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11/14/2023 - Minutes City of Tigard 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 | 503 -639-4171 | www.tigard-or.gov | Page 1 of 1 Community Navigator Ad Hoc Committee Meeting Minutes Tuesday, November 14, 2023 | 4:30-6PM | Virtual-Microsoft Teams Start time: 4:33PM Attendees • Community Committee Members: Councilor Jai Raj Singh, Jimmy Brown, Kelli Pement, Valerie Sasaki • Teammates: City Manager Steve Rymer, Strategic Initiatives Program Manager Kim Ezell, Management Analyst Alex Richardson Discussion Introductions – name, pronouns, committee involvement City Manager Rymer will be a non-voting member and envisions himself in a listening mode, listening to learn. We will be starting with gaps in the community and then moving into solutions. City Manager Rymer wants to be able to articulate and champion the resulting recommendation. Will provide input and insight as needed. The Committee went through slides in the slide deck on membership roster, member expectations, facilitator commitment, and the original Public Safety Advisory Board (PSAB) recommendation that led to formation of this Committee. Started with talks of Ombudsman role in PSAB, and morphed into a Navigator role, for community members navigating through multiple systems inside of the city. People who are not comfortable due to race, language barriers, and immigration status. Only an awareness of marginalization will assist the city in helping make decisions. Grew out of Police department – but also who does someone go to apply for a permit, what if there is a language barrier? Conceived of as an external-facing, admin role to help identify where there are structural communication barriers between the community and systems of government. Went through slides about the Committee process and timeline and the Goldilocks challenge: being a bit specific in what kind of support this position or solution could provide community members, but not being prescriptive. Finding the balance -- if we have a really good “what,” the city teammates can figure City of Tigard 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 | 503 -639-4171 | www.tigard-or.gov | Page 1 of 1 out the rest. What gaps can be addressed by this recommendation, and which need to be addressed through different mechanisms? What comes next? 3 possible paths: 1 – do not change anything. 2 – a position or other solution could be included in the 2025 budget. 3 – it could be contemplated that the solution be funded in this year’s (2024) budget. Or a recommendation could be referred which does not have a fiscal impact. City has used the concept of piloting – one of the Police sergeants was one example of this. Does something like a pilot process fit, potentially? Yes, it could. Three Tigard teammates then joined the meeting to answer the question: how you serve community members? Tina Escalera, Economic Development Specialist: market and increase participation into business development programs, do outreach via phone calls, in-person visits, networking programs, and tours. Minority-owned business – assist, including and particularly Spanish-speaker owners. Examples: Los Empresarios program, TIF grant program. Judi Martin, Community Engagement Coordinator for Community Development: Engages community in buildings, roads, trails, Universal Plaza – whatever CD is working on. Communities who are very under- heard. Goes on the road to lower-income housing and includes food; gatherings are also child-friendly. Example: outreach on trail design options during lunch at the Senior Center. Building relationships in the community is the way to make inroads. Community-based organizations can be helpful in helping get the word out but are not a substitute for making relationships. Officer Brian Orth, Police Officer focused on downtown Tigard: Deals specifically with businesses, homeless community, Library. Role is communicating with the businesses downtown, shelters, and department heads about encampments. Gets them in touch with the resources they need – food pantries, shelters. Send weekly emails to businesses, keeps the downtown area clean by communicating with other departments and business owners. Question from the Committee for Tina Escalera: What gaps do you perceive in the community and how have you seen participation increase? Contact has not been consistent in the past but is now. Building that relationship by sending follow-up communications, and personally inviting people to events. Question from the Committee for Judi Martin: How do you measure success? It can be nebulous, but there are things you can measure – how many languages people may speak at an event, for example. You need to see it play out over a course of time so community members know who to contact when they have a question. Also, look at who was engaged in the conversation [of planning a new trail/park/road etc.] at the very beginning? Getting those types of systems and structures in place. Looking at the larger picture – the position, not the person [at the city]. What’s the strategy? Question from the Committee for Officer Orth: What gaps do you see? City of Tigard 13125 SW Hall Blvd., Tigard, OR 97223 | 503 -639-4171 | www.tigard-or.gov | Page 1 of 1 Low staffing levels, eg. no Community Service Officer for motor homes. Is there a need for one person who establishes one process? Standards for it? Currently, it’s multiple people in different departments doing this work – it’s individualized power. City teammates are great – they will make sure someone gets to who they need to go to. But if you don't know who to call in the city, that might be a different story. A lot of it is