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Community activist urges commission to engage after equity director resignation and investigation
Summary
A community commentator urged the Human Rights and Equity Commission to lead accountability after the resignation of the city's equity and inclusion director and raised concern about an outside investigation; city attorney later named the contracted investigator as Amy Ahrendt.
Michael Funke, who described himself as a community activist and one of the people who pushed for creating the commission, used public comment time to urge HREC to take a leading role after the resignation of the city’s equity and inclusion director, Andres Portela. "The resignation of Andres Portela... and his allegations of a hostile and unsafe work environment at city hall should worry everyone in our community," Funke said, and he called for accountability and transparency from the city and council.
Funke asked who the outside contractor investigating Portela’s allegations is and criticized media and council responses that he said had attacked Portela’s integrity. Later in the meeting, City Attorney Ian Lighthizer identified the outside contractor as Amy Ahrendt, whom the city retained to perform the investigation.
Funke urged the commission to be involved in hiring a new equity and inclusion director and in implementing recommendations from the outside investigation. Commissioners and staff acknowledged the concern, said they were not privy to the investigation details, and noted staff and legal offices are handling the investigative process; HREC members said they expect to discuss related equity leadership and consultant recommendations in forthcoming briefings with Ben Duncan and staff.
