Oh, we got our break.

All right.

Welcome to business session.

Our first item is approval of minutes for business session of February 9th.

Is there a motion?

So move.

Second.

So we move to second.

All in favor indicate by saying aye.

Aye.

All opposed.

Motion passes.

Only reason I looked askew is because Councilman Fowler almost always moves.

So I was late today.

I'm sorry.

Slow on the uptake.

Our item today is Kansas City Fire Department Cultural Assessment Report.

Assistant City Manager, if you grab the door for us, it's just a thing.

All right.

I believe we'll have an affirmative presentation.

From whomever.

Yeah, I'll kick it off.

Just want to say thanks to the council uh for letting us present uh this uh where we've come from and where we're where we plan to go.

This uh report that you're about to hear is one of the many ways that we're working to improve inclusivity and diversity and improve the culture and supportiveness that we provide to our employees uh across the city.

I just want to go through some of the things that we've done uh in the last couple of years to take those very important steps, and we're gonna hear a little bit more about uh some of the pathway that we need to go from here.

Uh so obviously we've hired the city's first ever chief equity officer.

She's sitting here, Ladonna McCullough, and she's been a pivotal uh crucial part of our efforts and making sure we're moving in the right direction.

Uh we're working on more training uh and professional development for leaders and managers.

We've created a whole new EEO division within HR.

We've doubled the staff there uh to handle complaints and issues.

Uh we're requiring all of those complaints and issues to go through HR and EEO, which previously was not part of the process.

Departments were handling this sort of thing on their own, and there was a lot less accountability as a result, and so we're improving that there.

Uh but as I mentioned before, we've hired outside uh firms and and consultants to help us evaluate uh our effectiveness, and uh the Jarvis team who is here, and we're gonna hear from in a minute, uh, is one of those in doing third party assessments.

Uh Chief uh Grunison is also gonna go through some of the things that uh we've done on the fire side specifically within the fire department to make sure that we're improving conditions, and Ladonna also is gonna uh sort of give an analysis of the next steps that we can and should take here.

So I'll hand it off to Ladonna next.

All right, good afternoon, Mr.

Mayor, City Manager, and Council members.

Um, as stated, I am Ladonna McCullough, the Chief Equity Officer for the City.

Um I just want to open up with stating that this assessment was the result of um the three-part series from the Kansas City Star in December of 2020.

Um, of that following that investigative report, um the city and the fire department at the time uh launched a plan that detailed six key points for addressing uh the issues of discrimination, race, and oppression within the department.

Um those points included a full investigation of all events and issues detailed in the KC Star report, develop zero zero tolerance policy for discriminatory behaviors and actions, um begin diversity recruitment and retention efforts, fourth review all policies and procedures and compliance efforts.

Um the fifth point was revisions of the fire department's disciplinary action procedures and protocols, and the last point in that commitment was for a um DEI officer position.

So there some of these actions included multiple subpoints of activity to begin the process of transformative change within that department.

Um I will say that from my um comparative analysis of of the work that has been done, um, I was able to identify that there were development of multiple DEI work groups, um, that they were engaging community partners in various DI initiatives across um the city.

And um the self-assessment that has resulted in the report that um that we're here for today to discuss.

So at this time, I know that Chief Ross um Gunderson would like to um provide insight into some of that work that took place following the um investigative report up until this time of this assessment.

So I'll turn it over to him.

Thank you, and good afternoon.

So, as Ladonna mentioned in December 6th of 2020, the KCFD um since that time, the the Kansas City report, KCFD has worked diligently to address the claims of unfair treatment amongst its members.

Our department has and continues to take these issues seriously.

Immediately following the original report uh published in December 20, that which claimed racism and discrimination within the KCFD.

We immediately set up diversity equity inclusion groups, which uh LaDonna had mentioned previously.

And by March 2021, these groups were successful, successfully constructed and have continued to meet over the past two years.

During that same time, KCFD through the work of both unions and their collective bargaining agreements, we successfully created a diversity officer and a diversity captain position.

These two positions are focused on multi multiple tasks that play a significant factor in our DEI efforts.

These groups excuse me here.

Some of these courses were completed job wide, and others were conducted at the fire admin level.

These training sessions were offered and run by the City of Kansas City Human Resources Department, the legal department, also the EEO manager.

With the assistant of International Association of Firefighters and Local 42, we were able to successfully complete a four-hour human relations training course, which was attended by 852 of our members.

This was done to address the locals' concerns dealing with racial and cultural issues and to help create a cooperative work environment.