[music] We are calling the meeting to order for the Community Equity Commission on August 14th. 2025 at 601. At this time, can we have a call for the um roll call? Commissioner Aguumba, Commissioner Ahmed >> here, >> Commissioner John Grass, Chair Lewis Miller >> here, >> Commissioner Msias >> here, >> Commissioner Mucil, >> Commissioner Nelson >> here, >> and Commissioner Schultz. >> Okay, thank you. Are there any additions? Oops, I'm sorry. Uh, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> At this time, are there any additions or deletions or modifications to our agenda? Chair and Commission, there is no additions, deletions, or modifications to the agenda. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Um, do we have any changes to the minutes from July 17th, Commissioner Nelson? >> Um, I did notice that Commissioner Guumba was not listed in either present or absent in case we want that for the record. >> Chair Commission, thank you for pointing that out. We will update. Any other changes? All right. Thank you. Um, do we have a um motion to approve the minutes from July 17th? >> Commissioner Nelson, I move to approve the minutes. >> Thank you. A second. >> I can second that. >> Yes. Thank you. All in favor? >> I I >> I. All right. Thank you. All right. Moving on to business. Uh the first order of business is continued discussion on the equity lens for the council reports and I'll turn it over to Chris for that. >> All right, chair and commission. Um our fancy new setup. Look, he gets to sit here. Um we're going to be talking about proposed equity lens uh review today. Um so why an equity lens? So Savage has committed to inclusion, equity, and transparency uh kind of throughout our processes. This was kind of one of the guiding values from the ready report. Um, an equity lens helps assess the impacts of decisions on diverse communities. Um, just a reminder, this is included in our 2025 work plan and aligns with goal four, connection to the community. Um, one of the like the why to why we have an equity lens is we hope it helps prevent unintended harm or exclusion. Um, helps work toward more fair access and representation. um promotes thoughtful informed decision-making uh helps create kind of a shared language um around equity I think was really important for our staff and community members and also embeds these values into our everyday decision-m um what's really important to me is this really helps make equity part of standard city operations. So that's why we're looking at equity lens. One of the things as we sort of have these conversations about an equity lens and kind of a broader conversation about equity um in our work is as we're making decisions, we should think about who benefits, who may be burdened, um are there unintended consequences for specific groups? Has a community, especially underrepresented groups, been engaged? And then does the action reduce disparities or improve access? Those are kind of the main overarching goals from this. One of the things too that I've found um is successful for kind of broader thought practices like this is making sure that staff is also able to answer these questions in short and effective um ways to increase participation. We had some initial discussions and I presented this the last meeting but we had some initial discussions with our leadership team kind of about a our proposed equity lens that you see in front of you and these are some things that they were we thought we should talk about as we're continuing this discussion. One is people are worried about difficulty identifying who's impacted and how. Um people are worried about how to apply an equity lens to something that's like purely statutory. We have a lot of statutory stuff. We cover a lot of stuff on our consent agendas. That's we're selling, you know, x, y, and z. We're selling a truck. Here's how we have to do it per state statute. There is no flexibility for us to deviate from the process. Um, people are understandably worried about how their writings and wording will be perceived. So, folks with good intentions don't want to be penalized if somebody misconstr, etc. Um, I think there's still understandable worry about identifying how we should be doing better, but recognizing that we also have limited staff time, um, resources, and just sometimes the ability to translate stuff like, you know, we can translate four different languages, but we have 23 different languages in our city. How do we reach everybody there? Uh, there's some uncertainty about when to apply the lens, which is great because that feeds into our future discussion here. And then just kind of that continued challenge of we're trying to do this work, but how do we bring in people if they don't always want to interact with us? So those are kind of the broad items that I heard from our leadership team around the equity lens. I think what was really cool is this was a here's some things for you to think about and the CC to think about as we're having these conversations. Basically, [snorts] they're like, "We support this, but we would just like some direction from staff and some particularly support from like equity team members, I guess, as we kind of continue to roll this out and then as we roll it out to support staff. Um, so what I prepared is an equity lens review worksheet. I also prepared kind of a proposed question to include on the council packet. And then third, one thing we should talk about kind of after those conversations is at what point and kind of how does this go into the policy process. Um, so I think those are kind of the three questions I'm looking for direction from this uh commission tonight. Um, first kind of the racial equity worksheet. What it's really asking is who's most affected and then kind of looking for equity outcomes. Does this improve or worsen disparities? um trying to find opportunities to improve equity just kind of in our standard process too. That's one of the cool things about this is doesn't always have to hurt folks. Sometimes we're like, "Oh, great. We can actually do a better job doing this by doing X, Y, and Z." Um, one of the things to think about, too, is long-term impacts. So, what, you know, what are the things we're not thinking about? What are the things, you know, 15, 20, 25 years down the line, we will see impacts from these decisions? Um, we also tied this worksheet into priorities based on the ready report. And since our last conversation at the last meeting in July, we have updated to include um feedback from the commission. That includes adding info and demographics and then also updating definitions to include some that were mentioned in that meeting and then tying the current definitions to some definitions that were already in the ready report. So really kind of tightening all this up. So at that um oh and I can talk about this too. One of the things also to discuss is there are also four options on when to apply an equity lens. So first option and this is always an option that we should always consider is we