The city’s Human Relations Commission is seeking applicants who can and will attend meetings so the body can reach quorum.
The commission is supposed to meet at 9 a.m. every third Friday at City Hall, but has only been able to gather at least five of the nine commissioners three times since the beginning of 2022.
The commission met quarterly for all of 2022, meaning there were four scheduled meetings for the year: one in January, April, July and October. Only the January meeting reached a quorum with seven of the nine commissioners present.
For 2023, the commission has attempted meeting in January and then every month since April, with the only meetings occurring in June and August.
The commission is unable to perform official business without a majority — five commissioners — so meeting minutes remained unapproved and the commission without elected officers for more than a year and a half.
Chair Kimberley Woodruff has grown frustrated.
“Life happens, everybody is not required to be at every single meeting, but try to be at as many as you can so that we can reach quorum and be able to hold a meeting,” Woodruff said to the present commissioners back in August. “I hate when folks plan to do something, and we all get here, and we’re missing one to reach quorum.”
Woodruff said attendance has become a problem. She and Ward 2 Councilman Mike Lester, also the commission’s council liaison, wondered if the timing of the meeting was a cause.
“It’s important to participate so that each commissioner knows what’s going on, what our plans are. I believe that people choose to be on this commission because they care,” she said.
Woodruff said she’s asked several individuals on the commission who haven’t shown up in months about adjusting the meeting time with no response.
Woodruff said she alerts every commissioner each month of the meeting time and date and asks for those unable to come to notify her.
According to city code, a person’s position will be deemed vacant if this person has not attended at least two-thirds of the regularly scheduled meetings of the board or commission for one year or has missed three consecutive meetings.
On the commission is Chair Kimberley Woodruff, Donna Adams, Jamie Howard, Frank Rycyk, Jane Barnes, Lorraine Schofield, JoDe Layton-Brinker, Seth Bauman and Andria Hendricks.
The HR commission was scheduled to meet Friday, but only Woodruff, Howard, Rycyk and Schofield were in attendance. Woodruff said Layton-Brinker, Barnes and Adams notified Woodruff in advance they wouldn’t be able to show.
At the official August meeting, Schofield, Woodruff, Layton-Brinker, Rycyk and Barnes were present.
At the June meeting, the same five were present. In January, of the current commissioners, Rycyk, Woodruff, Adams, Cavette and Barnes were present; Schofield, Howard and Layton-Brinker had not yet been appointed.
Layton-Brinker, Bauman and Hendricks have terms expiring in December.
Woodruff encouraged those in the room Friday to share the application with friends who may be interested. She said the commission’s goal is to encourage diversity and acceptance in the Jefferson City community.
The commission has, in years past, hosted a Speakers Series in which people are able to share and teach about their own culture, experience or knowledge. Kylar Broadus, founder and director of the Trans People of Color Coalition, spoke in June 2021 about being a Black trans man in America during the series “Radical Listening: Stories of Strength from the Trans Community.”
Woodruff said commissioners do not have to agree for the body to be effective.
“We’re looking for someone who’s interested in educating the community on different things that could bring us together, unite us, not divide us. That does not mean that we look for somebody who has the same opinions as us. You certainly need different opinionated people. Somebody who is deeply involved in the community and wants to see us grow together is the goal,” Woodruff said.
The application is available on the city website.