The Flagstaff City Council humbly acknowledges the ancestral homelands of this area’s Indigenous nations and original stewards. These lands, still inhabited by Native descendants, border mountains sacred to Indigenous peoples. We honor them, their legacies, their traditions, and their continued contributions. We celebrate their past, present, and future generations who will forever know this place as home.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
None at this time.

GENERAL BUSINESS/POSSIBLE VOTE

The Flagstaff Regional Plan Update
The Regional Plan team would like to update the Commission on what has been done since the SWOT analysis completion last year. The team will also inform about opportunities to participate in during Fall 2023.

Sara Dechter, Comprehensive & Neighborhood Planning Manager, updated IC on the Regional Plan for both the City and the County. One year ago, the regional plan team discussed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of the current regional plan with boards and commissions, including the County's. They also worked a lot with the public. These updates are to ready everyone for important events in the fall and also to assist in driving some of these community conversations. The current plan is a several 100 page policy document and the only other document besides the City Charter that is adopted by ballot (voting).

Ms. Dechter provided overview of the multiple phases. Phase One was completed last year. Fall 2022 started Phase Two which is "What are our visions and our goal? How to discuss our values." Currently in the finally stages of Phase Two. In Fall 2023, there is an advisory committee that will be assisting in writing the plan. A roadmap was shown to note where the process is at now. The regional plan team will most likely come back again to commissions to talk about the different chapters of the plan.

Last fall, there were some visioning workshops (11 workshops at 11 different places) at different dates & times throughout the day. People had a chance to write their own vision statements, mark community assets important for planning, and a survey for feedback. People also shared values and what was important to them, like natural open spaces and preservation of history. High on process & delivery is diversity, equity, and inclusion focus. Cascadia Partners, consultant, who will be helping to do "scenario planning process", a process which can help to understand the future differently - it does include a computer model to give a lot of opportunity for customization and testing future ideas. Also there is the idea of how do Indigenous perspectives and cultures and urban design become part of this conversation more robustly.

Once the advisory committee is seated, they will be assisting in writing the plan. There has been 34 nominations made from City Council and Board of Supervisors, 29 are interested. The advisory committee would be an appointed 20 member committee. They could also help lead roundtables, focus groups, or workshops.

Indigenous Representation Project
City of Flagstaff Beautification, Arts & Sciences staff will provide an update on the Indigenous Representation Project at the Elizabeth "Liz" C. Archuleta County Park and the associated Call to Artists. Presenters: Jana Weldon, Beautification, Arts & Sciences Program Manager and Cristen Crujido, Art Collections & Beautification Coordinator.

Jana Weldon, Beautification, Arts, and Sciences Program Manager, and Cristen Crujido, Arts Collection and Beautification Coordinator, provided an update to the IC. A discussion regarding the Indigenous Representation Project idea that had been worked on for over a year with Rose Toehe, Coordinator for Indigenous Initiatives. The idea was to gather a working group consisting of several commissioners and council members from the City and County to participate in these discussions, as it would be concerning the land at Sawmill Multicultural Park and is now Elizabeth "Liz" C Archuleta Park, the exhibition site. The first meeting was last August and it was a wonderful on-site brainstorming session. The working group consisted of two members from each, the Beautification and Public Art, Indigenous Commission (Commissioners Toya and Marks), Commission on Diversity Awareness, County Parks and Rec., Indigenous Peoples and Advisory Council, Coconino Hispanic Advisory Council, invited African Dispora Advisory Council. This site has deep history for people of color as one of Flagstaff's first mills.

Due to shortage of staff, the project was paused until staff was again recruited to carry out the work. Currently, the program is staffed. A Call to Artists has been launched on August 1st. Application is available and sent out to their contact list. This will be a temporary 3D art exhibition, May-October of 2024. The license agreement with Coconino County is being finalized. The project vision is to have a temporary exhibition featuring five 3D artworks. It could be existing or newly created work that reflect and make visible aspects of Indigenous representation and other diverse cultural representation, including Black and Latin X art. The artwork will be selected by the panel. Some artists may focus specifically on cultural, cultural traditions, maybe highlighting some iconography or important symbolism, storytelling, others may speak to strong connection to nature, land or community. We hope this annual exhibition will solidify the park as an outdoor sculpture venue in Northern Arizona and become know for public art. The project is looking for established and emerging artists, artists in traditionally and historically underrepresented groups, and 18 years or older is eligible and encouraged to apply. Galleries and art institutions can also loan existing work. While this is a national call, the project is focusing on local and regional artists. Links and information has been sent out and can be shared with IC as well. Please assist in reaching those who do not have access to internet or computers.

Important dates to keep in mind:
August 1, 2023 - Call to Artist opened
August 30, 2023 - Pre-application meeting for artists
September 12, 2023 - Application closes
September 29, 2023 - Selection panel review and the scoring of proposals
October 2023 - Artists will be notified
Late October 2023 - March 2024 - Selected artists to be creating their art pieces
April 2024 - date/s to be determined, installation of artwork

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Indigenous Code Talkers Day Event, August 14, 2023
Staff Liaison Rose Toehe will provide an update on the work provided toward the event and will share the current agenda commitments from speakers and other agenda participants. The event venue is Flagstaff Aquaplex.

Ms. Toehe shared that the informal work group had most everything wrapped up regarding speakers and persons/groups associated with the Code Talker event. The work group consists of Commissioners Marks, Zavala, and several community members. The Commissioners have all received the first general promotional flyer to share out. This detailed agenda flyer is shared to promote the event, IC members will have access to it for further promotion. The start and end times have change to provide plenty of time for all speakers. Again, NACA Health Promotions program will start off the day with a hybrid 2K at the Aquaplex. The one addition this year is to have an MC, Ms. Dorothy Gishie, NACA Interim CEO. will fill that role. Details of the day were updated to the Commissioners, including information on tablers, honor gifts, t-shirt ordered, and donations. The event is open to the public, no need for registration. The event had about 90-100 people last year, the expectation will be about the same.

Update on Native American Heritage Month (NAHM) Flag
Commissioner Lance will provide an update on the flag designs. The Indigenous Commission (IC) will need to have consensus on a flag design and it will be forwarded to the Community Engagement Specialist for final review and for printing standards per City accepted flags. The final design can be reviewed by City Council.

Commissioner Lance updated the IC and explained that there were no other concepts to be provided. The designs had been sent to all Commissioners. These are the designs to be worked with, choose one. There had been input on having Indigenous nation names or nation logos/seals on the flag, specifically those who consider the San Francisco Peaks as sacred. The consensus was to have the 13-14 nations' names on the flag and change the design slightly to accommodate them and also to have the lettering of the Native American Heritage Month letter to be larger and more visible (separate from the design). Through consensus, it was decided that Ms. Toehe can work directly with the graphic designer to make the changes and will be provided contact information. These changes will be completed soon so the flag design can be presented to Public Affairs staff to order and/or obtain input from Council if needed. The flag will be ready in time for Native American Heritage month. Commissioners Marks and Zavala will assist Ms. Toehe in completing this task.

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS TO/FROM COMMISSION MEMBERS, STAFF, AND FUTURE AGENDA ITEM REQUESTS

None at this time.

ADJOURNMENT

Co-chair Washington adjourned the meeting at 1:10 PM.