can just do nothing. We don't need to uh adopt an equity lens. Um we can continue to work as we're doing it kind of as it comes up. Um we can also look at including it not on the council report but just something that will be additional um support to staff as they're making decisions. Just something they can use internally. Um, we can also look at having it not have it as a council item, but have it as something that goes to the equity commission. Basically, that would make the equity commission serve more as a research review function of projects, more like a planning commission does. And then finally, we can also include it on the staff report for council. So, as we're having these broader conversations, I think I'd like input on kind of where you see the equity lens being applied in this process, too. kind of as I said, what I'm asking for tonight is input on the um worksheet and then additional conversations too on what the you know where in the policy process should this be put in. Um I think what I want to remind everyone is this is this is a big project we're working on. >> So we don't need to make all the decisions tonight. I know there's probably a couple commissioners that would like to put more input onto this too. So I think again talk through what we currently have here. If there's any additional things staff should look at, staff should add, remove, etc. We can do that. Um and then you know we can plan to bring this back at the next CC meeting. So at that point I'll open it up for discussion. Thank you Chris. Chris could you go back to the slide um where it it gave us options. >> I think it was maybe two that one. There it is. Yes. So I think um at our last meeting um in July we did not this one the that one. Yes. At at our last meeting in July we did talk about the first one and we we kind of ruled that out said well we're not going to just do nothing. Um so that kind of eliminates that for us if everybody was I think we were all in agreement with that from our last meeting. Is that correct? Did we make note of that? I think at the last meeting I would say there is strong opposition to the do nothing but there wasn't a final decision. >> Okay. >> Um but again it's I wanted to include it because it's always an option but that was my general uh feel was that the commission was not going to ultimately select that option. >> Okay. Um at this time can um do we have a motion to rule that out so that we can just focus on the others? >> Chair and commission. You don't you don't need to make a motion I would say on that and you can just I will just note that moving forward. So go ahead. All right. Can I can I ask you something cheer? So, was there a vote on on this that the commission formally addressed those options in in a in a formal way and show of hands or something or or no? >> Uh, chair commission. Um, we just kind of talked broadly about this [clears throat] uh last meeting. Um, there was no formal vote. I think this is one of the ones we're just starting to talk through what an equity lens look back look like and kind of get some direction on what what we want to do. Um, so at this point or at at last meeting there was no formal vote to approve or adopt just kind of directions for what staff or what the CC wanted at the next meeting. >> Right. So at this time we're not making any final decisions. We're this is all open for discussion to lead us to that point eventually because this will take some time. >> Yes. >> Are we are we able to comment a little bit? Are we able to comment, >> chair commission? Yes. I would love comments. Um you also if you wanted to make a formal motion you can. you you don't need to. This again, we're just I think talking through what we currently have in front of you, seeing if there's anything that we want more information on, if there's additions, subtractions, um just kind of getting that that broad review here. >> Now, I was out of town like for the last meeting, so I just want to make some three broad really comments. Um whenever you talk about equity, I've seen over and over and over there is a misconception that it only applies at certain group or certain people. So whatever we do in my mind has to apply to the entire community of Savage and it has to support our mission and vision for for the community of of making this a welcoming uh place for everybody. So that's that's one thing that's you that's in my head. Um the second comment I have is you had talked about one of the options was should it be coming back to the CC for some review similar to the planning commission. In my mind, having worked with organizations, it's most effective when you have a change that it not be a separate entity that checks or approves that it has to be a working part of what we do. And that that would be a lot more effective uh and and that applies for quality that applies for any change whatsoever. It has to be who we are and what we do. The third piece is um the word equity in the current times immediately brings about a lot of misconceptions and a lot of angst. So I think the education and awareness and the critical question of how does it help the city of Savage to move forward and to reach our stated goals as a city. that that connection has to be very crystal clear in my mind and I think uh we will need the city will need an ongoing uh education awareness campaign you know whatever you call it because otherwise there will be a lot of misconceptions. So those are the three things that I wanted to share. Thank you. >> Thank you uh commissioner for sharing. Um I agree with you um with a few changes um as far as my perception of equity. Equity is for all >> with a focus on those under reppresented groups that feel they do not belong. And we have to keep those groups in mind when we look at equity when we look at what is equitable for everyone because um what you do for one group may not be the same for another group. in order to make it equal. So, we do have to keep that in mind also. >> Uh but thank you for sharing. >> Yeah. >> Others. Yes. Commissioner. >> Yes. >> Okay. Um couple thoughts and I know our conversation might keep going. First of all, I noticed the comment about staff I think not wanting to be penalized or called out or called in. Um, and I think one of our roles as an equity commission is to really promote the fact that everybody's on their own journey and in different places >> and I know much [clears throat] more than I knew 5 years ago in part because of circumstances and I have so much more to learn. Um, so when you talk about bringing in just general education to the community, we're on the equity commission. We all have different spots where we are in our journeys. I would want staff to feel really comfortable in that because if we step back for fear of misststepping, we don't make progress. Y >> so I think we have to be really supportive of staff who are willing to try. Um >> a couple other thoughts uh in terms of the groups that you mentioned that are typically more marginalized. Um I know um when I've worked