Recovery Act but it grow it's become what it has become because um I brought community members in to be a part of it we built a lot of community Partnerships with like uh our local NAACP Jewish community actions the BL movement and I've also been able to navigate us to where we're not subject to certain political pitfalls that other reparations uh commissions uh have cumb to or weren't able to to push push through uh Detroit has reached out to us Kansas City has reached out to us St Louis has reached out to us California has reached out to us Commissioners Nationwide have reached out to us to figure out how we got our reparations commissioned up and running and I think because of some of the leadership that I've been able to provide has put our commission at second in the nation and I want to continue to provide the leadership that's going to continue to keep our commission ranked high and also a a model for other uh commissions around the country but then also um people were talking about measurements when you actually really look at this ordinance and look at it we put measurements in there we put there needs to be an evaluation tool in there so a lot of things that um concerns we we were thinking about those concerns before um we were thinking ahead and we were looking at things or questions that might come up and we were a able to answer them and we'll still be able to answer them uh going forward so I want to continue to uh provide the leadership that got us to this point that we're at today thank you thank you you have three minutes this one okay I try to keep brief um I participated in the process of drafting these articles along with brother trar and trar selected me to come into this process for you know part of the expertise that I provided and dealt within the community dealing with reparations we've also organized and reached out and surveyed over 8,000 black families across the T CI St Paul North Minneapolis and the Brookland we also authored the first state reparations bill for the adol of Justice act Chief authored by the now president of the Senate by Senator Champion my concern in the reason why I'm throwing my hat into the ring for the chair is because when we wrote These articles and turned them in there were certain things that were supposed to be non-negotiable that when they came across the table they literally gutted the two main things that put us in a position to get things done and that's making sure that our reach went across both the council's uh Capac capacity and the the city's uh the mayor's capacity we also knew we needed a budget and the late Vic Rosenthal and me fought tooth and nail to make sure that we stopped skipping over the Vitality of a budget and making sure that we understood we can't get anything done if we start out the gate without having resources now the fact that we got it approved is great however I'm not a big fan of symbolism I'm not a big fan of being the first in the nation for anything what I'm what I'm here for is effectivess want to make sure that we're not compromising on critical things that are going to be necessary to make sure that the city is pushed and guided and not paying us lip service not giving us a small little stien here and there or even a budget specifically for the council I want to make sure that we have access to making sure that we're changing ordinances we're influencing and helping to establish policies and critical Investments back into key infrastructure needs in our community that's not going to just be about our standing nationally that's going to be a fight and I and I've been inside of the legislator fighting and making efforts on a state level Municipal level and county level for the last eight years so I'm I'm used to that particular dogmatic fight and that's what I think this is going to end up being thank you thank [Music] you [Music] so we want start [Music] so that would just be no in advance you don't have to you don't have to do that chair I'd like to make a motion that we actually conduct a vote today for chair I second the motion he was he was one of the individuals who obained Okay so then you would just do you have a motion a motion to reconsideration to reconsider yes to reconsider need a second second to V the election to actually conduct the election our motion to that's a reconsideration we don't have discussion just go straight to the motion the motion to reconsider that we go back and hold the vote that we earlier could not get to because it was four to four we didn't get majority all those in favor to reconsider do so by raising your hand or I need second that Mo he second are you second voting you can vote even I can yes you can vote because in this time you're inter so you can you can vote in this the motion carried okay now we vot can put on the table now that someone want to make a motion I'd like to make to make a motion to vote on the chair make a motion to V nominate someone nomin they've already nominated already two nomin we're voting to see who's the chair the nomin there's two though so yeah yeah so this is a whole new motion yes this motion to vote on the chair you have submit so you don't need okay sorry so you have already voted to reconsider so now you are back on the motion you don't motion for the vote of holding the ele so yes so do we just vote motion you're voting on right now is election today you're reconsidering to do the election today we just voted we just voted on so now we just voted to reconsider Ved to reconsider and now you have to vote do it now okay we have to vote I make a motion that we vote on our chair today I second that's already on yeah no okay there first it was Recons now we vote we have an attorney there serving as attorney tonight so you have the Flor got a second discussion vote yeah we just need to vote because we've already got the motion on the table just reconsidering it we got a motion yes there second second it and so all those in favor already okay so you voted to reconsider so now the motion in front of you is the vote of whether or not to have an election so that motion is ahead of you now so a yes vote means you will have an election tonight a no vote means you will not have an election tonight okay all right that's everybody understand that y all those in favor of holding the election tonight do so by saying I raise your hand OPP motion Carri the next motion is nomination for the position you want to nominate I'd like to nominate your her Cruz for chair any other nominations I would like to nominate Nick Mohammed for chair okay any other