The item on the agenda that led to the action was a resolution to adopt the amended city of Rowlett Boards and Commissions Handbook. Cty Council member Debra Shinder moved to delete the DEI Commission from the handbook altogether.
“The vote on this amendment is not about supporting or not supporting the ideas and the ideals of diversity and inclusion,” Shinder said at the May 7 meeting. “It's not about whether the city should serve the members of its diverse population equally. Of course, we should and we must. It's not about whether we should make all of our citizens feel included in all of our city programs and events. Of course, we should and we will. It's not about whether we should issue proclamations recognizing different groups, or not hold events celebrating our unique cultures and ethnicities and identities. It's about how we go about doing that as we move forward.”
She said diversity and inclusion are fundamental elements of human decency that should motivate the city and provide guiding principles for all of its boards and commissions and not be the special purview of just one body.
“I actually said that in an interview back when I was running for council, but after I got elected, I tried very hard to be supportive and work with the commission,” Shinder said. She participated in the commission's events, presented some of its proclamations and defended its existence to residents, she said.
The commission was created in 2018 and was originally called the Diversity and Inclusion Commission. The name was changed in 2020 to add the word "equity," but without a formal council vote. This prompted the recent talks of a name change for the commission, with some citing DEI’s supposed political divisiveness.
Shinder said she had hoped those talks would be collaborative, but they essentially broke down. “City boards and commissions have to recognize and respect the authority of the City Council,” Shinder said. “That hasn’t been done.”
The motion to disband the commission had support from other council members, among them Jonathan Reaves. “This board was originally created to engage our diverse population and to enhance the community by celebrating and fostering mutual respect, and among other things to enrich the vibrant culture of our city,” he said at the meeting last week. “While there's some folks on this commission that have hearts of gold, who I believe are fulfilling the call to enrich our vital culture, unfortunately, there have been some that I think have not shown the mutual respect and fairness that is required of a city board or commission.”
He said in conversation with some of the commissioners he believed he was being manipulated through flattery, threats and bribery. “I was told I could take personal credit for things I did not do,” Reaves said. “I was warned of impending protests that could be messy if the council did not acquiesce. And I was bribed that some of my critics would be silent, that they would just be quiet towards me if I went along with what they wanted to do.”
None of this is acceptable to him. “We don't need a commission to tell others to treat others the way that you want to be treated,” Reaves said.“We don't need a commission to tell others to treat others the way that you want to be treated.” – City Council member Jonathan Reaves
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The motion to disband the commission passed by a 4-3 vote. Rowlett Mayor Blake Margolis voted against the motion but said he, too, heard threats of violent protests if the commission were to be disbanded.
Predictably, the chair of the commission wasn’t happy with the decision. “The fact that she [Shinder] said we were uncooperative in trying to reach a compromise was interesting, because I had just spoken during public comment and asked for a compromise,” Susan Urrutia, chair of the commission, told the Observer on Thursday.
Shinder called Urrutia’s public comments at the meeting too little and too late.
Urrutia said there were never threats of violent protests regarding disbanding of the commission. What was said at one point, according to Urrutia, is that there would be protests and those could be met with violence by others. “The bottom line is this is what they wanted to do,” Urrutia said. “They used whatever justifications they could.”
There was some pushback to the move by council member Jeff Winget, who said he felt like disbanding the commission was taking a chainsaw approach to the issue. Another council member, Elise Bowers, said she was caught off guard by the discussion. That didn’t change anything, though.
The commission did a lot of event planning, and now Urrutia isn’t sure what will come of these events. “There are no winners in this situation and, sadly, the people who lose the most are the people who need DEI the most,” she said. Even though the commission is disbanded, its work may continue in some capacity if Urrutia has anything to say about it.
“I will not stop my efforts to make Rowlett a safe and welcoming place to every citizen here,” she said.