on some efforts sometimes we've pulled the language from I don't know if it's statute under the human rights or whatever but who are the protected classes and have that mentioned at least once. Um so that you can refer to that generally after. So yes like there's racial equity but we also have to we're in a climate that's not friendly to LGBTQ people right now. we are in looking at I saw one of your examples was making um an accessible entrance where we don't have one and those are all protected classes. So I think that would help educate us all and and think more broadly. Um certainly the ready task force had a racial focus but that would help us drive home the idea that there are several groups who are marginalized. Um, I like what, um, Commissioner Ahmed said about not being an afterthought as a commission. Um, and I don't think it's necessarily even our role, but part of equity is giving someone a seat at the table and respecting them and listening to them as discussions are happening rather than reviewing afterward. I don't know what that means, and I know there's been talk in the past about does the city have someone who plays kind of an equity role on the team. I know budget is tight and timing is tight. Um but that's just something I'd like us to keep in mind like who's at the table while the discussions happen. >> Yeah. >> Right. Um so that those are my some of my initial thoughts and I wanted to add even as we're talking about options like there's something about some people make agendas and they just make a simple equity question at the top of the agenda just to remind them who is this serving who is this not and what are the implications. So as you go through your business you're just reminded of that. So, thank you for all the stuff you've put together for us to consider. >> Wonderful. J Christian, I think that's great. I think one of the things, too, um, is this initially was a racial equity lens, so we removed that again to try to be more encompassing of everybody here. So, I think that's really important. I like the inclusion of the protected class verbiage. I just think that's >> that's a little bit of an elevated thing that people should be mindful of. Um, >> it reminds us it's legal. >> Yeah. >> Um, that's it is legal. I do think one of the the interesting parts about this process is I mentioned I had the conversation with leadership about like here's what this looks like here's what roll out looks like and I I heard very strongly that we're supportive but we don't we don't want to get in trouble our staff is so one of the things that I've proposed I will do is I'm going to review all the staff reports um to make sure I can help people along that journey and one of the cool things I helped other cities do this is at a certain point people start going oh okay I can do this this isn't that scary like there's things I should be thinking out. So I think that initial time it will take some additional staff time specifically for me so I feel comfortable committing to that staff time um and just kind of helping staff along with that and it's it's really cool because at a certain point you become a really good resource for kind of everybody and people know to come to you. So I think that'll be good. One thing I also wanted to mention is we still have sort of big ticket items, you know, looking at updating certain policies. We're updating the city code, updating the zoning code, etc. we still plan to bring those items to the CC or if there's something in particular that we're like this has there's a lot here that we should talk through more fully we still plan to use the CC as a resource for those conversations. Um but we just kind of you know to the broader point here we just want this to be part of people's everyday work. So when you're looking at let's maybe not truck is a good example but when you're looking at what vendors maybe the equity plan helps you if you're looking at the placement of a bench or you know where something goes this will help kind of start those thoughts in people's minds. >> Okay. I think um John Grass and Marcus John Grass you want to go first. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, so like I mentioned before, I'm all for using more data to make these decisions, but we got to definitely think about who this affects and broaden it as as much as we can. So the when I was out for night to unite, I talked to pretty much every group I went to about this and why I think it's a great idea when we do this for city policy. And the example I kept using was looking at how we do snow removal. And I think that's the classic example where you know historically we might do something like emergency roadways, major roadways like the secondary roadways and so on down the path. >> Whereas you know maybe it would make sense if someone were to use an equity lens where they might still do the emergency roadways and then the major roadways but then they might look at where maybe there are some um people that rely more on uh public transportation and then we focus on those areas. or maybe there's an elderly community that might need it more than some other communities. Uh, and we may not do anything differently, but at least we thought about it. >> Uh, and we put the consideration into it. Like those are the kind of things that I think about more when I say when I think of at least using an equity lens to make decisions that we don't just keep doing the same thing over again. We make a conscious decision to think through things before we just keep doing them over and over again. And everyone that I talked to on night two nights seemed pretty pretty into that no matter where they were when we first heard the term. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> Chair commission. I think that's such a great example because there is so many equity considerations in snow plowing as you mentioned. It's you know arterials or main roads versus sidewalks versus when you plow. there's ticketing, towing, like it's it's there's every part of that has equity considerations within it. So, I think it's a great example. