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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity Commission (HRDC) - 08/13/2026Meeting Agenda Eden Prairie Human Rights and Diversity Commission 7 p.m. Thursday, August 13, 2026 Heritage Rooms 1 & 2 8080 Mitchell Road Eden Prairie, MN 55344 ATTENDEES Commission Members: Gregory Leeper, Chair; Asad Aliweyd, Shana Bates, Shalanda Berry, Zaheer Khan, Jody Knight, Jessica Oaxaca, Brenda Pfahnl, Wendi Russo, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver City Staff: Paja Xiong, Community Services Manager & Staff Liaison, Julie Krull, Recorder MEETING AGENDA I. Call the Meeting to Order II. Introduction of Guests – None III. Approval of Agenda IV. Minutes from HRDC meeting held Thursday, July 9, 2026 V. Community Presentation – None VI. Old Business a. PeopleFest! Party Debrief – 7:00 pm – 7:30 pm b. Community Conversation Debrief – 7:30 pm – 8:00 pm VII. New Business a. Student Led Community Conversation – 8:00 pm – 8:15 pm VIII. Next Meeting – September 10, 2026 IX. Adjournment Unapproved Minutes Eden Prairie Human Rights and Diversity Commission 7 p.m. Thursday, July 9, 2026 Heritage Rooms 1 & 2 8080 Mitchell Road Eden Prairie, MN 55344 ATTENDEES Commission Members: Gregory Leeper, Chair; Asad Aliweyd, Shana Bates, Shalanda Berry, Zaheer Khan, Jody Knight, Jessica Oaxaca, Brenda Pfahnl, Wendi Russo, John Urbanski, Susan Weaver City Staff: Paja Xiong, Community Services Manager & Staff Liaison, Julie Krull, Recorder MEETING AGENDA I. Call to Order/Roll Call Chair Leeper called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. Commission Members Aliweyd, Bates, Berry, and Pfahnl were absent. Oaxaca, Russo, and Urbanski arrived during the Community Presentation. At the start of the meeting there was not a quorum, because of that, the Agenda and Minutes were approved after the Community Presentation. II. Introduction of Guests – Brynn Hirsch, Elections Specialist Chair Leeper introduced Brynn Hirsch, Elections Specialist for the City of Eden Prairie and Ellen Crumb, Election Judge. III. Approval of Agenda MOTION: KNIGHT moved, seconded by WEAVER, to approve the agenda. Motion carried 7-0. IV. Approval of the June 11, 2026 Meeting Minutes MOTION: URBANSKI moved, seconded by KHAN, to approve the minutes. Motion carried 7-0. V. Community Presentation A. City of Eden Prairie – 2026 Elections Preview Ms. Hirsch started the presentation by stating she works under the supervision of David Teigland, City Clerk for the City of Eden Prairie. She gave an overview of the election season. Before the voting begins the City is recruiting election judges and contacting polling places. The following is a timeline for the voting season. • Friday June 26th - State Primary Absentee Voting begins HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES July 9, 2026 • Friday, June 26th - Monday, Aug 10th - Absentee In-Person Voting at Eden Prairie City Center • Tuesday, July 14th - Tuesday, July 28th - Candidate Filing for City Council Election • Friday, July 24th - Early In-Person Direct Ballot Voting at Eden Prairie City Center • Tuesday, August 11th - State Primary • Friday, September 18th - General Election Absentee Voting begins • Friday, September 18th - Monday, Nov 2nd - Absentee In-Person Voting at Eden Prairie City Center • Friday, October 16th - Early In-Person Direct Ballot Voting begins at Eden Prairie City Center • Tuesday, Nov 3rd - General Election Ms. Hirsch pointed out Eden Prairie has twenty voting precincts. The polling places are open from 7 am to 8 pm. The election judges work between 8 - 15 hours a day and they are all volunteers. Each polling location has a head judge, assistant head judge, and a team of 12-18 party balanced and student judges. There are 286 judges assigned to the primary election. Some of the duties of the judges are to set up and close down the polling place along with registering and signing in voters. Ms. Hirsch stated the Minnesota voting requirements are as follows: • Must be a US citizen • At least 18 years old • Have been a Minnesota resident for 20+ days • Not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction • Not found to be incompetent Ms. Hirsch pointed out to register to vote an individual must provide proof of identity and residence. She stated Minnesota allows 46 days of early voting and also same day, online and mail-in registration and pointed out Minnesota is not a voter ID state. She pointed out that Minnesota is #1 in the nation for election performance and #2 for voter turnout. Minnesota increases voter registration by offering Automatic Voter Registration which means if you have a driver’s license you will be on the voter's list. Ms. Hirsch stated they do voter outreach for health care facilities by sending a team to two senior facilities to help them with registration and voting in their building. She stated other cities have pop up voting locations that host one day of remote voting; Eden Prairie does not have this. In regard to election security, after