that's awesome good okay so we're going to start with pledge allegiance i would love it nutty if you would lead us in the pledge okay madam clerk i'm going to send it to you i assume we're going to call the role for the reno city council and then you will have it to the charter church that is correct all right council member breckis absent at this time door here delgado weber jardin i'm here reece chevy madam mayor you do have a quorum of the reno city council now we'll move on to the reno city charter committee chair marshall absent this time vice chair green work leader anderson absent this time peak brown here stevens opferman clifton coleman here swinney here hoover uh mr vice chair you do have a quorum of the reno city charter committee yeah all right thank you so much at this time i'm going to send it right back to you madam clerk for public comment thank you madam mayor at this time we have no public comment registered in the room we have not received any correspondence if you are an attendee in the zoo meeting and would like to make public comment please raise your hand at this time all right we do have one so i'll go ahead and read our disclosure it should be noted for those in the audience that comments are to be addressed to the mayor council and the charter committee as a whole comments heard under this item will be limited to three minutes per person and may pertain to matters both on and off the council's agenda please note that the council or charter committee may not take action upon any matter not agendized when you're called on for public comment please state your name for the record and begin speaking the timer will begin when you say your name and you will be afforded three minutes please be respectful while in this room warnings will be issued by the presiding officer if there is disruptive behavior and you will be asked to leave our first public commenter today is dala gibson hello my name is daley gibson and i am a director of public affairs for planned parenthood in 2022 there is little dispute that racism survives through oppressive systems that were created to benefit white patriarchal populations breaking down those systems to allow for equity and inclusion takes focus and intention for many organizations businesses and governments this means the creation of positions and committees to do that work properly planned parenthood is no exception planned parenthood marmante works every day to bring quality healthcare to diverse patient populations we understand the value of not only diversity but also the necessity of equity and inclusion in all levels of our organization in 2021 stacy cross ceo of planned parenthood marmante took the initiative to create a vice president position within planned parenthood vermonte dedicated to diversity equity and inclusion she knew that this was important work and needed a strong position and a seat at the leadership table the work we do for our patients doesn't end when they walk outside our doors we strive to help make all areas of our patients lives and by extension our communities better places where people can thrive to that end we urge the charter committee recommends the position of chief equity officer be enshrined in the city's charter likewise we urge the reno city council to use a bdr in the next legislative session to make this change to the city's charter working toward a diverse equitable and inclusive future isn't easy work nor should it be an afterthought the city of reno has taken many steps towards a stronger and equitable future for our community the creation of this position and enshrining it will help make those steps stronger focused and intentional thank you all right madame mayor with that you have no additional public comment so we're moving on to item a4 approval of the agenda and i'm looking for emotion from either body okay move to proof i have a motion i have a second all those in favor say aye aye all of the post motion carries i'm looking for a motion from the charter committee when he's still moved second all right moving on to item a51 which is an approval of the reno city charter committee and reno city council meeting from august 22nd 2018. all right may i have a motion for the minutes so moved i have a motion of a second all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed motion carries all right i'm looking for a motion from the reno city charter committee so moved member work matt work miranda hoover second all those in favor say aye aye all right any opposed thank you moving on to item a52 which is the reno city charter committee minutes for june 27 2022 so i'm looking for a motion from the arena city charter committee a motion from tess opferman second from rhonda clifton oh from leader okay all those in favor say aye any opposed all right thank you kelly we're moving on to item b1 [Music] good morning everybody members of the council madam mayor and members of the reno city charter committee for the record callie wilson director of policy and strategy uh we are welcoming you here this morning the charter committee for the past six months has done a deep dive into the reno city charter and is bringing forward their recommendations to the city's governing document today so we want to welcome you the charter requires that the charter committee gets together at least once prior to each legislative session to review the charter and they actually met six or seven times these last few months to go over the charter and identified several topics that they want to go into and and vice chair green is going to walk us through that that process here in a few minutes uh but they've met the requirements of the charter uh the other piece of the charter that is required of this body is to meet jointly with you so we are here this morning to fulfill that and allow this body to present their recommendations to you what is agendas today is for them to make those recommendations present them and provide the opportunity for you to ask questions or provide some feedback today you do not need to determine what a bdr or what bdr will be selected that is actually on council's agenda for next meeting but we wanted to ensure you guys have this information for that conversation in your packet you do have their formal final report with recommendations as well as all the minutes from their meetings for the last few months so with that i would like to introduce mr dennis green the committee's vice chair who is going to make today's presentation good morning it is such an honor to be in front of such a good looking council might as well see some of my charting community members in person but again thank you madam mayor and um city council members the chartering committee as we're all aware is charged with reviewing the city charter in its entirety to identify any changes that would provide for a modern effective and efficient government and since we met in january every member of the body has been engaged in continuous conversations learnings have become well-versed and a lot of the articles and chapters and contained within their charter as well as the different challenges and opportunities um that we have the opportunity to take advantage of here in reno so that we could um share our proposed recommendations aim towards fulfilling that charge um from those meetings our community has proposed four recommendations present to the council today um and that is going to start with amendment 01 for us which is the elimination of gender language throughout the renowned city charter and this recommended changes would remove any gender pronouns from the reading reno cd charter and replace them with gender neutral pronouns or specific title references and the purpose for this is to strike all instances of heteronormative language within the redo setting charter as well as to ensure the city of reno's document recognizes all citizens and reflects inclusivity in its goals moving on to amendment 2 which would repeal our recommendation would be to repeal of schedule changes to take effect january 20 24 um related to the number of wards makeup of elected officials and other related provisions um and this is just really in regards to um the existing language in the reno charter the city is scheduled to change from five to six words uh in the at-large position would be replaced with the ward council member beginning january 24 and this amendment would repeal the sections that would enact these changes and would retain that large position and maintain the five awards in the city um and for the next amendment zero three i would like to pass it off to um members neddy stephen and edward coleman okay great job dennis good morning i'm edward coleman um when you think about the history of racism and white supremacy in reno you do not have to go back that far to see that legacy or its harmful effects communities of color and other disadvantaged communities in this city see it in swimming pools that are trumpeted as advancements for the people when the very people those swimming pools discriminated against are still alive and suffer from that from those incidents it's seen