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, thank thank you uh chair and thank you everybody. I I do agree with everybody that has has spoken here. Um I do think that we need to be intentional about the community impact in in and surface that. Um that being said, I would like to uh also be careful with how much are we trying to force something um when it's not necessary, right? And I think your staff has there will be areas of ambiguity in terms of are we perhaps favoring a a underrepresented at the expense of not getting the best result or or maybe not getting the the the the best for the city of Savage. Right. Commissioner Matt mentioned that we need to look at this for everybody whether you're white or black or brown or something in between. So um as much as some of these ideas on paper sound really good I've seen this especially in the private sector where uh it can it can create more problems than solutions sometimes um and again my point is that we need to be intentional about community impact. Um, but we also need to understand that we're doing this for everybody and and be at a practical level really trying to say what what are we gaining for this? If if there's areas where we can adjust yet, by all means. But if there are areas where we might not be getting as this as the city of Savage the best service, the right ser the the right the what can I say this? The right service, the right communication, the right feedback, the right output by trying to force this too much, then I think we're all losing and and and at the end of the day, that's not what we want. So I'm all for the idea of having a intentional community impact. uh but I would like to be cautious that we don't force it too much. Uh there will be areas where underrepresented people might not like the decision. The the the the opposite would be even worse, right? That to to serve or or to appeal for the 2% we aggravate or get the worst service for the 98%. So we need to be conscientious about uh the overall picture and and and who really gets the benefit regardless of of what some of our language says there. My my comments. >> Yeah, chair commission. I think that's a great point. Um, I think this is one of the things you we wave. So, do we, you know, require something? Do we say you must, if you do this, you must do this? I don't think that's what this is. This is just saying, hey, council, we're giving you information. Here's some considerations. Council at their level, they gets to make that policy decision. So, kind of what they get to weigh that. Same with any of our financial impacts, any other impacts. Say, "Yeah, do you want to buy a firetruck? It'll be $3 million. It's your call. You can buy it now. We can wait five years. it'll be $5 million. I think that's kind of what this serves is we're not saying if this then this. We're saying council here's some information. This will kind of guide your decisions, guide your conversations. We can answer we can give you more information if you want. Sometimes, you know, if this gets to a point like, oh, this seems like it's really impacting a small group of people. Well, you know, let's let's table something. Let's reach out to them and say, hey, let's talk through maybe there's a better solution. So, I think that's kind of what this tool function as. >> Thank you. >> Thank you, Chris. Um, yes. Commissioner, >> I uh Commissioner MSAS, thank you for your feedback. Um I appreciate that. One thing I'd like to tease out, if you're willing, a little bit is the comment about if we favor certain people, then other people will lose. And I don't know if I'm hearing you correctly, and in my opinion, it's it's not pie. If we take care of people who weren't getting help with these services, there's not suddenly straight white people who are getting less, for example. But I'm not sure I'm hearing it right. So to be fair, I' I'd love to tease that out. So I've just seen similar comments online sometimes and I'm not sure I'm hearing it correctly. So >> if I may. So here's where I'm going. >> Yes. >> Let's say to to play with the idea of plowing, right? We need to plow. >> Um one can say that uh the the quote number one came at a dollar amount. Um and it's cheaper and and and and equal than other services. but a company that's owned by a minority, you know. So, what I'm trying to say is that we as a city should not favor the services of plowing to a minority just because it's a minority where we can get for the city of Savage the best service for somebody else that might not be a minority. I've worked in a lot of companies that do this and believe it or not and the intentions are good, but at the end of the day, you are not getting the best for what we're paying as tax services. That's what I'm trying to say to look at this inclusively. If if in this example, right, the the the plowing services is owned by a minority and is cheaper, by all means, everybody wins. But I would be I would be I want to be careful that we don't maybe the term I don't know what the term is that we don't favor that we don't artificially go one way or the other um in the spirit of just addressing equity side of things at this expense of not getting the best services the best feedback the best bang for our buck for the city. That's what I'm saying. Commissioner Nelson, does that make sense to you? >> Could I just make a brief response and then go to you? Um, I appreciate that. And what I would want to be careful of is one of our ready report results and our work on a commission is to engage with more minorityowned businesses, etc. I'm not saying if they're twice the cost that that wouldn't be a city issue. I want to be sensitive, but if we're really thinking about food vendors and snow plows and whatever else, that's part of our mission. That's what the Ready Report came up with. So, um, if we continue to just go on sort of a meritocracy, whoever's got the lowest dollar, I don't know if we'll move forward in our work. Um, I'm not suggesting fiscal irresponsibility or anything like that. But I do think from where I sit in my privilege seat. I could feel that way. But I have to be willing to say if I were in these shoes, if no one gave me a break, if I have been um systemically held back for generations and I'm behind everybody else, it's the graph that that um uh Swan Chris put up. The equity and the equality. Equality is whoever's got the lowest bid. equity is who's been marginalized and is it a is it a good deal for us still to to elevate them and give them a seat and a chance. So that's sort of my thoughts. Thank you for sharing. >> Thank you. Can I just jump in and and say something? So when I when I think about everything that everyone's saying, you know, looking at what the city's doing, looking at our population, it's it's about the city, let's say, okay, the city's here and and our populations here and then some populations even down here. Going back to the slide you just had up, the city should be looking at what are we doing for the people here and here and here to get everybody here together. And it's not so much pushing anything on anybody. It's what are we doing to support people so that they are all receiving equal treatment. Um it's equitable for everyone because everyone's not starting out on the same plane. And that goes to your marginalized groups and other people. You know, we have immigrants, everyone that is um in the city just trying to make it. And so how do we look at everyone in the city to get them all on the equal plane? So when they come to the city for support, for help with the police, with the fire, with just uh city questions, are the city staff, looking at everyone equally and treating them that way, or are they brushing certain people off and saying, "Well, you should have just looked online and you should have known that." You know, those those kind of examples. You just can't do that. It's it's about helping everyone, especially if it's uh someone that is speaking u