HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-16-2021CITY OF LAKEVILLE
CITY COUNCIL SPECIAL WORK SESSION MINUTES
June 16, 2021
1. Mayor Anderson called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers.
Members present: Mayor Anderson, Council Members Hellier (by telephone), Bermel, Lee,
and Volk
Members absent: None.
Staff present: Justin Miller, City Administrator
2. Moment of Silence and Flag Pledge.
3. Citizen Comments
None.
4. Envision Lakeville Community Conversations on Race
Following the May work session, the Council decided that a special work session meeting was
needed to exclusively discuss the possible addition of an equity and inclusion taskforce, and
whether it should be a standalone committee or an entity of the City. The Council was provided
with a revised draft of the proposed taskforce - "Envision Lakeville: Cultivate a Sense of
Community Taskforce." The document included an updated taskforce name, language,
responsibilities, and membership guidelines.
The Council reviewed the changes to the document and discussed the responsibilities of the
group including the coordination of a community -wide survey with subsequent focus groups and
the importance of ensuring the survey asked broad questions to capture a larger response. The
Council also discussed how the taskforce would promote the goals of Envision Lakeville and the
next update of the document, the proposed timeline of the taskforce being one year, defining
member term limits, generalizing the intent of the group so that it addresses more than just
equity and inclusivity in race, future benefits of the taskforce such as more organized community
events, and ensuring the recruitment process included a broad background of members - for
example, a student, parent, religious leader, senior, and someone from the business community.
Several residents were in the audience and online to provide feedback on the proposed taskforce:
Kami Sanders (Cherryview neighborhood), Jennifer Hartung (Harvard Drive), Karen Miller
(17195 Jacquard Path), Michelle Myer (171St Street West), Carly Anderson (Jamaica Path),
City Council Work Session Minutes, June 28, 2021 Page 2
Howard Schneider (Jersey Avenue), Christine Thompson (Laigle Avenue), Tom Fairley (Festal
Avenue), and Amy (Cherryview neighborhood).
The Council addressed a concern expressed among some of the citizen comments that the new
language outlined in the proposed taskforce did not specifically speak to diversity and inclusion
amongst race. Mayor Anderson and Council Member Lee, who worked to draft the proposed
taskforce document, acknowledged that the latest version was more broad, but following many
conversations and feedback from the community, ultimately felt that certain wording/ language
acted as a barrier between understanding and the taskforce moving forward. While traditionally
it has been a practice of the Council that no formal action take place at a work session meeting,
preliminarily Mayor Anderson along with Council Members Lee, Bermel, and Hellier were in
support of moving the taskforce forward; Council Member Volk was not in support of moving
the taskforce forward.
Staff will bring the taskforce document back to the next regular City Council meeting held on
Monday, June 21 for formal consideration and vote.
5. Items for Future Discussion
None.
6. Committee/ City Administrator Updates
Council Member Volk gave an update on the group who attended the March work session
meeting requesting the establishment of an ordinance banning the commercial sale of dogs and
cats in Lakeville. The Council asked the group to re -draft the language within the document so
that it more clearly identified the intent to ban puppy mill sales. Mr. Miller will forward the latest
correspondence from the group to the rest of the Council.
7. The meeting adjourned at 7:54 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
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Tamara allace, Deputy City Clerk
Douglas P. Anderson, Mayor