in the layout of our communities where we have most of our green spaces in our white neighborhoods while the communities of color face heat sinks and the ever-increasing health issues associated with those harmful environmental conditions it's seen in a city workforce that has data and can identify the issues that affect our communities and either choose to do nothing or only do the minimum required communities of color and other disadvantaged communities are not served by the status quo and instead suffer under the weight of its inequality when you imagine a city that is inclusive and equitable you do not often imagine a city that finds reasons not to try to communicate with as many of its residents as possible you don't imagine a city where the issues affecting a large part of its population are simply check marked and filed and you don't imagine a city that chooses fanfare and weak public displays over actually helping improve the lives of its constituents this is the overwhelming image of the city of reno and it's governing institutions that i received from my time on the charter committee to say that you don't care would be hyperbole you do care about a constituency but that constituency often does not include minority communities to help even this out neddy stevens proposed a chief equity officer that be that would be enshrined in the city charter this would be someone whose sole purpose is ensuring the inequalities of the city of reno's operating and administrative structures would over time be brought into tune with the citizens who are currently suffering from the benign neglect that this city offers them this position is not a way to punish white people it's not a way to take something that's not due and it's not meant to be a prize rolled out to say look we are good and caring people that then accomplishes nothing when attention fades it is a position that should provide a counterweight to the white supremacy and structural inequality that exists within the city's organizations and over time reduce their disparity impacts to reduce the disparity impacts the current system and flicks on its communities this position is more than a title or two titles pushed together it's a it is supposed to be a force that acknowledges the wrongs of the past [Music] and dedicates itself to fixing them it's supposed to be a first among equals and have a broad-based vision based on research data and the cooperation of the city departments to put it quite simply it's supposed to ease the suffering of those not in the hegemony and it's supposed to have the assistance of all parts of government to achieve this we people from the communities most affected propose this solution and now we're going to give you the details of how you how this should be done to achieve a true vision of equity so this is the presentation overview we'll do an overview of how we envision the chief equity officer and dive into what inequality how you could operate operationalize inequality and then i'm going to pass it off to neddy stevens to talk about the importance and of course throughout this if there are questions please feel free to jump in but there is a section dedicated at the end the ceo will be appointed and report to the reno city council this position is a lateral to the city manager the logic behind the lateral position is that to enact the needed changes the ceo will have to be able to direct those changes with the mandate from the council this signifies your importance in seeing equity increase as well as sends the message that this is important work and is being watched at the highest levels of government in our meetings with various members of the city workforce when equity was discussed there were attempts to derail that conversation research was presented that only looked at reasons not to implement equity and overwhelmingly city workers knew what the issues were in housing in our parks and in the various other areas and even presented data which supported those issues and yet they chose not to act as noted in the proposed amendment the ceo is responsible for providing strategic direction to the city council and city manager to establish and maintain a culture and systems of equity in the city of reno proposals to increase equity made by the ceo will be based on research and adopted unless the city council can explain why more stringent measures are needed and i'm going to come back to that in a second to explain the logic behind that but right now here what we what we're really looking for is someone who can implement the broad-based city changes in areas where the inequality where inequality has been detected this is an integral tool of this position to drive the needed changes for the city of reno and the leaders with the leadership of the city supporting it additionally this is not a one and done process like a new position press release this is going to require continuous work over a long time frame cultures do not change overnight and to instill equity into the culture of the city of reno this position will need this level of authority and support from you all finally this is not a usurpation of the rightful powers of the city council as a wheat council you leave the running of the city to the city manager as the city managers equal you would also leave the equity issues to the ceo and add your support as leaders in the community to intervene if you have specific information from your constituencies which you serve that would better shape the actions of the ceo in effect you would act in concert with the ceo based on input from your constituencies to make their recommendations better for everyone annually the ceo will report on metrics they develop that assess the access quality procedural fairness and outcomes of city equity initiatives as a baseline no new position at this level should be implemented without a way to gauge success doing anything other than that is setting that individual up for failure are there any questions about the overview of the ceo next we're going to go to the operationalization of inequality and just so you know i am saying that word completely wrong and i may also i'm affected by allergy so i'm not crying even though i'm passionate about this so if you see me dabbing my eyes it's the it's the it's the air so equality is treating everyone the same and giving everyone equal access to the same opportunities equity is about fairness and the distribution of opportunities and resources based on acknowledging that some groups of people face barriers to those opportunities if policies programs etc are not grounded in equity those same programs and policies while achieving equality may increase may also produce inequality for example look at our park systems they're mostly in white areas and the heat sinks in the city are concentrated in mostly brown and black areas when talking to the city department responsible for this they indicated that they did the minimum required they understood that there was an issue in the black communities but all they're required to do and other communities of color all they were required to do was check a box they aren't required to fix those issues that they know exist when solutions were proposed they were either dismissed or taken or taken in the light of being presented as hard choices between increasing workers workload all of that should be taken into account but it also shouldn't be used to not ease the suffering of constituents in the city the operationalization would include a definition of equity that has definable goals and metrics for example policy formulation and implementation public management practices the provision of public goods and services and administrator resident interactions that reduce and ultimately ultimately eliminate disparity marginalization and discrimination while increasing social and political inclusion are all things that can be measured and we actually measured quite a few of those already through the city just no actions taken on those the operation operationalization focuses on the area within city government to produce the unequal outcomes and provides a way to begin to identify quantify and ultimately eliminate them are there any questions on that and now i'm going to pass it over to nettie thank you thank you thank you and usually just so the charter committee knows um we like to hear the end of your present at the end of the presentations then we will ask all the questions because we don't want to interrupt you and then a lot of times if we start talking then we kind of get in a different direction so we kind of know up here to wait for any questions so we're going to let you guys finish sounds good thank you so much member um good morning to you madam mayor as well as to members of the council and my fellow members on the on the charter committee i'm very excited to be uh here talking about the importance of the ceo um i do want to add a little bit more more context especially to kind of how the conversations um went during the the different meetings that we had kind of how we got here as as well as providing some some background as