the polls close, they modem the results and then seal the voted ballots. After the ballots are returned to City Hall, they are kept for 22 months. Ms. Crumb also added the machines go through testing and calibration. This is done before they are used and testing is open to the public. Khan asked if discrepancies are ever found. Ms. Hirsch responded that it is exceedingly small, like a one vote discrepancy. Ms. Crumb said they have ballots to accommodate different languages, such as Somali and Hmong. Russo asked how the order of the names is determined on the ballots. Ms. Hirsch responded there are different rotations on the ballots, so they are HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES July 9, 2026 not all in the same order. Russo asked if there are not enough people on one party how do they balance that. Ms. Hirsch commented she has never seen that as the minimum needed for party balance is one democrat and one republican. Russo asked if the ballots are counted in Eden Prairie or somewhere else. Ms. Hirsch said 18 days prior to the election, they go to Hennepin County and after that they are counted in Eden Prairie. Russo asked why they are sent to Hennepin County. Ms. Hirsch responded they have more staff and machines that can do it faster and per statute, Eden Prairie cannot count them before the 18 days. She pointed out they are couriered down to Hennepin County, so they are safe. Ms. Crumb added that they know how many ballots are sent so they can manage that security. Weaver asked what would happen if we would turn voter information over to the federal government. Ms. Hirsch said they would not do that because they contain a lot of personal voter information. Chair Leeper thanked Ms. Hirsch and Ms. Crumb for their presentation this evening. VI. Old Business A. Party for Pride Debrief Xiong thanked Knight, Urbanski and Weaver for volunteering and asked them to share their experience. Urbanski said it was a good event but commented more volunteers would be helpful. Weaver said it was busy and the energy was high. She commented that the kids liked the bracelets. Knight pointed out the HRDC should be an important part of this event and said their table should be towards the front of the event where it could be more visible. Xiong said for next year she will make sure she lets the Park and Recreation Department know to place the HRDC table closer to the front. Knight said the same thing should happen for PeopleFest! Knight also commented there was only one police officer and felt there should have been more. She said there was an incident where two women were blowing whistles at an agitator and it was distracting and creating chaos. Xiong said she knows the City has a security plan but is not privied to it. She will reach out and supply feedback to the PeopleFest! Committee. B. Community Conversation Updates Xiong reiterated the title of the Community Conversation is Voices Across Cultures. The event will take place on July 28th from 6-8 pm at Valley View Campus. There will be four panel speakers concluding with a gallery walk. The speakers are as follows: Somali - Queen Hassan - she is confirmed Latino - Grecia Lazano - she is confirmed South Asian - need referrals/this is open Native American/Indigenous - Xiong reached out to Eden Prairie Schools Cultural Liaison, Allisa Waukau with the Met Council, and Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and has not received a response from anyone. She asked the Commission if they would be fine with just having three speakers if she could not secure a fourth speaker. After some discussion they said it would be fine to just have three speakers. Khan said he can get Xiong referrals for the South Asian speaker. Xiong said she is waiting to hear back from a HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES July 9, 2026 contact and will let him know if they cannot participate. Khan said he also has a Native American speaker but they are not local and asked Xiong if that would be fine; Xiong said it would. Xiong said she has commitments from the following Commissioners to volunteer: Facilitators/Notetakers: Bates, Pfahnl, and Russo Welcome Table: Weaver, Knight, and Urbanski C. PeopleFest! Party and Updates Xiong said this will take place on July 26th, from 3pm - 7pm at the Central Middle School. She asked for volunteers and received the following: 2:45 - 5:00 - Weaver and Knight 5:00 - 7:15 - Urbanski and Knight Xiong said the tri-fold will be on one table. She asked the volunteers if they wanted to do beads or trivia, as they need to do one event. Knight said they could do the bracelets, and it was discussed by the Commissioners to have the trivia wheel but it was suggested to make the questions easier. Xiong said she will also bring candy to the event. VII. New Business There was no New Business this evening. VIII. Next Meeting: July 9, 2026 IX. Adjournment MOTION: KHAN moved, seconded by RUSSO, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 7-0. CHAIR LEEPER adjourned the meeting at 8:06 pm.