Town boosts funds for aide on race issues
The Fairfax Town Council has agreed to pay an extra $22,707 to a consultant who is leading meetings for the town’s new Racial Equity and Social Justice Committee, bringing the consultant’s total budget to $62,707.
The council formed the committee in July amid the political climate of the Black Lives Matter movement and gave the group a $100,000 budget. The money came from cuts to the town’s police department budget, including a $75,000 reduction in employee overtime pay and a $25,000 reduction in funding for the countywide Major Crimes Task Force, which was disbanded last year.
In November, the council approved a $40,000 contract with consultant Lisa Jiménez
of OLAS Performance to facilitate the committee’s meetings. But the committee has needed more of Jiménez’s time than originally anticipated, said Mayor Bruce Ackerman, who sits on the committee.
“This is different from a lot of other town committees,” Ackerman said. “There’s a lot to be processed as we begin looking at racial justice, and it’s required a lot more facilitation than was expected.”
The council voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve the additional funding for Jiménez’s services. That included $12,707 that the committee had already spent on her time.
“In hindsight, we should have come to the council sooner for a budget adjustment,” Town Manager Garrett Toy wrote in a report to the
council. “However, these types of overages can happen from time to time for projects, based on the timing and review of invoices.”
Jiménez, a former educator, charges the town $350 per hour for her time facilitating the meetings, plus $175 per hour for responding to emails and text messages. She has billed the town for about 154 hours so far and has worked an additional 26 to 40 hours for free, according
to a town report.
The town initially expected Jiménez to work 15 to 18 hours per month, but she worked more than 30 hours each in December, February and March. Ackerman said part of that time has included facilitating meetings for a subcommittee that is reviewing Fairfax’s policing practices.
The group will soon be able to run its own meetings without a facilitator and will no longer require Jiménez’s time, Ackerman said. He said the committee, made up of 13 Fairfax residents and two council
members, has not yet finalized recommendations for the Town Council. Since the group’s first meeting in November, it has so far focused on team building, setting up committee protocols and forming subcommittees that are meeting to discuss issues, he said.
“Things are going to move a lot more smoothly in terms of actually being able to do the work the committee was set out to do,” Ackerman said.
Vice Mayor Stephanie Hellman said the Town Council created the committee after a series of community
forums that Fairfax officials hosted in the wake of George Floyd’s death last year. During those meetings, the town “heard from its many residents of color that they do not feel welcome and safe,” she said.
“The committee exists to eliminate racial inequities and invite and support diversity in Fairfax,” Hellman said.
She said committee members are “grateful for the skills and experience the facilitator has brought and we are eager to apply all we’ve learned and continue to do our work.”