to some cities and in different parts of the country that have also done a very similar thing um i do want to i'm definitely kind of adding to uh some of the things that that um uh my colleague edward had mentioned um there were a lot of conversations especially whether it was um the the meetings on unaffordable housing and meetings on accessibility like where we were able to just get a sense as to how does the city kind of think through some of these issues on unequity and inclusion like is there some some data that we have um to actually speak to and actually quantify some of the inequalities that a lot of our uh a lot of our marginalized communities are are facing and and is there a uh a systemic way of really addressing these things currently um and so during the these conversations during these questions it was a bit frustrating to see that there is really isn't a systemic plan with respect to metrics and and ways to ensure that that equity is is being forced both internally in terms of hiring practices um it was alarming to members of the committee to see that the the composition of city of reno staff has has gotten whiter in the past few years has gotten more mail that there isn't that attract in terms of of staff members who are non-binary um that they're at the at the time we asked the questions there really wasn't a uh um an answer as to why exactly that was happening and so that was a point of concern for for quite a few of us um and additionally especially when we're talking about about housing looking at some of the the housing issues um that are unfortunately being plagued uh are fortunately plaguing um quite a few of our constituencies whether it be um um and this definitely be the the most um talked about one in terms of of um being rent burdened but also the the likelihood for for somebody living in a household that does not have complete or working um plumbing utilities does not have complete or working kitchen uh utilities and and and appliances unfortunately and and this is data that the city of radio was able to provide to us um that black communities black households and api households are much more likely to suffer those issues and so then the question became well what can the city of reno do about that um and so it was through those those concerns and through those uh those questions that we landed upon the chief equity officer position making sure that there's a position position uh enumerated in in in the charter that would be responsible one for for for how exactly a city or reno ensures that it represents and truly uh looks like the communities that it's serving but also in terms of how it communicates with the the the various different constituencies across uh uh across the the city i know that's definitely a a challenging task as to how do you how do you think through um really recreating and thinking through systems in a way that's equitable inclusive but it really is so so important and so i want to take a moment to to acknowledge that definitely toward the end of our process we did learn about the uh the promotion of cynthia esparza to the chief equity manager i believe is the title and so that is a step forward that i do want to recognize but i do want to underscore the really the urgency that a lot of us feel in terms of making sure that not only is that a position that is supported but is enumerated in charter to ensure that it's a position that lasts for the long term we want to make sure that the city of reno is a space that is by the people for the people and and of the people and ensuring that there is that that responsibility and charter is is how we feel is the strongest way to insure uh to ensure that happens in in the future and so i did mention that um um there are other cities that have done this similarly and it is a little bit hard to do a little bit of the research because um as you all know in terms of the way that cities are structured whether it be the strong mayor type or the strong city manager type that does play a difference in terms of how exactly you operationalize these pieces and so there are a variety of different cities whether they be more so the strong city mayor type like buffalo buffalo new york fredericksburg virginia fort collins colorado aurora colorado in chandler arizona excuse me where they have more so kind of strong mayor types but like there is a full-fledged department within those within those uh those cities like to ensure that this work um happens i know birmingham alabama is another good example where it is a strong mayor type city um and they have a department and specifically within the department they have different liaisons for specific marginalized communities but then to the uh to the structure of city of reno itself like being more sort of a strong city manager type um like there are some some additional cities and i can pull up the the list here um where they do have um they do have this enumerated i was able to verify with whether it is with the the charter specifically but definitely quite a few of them um did have that uh um that emphasis and that um built out department excuse me underneath the city manager or lateral to the city manager to ensure that this this change was represented and so making sure that this uh this is included in charter is is is what we feel is going to be the best way to set city reno up for the future in terms of ensuring that we are able to reach a truly in 100 equitable society um and so to the um the importance of the ceo the ceo provides the following uh the following to city government um making sure that they are are are the focus behind this effort i know there are a lot of great individuals who work in city of reno who who really care about these issues but maybe they're they're not empowered to do so in a way that's cross-departmental making sure there's somebody who can really head that charge of uh when we're thinking about where exactly the new parks are going to go to whether it's an issue of where new parks are going to go whether it's an issue of how do we ensure that that black and brown communities aren't being disproportionately impacted by by these different housing issues um or even even with respect to how exactly are we communicating with the variety of different uh individuals who live in the city um based on different languages or even just different cultural uh understandings and so making sure that there's somebody at the at the head of that effort to actually put together a strategic plan and make sure that that folks are are really working toward that plan um culture this is a really big thing whether it be the organizational development organizational culture within city of reno ensuring that we are able to attract more more and more diverse folks to ensure that we're representing uh city of reno but also with respect to how city reno speaks to the different constituencies how it gains that that cultural not just competence but cultural humility and various different spaces and so when it comes to public noticing of of the the different different meetings and different committees that the more communities are are tapped in they're able to recruit more more diverse citizens to the the various differences in committees like this one to make sure that they have that voice and that that equitable representation and so we want to make sure that that is um enumerated and in charter somebody responsible for for doing that and also community connections um and this is one where um um i i and and definitely to the uh to to mrs parsa um i having seen the the the way in which she's worked with with different communities i i do feel a sense of encouragement and seeing her her passion for this work i just want to make sure that and and members of the committee want to make sure that we have somebody continuously in that position whether or not the city manager leaves which we hope he doesn't i know that hiring city manager is not an easy process um but but whether it's it's him or anybody moving forward we want to make sure that this is a responsibility that is uh carefully lined out in in charter that this is somebody who can put forward a aadi plan that is accessible to city city arena residents that this is um that the plan has has metrics with respect to where exactly they want to to be in terms of seeing that representation um with respect to diversity but but also like metrics with respect to how many different communities how exactly how we um whether it be in specific communities like how exactly are we ensuring that that input and that uh um um that feedback is is being received is being incorporated into the work that the city is doing and that they're they're being tapped into and connected to the appropriate departments especially for for folks who who have issues that are are are solved at the city level and so these are uh the three main tenants with respect to um why why the position itself is important but also why it's important to ensure that it's enumerated and charter all right fantastic job sorry about that i wasn't sure councilman reese if we had to do the heimlick on