Okay, we are live.

Good morning, everyone.

It is the June 3rd, 10:30 a.m.

Urban Economic Development Committee meeting.

I am Councillor Ballis chairing this meeting.

First item on the agenda.

I call this meeting to order.

Other quick note is item six has been pulled.

So if you're here to report on that, better luck next time.

All right, we are on item two.

Dr.

Tamika Rogers, reappointment to the Human Rights Commission.

Term expires July 1st, 2028 from Council District 7.

If you want to come up to the table, morning.

Oh, yes, it's a chair.

It's perfect.

Oh, it's not the back chair.

That was up to the city.

That's not a good one.

That's nice.

That was a close call, thank goodness.

Well, thank you so much for being here.

If you wouldn't mind telling us a bit about um yourself and your experience serving and why you'd like to continue serving.

Hi, y'all.

I'm Dr.

Tamika Rogers, history maker and barrier breaker.

I am a Navy veteran, uh educator, uh, and also a documentarian filmmaker.

Um I serve because I enjoy the Human Rights Committee and the progress that we've done so far.

I believe this is my second year, and right now what we are working on is how to make it easier for people to actually use the complaint thing.

Our system is very antiquated.

Uh, and we're trying to make it easier for them to have people to have access.

And my job at Tulsa Tech also is the director of student access and success.

So access is a big deal for me personally, too.

Um, and also we are working on getting uh more people on the commissions, um, especially in the underrepresentative areas.

Um, and how that process looks and not just about how the process looks, but actually being able to recruit them and being in within the community, and I believe we send out uh emails about that to everyone.

Um so my whole thing is more of actually doing the work and getting the work done and seeing progress.

And like the first year I was on there, they said, Well, we've been working on this for a while, and I'm like, Well, it's time to see the progress and actually do the work.

And so we're meeting with uh uh me and the chair, we're meeting with all of our human rights committee members one-on-one, um, like 30 minutes throughout, you know, and seeing their goals and pulling those all together because one meeting a month uh for the time period we have, it just doesn't lend to get action done.

And so we're doing those things, and so I think that we can continue building on that.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, Counselor Bengal.

I think you and I corresponded.

We did.

We quartered.

As soon as you said you were a Navy vet, it triggered my memory.

So obviously, thank you for your service on that front.

Um, have you gotten any traction on that issue?

Yeah, um, the bill that I so it made it to the um, yes, the bill that he's talking about is what I was trying to do is so to make a long story short, educators that are veterans, to buy back their retirement time.

So we have a simulation in the retirement where they could buy back their time.

I think I probably emailed all of y'all.

Um, but what happens is is they're charging the veterans at the rate of their current salary in the education system versus what they made while they were in the Navy.

So for example, while I was in the Navy for five years, I got paid a total total for five years, 40,000.

Right?

And so now they're trying to go off my current salary, yeah, and then charge me 147,000 to buy back five years that goes towards my retirement.

Now, when a teacher leaves the retirement system and comes back in and wants to buy their time back, they get to purchase it at that cost of the time.

And so we're just asking for that same benefit.

So it made it to committee.

Um Senator Goodwin pushed it through for me, made all the changes and all that kind of things.

It made it to the committee, but they they approved it but striped the title, which is a game um where you have to go and do the things that they want you to do, but they knew it was impossible to do.

So we're gonna try it again next year okay well anything I can do to help one support with that please stay in contact with thank you I appreciate it and I appreciate your support because I we need to do everything we can for veterans that make those transitions yeah and even educators just looking at I mean it was like thousands of emergency certifications and you know we're number 50 in education and you need that veteran that's disciplined and believe in getting the job done and everybody wants to say thank you for your service but nobody wants to do a real thank you for your service and we're not asking right and we're not asking for a handout we're asking for we're still asking to purchase our time back but at a fair rate.