nominations any other nomination any other nomination Nom i' like to nominate Trey Hearn Cruz for cheer already nominated well no other nominations we already know the other two anyway though we going to the until we find another way of doing we gotta go by white man Robert it just it doesn't work backward we do the nomination so okay we can call um we go a poll or no yeah would you guys rather do a blind Vote or just okay for relation is there anybody who wants to call for roll call Vote or not say again for what roll call or no I'd like to call for a roll call okay all right roll okay so all of those no go Name by name or moham Nick Mohamed on the top of the list Mr Mr blor yeah I'll read each person's name and you can say who you're voting for all right so Joseph um you don't have to say the last name Joseph who are you um Nick Nick Muhammad hey trar who are you voting for trar C okay [Music] Jeremy okay Nyla Nick um um Nick khik were you voting for put on a big boy pants come on said who you voting for Mr Cruz and Nick Nick Muhammed we have to vote okay uh TR is absent and Carl is absent so uh who prevail is turn her with one two three four five and Nick has one two three and we have one extension I'd like to make a motion seven uh oh I'm just like in my head because I'm like it's true though to be so five people voted for Tre Hearn we have a five what does the count for 53 five it is 53 but that is not a forum Forum in this case would be six for your ordinance you need a form you need you need a majority five out of 10 is not a majority six out of 10 is we got four we got eight no she because she was here at the time of the of the and because you have an exension her vote even though it does not count for or against it still counts as a to so the ruling of the parliamentarian is right mearian what is the ruling of the right now do not have you do not have what you were saying what has been established a way to make a decision which is you need to formor you do not have that voting in favor of I candidate you guys can decide what to do with that information hearing that I don't know if we can move forward tonight may have to come back and try it again at the next meeting and y'all can submit your written uh vials to Veronica and she can disseminate that information yeah because we'll have Mr mcco are you still practicing yeah so Carla Carla should be here then that will make maybe that'll make a difference just because we'll have yeah we'll have the number of people here the will be available so so maybe not so can we get can we get order excuse me you can step out there bro and tell yeah thank you yes but for but what's the discussion now so then we would be holding this vote over till or at least to do another vote for the next meeting and what I would need from you then um you know if you want you can still submit your statements in writing and I can circulate that out when I send out the next agenda um and I think we have one she need it because she had she yeah because she didn't from situation you do have two Commissioners one of which were not here and another person who was who was here and left something you may also want to consider in your discussion is whether or not they're you would like to maybe hear where they are in the next vote so just in case so don't feel PR like you do not need to change your votes is what I'm saying basically you don't need to build pressure to switch or whatever you can get the inform and do the vote again but keep in mind you also have additional people who were not here today right so in order once again ring on parliamentarian in order for the vote to be official at the next meeting what's the threshold it's just put if you at the end of the day because of your the way that is set up right now the ordinance you have until you create your bylaw for something else or whatever the Ordinance do in place you need six people to decide on decision because that's quum that's quum that's your majority because you have 11 people on your commission six out of out of 11 that's present for no total that's the total number but even in this case because 10 people were present at the beginning of the meeting it would still be so if in the next meeting seven is Forum at that moment of time would like to have Quorum for the commission is still 11 but to have quum for a vote would be out of set can you summarize the process Verona from here so that this can be the first item yeah from here all I'm asking for is to have your written statement a paragraph of you know what you just said but why you want this particular role and I would need that in a week before our next meeting and I'll take a poll you know I'll do a Google poll to see when our next meeting is and and you know guys even if you give me some ideas now I can can narrow that but I would at least need that statement a week before the next meeting and that would go for even the one person who's expressed an interest in the vice chair now another thing we are asking for is for each of the Commissioners to present a bio of themselves just a one p paragraph you know about yourself your name and you know some information about yourself and that we can share as well with you know the person who wasn't here so essentially when I send out the next agenda I will include the statement of interest for the vice chair position and I mean the chair position and the vice chair position and I'll even include the bio you know so that there's kind of a full picture of you know each um person % but I'm asking all the Commissioners to present a bio and for th those who want to run a statement of Interest along with their bio just to kind of reiterate that now when our next meeting will be um you know I can definitely send out a doodle Poll for that any other saving question heing not entertain a motion to adjourn and I want to thank our council members for hanging there there with yes and our parliamentarian we appreciate you accepting us I hope you can see that we very much want to help you conduct business and get to business you feel the urgency and we want to support effective decision Mak so thank you for allowing us to share this face with you and we want to get it right you know we want to start out on the wrong foot even though the road was a little bumpy we don't get there God will a motion for en all right second second all right all those in okay um and I'm sorry just one other thing there is an evaluation there so you can either fill that out before you go or just email that to me my email address is on there turn the W W9