you so yeah that's a little scared there so we we sent um okay fantastic do you do you still have more of a presentation we do okay just let us know when you're finished and then we'll ask questions awesome and thank you to members um stevens and coleman for that presentation um so the last recommendation that we have um just on our docket is zero zero four which is the addition of green infrastructure projects to the list of projects that could be authorized under local improvement law and the amendment would add good infrastructure projects a list of project types that could be authorized under local improvement law which is typically used within financing tools such as special assessment districts um and the intent is to emphasize the importance of impacts to the urban heat island um but with that i would like to wrap up our session um and turn it over for questions adam okay good all right fantastic really appreciate it um i just usually open up to the floor first i just wanted to ask you or else i'll forget i think it's an aftermath of covet brain but um and first of all i want to say i'm super impressed of the level of engagement of the charter committee we haven't seen that at all um and so like this i think for us is all really very very welcomed um i'm really glad that we're doing the really good work but i guess part of my question is and have you guys had conversation about this is great for the charter committee love it but how do we also implement this on our other boards right and have these discussions um because we're having it here but i think we have to do it at every single board level like for instance for eight years i was the only female on the rsc va when i um gosh i think whenever i was elected we did not have any females on the airport authority and so you know if you and also the hrc didn't exist remember tess we we jumped right in we were like great i don't even know if we if the city ever celebrated um pride um and as you know that was a big deal so i think you know we are starting to be much more inclusive but it's so great to have everyone at the table but i really think too maybe these are conversations that we have with all of our other committees and maybe you guys are and you you know i think you're setting the example and showing kind of what the possibilities are because that way we're going to be able to pull in um everyone from the community and engage people and um like you know be inclusive like we've been talking about that was really really important especially i think females in government feel it that much more because it's so predominantly male and so i just um i really appreciate it so just think about something like that like is there some way that maybe we can also sort of model this for every committee that we have and not only just committees but every department in the city and everything that you're doing so i just want it to resonate throughout so great job okay i'm going to open it up for questions to my board councilman reece take it away thank you madam mayor i suppose a starting point for these conversations is always the acknowledgement of privilege i maintain a lot of it i've spoken about it from the diocese it is a compelling time we live in because i don't think at any time in human history have we really been willing to acknowledge the privilege that comes with being white it also is a time in which there has to be an acknowledgement of the structures which have continued and do continue to exist that create and prop up racism some of those are undergirded by capitalism and the impact that it has on communities of color is something that probably cannot be analyzed in the context of our time together today but as the as a person of a great deal of privilege i think it is important the work that you're doing and the charter was not necessarily where i thought this work would come out of and so in that regard i think it is you know my thanks to the members of the charter committee for the work that you have done and the question ultimately becomes uh largely about the and sort of what madam mayor said it's about what are the role of the broader citizenry in the conversation what is the role of our other boards and commissions human rights commission is a good example i don't know if this body has interacted with our other commissioners there because there have been discussions about sort of more broadly equity related issues sometimes on this side of the diocese we talk about diversity equity inclusion and we use that as shorthand for hr speak and i don't think that that's what this is this is a bit beyond that it's a step beyond that um and mr green you are in hr and a professional in that world so you understand sort of the difference intuitively but i'm not sure everyone does so i thought that the definitional examination of equity was important here too my questions are sort of broadly directed at this question of what do we include in the charter the other issues i think are important issues that you have raised i don't know a lot about some of them one of them is the green building initiative question and i sometimes have to just start with the question of what is the charter and what is its function and so i want to have maybe whoever is desires to speak to it maybe answer that question first like what is the charter in this committee's mind and then what are the things that are properly uh you know identified as functions of the charter and the reason i start with that is because oftentimes when i'm out in the community and a citizen asks me a question about x y or z i have to return to the charter functions that are identified there and those charter functions broadly are and the charter is very old it was written hundreds of years ago right so it perhaps does not contemplate the changes we need in a current society but it speaks to like public safety it speaks to parks and recreation it speaks to building and zoning codes it speaks to business licensing and i think the last one oddly enough which we don't do a very good job of is the provision of a municipal band and so again i just want to understand what the charter committee's thought is about its function what is the charter because until we identify that it's hard for me to move beyond sort of the limitations of that without perhaps a vote of the people to change that charter which is another way in which the charter can be changed right i think we all acknowledge that the charter committee can advance its ideas the council can adopt them as a bill draft request and the legislature in its infinite wisdom might or might not change it the other way around that of course is a vote of the people right so whoever would like to speak it looks like maybe neddy is intending awesome thank you so much and thank you so much for for that question um it was i think a little bit surreal to realize i'm one of the veterans on this committee now this is my my third time uh around presenting um a list of recommendations to this body um but but that's i mean definitely an important question definitely something that that we have to be grounded in um um how do we view the the city charter what what exactly does that mean to us i mean definitely as a committee but also as citizens of reno ourselves um i i think that for for myself and and definitely i i don't want to speak on on behalf of other folks in in this space but when i when i think about the charter it is it is that that governing document like it is that that outline of of responsibilities that when when somebody wants to ask okay what exactly is city of reno what are we supposed to do like what is what exactly is the city supposed to provide how exactly is it supposed to serve its its constituency that the the core principles of that are outlined in the charter itself um and so i think that's definitely definitely important with respect to um the pieces that you outlined of public safety of business licenses and a lot of those um primary functions and i think that the inclusion of the the the chief equity officer position like makes it clear that in addition to those things transparency in in how government uh uh works and in the composition of government and and how exactly it is is uh um working to meet the needs of all of its uh all this residents that that too must be part of the the founding document and so um that is the the the way in which i've i viewed this this process especially kind of coming to um the the proposal especially in amendment three um whether it's working with different community leaders and and and and getting that that input and really making sure that it was as um as holistic of a process in terms of of bringing this forward to you um as we would um love to see happen especially as we are uh continuing to see the di efforts that come from city of reno so i hope that that helps to answer that question i think it answers part of it perhaps not all of that and the only reason why i say it that way is because i'll give you another example of a goal which i believe is very important for a city and you identified it as an equity issue