another language other than English or uh they they're new to the city and they just don't know what's going on here or they have questions. So that's the way I'm seeing that all of this should be working. Um John Grass and then um Amed >> I'll just make one comment on the equity lens thing and the snow plowing example. We care more about like the order they're plowing and the outcomes than who's actually doing the plowing. We don't in this example, we don't care at all about who's doing the plowing. Agree. That doesn't matter anything. That city makes that as a separate >> separate decision entirely. We don't have any input on that. >> We care more about who's being affected by the plowing, the statutes around it. Those are the things that would go into like the equity lens discussion, not the actual who's doing the plowing. the city puts that out for bid and makes a different discussion and that that really wouldn't be in the equity lens discussion at all. >> Good. >> That would be a separate separate ball of acts. >> Thank you. >> The comment that I wanted to make is just in the last 10 minutes the conversation is really at the heart of how do you apply equity. Mhm. >> I don't think anybody is suggesting that you lower quality or you hire a subpar employer do do something that lowers the quality of life in Savage. And the same thing applies and I'm 100% sure our police chief would not hire a police officer if he or she did not meet the qualification and was subpar. But I'm also sure if the police chief has a goal that he is looking for different racial mixes, he would be make that choice because that's what managers do. That's what management is there for. So I think it's a balance and and and uh um if we only go with you know what's the majority then we will never make any progress >> right >> in this topic. So it has to be intentional, >> but I don't think anybody is suggesting that we're compromising quality or standard or the value to this hit city. Absolutely not. So >> y if I may, thank you for qualifying that and I agree with you. My my my comment was not about subpar. What I was trying to say is that and I've seen this in in the private sector that when you create special circumstances, you might overlook the big picture and you target in the spirit of helping, in the spirit of equality, in spirit of equity, other areas that might not create the best outcome for everybody. And that's what I want to say. The best outcome should be for everyone. of course keeping an idea or or or um you know underrepresented people that did not start at a playing field. I agree with all of that. So I I just hope that you understand my point as a taxpayer that if we need to be intentional about community impact. We need to understand what what what can we do to elevate to understand those folks that are starting that might not speak English but at the same time that we get the biggest bang for the buck >> and that we do not compromise the the and and you know I kind of disagree a little bit with the idea of the majority right you're right like you can't you can't force you can't make everybody happy uh but we do live in a democracy and unfortunately majority kind of rules right it's it's something that just works with with how we operate as society that we cannot just uh stop doing something uh or or or not do something that everybody wants uh because that that one or two% might might not like it, right? And I understand that there's uh there's there's a lot of peeling in that onion. So, I just wanted to say I fully agree with the intention. I just want to make sure that we are careful in in how we cast this net and that our targets are clear based on the idea of really helping everybody um and not over What can I say? Not not over just be careful about how we implement it. I'll I'll leave it there. >> Yeah. Chair Commission, I I think this tool helps accomplish all that because I think one of the things is, you know, historically people do not have access to the resources that come with being a city vendor. This helps make sure that we can address those issues as we go through those processes. So, snow plowing, you know, we're going to hire out $2 million worth of contracts for private or not private, public property, parking lot snowplowing. Great. Historically, there's been two companies that apply. Well, let's try to figure out why those other companies are not applying. >> And then, you know, if they apply and they're $4 million and these two are $2 million, maybe we say, "Well, we maybe should talk to this other company because why is it $4 million, not $2 million, maybe they misunderstood what the what the scope of work was. Maybe they entered something wrong because we all have done that. You know, hit a four instead of a two." So, I think that's way just kind of being like as we're having those conversations, as we're looking at these things that come up in our work, how can we make sure that everyone is more able to have access to the work we do? >> I'm just going to add one more comment. Um, when you look at the staffing, and we talked about this in the ready task force, um, I know that all the different departments are always looking at how can we get more um, people of color in different positions such as in the police department, in the fire department, in city hall, and I know that's something they've been working on. So these are examples of of what we're doing here in the city to try to um equalize things so that there's more representation of the people that we have in the city. So that's another example to keep in mind too >> and that's I think that's a great example like one of the things whenever a new job comes up we look at everything that's required for that job >> because historically we're like you know maybe you need a bachelor's maybe you need a masters that's not true for a lot of the jobs we have and I think by saying you know how can we get somebody who maybe wouldn't have access to this job who still meets everything we want we get no loss of service how can we make sure they feel they have the opportunity to to apply for that job and be successful. So I I agree cats kind of this will help us in those conversations. >> Can I say >> Oh yes, >> I want to thank you for the statistics you gave us or the data because one thing I noted is that Savage tends to have a higher percentage of populations of non-white people um than Scott County or Minnesota. >> And that gives us more to think about as we go forward. I I was quite surprised how much higher in some areas. Um and secondly, I mean there there comes a turning point where we become a welcoming community that draws more citizens to Savage because they do feel safe here and heard. So, um I I I want to really thank you for the effort that went into putting that together for us. It was really eye opening >> and yes, I I agree with that. Um uh when I came out here in 1994 uh it looked way different than this >> and uh so I I was pleasantly surprised. It's like all right but anyway I just wanted to