Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES 01.30.2024 ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY OF LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY JANUARY 30th, 2024 The ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION convened a SPECIAL meeting on TUESDAY, JANUARY, 30TH, 2024, at the Permitting and Development Center Rooms #1401 and 1402 (6310 Wilhelmina Delco Drive, Austin, Texas 78752). Chair HANNA HUANG called the ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING to order at 6:15 pm CST. Commissioners in Attendance: Hanna Huang (Chair) Sarah Chen (Vice-Chair) Seonhye “Sonny” Sin Pierre Nguyen Lily Trieu Sabrina Sha Zahra Shakur Jamal-Hassan Nayer Sikder Padmini Jambulapati Commissioners in Attendance Remotely: Satyajeet Dodia Commissioners Absent: Kuo Yang Mohsin Lari Anna Lan Staff in Attendance: Alejandra Mireles – Community Services Program Coordinator, Equity Office Eric Anderson – Program Coordinator, Office of City Clerk PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL None. 1 ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES 01.30.2024 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Discussion and possible action to approve the minutes of the COMMISSION’s REGULAR MEETING on JANUARY 16th, 2024. The minutes from the regular meeting on 01/16/2024 were approved on COMMISSIONER PIERRE NGUYEN’s motion, COMMISSIONER LILY TRIEU’s second on a 10-0 vote. (Absent: Commissioners Kuo Yang, Anna Lan, and Mohsin Lari) DISCUSSION ITEMS 2. Discussion of impacts and feedback from community on 2023 Texas Senate Bill (SB) 17 “Relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at public institutions of higher education.” COMMISSIONER HANNA HUANG gives an overview of what is happening at The University of Texas in response to SB17; COMMISSIONER LILY TRIEU shares she is wondering if it is impacting any of the ACC cultural centers as it appears that students are being impacted financially. COMMISSIONER HUANG shares that the change at the university happened very suddenly. COMMISSIONER SABRINA SHA shares that there is also a lack of space for students to gather at the university. COMMISSIONER HUANG asks if the Commission can identify any budget recommendations that could support the students. COMMISSIONER TRIEU mentions that alumni are concerned that the graduation party hosted by student groups will not occur and so alumni are reaching out to the previous DEI office at UT to identify the financial cost of the party. COMMISSIONER SARAH CHEN shares that building fees for hosting should also be considered in the financial cost. COMMISSIONER PIERRE NGUYEN mentions that other state public universities (like Texas state) may also be impacted. Discussion on updates regarding city executive leadership vacancies and hiring of those positions. COMMISSIONER HANNA HUANG shares that this topic was also heavily discussed in JIC; shares that looking at the 9/2023 versus 01/2024 COA organizational chart, there are several changes from “acting” to permanent position assignments. COMMISSIONER LILY TRIEU asks if there is a centralized place to find this information online and the answer is no, but the Commission could ask HR for the information. COMMISSIONER SONNY SIN asks if the Commission could write a recommendation, and if so, what would the focus be. COMMISSIONER HUANG shares that the Commission can write a recommendation requesting that these positions be open to community input in a transparent way. COMMISSIONER ZAHRA SHAKUR asks if the Commission was following the Acevedo appointing; and the Commission responds that they could not follow because the appointing was not communicated or publicized prior to the news media releases. The Commission shares that this is something that the Commission could write a recommendation about; specifically stating that those types of hiring 2 3. ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY-OF-LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES 01.30.2024 decisions should not be made in private, without a transparent policy; and that the assistant city manager needs to be chosen as soon as possible. COMMISSIONER SARAH CHEN shares that it comes down to the transparency of hiring plan/guidelines/timelines and COMMISSIONER TRIEU adds that yes, specifically the process/public information, with clearly delineated engagement with the boards/commissions and the Joint Inclusion Committee. COMMISSIONER SHAKUR asks the Commission what are the other executive roles that need to be filled, the other crucial roles that are not being considered and COMMISISONER HUANG replies that the Commission can request a report updating the hires done/need to be done, including the demographic data of the hires/considerations for hire. Discussion on the strategic Asian American Quality-of-Life Advisory Commission’s 2024 plan Commission discusses survey results for Budget, AARC, and JIC Workgroups budget recommendations, using the strategic plan for 2024 presentation. 4. Brie Franco, 2023 Legislative Update. Budget recommendations from workgroups. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS ADJOURNMENT 8:38 p.m. The minutes were approved at the February 20th, 2024 meeting on COMMISSIONER SARAH CHEN’s motion, COMMISSIONER SONNY SIN’s second on a 9-0 vote. (Absent: Commissioner Lily Trieu, Anna Lan, Satyajeet Dodia, and Zahra Shakur Jamal-Hassan.) 3