it certainly is but it's also a more framework issue related to climate change so we have a sustainability manager right this is uh sadly it's an office of one it's one person in the city and that person is tasked with leading up just so many related projects and so the question becomes our priorities i think absolutely should align with our communities and one of those is sustainability why is the sustainability manager or the sustainability person also not a charter level function and i don't mean it in a way to dispute that there are varying ways in which equity overlays the other structures but if you start adding positions to the charter which is a very difficult concept for me to just simply understand and get my head around i'm trying to figure out why there would be a preference over maybe that one i'm picking on the sustainability manager not because i want one of them to be more important but i'm just saying it is one of the crises of our lifetime climate changes and yet um there would be some preference expressed here to elevate one into the charter while one is not in the charter and it could be just like a civics ap government 101 kind of thing that i'm just having a hard time understanding and that's why i gave the opportunity to understand what you view the role the charter is because then i think you have to lay into that the other questions related to similarly important topics i hope that makes sense absolutely absolutely and and i think that the the the difference at least as as as as i see um i'm kind of how that the question is set up is is really the scope of responsibility where with the sustainability like manager i mean i definitely understand there's a lot of different projects that that go into that and and i don't want to to make it seem as though like uh um sustainability and and really fighting against the um the devastating man-made effects of climate change that that isn't important it absolutely is um um i think that the the difference though is that like there there are aspects of of city department whether it's the different departments themselves um i don't know if it's like the process of like reviewing business licenses like where that's not going to go underneath the scope of of a sustainability manager that would be underneath like the scope of the chief equity officer in terms of ensuring that that when folks like folks even have the information like to to file a business license if if folks need information in languages other than english that they have that information if there's a question in terms of a denial of a business license like how exactly like do they then communicate with the city in order to kind of figure out those those questions and i think that um as of this point and i'm just kind of using this as an example right um that there are definitely folks like in in these spaces who want to make sure they're doing that work but we want to make sure there's a really a systemic way of of of really operationalizing like equity within all aspects of how city of reno works and so i think the difference really is in in that scope um i think that when we talk about diversity equity and inclusion and i know that my my day job of hiring folks like that is the majority of what i talk about that there is this sometimes instinct that folks have um like towards like yes so we have a an eni person and and and they're they're doing this work or maybe they have a plan or so so forth but then they almost get siloed for lack of a better word and i want to make sure and and members of the community also want to make sure that um that their work touches on every single aspect of what city of reno does because it's just that important and so the really the difference is at least as i see it is really the scope of responsibilities and making sure that equity inclusion is something that is not just a um a category all on its own but really is ingrained all throughout all practices of city of reno so i i hope that i've done a better better job that time answering your question all right any other questions go ahead councilwoman yeah um thank you all so much for serving on this committee um it's incredibly important to us the charter is our foundational document and i think that particularly in the example of the chief equity officer you did a very elegant i would say and very specific job of presenting your ideas so i really appreciate that i have a few questions if we were to move forward with something like that which is a very significant change um i think we have identified mr manager in the charter which are the appointive positions is that correct they've identified um some appointed positions but by and large the appointive officers right but they're identified in the charter uh they're identified in the code in the in the ordinance yes okay so my question is in order to move forward and better understand this particular issue ms stevens referenced data that had been collected on other cities and and what some other communities are doing and i didn't know i know we're not voting today but i thought prior to voting it would be good just to get some of that information the presentation was great but i would love to look at some information data how other organizations handle this issue it is very important and it's not just i i know that um you know it's all communities i think is what i'm getting at here too it's not it's across the board we have we have we are getting a more and more diverse city and um i think it's important to have it threaded through and integrated into everything we do um i just don't know what is the best way to do that so that's what i'm asking for is more information can i ask also commissioner stevens how would you like us to refer to you um i as i understand it you are non-binary so i don't want to misgender you and i don't want my colleagues to do so either so can we have a good conversation to make sure that we're on the same page absolutely absolutely um so my problems are are they them um i accept she her pronouns um um i think to the um i'm blinking on salutation um so like like miss it's like mix is the the salutation i often use um so i mean i don't interrupt to correct folks in in that space um and that definitely is a personal decision i mean definitely different different aspects and different different people um within the community have have uh different feelings and and that should be respected and so for me personally um i will accept she hear pronouns um but typically like mix as the salutation and i accept you say that yes mx okay okay can i just respond to i didn't want to call you neddy so i was searching so thank you i i'm not finished with all my comments but okay can i let me just i want to kind of back up here okay because i think this is really important because i was just thinking in my head when was the last time we met with the charter committee and here's what i would say every two years every two years so kind of and and am i correct that mr marshall is your chair is he the chair yes um because i remember sort of you know the last charter committee there was a lot of really important issues that were like coming up i think this is obviously an incredibly important issue but i also kind of want to start sort of like at ground one like you know what you guys are thinking are you looking at some of those past issues some of those charter um because to be honest with you there were some pretty big issues you know that we kind of left off and now obviously this is a new charter committee with most um you know new representatives but i kind of like to know like what are you guys thinking of looking at because i don't know is this like first priority one what you know what's number two i mean like you know i think they're at the end of their their work this is their last name no i know but sort of an overview i feel like we're kind of like jumping in and i'd like to know okay you know we talked about like one of the things are you guys surprised that i don't run the city most people think that i do right we have a strong form of manager government right and now i mean obviously you're very very well versed which is great right but um i'm just sort of curious like you know what are the things that are important to you one of the the issues at one point and i know it was at the city of sparks is should your city attorney be um elected or appointed um you know those kinds of things and so i'm just kind of curious because i feel like it would have been good to have some overview like general overview right i just am sort of you know interested and go go ahead um councilwoman jared thank you very much and i think my headspace is kind of there as well i mean when we talk about the great work that you are all doing and the presentation you gave today um how that collaborates and coordinates with the other good work of the other organizations within the city and i just don't think we have that before us like the human rights commission and the great work they've done and you know certainly the city's been recognized for a lot of uh things in