City of Santa Fe Women's Commission met Nov. 15.
Here are the minutes provided by the commission:
1. CALL TO ORDER
2. ROLL CALL
Members Present:
Voting Member Gabriela Schwenker
Voting Member Carla Bachechi
Member Gloria Martinez-Friestad
Member Wendy Pomeroy
Members Excused:
Voting Member Olivia Sloan
Voting Member Candice Flint
Chair Araseli Varela
Voting Member Vickie Gabin
Member Sheila Vaughn
Others Attending:
Sophie Andar, Clerk
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
a. Request for Approval of the October 11, 2022 Women’s Commission Meeting Minutes. (Sophie Andar, Youth and Family Services Program Manager: sxandar@santafenm.gov)
MOTION: Voting Member Bachechi moved, seconded by Voting Member Schwenker, to Carla moved to approve as presented.
VOTE: The motion was approved on the following Roll Call vote:
For: Voting Member Schwenker, Voting Member Bachechi, Member Martinez Friestad, Member Pomeroy
Against: None
Abstain: None
5. PRESENTATION
No presentation had been scheduled for this meeting.
6. ACTION ITEMS
a. Survey of Women City of Santa Fe Employees – Moving Forward with a Researcher and Survey Questions
Sophie shared that she requested a survey proposal from Embold Research, per Wendy’s recommendation to consider contracting with this firm. Sophie also stated that she requested a proposal from Cerise Consulting, a firm the Youth and Family Division has contracted with on various projects with great satisfaction. The commissioners reviewed the two proposals and raised some questions that would need to be answered by the firms. The group decided to not vote on moving forward with either firm at this time. Rather, commissions should email their questions to Sophie, and she would arrange video calls for Carla and Gloria to ask the questions as Commission representatives.
7. DISCUSSION ITEMS
a. Commission Chair and Vice Chair
Due to her busy schedule and many commitments, ex-Chair Araseli Varela chose not to seek re-appointment. Therefore, the Commission is now without Chair and Vice Chair; the Vice Chair position was already vacant. Sophie asked if anyone present would like to put names forward for these positions. Gabriela requested that Sophie instead send an email to the whole Commission notifying the group of the openings and describing the roles’ responsibilities. She agreed.
b. National Association of Commissions for Women Membership
Sophie shared that she and Araseli had discussed the value of seeking guidance and network access from the National Association of Commissions for Women by potential membership. Sophie showed the commissioners the Association's website and offered to request that a representative present membership benefits at a future meeting. The commissioners stated their approval of this idea.
c. Women’s Commission Website
In her final meeting with Sophie as Chair, Araseli mentioned raising the public’s awareness of the Commission through website development and other media were pending topics. The commissioners discussed updating the City’s page on the Commission and promoting their work through the City’s Weekly Wrap Up newsletter.
d. Gender Breakdown of City Staff
In fulfillment of the Commission’s request for gender statistics among City employees, Human Resources provided reports describing the number of women versus men Citywide, per department, and per director level role. The reports showed near parity in terms of directors per department (48% women and 52% male). However, citywide data showed gender disparities. Nearly 30% of the City’s employees are female, and almost 70% are male.
e. Focus Groups with Local Women
The commissioners discussed how previous meetings had determined that both a survey and focus groups would be engaged to elicit needs and trends related to women’s equality in Santa Fe. The survey was identified as the priority activity with the goal of assessing gender-related issues impacting the City of Santa Fe’s employees. Focus groups comprised of community members from local organizations were to be engaged to highlight communitywide gender related issues. The pros and cons of centering the inquiry on residents’ experiences with City provided services were discussed. Citing a lack of knowledge of focus groups, one commissioner requested a presentation from an expert on the value of focus groups at a later meeting.
8. MATTERS FROM STAFF
9. MATTERS FROM THE COMMITTEE
10. MATTERS FROM THE CHAIR
11. NEXT MEETING: December 13 2022
12. ADJOURN
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