share that. >> Um Chris at this time um what else do you need from us around this? Uh we had a discussion last at our last session very good discussion so far this session. Um, did you want us to focus on any paragraphs from some of the other um, statements from other communities or >> chair and commission? I I think more this is just kind of again kind of a check-in um, to make sure we're kind of on the right path. >> Um, I am at this time going to add the protected class. I think that's a good term to have there too. >> Okay. >> Um, I don't know if there's anything you want changed, updated. I think again just I think it'll look pretty similar to what we have here um as we kind of get to those final meetings on this. But I just wanted to make sure I'm not going wild card on you on any part of this. So I get if there's stuff you want to see added, if there's stuff you want to see deleted, if we want to tighten anything, so make it down to one page for the um the demographic summary, we could do that, too. If you wanted to add, you know, we can add cities, we could remove state, county. I I think this to me I was like, well, this is really cool to have this sheet. So, I don't know if there's anything else we're missing. >> Would it help for our next meeting to just kind of have a summary of what we've discussed at this meeting so that people that are not here can see that in order for us to move forward with this? Would that help? I I would have appreciated one from last time, but I know it was also in the minutes, but just not as it's not quite the same when you record it for minutes. Um is there a transcript or I don't know if we're allowed to do that, but um to not create work. >> Chair and commission, we don't have a transcript. We do have the recording um which should be available, but if you want, I can kind of summarize this too and maybe a little more more bullet points from the actual minutes. So, that's very doable for me. >> Okay. one. >> Yes. >> One other question I have was u [clears throat] the having Savage within Scott County in Minnesota is very helpful and I don't know how much work it went to get this data. >> I would love to see how do we compare to our surrounding communities. You have Shakipi, you have Prior Lake, you have Apple Valley >> and and if it's if the data is coming from the same source, maybe it's not too much work, but I wouldn't want to create a lot of work just to get that, but would be good to see how are we unique from the other communities. >> Chair and Commissioner, would that be something you want included in this one pager or just kind of additional information or something information conversation? >> I it'll be very easy to pull this information. >> It would be helpful. It would be very helpful. So, so what communities would you like to see? >> I'm talking about our surrounding. You have uh Shakipi. >> Yeah. >> You have Prior Lake and you have uh Burnsville. >> Burnsville. Okay. >> All right. Go ahead. >> At least those three. >> All right. Thank you. Any more discussion um before we move on or are we missing anything from this discussion? All right. We'll continue this at our next um meeting in uh September. Um Christa, did you have anything else with this before we move on? >> Sharing commission. Nope. That was great direction. I will pull that additional information. We will talk at the September meeting. >> Okay. Thank you. So, our next item is discussion on the Savage welcome week plan. And I'm just going to ask the first question. Do we have a proclamation set up? >> Chair and commission. We have a proclamation set up. It'll be the first meeting in September. Let me confirm that. Um I would love to invite members of the commission to be there. That is the 8th. September 8th. >> Now, is that the proclamation that we've had from before? >> Chair Commission. That's the proclamation we've had from before. If you want to update it, um you can update it. I think it's a great proclamation. Um >> I think that's the one I wrote, too. >> Yeah, I believe it's the one you wrote. So, >> all right. Thank you. Yep. I will uh send out meeting out meeting invite out to see who can make it uh to that meeting. Um we'd love to have the more the marrier there. >> And when is that? >> September 8th. >> September 8th at >> uh 7 p.m. >> Okay. Thank you. Is there anyone that can be there? Otherwise, I'll probably show up. Okay, I'll be there. All right. So, let's let's talk about welcome week. Uh, what are your thoughts, Chris? >> Wonderful. Well, so we're planning um after direction from the commission last meeting, we're planning to do a welcome week event again this year. Um, so welcome week runs from September 12th through the 21st. Um, so we kind of wanted to talk about what that looks like. Um, and kind of what what what you want to do or what you want to have at that. So last year I believe we asked questions about kind of equity related items. Um that seemed to be a pretty good success. I know there's been talk about kind of getting more information on what the CEC is doing and some of their um accomplishments this year. So I can kind of if that's something you want to dive into more, I can pull some of that information together. Um and then just try to figure out. So we have September 14th or the 21st are both Sundays. So, we could pick either one of those. Excuse me. I will send a uh meeting availability out to everyone and probably just choose between either of those two um what has the most availability. So, that's my plan. Um again, just open it up to what the commission wants to see at that table. Um and then anything else that you want to talk about at this time. >> Okay. Uh, Commissioner Nelson, >> having just come off of uh Dan Patch Days in our table there, um, we made a few notes about things there in terms of trying to engage the community. One is I I there may be no budget, right? But like if we could just have big balloons or something where people go, what's going on down there? Because um, you know, if you're kind of tucked in away in the corner. Um, the equity questions are great, but um, similar to what you said too about the the staff worrying if they don't know or they misstep, I wonder if equity could be more about some stories or sharing or books than quizzing people. Um, I don't know if that makes sense. Um, did >> you know what I'm saying? Like, do you know who was the first blah blah blah and then they get a little anxious if they don't, but we taught them right afterwards. So I is there other back way in um [clears throat] to or even make it easier like >> yeah um another thought too I think we talked about also I noticed some people at Dan Patch um who was it uh I don't know if the police had that or someone else but they what is that one game the big thing you throw the bean to get it in a >> cornhole >> cornhole cornhole >> yes and if they get it in of course they get a prize But they have to ask answer a question in order to get the prize or something along that line where there's more action activity