Human Relations Commission — Boone, NC
Date: 2025-07-18

Town of Boone
 Human Relations Commission Meeting
 6:00 PM June 18
 Town Council Chambers
 1500 Blowing Rock Road

I.​ Call to Order​

II.​ Moment of Silence​

III.​ Tentative Agenda Adoption​

IV.​ Announcement of HRC Board Vacancies​

V.​ Public Comment​

VI.​ Approval of May 21, 2025 Minutes​

VII.​ Pride Month
 ●​ Boone Pride Saturday June 28 @ Watauga Agricultural Conference Center
 •​ Parade: 12pm
 •​ Festival: 1pm – 6pm​

VIII.​Online Complaint Form – Drew Finley / Todd Carter
 ●​ Update and complete form based on feedback from town attorney​

IX.​ Disability Pride event – Sean Morris
 ●​ Update​

X.​ Learn How Local Government Works event – Kirstin Morgan
 ●​ Update​

XI.​ Work Session

XII.​ Adjournment

Meeting called to order at 6:12pm

HRC Members Present:
 ● Todd
 ● Drew
 ● Tori
 ● Sean
 ● Joanna
 ● Trevor
 ● Dalton

  1. Todd suggested moving to add the HRC website
 recommendations to today’s agenda
  2. Tori made a motion to add this item; Trevor
 seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

  ● 3 HRC Board Vacancies Remain
  ● Public comment was opened and closed as no members
 of the public attended

  3. Drew moved to approve Meeting Minutes from the
 prior meeting. Todd seconded. The motion carried
 unanimously.
  4. Boone Pride is Saturday, June 28
  ● Parade begins at 12
  ● Festival is from 1-6
  ● Looking for volunteers for cleanup
5. Online Complaint Form
● Add housing to item #3 in the form
● Drew to revise the form based on the Town
 Attorney’s guidance - will send edits to Todd by
 Friday

● For enforcement, we start with remediation. If party does
  not want to come to voluntary remediation, we would
  need to change our Ordinance to levy a fine or
  misdemeanor
● We would like to talk to the Town Attorney further with
  the ordinance in front of us
● We can learn from other towns or cities who have been
  through this process - receive advice from other HRCs
● Relevant for housing in particular, since it is one of the
  biggest issues right now

6. HRC Website Examples
● Suggested sites, particularly Alamance County, do a
 good job of explaining what the HRC is there for and
 what their scope as a body is
● Sites provide examples of what HRC works on
● Durham HRC includes Commission powers section -
 goals and what the body can do
● We want to explain to people how we can be a resource
 for them
● We really like the Commission powers section
● Durham appears to be a remediation and resolution body
  ● Some people may not know that they are engaging in
 discrimination - sometimes people just need someone to
 spell it out for them
  ● We need to link everything back to the non-discrimination
 ordinance
  ● Tori to type up a website revision, modeled after
 Durham’s website for the HRC’s review and approval.
 Once the HRC approves, the revision will be
 submitted to Town Council for their review and
 approval

  7. Disability Pride Update
 ● July 26, 2025
 ● Ag Center is booked - event is 10am to 2pm
 ● 4 hours strikes good balance
 ● Resources booth, refreshments, and art space
 ● Attendance goal is 50 people

Budget items
  1. ADA know your rights factsheet
  2. Art supplies (major item) - minimum of canvas, paint
 brush, and paint would be approximately $300
  3. Food - to be determined. Food trucks could be feasible,
 but it is unclear

  ● HRC budget is $5,000/yr - Sean would ideally like to
 have $900 for the event, but that figure seems high
  ● We can keep art supplies for future HRC events
 ● Would $750 be a more reasonable budget ask?
 ● Todd suggested some individuals for Sean to reach out
 to for exploring financial support for the event
 ● Sean suggested a $900 budget request for the art
 supplies and food as a conservative figure, noting that
 excess can be returned to the Commission’s budget
 ● Advertising - print about 40 posters at $1 each to display
 around Town (also a conservative figure)
 ● Sean requested a social media post from the Town of
 Boone to promote the event. which he will work with
 Todd to create
 ● The total requested budget cost would therefore be $940
 ● Stick Boy will usually donate food - Sean will use their
 online request form
 ● Sean made a motion for a budget request of $940 for
 the event. Drew seconded the motion. Motion carried
 unanimously.
8. Members were encouraged to think about items for future
work sessions
9. Dalton moved to adjourn. Sean seconded. Motion
carried unanimously