communication, and a lot of it is diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Getting those [City of Tigard internal teammate] teams to merge a little. A way to get information, encouragement and support in a structured way. Question from the Committee for all: Do teammates feel they have mentoring to reach out to people outside of their comfort zone? Inroads to communities of other ethnicities – Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic. How do you make a connection point if you do not know someone? Business support partners who help – APANO and a total of 16 different community-based organizations – monthly meetings, referrals to pass between each other. Sometimes city contracts that out but does not always want to farm those relationships out. Also, the importance of sharing out internally with Communications and Equity Team. Question from the Committee for all: Would it help to work across different departments? Do you feel siloed, are you aware of what others in similar positions are doing? How can we have a more institutionalized knowledge base or connected community engagement teammates? Is there a way for folks in different departments to share best practices and set standards. For example, translation/interpretation/childcare - keeping it consistent between departments. It might depend on the project – it can be more nuanced than that. But we can utilize what we have more effectively. Is it a position, it it a restructuring? Possibly creating a guide for equitable engagement for teammates to all use. Can one person do it all for the whole city? A closing question to focus on: what is the formula that generates the best activity? If the group would find it helpful to hear from other teammates doing navigator-like work, that can be arranged. Next meeting: come back to a focus on what the gaps are. End time: 5:56pm Community Navigator Ad Hoc Committee Overview November 14, 2023 Introductions Name Pronouns Connection to Tigard Why you volunteered for this ad hoc committee Favorite holiday tradition? Members City Councilor •Councilor Jai Raj Singh Budget Committee •Kelli Pement Public Safety Advisory Board •Valerie Sasaki •Jimmy Brown Tigard Teammate (Non-Voting) •Steve Rymer Member Expectations Be Curious •Keep an open mind Assume everyone has the best interests of Tigard in mind •Engage in respectful conflict •Ask clarifying questions Facilitator Commitment Begin and end meetings promptly Develop and send meeting agendas and materials before a meeting to ensure members have an opportunity to review In partnership, create a forum where all voices are heard Work with City teammates to provide guidance, research, and other information to aid decision making Remain neutral during the conversations How we got here: PSAB Recommendation Create a position and empower a volunteer Board to utilize a community- centered lens to assist community members in navigating the government systems of Tigard and fostering trust through meaningful conversation. By “meeting people where they are,” this role would be a connection point between community members and the city. This role would help ensure that communities of color are afforded equity, justice, transparency, and accountability. Path Forward Meeting 4 Forming consensus on the preferred solution Meeting 3 Creating a universe of solutions Meeting 2 Identifying gaps that exist in City services Meeting 1 Building a base of knowledge The Goldilocks Challenge Too Little –The Why Just Right –The What Too Much –The How •Externally focused •Build bridges •Navigating City systems •Foster trust •Anything ‘squishy’ •What kind of solution? •City-housed? •Volunteer? •Restructuring? •Change management? •Specific areas of focus and responsibilities •What gaps can be addressed by this recommendation and which need to be addressed through a different mechanism? •Reports to… •Salary •Job description duties •Classification •Skills/abilities of ideal candidate(s) •Budget trade-offs What comes next? November –December Ad Hoc Committee meets and develops recommendation January Recommendation presented to Budget Committee Also January Budget Committee provides direction to City Manager Equity Mapping Project The Equity Mapping Project seeks to identify disparities in Tigard and map them,so teammates can make data -informed policy & project decisions. The community will also be able to access the application in the future. A tool to evaluate community conditions A tool to understand community characteristics & demographics A tool to inform interventions Ex.: Are urban heat islands disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations? How can we direct environmentally sensible resources to mitigate long-term effects? Where are lower income populations located? Seniors, people with disabilities? What is the distribution of our urban street canopy? Increase urban street canopy in vulnerable areas with known heat island impacts first. Well Above Average Above Average Average Below Average Well Below Average IPD Risk Level Enterprise Service Requests Enterprise Service Requests is built around an intake system that handles requests from walk-ins; via email and phone; as well as from: • The Enterprise Service Requests portal, which allows community members to make requests via an online portal from an organization’s website. • The My Civic mobile app, which allows community members to report issues, ask questions, and monitor resolutions 24/7/365 via an easy-to-use app. Enterprise Service Requests keeps community members informed about their requests through email alerts and push notifications. After a request is made, members can follow progress online and through the mobile app.