Human Rights Commission — Bloomington, MN
Date: 2026-03-20

Human Rights Commission
 AGENDA


 HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION MEETING
 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2026
 HAEG CONFERENCE ROOM
 BLOOMINGTON CIVIC PLAZA
 1800 W. OLD SHAKOPEE RD.
 BLOOMINGTON, MN 55431
 5:30 PM

ANNOUNCEMENT
This meeting will be held in person and electronically via Webex. Some members of the Human Rights
Commission, staff, and presenters may participate electronically as permitted by Minnesota Statutes. Members
of the public may attend in person or electronically.
Join link:

https://logis.webex.com/logis/j.php?MTID=m75c07244175252c652a753b727786e26

Webinar number: 2866 824 1641

Webinar password: FebMeeting (33263384 when dialing from a phone or video system)

Join by phone

+1-312-535-8110 United States Toll (Chicago)

+1-415-655-0001 US Toll

Access code: 286 682 41641


1. CALL TO ORDER

 1.1 Call to Order

2. PROCEDURAL MATTERS

 2.1 Adoption of Agenda

 2.2 Approval of Minutes

 2.3 Recognition of Outgoing Commissioners

 2.4 Liaison Annoucements

3. ORGANIZATIONAL BUSINESS

 3.1 Transgender Day of Visibility Proclamation
 3.2 Executive Committee Appointments

 3.3 Human Rights Commission - Letter to Council

4. NEW BUSINESS

 4.1 Human Rights Commission - Correspondence

5. PROGRAM/SPEAKER

 5.1 Omar Bonderud Award Facilitated Discussion

6. ADDITIONAL HANDOUTS

7. ADJOURNMENT

BloomingtonMN.gov: A yearly meeting schedule, agendas, and the official minutes once approved are available. If you require a
reasonable accommodation, please call 952-563-8733 (MN Relay 711) as soon as possible, but no later than 9:00 a.m. one business day
before the meeting day.

 Our mission is to cultivate an enduring and remarkable community where people want to be.

APPROVED MINUTES
Bloomington Human Rights Commission
Date: 2/17/2026
Time: 5:30pm
Location: Bloomington Civic Plaza, Haeg Conference Room
Address: 1800 West Old Shakopee Rd. Bloomington, MN 55431

Members Present: Ngawang Gonsar, Heather Kaminsen, Baron Lewis, Julia Perry, Anita Smithson, Jessica Thornton,
Amari Musignac
Members Absent: Thomas Burns, Ammar Elmustafa
Guest Speaker: n/a
Guests: 2
Staff: Amanda Crombie, Equity & Workplace Culture Program Manager; Kayla Dvorak Feld, Communications and
Engagement Office Support Specialist

Chairperson Smithson called the meeting to order at 5:33pm. A quorum was present.
All votes taken by voice vote.

1. PROCEDURAL MATTERS

1.1 Adoption of Agenda: M/N. Gonsar, S/J. Perry to adopt the agenda as presented. Motion passed 6-0 (A. Musignac
 absent for vote)
1.2 Approval of Minutes: M/J. Thornton, S/A. Smithson to approve the January 20, 2026, meeting minutes as
 presented. Motion passed 6-0 (A. Musignac absent for vote)
 M/ J. Perry, S/A. Smithson to approve the January 26, 2026, meeting minutes as presented. Motion passed 6-0 (A.
 Musignac absent for vote)
1.3 Recognition of Outgoing Commissioners
1.4 Liaison Updates: The State of the City 2026 is scheduled for Thursday, March, 11am-1pm, at the Sheraton
 Bloomington Hotel. Commissioners are invited to attend.

 The Transgender Day of Visibility Proclamation will be presented at Council on March 2. The Asian American,
 Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Proclamation will be presented at Council on May 4.

 The Bloomington Pride Event is scheduled for Sunday, June 14, 2026. Registration for exhibitors for the event is
 open. Other outreach and tabling opportunities are the Indigenous Film Festival on March 20, Early Childhood
 Expo on April 11, and an AAPI Employee Resource Group event on May 30.

 Commissioners were asked if they wanted to consider giveaways for the tabling events.

