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Maplewood council directs staff to draft updated nondiscrimination ordinance to include gender identity
Summary
At a June 10 work session, Maplewood City Council members agreed to modernize the city's nondiscrimination policy language to explicitly include gender identity and asked staff to prepare an ordinance for consideration at the July 8 council meeting; council members declined to create a new enforcement commission at this time.
Maplewood City Council members at a June 10 work session directed city staff to draft an ordinance updating the city's nondiscrimination policy to modernize language and explicitly reference gender identity, with a recommendation to return to the council at the regular July 8 meeting for consideration.
Council members said the proposed language is modeled on practices used by University City and Columbia and said the immediate request was limited to updating ordinance and policy wording rather than building a new local investigative or enforcement body. City staff warned that creating a local investigatory commission or enforcement mechanism would require extra staff capacity and might have limited usefulness given existing state and federal enforcement pathways for discrimination claims.
City staff member Jackie explained that employment discrimination claims typically proceed through state and federal processes and that municipal court in Maplewood is unlikely to be the forum that would resolve such employment matters. Staff also noted that Chapter 30 of the municipal code references a Commission on Human Relations, which has been defunct for years and could be revived if staffing and resources permitted. Council members contrasted the current Human Services Commission’s purpose — to meet immediate needs of moderate- and low-income residents — with the now-defunct Commission on Human Relations’ narrower, historically housing-related remit.
Council discussion also referenced the city personnel code for city-employee complaints; staff noted that first-level personnel decisions follow the personnel code and that an official identified in the discussion as Amber is the final decisionmaker under that code, with an appeal process available. The council identified Bridal Atkinson, assistant city manager in Columbia, as a potential external resource about implementation of similar provisions.
No formal ordinance vote occurred at the June 10 work session. Instead, the council approved a staff direction: prepare an ordinance recommendation to update the nondiscrimination policy for the July 8 meeting. Council members said they would revisit enforcement mechanisms at a later date if needed, but did not direct staff to create or revive any commission at this time.