too. >> Yeah. >> Um you know that's a thought >> that I feel like you put cornhole out people will come over and be like what's this? I'm going to do it. >> There was nothing to make them come over and we were often almost luring the kids in to get a treat just to talk to the adults. So, it's like if the kids go a mom and dad follow and maybe it's get one of those bean bags in and you get to pick which sparkly uh factors, you know, heroic person of, you know, from who has came from another country or whatever to just help us build our board or um I just I more ways to entice and um drawing the kids gets the adults, >> right? That's what I was thinking. >> Yeah. and and and perhaps even a bigger board that just says highlights from since the equity commission started that adults can even just be looking at or talking to us about because then we would be trying to say here's who we are here's what we do here's what we whatever I mean I could print something up and get it put on foam core or something but you probably have resources here so that my thought was just like how did we don't go tada um and I think we have a banner or something we used before that we didn't have at and patch days. I think that's nice. >> Right. Right. >> Um and yeah, I mean even a photo booth, like let's have photos of people because welcome week is honoring people who've come into America, right? So maybe we have fun photos at a photo booth that you could pick your favorite hero who came from another country and take a selfie to take home on your phone because now you have something to talk about if you're a kid or even an adult could do it with you. And and I'd like to add now that you're you're brainstorming that. >> Yeah. I'm a big talker when I >> if we have a round board with different faces on Yeah. from history. >> Yeah. >> Um they have to be able to um mark how many of those they know. >> Yeah. That's another way to do it, >> you know. Um and kids and adults can do that and that would be a fun activity too. And um I don't know if that requires prizes with that or if they get two they get two pieces of candy. If they get one, one. >> If they get none, they still get one. You know, things like that. Um Oh, sorry. >> But that would be fun. >> Do you think that you remember when we had the library out too for Junth, the library books? I don't know if they'd feel safe having them at the farmers market. Um or if any of us have our own that we could bring. But that was something interesting that people stopped and picked up and looked at or looked through or read a book to their kid or you know I I'll throw extra folding chairs in my car in case someone wants to sit and read a book. But >> just how do we engage and slow them down? >> I think books might be a little hard because of our space that we have. That would be fun because I have a lot of kids books I could bring, you know. Um but I think that would really it would be hard that space. Yeah. >> Yeah. But suggestions Yeah, I think I think the picture one kind of like with the the game board we had >> uh maybe we do the picture board instead >> um with different and you know we can gather lots of pictures >> chair and commission. So what I'm I'm my brain isn't that visual sometimes and not that creative. Um, so you'd have like a picture board of like famous faces and like in theory you could like say who that is and then that would we have like little hints on who that like what's this look like? >> What does it look like? >> Yeah. I'm >> so So let's say you have all these pictures of people from history. >> Yeah. >> And they say, "Oh, I know who that is." And they have to come up with the name. Okay. >> And then underneath it'll have the name just in case >> all of us forget to. Um, and then uh for however many they guess and and I'd say we we could have anywhere from 15 to 20 on this. Um, which means someone's going to have to copy off the pictures and put them on a board. Um, and from that they would get some type of prizes. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Maybe it wouldn't have to be round. >> It wouldn't have to be round. It could be square. I'm just I'm just visualizing round, but it doesn't have to be that way. Jerry Commission, I think this would be something. I don't know if this group wants to [clears throat] just send me lists of people and then we can I can print them off. I don't if if we go to that many, so 15 to 20, I feel like we'd have little tiny heads. So, you may want a little bit bigger. >> Well, I was thinking kind of tiny like Yeah. to get get them all. And I have I have a poster board, too, to put some on. >> You know, >> we we can get it. The city has we can do poster boards. Um, so I don't know if you want to send me people that we think we should include and I can print it off and I can I can cut them out. Um, and we can go with that route. That sounds like a fun art project. Um, >> that would be nice if you could send out an email say send me um historical figures for um, welcome week. >> Yes, >> I do have a comment too and I following what you're saying. I have seen this before where um, imagine like a fun fact, right? Like >> yeah, >> you know, if we piggyback on this one, 11%, what does that mean for savage, right? And and you would somebody would have that that's the percent of foreignb born, right? Or or number of police officers or even something that is really uh specific to Savage. Some statistics that you know you might not think about um that the you know, not only would you bring them to um play with us, but also to get information very specific to Savage, right? like the demographics, the where does the money go, right? Uh how much goes to the police, some of those fun statistics that we get all the time. Um might be a good, you know, the data is there already and would be a good way to again entertain and inform at the same time. Um it is welcome week at the end, right? And so >> thank you for the savage theme would be a good one. >> Yeah, thank you. Now, now I'm visually visualizing two boards, an adult board and a kids board >> because this caters more to adult adults. Yeah. kids, they're like, "I don't know. Why do I want to know that?" You know? >> So, just just a thought. >> Yeah. And I like I I like it. I think it's cool because I do I think and I I I kind of like the people because you identify that the numbers, too, because you do the people that draws you in. Then you're like, "What's 11%. That's an interesting number. Oh my gosh, I didn't know that." So, yeah. >> Yeah. Good suggestions. >> Yes. >> I'd be willing to, if you like the selfie idea, do my own look up some people to get approval. laminate them at home, put them on sticks and make a little selfie box and we could just have a sign they stand in front of either City of Savage or welcome week or celebrating those who've come from other countries or whatever and then they go home, you know, hey, take a quick selfie here and there can be, you know, a little information sheet or something I could type up and