HAMILTON —Members of the city of Hamilton’s new diversity and inclusion commission are making moves to address what they have determined are the city’s most pressing issues that limit the diversity of all its residents and employees.
Though they’ve only had two monthly meetings to date, commission chair Mark Mercer, a deputy fire chief for the city, said that members are ready to tackle these issues.
“It’s a little frustrating on the front end, because people are ready to do something,” he said. Not that those meetings haven’t already been fruitful; the commission has created their mission — to identify barriers to diversity and inclusion in Hamilton and to make recommendations — and have formed three subcommittees to focus on the problems and perceptions of problems that exist in trying to represent everyone in Hamilton
Mercer is confident that the individuals chosen for the commission would be up for the challenge of identifying the issues involved in making sure all city residents and employees feel represented.
“This is a topic that is very important to me, personally,” he said. “Between my family and my wife’s family, we’re about as diverse a family as you can get.”
Seven community residents were appointed by Hamilton’s City Council members from a pool of applicants, and eight city employees were appointed by City Manager Joshua Smith. Community members are required to be Hamilton residents; city appointments are not, according to Smith. Members have a term position of either three or four years, depending on who appointed them.
“It is a very diverse group, and no one was asked to be on the committee,” Mercer said. “They all have a particular passion, for the job.”