that regard how was that coordinated um and does the committee and this just goes back because it's been two years when issues from the charter committee are brought forward as the was presented to us just now was was those all decided on by the committee on the whole so so all of you got this presentation and and that's what you this is what we're bringing forward yeah is there other light like are we going to bring other things forward that's what i'm that's what i'm confused about is what what the body's decision or was they are they i'm a little confused no absolutely uh for the record callie we'll see director policy and strategy just to kind of help with the process portion so when the committee met uh for the first time in two years in january that was their first meeting we did an overview of what's in the charter what that looks like and then the committee spent a meeting talking about topics that they wanted to dive deeper into and those included uh some of the things that you see on on the the four amendments that they presented today but they also looked at the redistricting process they looked at accessibility initiatives housing challenges they also looked at how to handle vacancies on elected offices newspaper noticing multilingual legal noticing nrs discrepancies related to filing written challenges for the qualifications of candidates um and the other items that you saw today so there was a a list of other items that they discussed um where they ultimately landed was four amendments that they are recommending okay so i guess my question goes down to this so the presentations that we are seeing today as a city council have been viewed and approved by the charter committee as a body so yes i'm getting a yes okay okay so okay let me hear you go right ahead finish my comment i mean and the only reason i bring it up is because i want to kind of dive into all the work you guys are doing because it's been so long right and kind of like a refresher of like where we left off and then also jumping into new right and i think this is the new which is really cool and exciting but i just kind of like wanted to remember because there was some i mean it got a little contentious let's be honest it did right let me here i i would like to talk but i think um councilwoman dewer was ahead of me i'm going to let you councilwoman i want you to go and then and then we can go right back to councilwoman okay i just wanted to add that i really would like to hear from each of our members they've come before us and and have them just say a few words about you know what they learned and that sort of thing and i think that would be very helpful to us and so i don't know if that's a possibility but if those that would like to speak um are recognized well the other thing is i didn't recognize everyone up on the screen so good morning to all of you in zoom land um nice to see you because we tend to typically focus on the people in the room so i want to apologize i'm going to go back to councilwoman doer and then aft at the very end then we can um kind of get sort of some of their feedback yeah sure no problem go ahead councilwoman dirk okay let's just have everyone finish their questions and comments and then we'll give it back to the charter committee okay well we had quite a bit of back and forth about one topic with mr reese and so i just wanted to i like you was wondering about some of the issues that were remaining on the table and a couple that i was going to bring up were one was the role of the mayor because it has consistently it may not be a compelling issue to you as charter members but it certainly affects our daily life um throughout our careers and i have felt strongly that um once the judicial system determined that the mayor and the council were the same job that we should address that and um formally and i was surprised that the charter committee i'm not surprised that you didn't recognize it as much of an issue but it's a very important governance issue for us and i at least wanted to raise it at this meeting and say i still think it's an important issue to be addressed and and we do have an opportunity uh next week but i i still think it's something that should be addressed that whether it's strong or weak is really a problematic term for me but what its role is and that is a different role than the council and the second thing i wanted to mention is that um i recently went through a primary election and one with over 50 percent and i cannot tell you the number in fact 54 and i cannot tell you the number of people have called and said congratulations you won and i said no i have a round two in a general election and i believe that is something that um the charter could address at the school board i would have already been elected at city sparks i would have already been elected wherever many places i've even had law firms call me and say we need legal advice from you are you elected we need your i said no our charter is not written that way and so it's something i i don't have a strong position it happened to me in my last election as well um also got over 50 and ran an entire second general election so it's more for consistency in our region and and lack and the confusion that it has created it's not for me personally it wouldn't affect me whatsoever if we made a charter change but um i know other members here too have won elections with over 50 percent and have gone on um to run again so those are just um two things that are sort of carryover issues to the mayor's point that i was curious you know even if the charter committee didn't weigh in on those issues it might be something our body decides to weigh in on so um and then last question i had was i was kind of confused about which problem we were trying to solve on the green infrastructure so i'm very passionate i think most of you know on these issues and if you believe that there's something holding us back that we could address in the charter i'd love to know more about that you know and i i if it's important to identify if we're moving forward with a charter bill that's just a couple words if it's important to identify that then i wanted to hear more about that like what's the problem we're trying to solve and how will this help solve it so thank you madam mayor all right you're welcome thank you appreciate the comments go ahead councilman reese take it away thank you madam mayor and just for my thoughts i look we have scheduled this for two hours we're not going to be able to resolve all the complex things that are being presented i don't think but i do want to have a couple more um points of conversation about the ceo level proposal um i think commissioner stevens you referred to some cities which have undertaken equity related endeavors and but it was unclear and i think even you suggested that it's hard to figure out right because in nevada i think we are dealing with some things that overlay our government structure that are going to make this even more complicated if it's where we go the first is this concept of how we choose and select our top person in the organization so when our charter persons are hired and evaluated annually that would be in this case mr thornley and our clerk ms huntsman they those are all done publicly and that process is not one which i think always benefits the hiring process it makes for very difficult decisions at times although it looks to be more transparent what it really does is it it winnows down the pool of people who are willing to put themselves out there because when they do that they're signaling to their current employer their decision to leave and if you are in a pool of a hundred people and you are publicly identified in that way but you don't maybe you are not going to get the job it puts you at risk then for not getting the keeping your job that you currently have so i do think that there is something to be said about not including it in the charter because the way in which charter the top charter positions are hired and evaluated those annual evaluations also can be well in some cases they can be very damaging to the organization because at least in my experience sometimes those are used to sort of exact political scores rather than actually evaluating people fairly and so there's that so i would have to really think more about the way in which we could find examples of communities that are doing the work that is important and valid but that look more like our structure and our state and our our charter process and again i because this is the first time we have met there are lots of questions that i have about including a person in the charter and then what happens to how many people do they have with them underneath them to carry out the work you've suggested i think commissioner that you see that person as being able to touch any segment of the organization like business licensing and i can tell you there are equity issues in the licensing process there are equity issues and communications in parks but asking one person to undertake that uh is really setting up that person to fail and so um in that regard i