make copies of that is like, you know, here's the five selfies you could pick from. So, whoever you picked, here's your information. Cool. >> Um, that way it doesn't become a work project for you, but I'm just that's something mom and kid can do together. Dad and >> Yeah. >> kid, excuse me. So, I don't know if that idea sounds good, but I don't want to put more on you. >> I think that's that's great. I think people like taking selfies. Be fun because you can hashtag Savage. I think I did that right. Um, so I think that'd be fun. I think also then inherently we'll probably get people in line to do the other stuff so it keeps people busy as grab and be like, "Oh, this is Rosa Parks or something like that." So, >> yeah. >> Um, and if there's stuff I need to print off, you can send it to me and I'll print it. >> Okay. Well, so we have what, three suggestions now? >> Yep. We have three suggestions. So, we have [clears throat and cough] Well, kind of three. I would say three and a three in a board cornhole idea. I think we should maybe try to keep that too if we have one just to draw people in. So, then we'd have the cornhole there available. We'd have the face and facts board and then we'd have the selfie sticks. >> Okay. Is everyone all right with that? Any Okay, good. All right. Thank you. Anything else for welcome week? [clears throat] >> Okay, with that we'll move on toformational updates. Chris, [clears throat] >> wonderful. Uh chair and commission. Um, just a reminder, we have the tour of the Scott County Center for Entrepreneurship this coming Wednesday, August 20th. Uh, if you want to attend, please send me an email. That is at 7:15 in the morning at Dean Lakes Education Center in Shakipi. Uh, we have the city shredding event that is 8:23 2025, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. at the Savage Sports Center. That is a free event for Savage residents. Uh, we have the Oh my gosh, the mural. If you've not seen it, it's amazing. Um, so we have the mural celebration, uh, Tuesday, September 2nd from 5:30 to 6:30 at the Savage Public Library. They have been it's it's amazing. It looks so cool. They got that up there so quick. They're doing the fishing touches. It's so much fun to see like already the impact of people going to library, stopping, looking at it. Employees are like, "What's that? What's going on?" It's I'm really excited for that. Um, we have the last Treats and Tunes September 16th from 5 to 7:00 p.m. at Creek Hill Park. We have the historical tour of Savage 9 or September 20th, 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Um, if you have an interest, I think I forwarded that, but also send me an email. I will send that information out. We had the Little Fall Fest in Apple Dash and that's uh September 27th at the Wildflower Early Learning Center 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. That sign up is actually on the wreck page. And then finally, we have the DEI Commission Forum. That is September 30th, 6 to 8, I think that should say PM. Yep. PM at the Minnotonka Community Center. Um Amina and I went last year and it was really cool. There was, I think, 50 plus uh people who attended. That's both staff who do equity work and commissioner members and a couple elected officials. We got to talk with other commissioners about what they're doing. Um talk about kind of what they're seeing in their communities, what they're working on. It was a really, really fun experience. It was really fun to get to meet other people doing this work. So, I would highly recommend if you can make it um to go um if you want to attend uh please in email uh Corine and if you could CC me that'd be appreciated. Then I if we get to a quorum then I can just notice it. So, >> okay. Thank you. >> That's all I have for tonight. >> Great. >> Commissioners, do you have anything to add? >> I I have a quick question if you don't mind. Is this is the tour of Savage is that do you drive yourself? Is there a bus? How does that work? Do you know? >> I believe there is a bus. >> There is a bus. I did go last year and everyone gets on the bus and they drive you around Savage and show you what they've been working on in different areas. Um land that is open that they're thinking about doing something with. It was it was really interesting and um our city administrator kind of headed it up and talked about the city and the plans that are going on. >> So it will be I I've been on one I think it was the planning commission used to do this. So it would be somebody speaking in the boss, right? Is there a fee for that? Do you know >> chair and commission? So there's actually um >> what was it what you attended Gail last year was the um or or chair my apologies was the economic development bus tour. This is the um Savage. I think the historical society runs it. It's a wreck program. Um I actually just got like an hour ago. We also have that bus tour, the economic development bus tour. I'll be sending that email out tomorrow, too. So, I just got that. So, they're separate. The one for the historical center I think has a cost. I will send out more specifics on that tomorrow. Um but the economic development bus tour is free. >> Thank you. >> Great. Um, I'd like to add something. Um, I went on the, um, National Night Out. I rode with one of the captains >> in the undercover um, police car, which was pretty cool. Um, but anyway, we it it was fun. Um, I got into some communities that I have never been in. I didn't even know they were in Savage. And it was just fun getting out and talking to people, introducing myself. One person said, "Oh, are you the new police officer they just hired?" Because I was all in black. I said, "Uh, no, no, I'm not." And then I told them who I was and what I represent. But what I discovered in doing this, a lot of people do not know anything about our commission. >> And they were asking questions, well, when did this start and what do you guys do and all of this? And so, you know, that that just showed me that um we have some work to do to get get the word out that we exist. Um but, you know, they were very pleasantly surprised to hear about it and they said, "Oh, you're doing good work." And you know, I told them some of the things that we have accomplished so far. Um they were very excited about that. Um but we we do have uh work to do to get our our commission name out there. We do have a Cracker Jackack social media team that maybe will highlight commissions or something. I just loved the last one on the parks. >> Okay, good. And um John Grass, Commissioner John Grass, you rode around, too. >> I was with the other police captain. Yeah. >> Oh, good. >> It was I would second everything you said. >> Okay, good. Yeah, it was fun. Right. All right. Anything else before we adjourn? Okay. At this time, I'd like to adjourn our community equity commission for August 14th at 6:59. >> Do we need a motion? >> Thank you. >> We need a motion. Oh, I'm sorry. We have a second. Sorry, I overrose you guys. The meeting is adjourned. >> Yeah. Not change the