Thank you.

Yes.

All right, good afternoon.

My name is Drew France, and I'm going to call to order the March 2026 regular meeting of the Human Rights Commission of the City of Tulsa.

And I have the pleasure of first inviting members of Compassionate Tulsa to present the Sherry Tapp Lifetime of Compassion Award rescheduled for January.

So without further ado, the closures.

I currently chair the Compassionate Tulsa Committee, and I have the honor and privilege of presenting the Sherry Tapp uh Lifetime of Compassionate Service Award to the Reverend Chris Moore.

Chris, would you come up?

I'm going to say a few things about Chris, so don't clap yet.

There'll be time for that.

So y'all know the old little cartoon that came out of one of the world wars of Kilroy was here.

You know, the guy whose nose kind of hangs over the and and the hands like this, and Kilroy seemed to be everywhere.

Um that's Chris Moore and Tulsa.

Um I don't know if there's any clergy person in the city who is as well known in the various sectors of the city as is Chris Moore because he's present in so many places.

Um there are different ways of pastoring.

Uh he is he has been the pastor here of Fellowship Congregational Church, um, which for about 13 years or so now.

Um but he definitely sees uh and does what one of my mentors talked about.

He commits his faith in public his Christian faith.

Um if there is a cause in our city or in our state, because it's not just at Tulsa, it's also sometimes in the Capitol, uh a cause that needs uh a moral voice, faith-based, where an issue of justice and equity and compassion is at stake.

Chris has been there.

Um Chris's colleagues talk about if when you need someone to convene a group, uh if an issue arises, Chris is often the one to convene.

If there needs to be a statement drafted, Chris is often at least on the drafting team, if not the one who actually is leading in the drafting.

Um Chris is uh pastor of a congregation that has a long history in being involved in the larger community here in Tulsa.

Um Russ Bennett of recent memory is one of the uh really sainted clergy uh within our community, and Chris very much follows in his footsteps.

Uh when I reached out to several of Chris's colleagues uh about uh making this nomination uh and presenting this award, they were all too happy to say that Chris is a pastor among pastors, a leader amongst leaders, someone who uh who's um inside and outside um uh personalities and and the way he goes about things, uh, have a tremendous amount of integrity.

Um, and we just couldn't be happier uh than to present this uh award uh for uh the compassionate Tulsa Award, named after Sherry Tapp, but Sherry's son, uh I understand is here.

That's great.

Um and uh Chris, we'd love for you to accept this award.

Okay.

Uh when Gary reached out to me to ask me uh if I would accept this award, um I'm not, as my congregation knows, um overly fond of accepting awards uh for things, um, but deeply appreciative of the recognition and certainly deeply appreciative of this particular award, knowing uh the legacy that Sherry Tapp left in this city, uh knowing that the history of the people who have received this award in the past, and uh knowing the important role uh that compassion uh ought to play in a in a public setting right now.

We could certainly make the argument that uh that is on the decline and needs to be on the incline, uh, needs to be brought back in very serious ways.

So if um if this award means anything to me, it's uh encouragement to continue leading um part of my remarkable flock back there, uh as well as friends and colleagues uh continuing to do that work at a time in which it's most uh definitely needed.

So thank you very much for this award, and I accept on behalf of Fellowship Congregational Church as well.

Thank you.

And if everybody came to support Chris wants to come out in the hallway with us, and we'll go ahead and take a few pictures before you go on with the rest of your day.

Thank you.

Commissioner Watchner, did you did you indicate that you believe in April there'd be another award from Compassionate Tulsa?

Wonderful.

Well, it's a great backdrop for much of the conversation we're gonna have today.

So now that they've had the opportunity to leave the room, uh the third item on our agenda is approval of the meeting minutes.

You were provided a copy of the February 2026 regular meeting minutes in advance for review.

Is there any discussion or corrections that we need to discuss about those minutes?

If not, I would take a motion to approve the minutes.

So moved.

Second.

All those in favor of approving the February 2026 regular meeting minutes of the human rights commission, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The motion passes the minutes are approved.

The fourth item on our agenda is the chair slash vice chair reports.

Um I'm gonna be fairly brief, as brief as I can be, to afford time to other important items on the agenda that might require or certainly deserve discussion.

Um things that came to mind that I want to share with you is that on February 19th, not long after our last meeting, uh Dr.

Rogers, our vice chair Lexi, and myself attended the uh Title V Commission Chair uh advice chair meeting with Mayor Nichols.

Uh Commissioner, no, you you were not there, is that right, Commissioner Pielebar, you were not there.

I think anyone else in the room.

I think that's it that was at that meeting.

Um we heard updates from all of the Title V commissions, which was a really I don't think I've been in a room in that way to hear from everybody talk about their work.

It was it was really um interesting and engaging and uplifting to hear all the great work that's happening through the Title V commissions.

Uh specifically the Greater Tulsa Area Hispanic and Latinx Affairs Commission talked about publishing of their Fourth Amendment uh playbook, which is essentially a readiness and management playbook for restaurant owners and uh similar organizations and employees are at risk of unconstitutional search.

What they have assembled is a full way toolkit and a train the trainer program that covers things like legal uh considerations as a business owner in terms of searches on your uh your property.