Meeting Notes
September 2, 2020
Meeting started at 6:30-8:30 p.m. CST
Meeting took place via Zoom
Third meeting of the task force
Members Present:
Task Force
Austin City
21CP
Agenda and Meeting Minutes
Brief Opening and Welcome
Welcome of observer standing in for absent member
Update on the City's priority areas for the task force
Presentation and overview of City priority areas was offered to the task force members. Following a powerpoint about the City’s Task List versus the areas they hope to see the Task Force engage, members were allowed to ask questions. The discussion included establishing a generalized deadline or timeline for the task force’s work over the next 6 months with the expectation that they will be able to give the City Council quarterly updates. Moving forward, the City team will map out any specific resolution dates that are coming forward and create a Gantt chart for everyone to provide more clarity.
Review of the Group's Priorities for Work based on the feedback given to 21CP:
The facilitator reviewed the list of the Task Force priorities that were initially received via email. All attendees were allowed time and space to add additional priorities to the growing list. After reviewing the completed priority list, the Task Force concluded these will be evolving priorities and may shift and change over time.
Community Agreements Exercise: Facilitated by Task Force Members
The Task Force conducted a values and principles exercise to set guidelines as they move forward in this work. These are important to group dynamic and will allow the Task Force to work effectively towards solutions. There were many themes they found important to the group. They included: mutual respect, listening, respect of time, muting when not speaking, time to process/space for conversations, consideration, holistic, not taking things personally and allowing space for disagreement, patience and understanding of additional pressures, courageous space, no ego/check differences at the door, commitment, comfortable with being uncomfortable, bring whole self to the table, make space/take space, making information accessible, elevating voices of those impacted, authentic in our perspectives, looking at things through a different lens and valuing that, realistic and authentic perspective for change. The group reached consensus on these values and the values were drafted into a more formal document by the meeting facilitator.
Review of Governance Document
The Task Force ran out of time before getting to work on governance. It was decided this would be pushed to the next meeting.
Next Meeting Agenda Items and Scheduling
The group decided on the next meeting agenda. It includes a governance, finalizing the role of alternates, a more complete schedule, and then getting to work on priority areas. They will also discuss the role of 21CP as a facilitator for the group. The next meeting is set for Thursday, September 10th from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The group voted on and decided to also include the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance in their meetings moving forward. 21CP will onboard this new member prior to the next meeting as well as send out a calendar poll for scheduling.