EVERETT – Mayor Ray Stephanson is proposing the creation of a diversity board that he says could open doors and bring people together.
On Wednesday, the Everett City Council reviewed a proposal to create a permanent diversity board to advise the mayor and the council.
The group would consist of 15 men and women appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council.
“This is really about leveling the playing field so there is equal opportunity for all,” Stephanson said.
The council is expected to decide whether to create the board at its Aug. 15 meeting.
The goal is to make City Hall more accessible to people of all walks of life, Stephanson said.
Diversity is more than just race, and includes income, ability and age, said Stephanson, whose adult son Ryan has Down syndrome.
The panel would replace a similar ad hoc committee Stephanson formed shortly after taking office in 2003.
Wanda Smith-Jeter, a disabled African-American woman on a fixed income, said she hopes to join the new diversity board.
She’s been serving with the older group, which has been able to influence changes in city government, she said.
“Word gets out,” she said. “Whether it’s good or bad, it affects what’s going on.”
In 2005, the ad hoc group handed the mayor a report calling for the city to increase its outreach to female- and minority-owned businesses and to increase diversity training for police officers.
Stephanson’s administration turned that advice into action with the creation of an annual expo for female- and minority-owned businesses and increased diversity training for Everett’s 1,100 employees.
“It’s a start,” said City Councilman Ron Gipson, who is African-American and who is the president of the Snohomish County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“But there are a lot of things the city could be doing that I’m not really seeing.”
For instance, the city should be more actively recruiting qualified applicants for jobs in predominantly minority neighborhoods, Gipson said.
If approved, the Diversity Advisory Board would join the Mayor’s Youth Council and the Vision 2025 team as advisory panels created by Stephanson since taking office.
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
