We need to be careful with our words. That’s a message we hear often from the Bainbridge Island Racial Equity Advisory Committee. Usually, it has to do with racial issues.

But at its last meeting, REAC co-chair Renni Bispham said it in the context of events. Word that REAC no longer wants to do community events is false. “We just don’t want to be the ones putting on the whole thing,” he said, but they are willing to partner with the city or community groups.

Bispham said they put in a lot of volunteer hours already as a panel working on policy. “It’s a bridge too far,” he said of providing free labor to the city, running around collecting tables and things like that to put on events. “We want events to happen in this community.”

Bispham said there needs to be a balance because if they have to do it all, “It’s going to burn us out.” He said it’s not the only narrative they want to change. They also need a different message when people say, “Bainbridge is so white. Bainbridge is a multicultural place. Those words matter.”

Juneteenth celebration

Speaking of events, REAC will be part of BI’s Juneteenth Community Celebration June 18 from 2-4 p.m.

Co-chair Savanna Rovelstad said the city and others have waived many fees, so it’s only expected to cost about $840. UFCW 3000, Hitchcock and Bainbridge Community Foundation have donated most of those funds.

Music, poetry and art honoring Black history are planned, along with four adult and six youth speakers. West African food will be available.

Mayor Brenda Fantroy-Johnson, a City Council liaison to REAC, said the panel gets a budget from the city for events, and, “It feels like now you guys are penny pinchers.”

Later, assistant city manager Ellen Schroer added: “It’s better to do a few things really well than do everything and be exhausted and disappointed that they didn’t do as well as you wanted them to.”

City projects

Schroer, who represents city staff on the panel, said BI is doing three projects that REAC could be interested in.

She has worked with a city staff person that used REAC’s equity checklist regarding composting to make sure decisions were being made with an equity lens. It mainly concerned how the city buys things within internal policy. Regarding the fairly new checklist, Schroer added once it’s used a few times with staff she will come back to REAC to develop ways to implement it.

Schroer said the equity assessment toolkit also would be used regarding BI buying Zero Emission hand tools.

Committee member Jing Fong said, “I think we can do this right if we start from the beginning.” She said the community should weigh in first. She said landscapers should share what their experience is working on BI. She also wanted to know how changing from gas to electric tools would impact their lives.

Bispham said he knows the city is trying to “avoid the evil that is emissions,” but he also wanted to make sure BI isn’t stopping one problem and creating another.

“Are we just doing whack a mole?” he asked. He wondered if the solution is much better than the problem, adding batteries are a concern. Committee member Olivia Hall asked if BI was going to “make Battery Island.” Bisham wondered if five years from now it was going to be worth going through all this trouble.

Schroer said the third city project is the Safe Place Program by the BI police department, but discussions are ongoing, and she will return with more information.

Diversity training

REAC had a discussion on training for the City Council. Bispham said they need to provide details of what they want the council to learn.

Rovelstad said a basic foundation of institutional racism and bias.

Bispham said they don’t know what kind of training councilmembers already have had. But, he added, at a good training people remember three to five things. And it’s a great day if they actually implement them. But the most important thing is to have a shared language so when they talk about racism the council knows what they’re talking about. “The same conversation—apples to apples.”

Hall said she would like to see a statement at the end—“Not chiseled in stone, but something come out of it like a shared value.”

Committee member Eric Stahl said he would like to see next steps, such as what the new equity officer is going to do, and what REAC’s role would be. “What are the expectations?”

Fong added they need to “learn how to talk about race and equity with each other. If we can’t even talk about it we’re not going to move forward.”

In other news

•The City Council is working to make its advisory committees more effective. One of the issues is getting people to apply. Fantroy-Johnson said one way to solve that problem is to have applications available all year, rather than just when openings occur. Then they would already have a list of candidates. Bispham said REAC would be ready to contribute in any way.

•Five people applied for openings on the REAC panel. New members should be named and start by the next meeting July 5. Newcomer Lynn Beck said she could help them get settled.

•Schroer went through about 110 applications for BI’s new equity officer and whittled them down to six. The position could be filled in the next week. Schroer mentioned later that BI doesn’t have a women and minority business program, and that’s something a new equity manager would likely draft.