City Council Minutes 2021 05 04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes May 4, 2021 Page 3 of 13 reported on the Economic Vitality Strategic Plan. The Economic Vitality Committee (EVC) has been reviewing this monthly and developing a quarterly update scorecard that will be coming to Council. She stated there are several initiatives planned for later in the year around business retention and attraction. Councilmember Brown asked that Council get information in an upcoming meeting on how vacant space and business attraction is being addressed. Director Kowar reported that concrete work on the railroad quiet zones is now underway for four intersections in town and one in Lafayette. Once the concrete work is complete, the railroad will need to come in and do their own improvements. The projects should be completed by the fall. He also reported the recent law suit regarding the Windy Gap project has been settled and that project will be moving forward this year. REGULAR BUSINESS APPOINTMENTS TO THE EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION TASK FORCE Mayor Stolzmann introduced Anthony Graves from Graves Civics Solutions, the City's consultant for the project. City Manager Balser stated part of the contract with Graves was to assist with the seating and onboarding of the Task Force. Graves stated the City received 55 applications for the EDI Task Force. The City Council directed staff to work with two City Council representatives, the Consultant team and staff (Review Team) to hold associated interviews and provide recommendations to City Council regarding appointment of the 11 EDI Task Force members. Graves reviewed the process for consideration of the 55 applicants noting it included reviewing the EDI Task Force objectives set by City Council. He discussed how the selection philosophy was rooted in demographic data and to address the stated goals of the Task Force. There was agreement that to meet the objectives set by City Council the EDI Task Force would be "race forward +", meaning the Task Force will be focused on addressing racial equity for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, and supportive of other marginalized communities. The consultants reviewed the demographic data for the City and cross-referenced the objectives set by City Council with the pool of applicants. They set goals to curate a list of finalists for interview that had strong BIPOC representation, captured lived experience, and included a broad cross-section of voices from the community (by race, gender, sexual orientation, age, residency, renter/homeowner, disability, and individuals with education, training or first-hand experience with EDI work). They selected 15 candidates with strong EDI experience, diverse perspectives and underrepresented voices to be finalists for interview. Interview panel included the consulting team, Councilor Leh,