Estacada DEI Committee appoints two members and a youth member

The Estacada Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee appointed Darren Beagles and Jen Masocha Wright to open committee seats and added Arlo Anderly as a youth member during its Jan. 6 meeting.

A motion to accept the applications for Darren Beagles and Jennifer Wright as committee members and Arlo Anderly as a youth member was moved and seconded and approved by a voice vote recorded as "Aye." The minutes and the appointment motion were acted on during the meeting; a formal roll-call tally was not recorded in the transcript.

Committee members discussed eligibility rules for advisory boards. City staff explained that, unlike elected office, advisory boards generally do not require a one‑year city residency; youth members are treated as nonvoting and the council has previously concluded placing two full voting members from the same household on a single committee creates a conflict. Staff said the council had discussed the household rule and viewed it as a limit for voting members but not for nonvoting youth representatives.

Jen Masocha Wright, who was appointed as a committee member, introduced herself and said she uses she/ her pronouns and spent three years in the Peace Corps in Botswana. "Thank you all for this opportunity. I'm really excited to engage," Masocha Wright said.

Members also discussed term lengths and the timing of expiring seats. Staff advised that appointments to fill an unexpired seat run until the original term expiration; the committee moved to extend the new appointees to serve the remainder of the current term plus the standard two‑year term where applicable.

The appointees will appear in the council packet for the next city council meeting and begin serving with the committee after that packet distribution.

The committee adjourned after the appointments and moved on to other agenda items.