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Fargo Human Rights Commission debates restructure or return to city control before April 27 deadline
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Summary
Members of Fargo’s Human Rights Commission debated whether to revise a circulated proposal, ask the city to dissolve the commission, or partner with community groups to continue human-rights work. Staff warned ordinance changes would take about six weeks and the April 27 City Commission meeting is the operative deadline.
FARGO — Members of the Fargo Human Rights Commission spent a working session discussing whether to finish a draft reorganization plan, put a resolution to the City Commission to return authority to the city, or pursue a community-based alternative that would keep human-rights work alive if the city dissolves the commission.
The commission’s secretary (speaker 1) told members the group had been asked to restructure since January and that an initial two-month window to complete that work had expired. "We requested additional 60 days," the secretary said, arguing the group must either finalize a proposal or forward a resolution so the city can decide.
Alyssa Farrell Chaposki of the City Attorney’s Office said any ordinance or charter changes would require the city’s formal process — receive-and-file, first reading and second reading — which generally takes about six weeks. "So whatever decision is made, everyone stays as is until that six-week process is over," Chaposki said.
Commissioners and participants offered three paths. One option is that the HRC finalize edits to the draft proposal that was circulated in February and send that recommendation to the City Commission. A second is to adopt a resolution returning the commission’s charter and authority to the city — an outcome that could lead to formal dissolution if the City Commission chooses that route. A third is to transfer day-to-day work to a community organization such as the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition while preserving community oversight.
Dalton Erickson, executive director of the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, said he is preparing a plan that could keep a basic set of activities alive through the election and allow a newly elected administration to consider additional community-engagement work. "What do we get through now to keep it alive, get through the election, hopefully get a more receptive group that we can then... do additions of what we can be doing," Erickson said.
Several participants voiced frustration that the commission had not produced a consolidated set of changes since February. "If we have problem with it, we should be able to pinpoint where we have the problem and propose the changes we want," the commission secretary said, and urged commissioners to either propose specific edits or support a resolution.
Christopher Cohen, a Fargo resident who spoke during the session, urged practical governance reforms if the body continues: recruit committed members, hold periodic recorded votes and use Robert’s Rules or trained support for meeting procedure. "You don't have to reduce a commission because the current group weren't selected very well," Cohen said, suggesting recruitment or removal of nonparticipating members as alternatives.
Commissioners and staff discussed timing: the commission aims to prepare materials for its April 16 meeting so the City Commission could consider a recommendation at its April 27 meeting. Chaposki and others outlined a possible timeline in which receive-and-file occurs in late April, a first reading in May and a final reading in early June, around the June 8 final-reading date cited by staff and the June 9 election.
Participants also discussed whether commissioners who no longer want to serve should resign to allow a smaller, more active quorum to function. One staff member noted the bylaws permit termination for repeated unexcused absences and encouraged members to step down if they cannot attend.
No formal vote or motion to adopt either the proposal or the resolution was recorded during the working session. Commissioners agreed to circulate a final agenda and to aim for an April 16 meeting where the HRC could vote on a recommendation to send to the City Commission. The chair closed the session and signaled the start of public comments.
The next procedural step is for the HRC to meet on April 16 to consider the proposal and the resolution and to send a recommendation to the City Commission ahead of the April 27 meeting; staff said ordinance changes would take about six weeks to complete if the city acts.
