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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-06-21 Administrative Comm minutesDUBLIN CITY COUNCIL ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE Tuesday, April 6, 2021 4:00 p.m. Virtual Meeting Meeting Minutes Vice Mayor De Rosa called the Administrative Committee meeting of April 6, 2021 to order at 4:00 p.m. Members present: Ms. Fox, Ms. Alutto, Vice Mayor De Rosa Staff present: Ms. Miglietti, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Brown, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Earman, Ms. Gee, Ms. Rauch, Ms. Renzetti, Ms. Nardecchia, Ms. Noble, Chief Paez, Ms. LeRoy, Ms. Weisenauer Also present: Mr. Jamie Greene and Mr. Logan Stang from planningNEXT. Approval of the minutes Vice Mayor De Rosa moved to approve the minutes of the December 4, 2020 and February 9, 2021 Administrative Committee meetings. Ms. Alutto seconded. Vote on the motion: Vice Mayor De Rosa, yes; Ms. Alutto, yes; Ms. Fox, yes. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Assessment Update Mr. Rogers shared a presentation regarding the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts of the City. He provided a historical review of the Administrative Orders through the years (dating back to 1989) in furtherance of diversity, equity and inclusion. In 2019, the City began the Diversity & Strategic Planning Process and defined the City’s Diversity and Inclusion Statements. In 2020, Council passed Resolutions 37-20 and 41-20. The passage of these resolutions created the Community Task Force, the Chief’s Advisory Committee and began a review of the City’s policies, practices and training pertaining to diversity, equity and inclusion. Mr. Stephen Francis, Franchise D & I Solutions, is assisting the City with defining a DEI Strategic Plan. Mr. Rogers shared the results of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) exercise that Mr. Francis conducted with members of staff. He also explained the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index and Dublin’s current status on this index. Mr. Rogers provided information regarding DEI training for Council members and board and commission members. He also recommended an Ohio Ethics Law e-learning Course accompany the DEI training. Ms. Fox stated that she feels Dublin is inclusive, but found the information regarding areas to improve very helpful. She is supportive of the training as well. Administrative Committee April 6, 2021 Page 2 Ms. Alutto stated that she would not like to require in-person training of our board and commission members. She feels they give enough of their time. She is supportive of e- learning modules and feels that is appropriate. Vice Mayor De Rosa stated that she has asked Mr. Rogers to work with Mr. Francis in customizing the DEI training to our board and commission members so it is more interactive for them. Ms. Alutto stated that her only hesitation is the hours involved in the training for the members. She stated she wants to be sensitive to their time. She is supportive of the training. Mr. Rogers stated that he felt it would be possible to develop self-paced learning for our board and commission members so they could do the training when their schedule permits and any in-person training could be pared down as well. Ms. Nardecchia stated that, in her experience working with volunteers, they would welcome the training and the opportunity to have additional tools in their toolbox. In response to Vice Mayor De Rosa’s question regarding the LGBTQ Liaison and his advisory committee, Chief Paez stated that Officer McCloskey has been in the liaison position for a year. He also stated that the department added another Community Liaison Officer by adding Officer Quintanilla. Officers McCloskey, Quintanilla and Nicholson are all Community Liaison Officers. He stated that the pandemic has affected how well these officers are able to connect with the community but they have made great efforts to make phone calls and reach out via e-mail. The Officers attended the vigil that was held at Bridge Park recently by some students so they could engage and support our residents. He stated that the Chief’s Advisory Committee has held seven meetings so far and has had great discussion. He stated that the School Resource Officer program was discussed at length. He added that while the committee is very supportive of the program, they have suggested more training and partnerships that could be helpful. He shared that a few policies have been identified that the committee would like to discuss further such as the Use of Force Policy and Body Camera Policy as well as others. Vice Mayor De Rosa asked if the full report from the Human Right’s Campaign was available so the Committee could see how the region was doing regarding the index. Mr. Rogers stated that there are eight cities that are included in the index. He stated he would provide that report to Council for their awareness. Dublin 2035 Ms. Rauch introduced the Dublin 2035 discussion. Ms. Rauch provided a list of goals for this discussion. She referred to the information provided to the Committee in the meeting packet and stated that, regarding the Dublin 2035 Framework:  What is it? o The development of a unified framework o Visionary set of big ideas or unique actions o Looking out to 2035  Why are we doing these exercises? o Guide City investments, policy decisions and community collaboration o Dublin is forward thinking community Administrative Committee April 6, 2021 Page 3 o Stretch our thinking  How will we use the Dublin 2035 Framework? o Overarching guide o Direct updates for Community Plan, CIP etc. o Opportunities to address community challenges Ms. Rauch shared the theme milestone timeline. There are three milestones: initial big ideas; additional ideas, research and insights; and refinement & priorities. The committees are currently in milestone one. Milestone one focuses on identifying big ideas for the future. Mr. Greene and Mr. Stang, planningNEXT were present to assist with the discussion. The two discussion questions for this meeting are:  What are the big ideas for Quality of Life?  What does other resources do you need? The Quality of Life is the theme for the Administrative Committee. Each standing committee has a theme and under each theme are the various elements. The elements for the Quality of Life theme are: safety, leisure, culture, design, engagement, City services, land and facilities; and resiliency and sustainability. Ms. Rauch shared some of the ideas that have already come out as a result of Council discussion initially. Mr. Greene introduced the discussion by stating that he would like all in attendance to think about big ideas they would like to share and to think about whether they are big, transformative ideas or ideas that could happen just by updating the Community Plan for example. He asked everyone to share one idea at a time. Mr. Stang will be keeping a log of the ideas as they are mentioned. If the Committee could recognize five to seven big ideas to carry forward, that would be the target. Big Ideas Shared:  Mr. Rogers: Dublin to be a shining example of diversity, equity and inclusion.  