i'm hopeful that uh ms esparza will undertake the role which she has now undertaken and she will figure out what the needs of the organization are and her specific department i'll give you another example and i've gone over my time but we have a an auditing function in the city and again a department of essentially one and sometimes it is hard to pin down what their role is in the organization if it's intended to cross over every department does that make sense so again a lot of questions remain unresolved for me not certainly not something i would be in a position to vote up or down on or advance at this point but i think worth the conversation we're having councilman delgado oh do you want to oh just um very quickly um and and definitely to a lot of those those questions and concerns i i think that those are are absolutely valid um i think that um and again kind of speaking to like my my experience and having worked in hiring specifically hiring equity inclusion there are a lot of folks who are really excited about this work right now um i i think that they're i really do want to underscore just like the the enthusiasm that a lot of folks are actually going into the dei field to be really able to uh uh to bring social equity and social justice into um whether it be like large corporate uh organizations i know if pfizer like has a vp specifically like four for dei whether it's like large uh national nonprofits i know we heard from daley gibson and planned parenthood and and across several different uh government agencies um i did mention that it is a little bit hard with respect to um kind of figure out like which uh uh cities specifically are uh um and and i guess for lack of a better terms here like strong manager versus a a strong uh strong mayor type government but there actually is an organization that is that has actually taken up the i don't see the responsibility but has has taken up a lot of the work of supporting and guiding a lot of city governments and actually doing this work and implementing it um it's called the local and regional government alliance on on race and equity um and so it is an organization that different city uh city agencies can can um can purchase membership into and and be part of that um that work of uh uh of incorporating equity and inclusion into into their getting documents um definitely to the the question that um council councilman durer had asked i can provide a kind of works cited of all these different things and so i hope that that would be uh of help as well so you can actually see some of the cities and and how exactly they have brought up um brought about a lot of these changes um um and and definitely to the point as well about it being a a public process that's actually a lot communities want they they want to be able to to see um um like is city of reno like hiring uh uh like more more more women like is city arena like hiring like more uh uh bypoc individuals more people with disabilities like how exactly is that that process being made is that data being tracked like who's and so it's it's not as though we want uh cynthia to be responsible for holding all of the pieces it's just that with respect to having us a system-wide approach toward equity like somebody needs to drive the charge and like we want to make sure that that that person like is is supported by the weight of that position being enumerated in in charter um but but definitely to that point i know that um the final decision happens next week i will do my best to make sure that that information is sent over to members of council my apologies that it wasn't send over uh sooner um actually this past past week i was just sick recovering from covid so i know thankfully my quarantine period on monday i know i know so uh i it was a plan to at the very least kind of have the the list of uh different cities um um and based off of what i could surmise in terms of which one specifically had a kind of more so similar structure to the city of reno and which ones um maybe didn't but there are some ideas in terms of implementation but um they're from a lot of different communities um they really want it to be a more public process um i i would i would add and then i definitely don't want to take up too much space in in in this regard but um like to the announcement like of of of mrs barce's uh promotion again i think that that's a good step forward but it did seem to a lot of different communities of i mean like was the naacp asked in terms of like in terms of what this vision should look like or were there other organizations that are steeped in these communities like that were consulted for for input in terms of how exactly this was brought together i know that in in fort collins for example um they they actually had at least 20 different workshops um with the public so they can get input in terms of who exactly would their next uh chief diversity officer be and so that was actually how they came to that decision and so not to uh i mean fort collins is is is different from from reno i definitely understand in that part but there there is a yearning for for more community engagement more opportunities for community engagement especially when we're talking about how we include all the communities within the city of reno all right great go ahead councilman delgado thank you madam mayor um and just like my colleagues thank you to the charter committee i want to say i might have been part of the first charter committee and when it was established back when by jessica's frozen i was appointed on and so you were just appreciate you know you were um i was on the charter so i appreciate all the work uh but even then i just i just remember i just remember the uh how quickly times have changed because it was a big issue a big conversation when we were changing the charter from when it all said he to his and her on there and now of course after a few years now we're talking about plurals and everything else so just and one thing that i've always come to remember is that uh our charter is as organic as it should be always ever-changing the reason why we meet and have discussions about how things have changed from the where when i was first established to who we are today and so it's always an announcement to thank you for the hard work um the four amendments i see before me i see in many different and different lights i see as governance and operations uh and i see the opportunities uh with the language of course and the and the and the ward numbers as as governance as us going out to the community and saying here are some things that we should govern and consider and think about the other ones are opportunities for operations and i see those opportunities to really cement those with our city manager and us holding our city manager and our executive accountable to those and so those are opportunities where we can get together strategically and say city manager what have you done to move these things forward what have you done and how was that cemented as part of your job review to making sure that we see that we are taking that in order um and see that different in terms of just again whether it's operations or governance that's kind of having as was saying what are you doing with that how are you moving that forward every year what does those numbers look like i know several years ago when i asked how are we best reflecting our city and representing our city in terms of our diversity in our city reno to where the ultimate the community and demographics look like uh and we were failing right but i can tell you i haven't seen as many beautiful uh uh brown faces on the 15th floor than i've seen in the last several years and it's been pretty awesome we can do a better job we can definitely do a better job but i think those are operational opportunities uh in terms of working with our executive team and say what are you doing how are you moving that forward and uh cynthia's that's going to be a great opportunity and i know she's got to work closely with everyone in order to make sure that she's doing what's what's best and so that's kind of the lenses i'm looking at at some of this not to say that we don't need a ceo we um i think with the hiring of cynthia than now a year from now saying what have we done how we hit those benchmarks how are you doing that doug in terms of moving that forward is something i kind of maybe we can all come to talk about thank you madame [Music] thank you so much any other questions no oh go ahead councilman reese madam mayor um i have uh sort of some questions perhaps about the at-large membership discussion i don't know if if we want to move on from this one yet again i i think this question about um equity could take us hundreds of hours and and perhaps is something that we've got a task either a subset of the body or the hrc or some combination of this great group and the hrc what doing it's just too important not to continue this conversation but i also don't believe that it can be resolved today um i and i think councilmember delgado makes a good point about process versus procedure and i have to sit with