City of Santa Fe Women's Commission met Feb. 8.
Here are the minutes provided by the commission:
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
Members Present:
Voting Member Olivia Sloan
Voting Member Candice Flint
Voting Member Araseli Varela
Voting Member Gabriela Schwenker
Voting Member Carla Bachechi
Members Excused:
Voting Member Vickie Gabin
Voting Member Kate Bienvenu
Others Attending:
Anna Pendas, Clerk
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a. Approval of minutes for September 14, 2021
Gabriela moved to approve the September minutes, Carla seconded the motion, Olivia, Candice and Araseli voted to approve the September minutes.
b. Approval of minutes from October 12, 2021
Gabriela moved to approve the October minutes. Carla seconded. Olivia, Candice and Araseli voted to approve the minutes.
c. Approval of minutes from November 9, 2021
Carla moved to approve the November minutes. Gabriela seconded. Olivia, Candice and Araseli voted to approve the minutes.
d. Approval of minutes from January 11, 2022
Carla moved to approve the January minutes. Araseli seconded. Olivia, Candice and Gabriela voted to approve the January minutes.
5. ACTION ITEMS
a. Action: approval for 2022 meeting calendar for Women’s Commission
Gabriela moved to approve the 2022 meeting calendar. Olivia seconded. Candice, ARaseli and Carla voted to approve.
6. DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Discussion: status report from subcommittees
Araseli did some research on stipend models and found none used within New Mexico but some in neighboring states, Colorado and Utah. Not sure of the process to change this within City govt, if there’s an ordinance prohibiting this that needs to change. Stipends could support engagement and defray barriers such as childcare or time needed for participation. One group in Oregon uses stipends directly related to meeting attendance. If three consecutive meetings are missed, the members is assumed to be giving up their seat.
Unsure about how much the stipend should be. Examples vary from $10 to $120 and questions about whether this applies to regular monthly meetings or does it also apply to subcommittee meetings? Questions about budgetary considerations, how would a stipend impact the overall budget for the City?
Anna noted that there might be adjacent policies that can lend some guidance to a stipend model, such as the per diem policies for employee travel. There’s already a set amount associated with a comparable activity. Gabriela asked about members who might waive the stipend for various reasons and how that might impact budgets. Is the rejected funding reverted to the budget and if so, what could it be used for? IS there an issue with having some stipended members and some who waive the stipend? Anna suggested that stipends could possibly be used to support guests who would like to participate but may need support.
Vickie asked how members of the City Council are compensated. Anna wasn’t sure but will look into this. Vickie also asked if Candice or others knew how/if members of the school board were compensated. Candice did not believe that they were compensated at all.
Araseli added that stipend models are used in various committees in “big states” fairly frequently.
Candice reported that the policy subcommittee met in December. Vickie had reviewed a handful of ordinances but found the process to be less than helpful. She felt that reviewing newly formed ordinances might be more productive.
Anna talked about the current process of processing resolutions, contracts, and other projects and how they move through internal committees and then the governing body. She noted that unless staff become aware of it by chance, things don’t always go before the appropriate/relevant citizen committees as they should. The resolution establishing the Women’s Commission specifically asks that projects, services, budgets and practices are reviewed by the Women’s Commission with a gender equity lens but the mechanism to make this happen is not well established .The Commission asked that Anna be prepared to talk about this more at the next meeting and share examples of ways that this could be better achieved.
The Commission asked that members of the Governing Body, especially those who had a hand in the creation of the Women’s Commission be invited to give feedback to the Commission. Anna will work on getting this set up.
7. MATTERS FROM STAFF
8. MATTERS FROM THE COMMITTEE
9. MATTERS FROM THE CHAIR
10. NEXT MEETING: March 08 2022
11. ADJOURN
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