Minutes 01-18-2022 Virtual Business Meeting

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20 Bonnie Hammersley said the department directors had REI groundwater training today and this included people on the budget team and those dealing with outside agencies. She said there isn't a deadline by when everyone needs to be trained and everyone may not be trained within a certain time, but there are resources to make sure that staff is trained when they need to be. She said it is something that staff is working on as a way of changing their decision- making processes and will be a key driver for 22-23 budget process. Commissioner Hamilton asked when the commissioners are going to be trained on this since they are the decision-makers in many ways, and they need to be part of it. She said that she is ready to be trained. Erica Bryant said that it would be a wonderful next step to have all elected boards trained. Commissioner Hamilton said it would be great to have training, but to also have documents available to follow that will allow them to think about the impacts as they make decisions, organize meetings, participate in the process more, etc. with racial equity in the focus. Chair Price said she previously also wondered about a timeline and when Annette Moore was leading the effort, she had a slightly different strategy and wanted to wait on training commissioners. She stated that now that the new co-leads are in place, things may be different and that she agrees with getting everyone trained and on the same page. She stated that this is an ongoing process and while there are some benchmarks, this must be ongoing and ever evolving. She stated that new employees will take the training and noted that those that leave or retire will leave a gap so their replacements will need training. She stated that there remains the question of deciding if the training will be a requirement. She said there is an incentive to receive training vs. a requirement to do so because people say they just do not want to. She said that in terms of trust, it is an ongoing process to gain people's trust since the United States was founded on racism. She said there have been hundreds of years of policies, laws, thinking and sentiments and it is going to take a long time to unravel that. She said one of the things we can do is look at the way planning and zoning is done. She said examining the question of why certain areas only allow single family homes on large tracts of land is a beginning. She said that other places are looking at their application forms to see if there are changes to be made. She stated that there are a lot of elements that go into this, but for tonight, the Board is being asked to approve the framework itself and make suggestions. Commissioner Bedford said it was impressive to use the toy chest event as an opportunity to engage the community. She stated that as a politician, the biggest struggle is how to hear from those from which you don't usually hear from. She stated that did not know there was an International Association on Community Engagement and Appendix C was very illuminating to her. She explained that many Board members have had different racial equity trainings over the years but training together, and with other boards in the towns, can get them all on the same page. She stated that she looks to Chair Price, Commissioner Hamilton, and Commissioner Richards to help guide her because of their lived experiences. She said she is thrilled that the advisory boards can also get equity training. She stated that the Partnership to End Homelessness did racial equity training. She said groups often get stuck because so much of government work is downstream and they do not often look upstream at how to actually apply it. She said it is almost overwhelming because it is so massive but that she is up for it and wants to make sure it is done thoughtfully. She stated that updates must continue so the work does not fall apart. Chair Price said it is more than just the initial training and that it will continue to grow. She stated that the steps — normalize, organize, and operationalize — ensure that participants learn about what's going on, start working in it, go out and do it, then pass it along.