 Karent Lundquist is a legal educator and practicing attorney wanting to host an event “Democracy with
 Conditions: Rights That Can Be Taken Away.” The event would be an interactive civic education event that invites
 participants to examine how democratic rights in the United States have historically been conditional, uneven,
 and reversible. The commissioners agreed to assist with the event.

2. ORGANIZATIONAL BUSINESS

2.1 Transgender Day of Visibility Proclamation – M/N. Gonsar, S/J. Thornton to approve the Transgender Day of
 Visibility Proclamation as presented. Motion passed 7-0
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 APPROVED MINUTES
2.2 Executive Committee Appointments: Commissioners voted by voice for J. Thornton as Chair 7-0 and N. Gonsar as
 Vice Chair 6-0, N. Gonsar abstained.
2.3 HRC Letter to Council: Commissioners discussed the letter to Council regarding federal agents in Bloomington
 that was read at the council listening session on February 2. Commissioners would like an acknowledgement of
 the letter.

3. NEW BUISNESS

3.1 HRC Correspondence: An email from a resident was received in the HRC inbox regarding safety concerns due to
 ICE agents being in the community. A. Smithson responded the email. No further action was requested by
 commissioners at this time.

4. PROGRAM

4.1 Omar Bonderud Award Facilitated Discussion: What has stood out in the past?
 • Every year we get better responses and submissions.
 • How well we do recognizing and honoring the winners with the ceremony and council presentation.
 • This year, one of the recipients was very timely, and the award felt very powerful and meaningful.
 • Thoughtfulness on the process and valued by the city.
 • Nice that there were two recipients.
 • Open-ended

 Where are there gaps?

 • Open-ended
 • Confusion regarding criteria, is it based off volunteerism, company related, etc.
 • Hard to use the same criteria for an individual versus a business.
 • While we had a lot of submissions, there’s still a lot of good work in the community that we aren’t aware
 of.
 • Questions on who knows about award and who has access to submit a nomination. There’s always an
 opportunity to make sure we’re reaching as many people as possible.

 1. Award Criteria

 • Some sort of paper trail/evidence, some degree of minimal content (i.e. provide 1 to 3 paragraphs)
 • Must demonstrate an outstanding effort, not afraid to inspire change in community, creative, great social
 skills, welcoming of others, pillar in community. Have two awards with different criteria (one for
 individual and one for business).
 • Nominees should demonstrate a commitment to advancing human rights.
 • Consider creating and posting a nomination example.
 • Consider creating a FAQ sheet.

 2. Timeline & milestones

 • Summer is when we’re engaging with public at events. Still continue doing the promotion and
 nomination process in the summer but extend the open period a little longer into September.
 • It’s helpful to have the celebration on the same day the Human Rights Day Proclamation goes to Council.
 • Open when publicizing goes out (in early summer).
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 APPROVED MINUTES
 • Submissions can open as early as February or march and go through September.

 3. Roles & Responsibilities:

 • Liaison/staff: manages nominations and communication
 • A work group of commissioners review nominations and provide a report back to the group, including a
 summary of nominations, both of the selected and not selected nominees.
 • Managing nominations – liaison; reviewing nominations – HRC commissioners; add a system to report
 back to the entire commission but also like a summary of the nominees and why they were not selected;
 liaison communicates decision.
 • Consider and city council member, city manager or mayor send out communication to selected
 individual and/or business.
 • Consider including staff or council members in the nomination review process.

 4. Equity safeguards

 • Blind review and scoring process to avoid bias: identifying info is redacted when the work group is
 reviewing.
 • Multi-language process, video content with information (FAQ). Making sure to cover a lot of
 communication methods.
 • Consider allowing other types of submissions i.e. video.
 • Consider a larger work group reviewing the nominations.
 • Peach jar communications through the public schools.
 • Change the name on all marketing to Omar Bonderud Human Rights Award.
 • Consider changing the scoring system (having negative scoring up through 2).

Commissioners would like the nominations to be accepted from June through September. Staff will provide an
updated timeline at the March meeting.

ADJORNMENT

Motion to adjourn: M/A. Musignac, S/A. Smithson to adjourn the meeting at 7:34pm. Motion passed 7-0




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