Vice Mayor De Rosa: Build a “think place” where there could be a space to have learning institutions coming together to foster life-long education, no matter the age of the student, for personal fulfillment.  Ms. Alutto: providing opportunities for lots of different types of alternate transportation, such as smaller mass transit, more connectivity. She added that she discovered some quality of life indicators while researching this topic that made her think about and imagine how information could come together, in a dashboard or another way, to share the goals or indicators we are trying to achieve with the public. She wants to be good at telling our story.  Ms. Nardecchia: A civic center where citizens gather with social services agencies in a centralized location for service to the community. She added that she would like to have a citizen City of innovation, wellness, learning and leadership. Where is our bench strength in citizens that are ready to be in a leadership role?  Mr. Anderson: The idea of a civic center for programming, shows, art events, etc. Administrative Committee April 6, 2021 Page 4  Ms. LeRoy: She thinks of larger events and vibrancy coming to the community. She would like to help other cultures build their events in Dublin.  Ms. Miglietti: She is always thinking of ways to bring and attract diversity in this community.  Mr. Earman: He has witnessed demographic shifts and different populations, so that has prompted him to want to revisit service levels in youth sports. It has been very successful and growing. There are a series of models that haven’t been pursued in the way of partnerships at a regional level. He would like to explore those in an effort to expand and provide better opportunities.  Ms. Renzetti: She was thinking of a cultural type of civic center where cultures can be shared smaller scale more often to keep learning about different cultures and embracing them.  Chief Paez: He stated that a top priority is being the safest community. Procedural justice is the application and fairness in practices, with not just police, but other wellness, healthcare, etc.  Ms. Gee: She would like to continue to reimagine how we bring leisure to the public. The pandemic has been a learning experience and she would like to make leisure activities more than a “come to us” situation, such as e-sports.  Ms. Weisenauer: She stated that gravitates towards Council’s goal of being the most connected City. She wants Dublin to be the City of choice globally. Fiber to the home is greatly desired by the residents so that is a big visionary goal of hers. Offering various modes of transportation and using the Alexa pilot to be even more interactive for our residents are more thoughts she has explored.  Ms. Fox: She stated that hearing what everyone was saying was beneficial. She has learned from the pandemic how important entertainment and interaction are to people. Could Dublin be the City of music, culture and entertainment? It would bring in tourism and promote inclusivity. Mr. Greene asked if there were other big ideas to share. He suggested using the elements that were listed earlier as idea starters.  Vice Mayor De Rosa stated that General Motors by 2040 will no longer make combustion engine cars. She suggested that a goal would be that by 2035, Dublin could be a City that supports ½ the cars being electric. There is such a motivation to walk away from fossil fuels so we need to start thinking about sustainability and the infrastructure that would support that.  Ms. Fox stated that the Hyperloop and high speed transit are real possibilities for our future in this corridor. She also agreed with Vice Mayor De Rosa’s idea about life-long learning.  Ms. Noble asked if we have thought about a pedestrian only area of the City where there are no vehicles? She has thought of this as one of her big ideas.  Ms. Schoning stated that finding a way to share and embraces other cultures. She also added that she would like to see a museum in the City.  Ms. Nardecchia suggested that if we are going to be a global City of choice, then we must be a robustly multi-lingual City as well. Administrative Committee April 6, 2021 Page 5  Mr. Brown stated that the citizen is center. He thinks about ways to engage and get the citizens invested in the City who aren’t already.  Ms. Alutto stated that she would like to explore different types of housing products that are affordable and could be priced to household incomes under a certain amount, aging in place, attracting other demographics.  Ms. Fox shared the “super greenway” concept. She would like to see a huge greenway that extends across the City that connects one end of the City to the other. She also discussed the 15-minute community. Mr. Stang shared the 23 different ideas that were shared. He highlighted the ideas that were shared by several. He asked the Committee if there were any that stood out to them and/or if there were any that needed additional explanation. Ms. Alutto stated that some could be combined. Ms. Fox stated that the general theme with all the items is interaction and social connection. She added that it is also digital connection. Ms. Alutto agreed and added that it is also important to consider how to get people to those social connections. Mr. Greene stated that once the initial meetings with the other committees are complete, then the information will be compiled and it will be easier to determine where they intersect. He used the example of mobility; in that mobility is a quality of life issue, but may be taken on as a topic by another committee. Vice Mayor De Rosa stated that she wanted to ensure that we don’t lose the grandiose nature of these ideas. She suggested an audio or visual compilation so that the summary doesn’t diminish the “big” part of the idea. She would like to see the ideas get bigger. Mr. Greene stated that his suggestion to staff was going to be to put the title of each item, but then include some bullet pointed descriptions around that idea so they do not get disconnected. Vice Mayor De Rosa stated that big ideas need to blossom. Mr. Greene clarified that each idea needs a title so it can be described and talked about. Ms. Alutto stated that a collage could be helpful to incorporate inspirational images, words, etc. Mr. Greene stated that the charge to staff was to build upon these ideas, and explain them with some imagery or visuals to convey the excitement of each idea. Ms. Fox agreed with building upon each idea and visuals to help achieve that. Mr. Greene stated that he has learned from this discussion the importance of visuals. He suggested that everyone coming into these meetings may have the mindset of being able to “make the case” for these ideas, but he has learned that the ideas must be built upon first before we move on to justification. Vice Mayor De Rosa thanked everyone for their participation. Mr. Greene agreed and stated that he would like for everyone to be more intentional with visuals.