Commission Meeting Minutes October 10, 2024

Commissioners Present:
First District: Nancy Padian, Haunani Pakaki
Second District: Rebecca Kaykas-Wolff, Katie Gordon*
Third District: Ana Diaz-Garcia, Melanie Jones-Carter (Vice-Chair)
Fourth District: Gina Fortino Dickson (Chair), Letitia Hanke*, Izzy Arreguin

Commissioners Absent:
First District: Joanne M. Brown (OAL)
Third District: Ofra Isler
Fifth District: Zobida McCorquodale (Leave of absence), Elizabeth Beaty

*Commissioners Gordon and Hanke attended via Zoom per AB 2449 Excuse)

Meeting held through publicly available link via Zoom Meeting, and in-person.

1.CALL TO ORDER, ROLL CALL
Meeting called to order at approximately 6:05 p.m. Roll call taken by Staff.

2.LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Commissioner Diaz-Garcia read the Land Acknowledgement.

3.PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDIZED ITEMS
No Public Comment.

4.CONSENT CALENDAR
Approval of the following minutes:
a.July 11, 2024 Meeting Minutes
b.August 3, 2024 Strategic Planning Meeting Minutes
c.September 23, 2024 Special Meeting Minutes
Motion to approve all items under consent calendar.

No Public Comment.

Motion: Commissioner Padian 
Second: Vice Chair Jones-Carter 

Ayes: 7 Noes: 0Absent: 4 Abstained: 2

Commissioners Brown, Isler, and Beaty were absent. Commissioner McCorquodale is on leave of absence. Commissioner Gordon abstained. Chair Fortino Dickson abstained as Chair. Motion passed.

5. OFFICER REPORTS AND ADMINISTRATIVE UPDATES
a. Chair Fortino Dickson announced that Women Equality Day Resolution was a success because it was presented at the Board of Supervisors meeting and at all City Councils.
b. December meeting is cancelled.

6. COMMISSIONER ANNOUNCEMENTS
a. Commissioner Pakaki is having a knee replacement on November 11th and she will not be joining the meeting November meeting.
b. Commissioner Diaz-Garcia attended the City of Santa Rosa Violence Prevention Seminar from 8am to 4:30pm and tickets were $25-$30. The seminar is a way to improve the community and individuals shared their lived experiences coming out of the prison system and being incarcerated. She recommends having the Commission attend next year.
c. Commissioner Diaz-Garcia invited the Youth Commission and the Adult Commission to attend the 25th anniversary of Day of the Dead/ Dia de Los Muertos on November 1st and 2nd in downtown Santa Rosa. This is a great exposure for the Commission.

7. OPENINGS AND APPOINTMENTS
a. Chair Fortino Dickson postponed welcoming Commissioner Beaty due to her absence.
b. Chair Fortino Dickson announced openings in the 2nd district, in the 3rd district, and in the 5th district. She also introduced Katarina Guidice- White, who was observing the meeting and a future Commissioner representing the 3rd district.
c. Chair Fortino Dickson announced that this meeting was Commissioner Diaz-Garcia’s last meeting and thanked her for work connecting the Commission with other community organizations.
d. CSW Materials
Chair Fortino Dickson led the conversation about donating CSW materials to Sonoma County History & Genealogy Library instead of keeping the items in a storage unit. The CSW materials consist of historical documents, photos, newspaper articles, CDs, DVDs, etc. Commissioners voiced their interest in digitizing the information so that the institutional knowledge is maintained. The library will be archiving the materials they find fit so community members can access the material. Staff will follow back to see if the Commission can get the stuff back that the library doesn’t want to archive and will see if the Central Library can transfer the CDs and DVDs to flash drives. No action was taken at this moment.

8. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS PRESENTATION
Lynn Dooley and Gayle Peterson with League of Women Voters presented a non-partisan and unbiased look at the Pros & Cons of the ten state ballot propositions and three Sonoma County-wide measures that will appear on the November 5, 2024 ballot. The presentation helped demystify the ballot and explain what a “yes” vote means and what a “no” vote means. They talked about the existing law, proposed changes, fiscal impact, the supporters, and opponents as well as the campaign financing for each measure.

9. ADJOURNMENT
This meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m.