Hunter
04/16/21
Almost a month since the City Council voted to suspend their meetings, the Iowa City Truth and Reconciliation Commission met in a joint session with the Council on Thursday.
The Council decided on March 17th that since three members and a facilitator of the group resigned, their work would be paused while the Council filled the vacancies. Another member resigned after the 17th, and after thinking the spots were filled, one appointee had taken his name out of consideration and another member of the commission resigned, so the Council filled the two remaining spots Monday.
Chair Mohammad Traore originally expressed his disappointment that the Commission was suspended and still questions the decision, but told KWWL TV that the pause gave him and the remaining Commissioners time to reflect.
During Thursday’s virtual meeting, Mayor Bruce Teague said the Commission will be entrusted to come up with their own by-laws. Outgoing City Attorney Eleanor Dilkes offered the group guidance on the open meetings law, bylaws, budgeting and how to manage public content. The Commission will be presenting bylaws and a budget to the City Council in the coming weeks.
While that meeting was going on, about 75 people gathered at Chauncey Swan Park to hear from leaders of the Iowa Freedom Riders. They’ve created a separate Truth and Reckoning Commission and held their first organizational meeting. Former Truth and Reconciliation Commission member Raneed Hamad said there would be no connection between their group and the City’s TRC, although TRC Chair Traore said he would have attended the group’s meeting if they weren’t having their meeting at the same time. He indicated that he plans on going to their next scheduled meeting.
The Truth and Reckoning Commission leaders say they proposed the idea of the TRC in the first place, and want their group to be an organization “for the people” and a place for community members to share experiences of mistreatment and racism. During Thursday’s assembly, they accused the City Council of ignoring hours of public comments supporting the TRC when they voted to suspend their work.