LGBTQ Advisory Board Minutes - 12-11-18
LGBTQ Advisory Committee
Committee Chair, Robin Schwartz
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Members in attendance – Robin Schwartz, Alexander
Palenzuela, Cindy Brown, Craig Garmendia, Dale Stine,
David Lancz, Elizabeth Schwartz, Gayle Durham, George
Neary, Jamie Guirola, Mark Wylie, Riki Wilchins, Roger
Thomson, Stephen Fox, Jr.
Others in attendance- Dan Rios (GMCVB)
Called to order at 1:00 p.m.
Ongoing Business:
A. Approval of the November 13, 2018 minutes, Motion: George Neary, Second: Elizabeth
Schwartz, all in favor.
B. MBPD Updates – None
C. GMCVB / social media updates – Dan Rios spoke. He spoke about attending the Israel
Ministry of Tourism, which was a great event for networking. They explored to see if
they can do some sister city partnership. He spoke about a workshop in Fort
Lauderdale. They would love to have any submissions regarding the LGBTQ
community to be sent to the GMCVB so they can put them on their social media. They
are working with Frankie Ruiz with the Miami Marathon; they are doing a photo op to
push out through social media. Discussion was held.
New Business:
A. Jamie to present on behalf of NBC6 (Peacock Awards)- Jamie spoke about the early
stages of Peacock Awards and they are planning it during Pride and they want internal
input. It would be kind of similar to the Pink Flamingo Awards, but entry wouldn’t be
charged. There would be leadership awards. They want the community to be involved
in this. They are seeking people outside of NBC6. Discussion was held. The
Committee recommended speaking with Steve Adkins. The person spearheading this
is on the Pride Committee. The Committee members showed their interest in
participating.
B. Discussion on the understood rules, responsibilities, and obligations of board members
as it pertains to Sub-Committee meetings- Stephen spoke. He voiced his concern
about this issue. He said he spoke to the City Clerk’s Office and there is no
requirement to attend Sub-Committee meetings. Discussion was held.
C. Discussion regarding rules on Committee attendance noting that the Committee voted
to allow telephone calls to count as full attendance - Robin said this is a concern of hers
because she wanted to make sure people just didn’t only call in and that members
attend meetings as well. Discussion was held about putting a limit on it. The Committee
Committee Members
Alexander Palenzuela
Cindy Brown
Craig Garmendia
Dale Stine
David Lancz
Elizabeth Schwartz
Gayle Durham
George Neary
Heriberto Sosa
Jamie Guirola
Mark Wylie
Riki Wilchins
Roger Thomson
Stephen Fox, Jr.
decided in the past not to put a limit on the amount of times you can be on the phone.
Members voiced their opinions. Discussion was held regarding changing the times of
the meetings. Gayle voiced her opinion about it being a privilege to be on this
Committee. Gayle motioned that the Committee let people call in 3 times a year to
count towards attendance. The motion died. Discussion was held. Robin mentioned
that it would not be fair to change the rules in the middle of members being on the
Committee. Current members are allowed to call in to the meetings. Discussion was
held regarding a new set of rules for new members that are appointed to the
Committee. Discussion was held regarding a new time for the Committee meetings.
The time of the meetings are staying the same and the rules are staying the same.
D. Roger Thomson spoke about the task force; he mentioned they are looking for a chair
or co-chair of the gala. Discussion was held.
E. Robin spoke about Aqua being a beneficiary of the AHF Aids walk, they put together a
team and raise money, and they match the money. She offered for anyone to be on
their team. It is around March 2019.
F. Robin mentioned that she was going to speak to the City Manager offline regarding the
Committee’s involvement in future LGBTQ related things.
G. Elizabeth mentioned that Sage is having their gala on February 9th at the Betsy Hotel.
Subcommittees Reports and Next Actions:
1) HRC Rating (Dale, Herb, Cindy, Liz)- Dale spoke. He mentioned that today was his last
Committee meeting. He expressed how awesome serving on the Committee has been.
He did reach out to Xavier, his contact at HRC, he connected him with Cindy.
2) LGBTQ Visibility/Marketing/ Tourism(Gayle, George, Mark, Jamie, Alex, Stephen)-
None
3) Health and Wellness (Ricki, Jamie, Craig)- Craig spoke and said that the Aids Health
Foundation doesn’t have any data that they could share. HRC also said they didn’t
have a lot of data. Care Resource provided him a bunch of information, so he needs
some time to look over it. Discussion regarding data was held.
4) Senior Housing (Cindy, Robin, George, Roger)- next meeting is January 8th at 2 p.m. in
the City Manager’s Small Conference Room. George said that he and Cindy were
speaking and the Commissioner who seems to be involved with housing is
Commissioner Arriola. He suggested inviting him to the next meeting; he may have
more information on subsidized housing as it relates to the LGBTQ community.
Meeting adjourned 1:51 p.m.