Vermont League of Cities and Towns
Equity Committee Meeting
October 17, 2022 – Via Zoom
Minutes
Members Present: Co-Chair Elaine Wang, VLCT Board member Co-Chair Lucrecia Wonsor, Brian Carroll, Joy Dubin-Grossman, Alyssa Johnson, Ellen Kaye, Kathleen Ramsay, Amanda Smith, Sasha Thayer, Al Voegele, and Deborah Wright.
Others Present: VLCT staff: Executive Director Ted Brady, Abby Friedman, Jessica Hill, Karen Horn, and Linda Mahns.
Agenda Item #1: Call to order by the Chair. Co-Chair Elaine Wang called the meeting to order at 12:04 p.m.
Agenda Item #2: Additions and deletions to the Agenda. Elaine Wang asked if there were any changes or additions to be added or to entertain a motion to adopt this agenda as is. Amanda Smith asked to have Member Updates brought up first as she had to leave at 1 pm.
Agenda Item #7: Member Updates. Amanda Smith shared an update and asked the committee for advice regarding her equity work in Windsor. Committee members discussed and offered resources to her including information about the code of ethics some municipal officials assign to themselves as members of the Vermont Town and City Managers Association or the ICMA:
VTCMA Code of Ethics: https://www.vtcma.org/_files/ugd/02ce6a_a856a2a67fac4f5ca35f2847d222ab8f.pdf
ICMA Code of Ethics: https://icma.org/icma-code-ethics
https://icma.org/documents/icma-rules-procedure-enforcement-code-ethics
Agenda Item #3: Approval of the September 17, 2022 minutes. Elaine Wang asked for a motion to approve the minutes. Joy Dubin Grossman made a motion to approve the September 17, 2022 minutes as presented. Al Voegele seconded. Approved unanimously.
Agenda Item #4: Executive Director Update. Ted Brady gave a summary from his update report. He let the Committee know that the stipends policy that this committee had provided a recommendation on was approved at the last VLCT Board meeting. He asked the Committee that if they are already compensated by their towns to attend this meeting, to decide if the compensation should be directed to the individual or the town. Action item: W9s will go out to the Committee to please fill out and return to our Finance team so you can begin to receive these stipends. Linda Mahns will keep track of attendance and will send in the minutes to Finance to pay out these stipends.
Agenda Item #5: Review the Action Plan and discuss Equity Work Plan for 2023. Elaine Wang asked Linda Mahns to make a copy of this plan with an extra column so that the Committee can indicate priorities on this Equity Work Plan. The Committee went down each row and members included their initials into a shared document. Action items: Ted Brady will provide a summary report on the VLCT equity survey that was generated. Another request was to compile a list of priorities based off of the initials added to bring the compiled list to the November meeting to see about distilling the top priorities then.
Agenda Item #6: Appoint a Nominating Committee. Ted Brady reminded the committee that its charter directed the committee to appoint a three person nominating committee each year to solicit and recommend committee members to the VLCT Board of Directors. Elaine Wang asked if there were volunteers to serve on this Nominating Committee. Kathleen Ramsay, Elaine Wang, Al Voegele and Joy Dubin Grossman all volunteered. Al offered to serve in an advisory capacity. Action item: Nomination forms will get updated and emailed out for folks to offer their nominations.
Agenda Item #8: Other Business.
The next Equity Committee meeting is scheduled for November 21st from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.
Agenda Item #9: Adjourn. Elaine Wang asked for a motion to adjourn. Al Voegele made the motion. Deb Wright seconded. The meeting adjourned at 1:36 p.m. without objection.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Mahns
Executive Administrative Assistant