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HRC Monthly Meeting

Orange County · Human Relations Commission
Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Regular meeting Civil rights and nondiscriminationAppointments and personnelHistoric preservationImmigration and enforcement

Agenda document Minutes Watch Meeting recap

What was decided

  1. Approved IIMinutes Approval - December 23, 2025 Approved 8-0
  2. Approved IVBlackwood Farms Marker - Commemorative Marker Update Non-symmetrical stone approved unanimously

Read from the agenda's recorded outcomes. Where the board published minutes, those are the record — this is a pointer to them.

What's on this agenda

Orange County's Human Relations Commission takes up a commemorative marker for the Blackwood Farms gravesite, vacancies on its own board, and its events for February through April. Staff bring an update on the marker, which is meant to mark a cemetery on the former farm property.

The rest of the ninety-minute agenda is reports. The executive committee has the secretary post and the open commissioner seats on its slate, the outreach and community events subcommittees report back, and new business covers what the commission calls its social justice vision and any emerging issues members want to raise.

Summarized from the published agenda. Read the agenda itself before acting on it.

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The commission voted unanimously to mark the Blackwood Farms gravesite with a non-symmetrical stone, picking from three options staff brought. The stone takes four to six weeks to make, which staff said fits a ceremony planned at Blackwood Farms in June. Members asked the chief civil rights officer to check the wording with the county's historic preservation liaison and to confirm with the manufacturer how many characters will fit.

Four of the twelve commissioner seats are vacant and the commission still has no secretary. Members set a community conversation called Building Resilience Together for 21 February and discussed a half-day youth engagement event tentatively set for 3 March, to be put off if a venue and a speaker are not found in time. Proclamations for Women's History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. Day went to the Board of County Commissioners for its 3 February meeting. Under emerging issues, a commissioner raised Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity as an ongoing concern in the community.

How the votes went

Two recorded votes, both unanimous. The commission approved the previous meeting's minutes 8-0. It then approved a non-symmetrical stone for the Blackwood Farms marker on a motion by Commissioner Carreker-Ford, seconded by Commissioner Lukas, with no votes against.

From the published minutes.

Who spoke

1 member of the public spoke.

  1. A community member said she had filed a housing complaint with the county's Office of Civil Rights, gave a general statement about her character after being cautioned not to discuss specifics, and left the meeting.

One speaker. Staff opened the period by reminding attendees not to name confidential details or discuss active complaints, since commissioners hear final reconsideration on discrimination cases and specifics aired in open session could compromise that.

Read from the recording's automatic captions, which misrender names and numbers — "Kildaire" comes through as "kill dare". Treat a name or a figure here as a pointer to the video, not as the record. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.

Speaking at this meeting

Orange County's own rules for public comment — check them before you rely on anything here.

Agenda items (8)

Staff or committee report · 3Procedural · 2Discussion item · 2Minutes approval · 1
  1. I Call to Order / Quorum
    Procedural
    The chair calls the meeting to order and establishes a quorum.
  2. II Minutes Approval - December 23, 2025
    Minutes approval
    Approval of the minutes from the commission's 23 December 2025 meeting.
    Approved 8-0
  3. III County Update - Upcoming Events and Opportunities
    Staff or committee report Civil rights and nondiscrimination
    Staff from the Office of Civil Rights and Civic Life report on county events and openings the commission may want to take part in.
  4. IV Blackwood Farms Marker - Commemorative Marker Update
    Discussion item Historic preservation
    Staff bring three design options for a stone marking the gravesite at Blackwood Farms, ahead of a ceremony planned there in June 2026.
    Non-symmetrical stone approved unanimously
  5. V Executive Committee Report - Secretary/Membership Vacancies
    Staff or committee report Appointments and personnel
    The chair reports on the vacant secretary post and the open commissioner seats. Four of the twelve seats are unfilled.
  6. VI Sub-Committee Reports - Outreach & Engagement; Community Events
    Staff or committee report Civil rights and nondiscrimination
    The two subcommittees report on a youth engagement project, which organizations they plan to table with this year, and the February community conversation on resilience.
  7. VII New Business / Announcements - Social Justice Vision, February-April Events, Emerging Issues
    Discussion item Civil rights and nondiscriminationImmigration and enforcement
    Members set the spring event calendar and raise emerging community concerns. The social justice vision discussion was carried to the next meeting.
  8. VIII Adjourn
    Procedural
    Adjournment.
    Adjourned 7:35 p.m.

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