Commission Meeting Minutes June 12, 2025

Commissioners Present:
First District: Joanne M. Brown (OAL), Nancy Padian, Haunani Pakaki
Second District: Katie Gordon, Shernaz Mejos, Jenny Belway*
Third District: Ofra Isler, Melanie Jones-Carter (Vice-Chair), Katarina Giudice-White
Fourth District: Gina Fortino Dickson (Chair), Letitia Hanke, Izzy Arreguin
Fifth District: Elizabeth Beaty

Commissioners Absent:
Fifth District: Zobida McCorquodale (Leave of absence)

*Commissioner Belway left early at approximately at 6:54PM

Meeting held through publicly available in-person.

1.Call To Order, Roll Call
Meeting called to order at approximately 6:078PM.

2.Open Time for Public Comment
No Public Comment.

3.The Spirit Award Ceremony
The Commission honored five out outstanding leaders who advocate for equity,diversity, and inclusion.

District 1: Jessica Wood is dedicated to the young people of our community as anelementary teacher, advocate for childcare, as well as the founder of the non-profit organization Angel Foundation of Sonoma County, which aims to serve at-risk teenagers.

District 2: Sylvia Lemus is a dedicated community leader and council member,brings over three decades of experience in local county government to her role.

District 3: Monica Julian is the executive director for VIDAS Legal and works on adaily basis to help our undocumented immigrant community.

District 4: Jade Weymouth is the Executive Director of La Familia Sana in Cloverdale, CA which provides services to our most marginalized and most rural community in Sonoma County.

District 5: Stephanie Manieri is a daughter of immigrant parents and a proud product of Santa Rosa's public school that embodies the spirit of equity, diversity, and inclusion through a lifelong commitment to advocacy, representation, and community empowerment.

4. Business Items
a. Nomination and Election
Chair Fortino Dickson led the discussion on nominations for officers for the fiscal year 2025-2026.

Previous nominations:
Chair: Commissioner Padian nominated Commissioner Fortino Dickson for Chair; Fortino Dickson accepted.
Vice Chair: Commissioner Padian nominated Commissioner Jones-Carter; Jones-Carter accepted.
Officer-At-Large: Commissioner Padian nominated Commissioner Brown; Brown accepted had verbally accepted prior to the meeting.
Officer-At-Large: Commissioner Hanke nominated Commissioner Giudice-White; Giudice-White accepted.

New nominations:
Officer-At-Large: Commissioner Jones-Carter nominated Commissioner Giudice-White; Giudice-White accepted.
Commissioner Gordon motioned to postpone elections to July meeting and Commissioner Isler 2nd the motion, to allow for a fuller discussion about the structure and responsibilities of officers and the duties of Commissioners generally. Commissioners discussed the motion and agreed to proceed with the election of officers and add to a future agenda discussion of Officer role structure and Commissioner capacity. Commissioner Gordon withdrew her motion and Commissioner Isler withdrew her 2nd motion. Motion was made and seconded to to approve the slate of nominees.
Motion: Commissioner Gordon 
Second: Commissioner Hanke 
Ayes: 11 Noes: 0 Absent: 2 Abstained: 1

Commissioners Belway left early. Commissioner McCorquodale is on leave of absence. Chair Fortino Dickson abstained as Chair. Motion passed.

5. Adjournment
This meeting was adjourned at 7:35 p.m.