Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By ZACHARY MARANO
Ironwood — The Ironwood City Commission held a public hearing on Monday to hear comment on an ordinance adding a Human Relations and Equity Committee to the city’s administration. The commission adopted this ordinance by a 4-1 vote.
City Manager Scott Erickson said that this ordinance would set up a five-member committee, with members appointed by the city commission. He said that the committee would advise the commission on how to make the city more diverse and inclusive. He said that three members of the committee will be from Ironwood, but other members can be appointed from elsewhere for an outside perspective.
Carol Erickson, a member of the Ironwood Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group which has been hoping to create this committee, was present at the public hearing to answer the city commissioners’ questions about the ordinance.
“One of the things that group is trying to do is help set Ironwood up, going forward into the future, to be able to deal with diversity, equity and inclusion issues before they might become a problem,” Carol Erickson said. “Issues are not looked at if they’re not examined. Then, when they do occur in the future, we don’t have mechanisms in place to deal with them effectively. And that’s what we’re trying to do: Make sure that Ironwood is a place that can deal with them in an effective manner.”
Carol Erickson said many cities that have a human relations and equity committee are larger than Ironwood, but she said that is not a good reason to not join this trend and make sure the city can respond to these issues when they emerge.
City commissioner Jim Mildren said that he thinks the committee will help increase volunteerism and involvement in local government among young people, whom he said are great things for the city.
During the hearing, two Ironwood residents spoke against the addition of the committee.
The first resident, Sean Day, said that working to diversify Ironwood would make the city “lose (its) culture.” He said that if the Human Relations and Equity Committee plans to relocate people to the area to increase diversity, they would need to find places for them to live and work or provide them financial support. Carol Erickson made no claim about the committee planning to move anyone to Ironwood.
Day also said there should be limits on who is accepted in the city of Ironwood, questioning whether inclusivity should be extended to child sex offenders and Satan worshippers.
“Maybe I’m speaking out of bounds, but I think the composition of this group is just trying to make sure that we’re fair and equal to all folks who come to Ironwood and try not to discriminate, whether it’s intentional or not,” Mayor Kim Corcoran said to Day.
Also during the public hearing, Steve Frank, of Ironwood, claimed to the city commission that the ordinances used as templates for one they were considering at the public hearing were from larger cities than Ironwood and were tied to local government anti-discrimination laws. He said that Ironwood has no such laws and state and federal laws are sufficient for a city of its size.
Frank also said he was opposed to the ordinance because he said it attempts to regulate the way that he thinks, which he called undemocratic.
Despite these comments, the city commission 4-1 approved the adoption of this ordinance, with city commissioners Mildren, David Andresen, Nancy Korpela and Rick Semo voting yes, and Mayor Kim Corcoran voting no.
“I just want to have another look at (the ordinance),” Corcoran said about her vote.
“I think the ‘inclusion’ part of this is the part that really hits me,” Semo said. “We’re asking the city to be inclusive of the people who are here. One person commented, ‘Are we inviting …’ I don’t know, whatever. But diversity is here and inclusion is what I’m striving for.”