that some and really think through those elements of it because there are that the issue about the green initiatives seems like something that i would not anticipate to see in a charter but i would see for example in our building code and reflected in our zoning in the you know building rmc um the language cleanup which is one of the conversation points i i can't believe it's 2022 and we're still having this conversation it just is incredibly myopic i think language and the language choices we use uh is um should be a reflection of our community and so those are for me an easy it's sort of like language cleanup in the charter and then the last one is this question about the at-large member and i don't know vice chair greene spoke to that that change about not eliminating the at-large position and so i think the the recommendation is here uh and that is something that i sitting in the seat as the at-large member am in favor of and do believe would be an appropriate exercise of charter authority so i don't have really questions about it i think it kind of speaks for itself and just from my point of view since having served in the seat now for three years the at-large member i think is an important role it is been made more important by the switch toward ward voting and eliminating it is sort of an unintended consequence i think of that decision so long ago to do it um the at-large member i think plays a role in building bridges across the wards and it i think the word that um i had originally thought the word was some sort of tribalism but it's miller parochialism as one of my colleagues and i discussed um it just it it behooves us all to think about the city collectively and i think we all try to do that as best we can but having a mayor and an at-large member and a council member that really are responsive to all the issues within a particular neighborhood or ward it means that we have given our community more options for connecting with their elected representative and i don't want to see that reduced so again lots of good conversations today for my part the green issue is one that belongs in our building codes the language cleanup is a no-brainer and we should have done that many years ago thank you to commissioner leader for really leading that fight all along the issue about equity inclusion needs considerably more time than i think we're able to give it today or even in the near future and then the issue of the at-large staying should be the thing that i think this should go up through the food chain when we come to do it and ultimately go to the legislature and see if that is their will as well all right thank you would you like to come on up okay and just to say i know that we have one council member that's on a tight schedule so i want to make sure we get through this um entire agenda okay okay additionally madam mayor just to note um member peek will have to drop off here shortly as well he just notified us okay all right hello i'm nancy and leader and councilman weber i just wanted to make sure that if after miss leader speaks if anyone else wants to speak and if we could allow him and is there some way madam clerk i don't know if you're getting um any communication from uh the zoom individuals if they want to speak to do you have a way to they can raise their hand or something because i'm i'm not paying attention that's okay the committee members on zoom if they want to speak are more than welcome to raise their hand okay great i'm not paying attention so i apologize if i cannot acknowledge you okay go ahead hi um both councilman rhys and councilman door have mentioned questions about our proposed charter change number four so i thought i could speak to that but before doing that you also have addressed and also councilman jardin did um history of the charter commission and how it actually works i think i've been a member of charter commit charter committee for four times now and this time we discussed some of the proposals from prior time which is the language changes and also the award changes so we there is um some continuing discussion however since each charter commission or charter committee is um of new members new members have different issues and so new issues come up each time so there is some holdover but there's also a lot of change okay yeah and that's good to know we appreciate it um okay to the um proposal number four you listened to edward discuss the issue of equity and he even used examples in equity or basic fairness um in describing some of the differences in the city we can see the differences in the city in some part that's because of history um but that doesn't mean we should not consider addressing the issue and uh changing for our present and our future so the issue of equity arose um in our minds and also of climate change which councilman rhys mentioned so do those kinds of issues belong in a charter well our position is yes because the charter is our basic framework for the city it says where we want to be what what should this city look like and what should be our operations what should be our procedure what should be our governance as councilman delgado spoke of so in looking at the existing charter the existing charter says that a general power of the city council is enacting and enforcing measures dealing with the health of the city and sanitation okay the nrs the nevada code says that cities are to provide for promoting the health safety general welfare of the inhabitants thereof okay so in our charter we have a list of the kinds of improvements that we want to do in the city if you look at the list they in no way address equity there are as number five park projects but as that it was explaining park products projects that's just a check off the box but how you determine part products and prop proc projects for me um [Music] that's not here there's no kind of guidance so our proposal is in addition to all of these 14 things that the city feels it should do as local improvement we'd add green infrastructure projects to combat the urban urban heat island why the urban heat island that addresses climate change it addresses health and it addresses equity okay madam mayor yeah thank you um thank you for explaining that and i just wanted to point out to my colleagues so there is an extensive list in the charter uh for local improvement law and it says accept as otherwise provided the city council on behalf of the city and in its name without any election may from time to time acquire improve equip operate maintain convert to or authorize and then it gives the laundry list right in the charter and and i think um and a risk of ms leader um commissioner leader uh green infrastructure is not specifically called out you know we call out sue or we call off even off street parking you know we don't just call out the basics like water sewer and roads but we actually call out off-street parking overpass projects as if they need to be enumerated that we could do an overpass things like security walls are specifically listed in the charter as something we're allowed to do i mean it's kind of weird the level of detail in some cases and then that generality of some but but since it does get right down to you can do a sidewalk project you could do underground electric and communication facilities as if we need special authority to do those things you know and so i understand now where the committee's coming from you're saying if they're going to enumerate all of these things why would you not enumerate also green infrastructure projects why not at least it says those are important too as important as let's say an underpass we have overpasses and underpasses listed separately i mean you know to me i would delete a lot of them you know and just say we may do public works projects that further the interests of the city but since we do have this huge enumeration it is it is i think appropriate to at least list those so i appreciate that thank you thank you any other question no all right any other questions no all right none at this time okay madam clerk what are you looking for from us with uh cali's approval i think we're just looking for a motion to accept the report that was presented by the reno city charter committee okay thank you so much may i get a motion to accept the report so move second motion i have a second all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed motion carries unanimously all right madam clerk all right madam mayor moving on to item c it's general public comment we have none registered if you're in the zoom meeting and would like to make public comment please raise your hand at this time hearing none we are moving on to a motion to adjourn all right may i get a motion for the reno city council to return i'm in motion i have a second all those in favor say aye aye all those opposed motion carries unanimously all right i'm looking for a motion from the reno city charter committee to adjourn this meeting motion to adjourn swinney oh we've got a motion by member stevens a second by member swinney all those in favor please say aye any opposed this meeting is adjourned