San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commission
Special Commission Meeting  |  Annual Planning Retreat

 

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

Chair Kennelly called the meeting to order at 12:32 pm.

Present: Chair Kennelly, Vice Chair Paz (1:16 pm), Commissioners Enssani (1:38 pm), Fujii, Khojasteh, Kong (1:29 pm), Radwan, Rahimi, Ricarte, Wang, Wong.

Not present: Commissioners Gaime, Gurvits (excused), Roy.

Staff present: Executive Director Pon, Deputy Director Fernandez Sykes, Clerk Shore, Willie L. Brown Fellow Khan.

 

2. Public Comment         

A member of the public introduced herself as Inna Popova, an employee of Richmond Area Multi-Services (RAMS), Inc.

 

3. Action Item:  2018 Planning Session- Approval of IRC Policy and Action Plan
(Information/Discussion/Action)

Chair Kennelly invited Director Pon to make an announcement before beginning the planning session. Director Pon introduced Willie L. Brown fellow Maham Khan. Pon stated that Khan would be conducting an assessment of the needs of the Arab and Muslim community in San Francisco and assisting the Muslim Ban ad-hoc committee.

Chair Kennelly invited Director Pon to introduce the planning session. Director Pon introduced retreat facilitator Kay Iwata, founder and president of K. Iwata Associates, Inc.

Iwata shared her personal history and invited Commissioners to share their own experiences. Iwata then led Commissioners in an exercise to identify goals in four major areas: immigration reform; Dream Act; health and well-being; and rights and protections. She invited Commissioners to break into groups to summarize their goals and metrics for each category.

Iwata invited Commissioners to discuss strategies and action steps to accomplish these goals, including changing the narrative around immigrants, highlighting immigrants’ voices, and communication and promotion of the Commission’s work. Among the action steps discussed were: proposing a change to the San Francisco Administration Code to allow non-citizen immigrants to serve on the Commission; following up on public hearings; engaging with elected officials; and scheduling regular meeting times for the ad-hoc committees.

Chair Kennelly made a motion to take a recess at 3:55 pm. Commissioner Rahimi seconded the motion.

Chair Kennelly reconvened the meeting at 4:10 pm.

Chair Kennelly invited Commissioners to discuss changes to the ad-hoc committees as constituted. Director Pon recommended dissolving the Unaccompanied Minors Committee and creating a Communications Committee. Commissioners discussed folding the Muslim Ban Committee into the Immigration Reform Committee. Commissioner Khojasteh proposed changing the name of the Immigration Reform Committee to the Immigration Policy Committee. Chair Kennelly proposed that Full Commission meetings continue to include a report on the Muslim Ban as a separate agenda item.

Chair Kennelly moved to dissolve the Unaccompanied Minors Committee; fold the Muslim Ban Committee members into the Immigration Reform Committee, renaming it the Immigration Policy Committee; and create a new Communications Committee. Per the Chair, the newly constituted ad-hoc committees are:

I. Immigration Policy Committee, co-chaired by Commissioners Khojasteh and Rahimi, with members Commissioners Radwan and Ricarte;

II. Safety Net Committee, co-chaired by Vice Chair Paz and Commissioner Radwan, with member Commissioner Rahimi;

III. Communications Committee, chaired by Commissioner Ricarte, with members Commissioners Fujii, Kong and Wong.

Commissioners Ricarte and Rahimi proposed that all ad-hoc committees meet simultaneously at OCEIA. After confirming with staff, Chair Kennelly scheduled the three ad-hoc committee meetings at 5:00 pm on the third Monday of every month. Due to the February holiday, Chair Kennelly moved the February 19 meeting to Tuesday, February 27 to allow 15 days for public notice. The standing Executive Committee will continue to meet on the fourth Wednesday of every month at 5:30 pm at OCEIA.

 

4. Action Item: Annual Officer Elections
(Information/Discussion/Action)

Per the Commission’s Election Process, Director Pon and OCEIA Staff facilitated Officer Elections, starting with the office of Chair, followed by Vice Chair.

Nominations for Chair: Celine Kennelly, Franklin M. Ricarte.
Chair Kennelly was re-elected as Commission Chair with a 10-1 vote.

Nomination for Vice Chair: Mario Paz.
Commissioner Rahimi motioned to vote by acclamation. Commissioner Enssani seconded the motion. Vice Chair Paz was re-elected unanimously by acclamation.

 

5. Action Item: Approval of Proposed Amendments to the Bylaws
(Information/Discussion/Action)

Chair Kennelly invited Director Pon to review the proposed amendments to the Commission Bylaws. Director Pon and Deputy Director Fernandez Sykes presented the proposed amendments, including adding a Chair Emeritus position, removing two standing committees that have not met in years, and adding criteria and protocols for consecutive missed meetings.

Commissioners discussed a second proposed change for tardiness over 30 minutes and eligibility to vote. Chair Kennelly proposed revisiting this change at a later time.

Commissioner Wong made a motion to adopt all proposed amendments to the Bylaws with the exception of the proposed changes to the section on tardiness, which would be tabled for further review. Commissioner Radwan seconded the motion. Commissioners voted unanimously to approve all other proposed amendments to the Bylaws.

 

6. Action Item: Approval of Previous Minutes

a. Approval of January 8, 2018 Full Commission Meeting Minutes
(Information/Discussion/Action)

Chair Kennelly invited the Commission to review the minutes from the January 8, 2018 Full Commission meeting. Commissioner Ricarte made a motion to approve the minutes. Commissioner Fujii seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.

 

7. Adjournment

Chair Kennelly thanked the staff for planning the retreat and adjourned the meeting at 5:22 pm.