HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-01-LHRC-min-copyDRAFTTownofLexingtonHumanRightsCommittee
Meeting Minutes for Wednesday,April 01,2024
Conducted in remotely on Zoom
LHRC MEMBERS PRESENT
Christina Lin,Chair (CL);Stephanie Hsu,Vice-Chair (SH);Stephanie Ryan (SR);Lois Bruss (LB);Larry
Freeman -Town of Lexington,Public School District (LF);Lieutenant Colleen Dunbar -Town of
Lexington Police (CD);Dana Bickelman-Town of Lexington,Human Services (DB)
Guest:Elaine Tung,Chair of the Lexington Affordable Housing Trust
The minutes recorded by Christina Lin,LHRC Chair
1.Welcome/Call to order 9:01am
2.Minutes Approval
a.November 8,2023 Approved by unanimous vote
b.December 13,2023 Approved by unanimous vote
3.Town Meeting Articles -LHRC vote on the following articles were sent to the Select Board and the
letter is attached:
a.Article 33,Authorize the Select Board to Seek Affordable Housing -presentation by Chair of
the Lexington Affordable Housing Trust.(Slide presentation is attached).There was
clarification about a proposed amendment to send any acceptable RFP proposal to Town
Meeting and this creates a lot of uncertainty for affordable housing developers and therefore
reduces the possibility of recruiting a competitive and appealing pool of offers.This
amendment was not supported by several Town committees.A second Amendment proposed
was deemed too vague and also not supported.The committee asked about concerns of
residential abutters and number of units to be built.ET clarified there are no proposals yet
and Select Board have addressed this in their deliberations.How the AMI (Area Mean Income)
-average AMI is expected to be 60%-could impact a tenant’s ability to hold their lease if their
income raises above the average.ET explained that tenants are not at risk for being evicted
based on income,and an average AMI would be maintained by balancing this with income of
future tenants.There was also a question about whether there are special provisions that will
give current seniors looking to downsize any priority in access to the unit and ET explained
this information would be part of the RFP proposal and therefore not part of the Article.Vote
6-yes,1-abstain.
b.Article 41,Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority;6-yes,1-abstain
c.Article 43,Voting Rights 16 and Older (Citizen Petition)(DB had to leave,so voting members
reduced to 6 in total)
i.Vote 4-no,2-yes
d.Article 45,Indigenous Peoples Day (Citizen Petition)-Already voted to support this.
i.5 yes ,1 abstain
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DRAFT4.Discussion about LHRC response in incidents such as the School Committee public speak on
February 27,2024.
a.How should LHRC respond to public hate incidents?-The Committee agreed that the LHRC
chair should be able to respond to local hate incidents in Town with a pre-scripted statement
without having to call a committee meeting or a vote.It was agreed statements should
reference the charge.Someone shared that the Select Board allow their Chair to release a
statement which reaffirms the Town’s commitment to the stated values in charge and that the
Chair of the LHRC should create a similar draft statement which can be issued without
committee approval.CL said she would work on this.
b.CD shared that LPD will have training for 30 officers on hate crime recognition and reporting,
and then hope to expand the knowledge with a ‘train the trainer’program.
5.Member updates
a.Facilitated dialogue update:Kelly Axtell has been working with D.B.and the Chief Equity
Officer-Hemali Shah to identify a facilitated conversation.They do not feel this will work as a
one-time conversation.Perhaps there are opportunities for us to have facilitated
conversations ,but also bring in other organizations who can help sponsor that.Also a
follow-on discussion that some members of LICA can propose based on their background
experiences ,or finding academic experts who have experience with Palestinian and Jewish
This sounds like it could be a year-long conversation.
b.Re-examine the LHRC charge:Looking at the incident response process,the Select Board felt
this might be better suited for the staff because LHRC volunteers are not trained and there are
no prerequisites,incident response may not be a fair responsibility.
The Chair asked committee members to take a look at the charge and determine if there are
updates or changes that should be incorporated.This will be discussed in a future meeting.
There was a suggestion to change the status of staff as members to be liaisons which may be
helpful under certain circumstances when staff may not be able to share confidential
information or when voting on Town Warrant articles.
The Chair recommended reaching out to former LHRC chairs for consultation.
A goal to have a draft proposal for the Select Board in July was proposed.And hopefully SB
will approve the draft in August.Joe Pato is driving this process.
c.Collaborative Reform update given
d.Request for sponsorship of My American Dream -CaLex,My American Dream -this is an
annual event and committee approved by unanimous vote
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE •LEXINGTON,MASSACHUSETTS 02420