Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Regional Collaboration topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lacey commission highlights regional equity meeting, recommends quarterly convenings
Summary
City staff briefed the Commission on Equity on a Sept. 22 regional advisory meeting that included participants from Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and Thurston County; staff recommended quarterly joint meetings, shared chairs meetings and targeted outreach to sustain collaboration.
The City of Lacey's Commission on Equity on Oct. 27 received a staff recap of a Sept. 22 regional advisory meeting designed to align equity work across Thurston County jurisdictions.
"We had almost 30 applicants for 15 positions," Assistant City Manager Shannon Kelly Fong said when explaining the competitive selection process for the youth council and how regional coordination has grown. Fong told the commission that the Sept. 22 convening at the Thurston County fairgrounds included about 20 participants from multiple jurisdictions, small-group discussions and three broad themes: collaboration, direction and engagement.
Staff recommended regular joint meetings to share best practices and avoid placing the burden on a single jurisdiction to host or lead. Ideas included quarterly regional convenings with rotating hosts and periodic advisory-chair meetings to plan the annual diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging summits. Fong also noted that Tumwater has passed an ordinance to create its own equity commission, which could expand opportunities for countywide collaboration.
Commissioners discussed forming a smaller planning group to steward the regional meetings and suggested splitting duties so not all eight Lacey commissioners would attend every convening. The discussion also covered outreach tactics (newsletters, night-market events and trusted messengers) and a proposed follow-up to reschedule a planned Alice report presentation.
Next steps: staff will circulate the regional meeting notes and work with partner jurisdictions to propose dates; the commission will consider prioritizing actions for 2026 in upcoming meetings.
