After a yearlong process, the Medford City Council proposed a new draft of the ordinance for the city’s Human Rights Commission. Established to protect the civil rights of Medford residents, particularly on issues of housing, the current version of the ordinance required modernizing, according to City Councilor Justin Tseng, who led the proposal.
Across multiple meetings and discussions with former and current Human Rights Commission members, the new ordinance aims to resolve structural issues within the commission, provide the committee with more information and grant the members the ability to engage better with the community.
The commission’s mission to “protect the civil rights of Medford residents, reinforce a positive community atmosphere … promote understanding to eliminate prejudice and intolerance” has faced challenges in recent years.
The ordinance currently explains that “five members of the commission shall constitute a quorum. No binding decisions shall be made at any meeting at which not enough members are present to constitute a quorum.” The committee has not met since last spring because a lack of attendance has made meetings impossible, according to Maureen Curley, a former member of the Medford Human Rights Commission.
“We weren’t able to set the agenda, and we didn’t have a budget,” Curley explained. “There was money, but it was in one pot from many different commissions, so it was determined by city hall as to how the money was spent. So that was a little frustrating too because you couldn’t seem to get a lot done.”
Curley further emphasized the obstacles resulting from the lack of a sufficient budget and number of members.
“There were no committees, really, that functioned. There wasn’t even a chair,” Curley said. “We couldn’t vote for a chair because we didn’t have a full group.”
Curley resigned from the commission in the fall of 2024, citing frustration with the lack of meetings. The new ordinance proposes a simple majority vote to allow for easier decision making.
The draft also suggests an expansion of the committee to nine members. The reformed commission would have three mayoral appointments, three city council appointments and three members from local boards and community groups.
“I think that’s going to really help with ensuring a balance in the diversity of voices and experiences on the commission,” Tseng said.
The process to revolutionize the Human Rights Commission started in 2021 with a committee of commission members who analyzed the ordinance and the commission’s past actions to propose modification suggestions. Barry Ingber, a Human Rights Commission member, contributed to the ideas of reform.
“We spent well over a year on this project,” Ingber said. “We interviewed over two dozen stakeholders in the [Human Rights Commission], including every chair of the [commission] going back to 2002.”
The findings of the committee were compiled into a report that highlighted the issues the commission faces and recommendations for improvement. “The most significant structural issue was the enabling ordinance, which is outdated,” Ingber said. “It fails to provide the [commission] with any resources. It doesn’t give it any independence, and it does not have a clear mandate.”
The report found three areas that the commission should focus on: community education and engagement, advice and oversight on human rights issues, and policy advocacy. The commission should “be the city’s go-to on human rights issues, providing the city and other entities in the city … advice on matters of human rights,” Ingber said. The commission would also “hold the city itself accountable for protecting equity and inclusion for everyone.”
According to Ingber, the commission should “advocate for laws, policies and practices that support human rights and improve equity, addressing not only traditional forms of discrimination but also the cultural and systemic issues that put segments of our community at a disadvantage or at risk.”
The ordinance is compiled from existing policy from human rights commissions in the surrounding communities.
One potential issue in the new draft is the introduction of a budget and stipends for members of Medford’s Human Rights Commission. Most other commissions do not have stipends, but they could be a solution to the low participation rates in the commission. The idea is subject to approval from Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn.
“Receiving stipends is really important in getting a more diverse range of candidates to make taking that time out of their day more workable and justifiable for people who might not have the economic means to normally do that,” Tseng said.
Ultimately, Tseng hopes the new ordinance will provide the Human Rights Commission with more purview to benefit the Medford community.
“I think this is one of the biggest things we can do right now to strengthen civil rights and civil liberty in Medford,” Tseng said. “The biggest impact, I think, will be reinvigorating the community, to encourage community members to join a group that actually has impact and influence in shaping city policy.”
While the Human Rights Commision reform began years before crackdowns on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs from the federal government, Ingber highlighted a newfound sense of urgency.
“We’ve got authoritarianism developing at the federal level and a much more urgent need to ensure that our local institutions for protecting our human rights are as robust as possible,” Ingber said.
