The memorandum requesting action on City Councilmember Rodney Roberts’ August 2024 remarks about the Public Works Department was written by the JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) Action Team, which consists of city staff. The team was created in response to council’s direction to act on findings from the 2023 JEDI audit of city government (for more on the audit and the team’s creation see the May 9 issue). To learn more about the team, the News Review asked City Manager Josué Salmerón and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Officer Tyra Smith for their insights on its work.
Intentional Efforts
Salmerón said council intentionally created the city’s DEI Officer position and planned audits to orient the city more to DEI. He said council’s vision includes auditing and addressing JEDI in city government through an internal JEDI audit and also in the community with a JEDI audit of residents’ experiences living in Greenbelt (also known as a “community audit” or “Phase II audit”).
Smith said the 2023 internal audit (by consultant Tribesy) was to identify city government challenges and barriers contributing to employees’ negative experiences, and identify employees’ actual experiences. The internal audit was meant as a step toward improving employee job satisfaction, morale and teamwork, in a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace. It was followed by the 2024 community audit of resident experiences (with results to be shared at a December 18 council worksession).
The 2023 internal audit found some employees felt their work environment is unhealthy, with colleagues unwilling to share knowledge or power, resistance to new ideas, little partnership between departments and inefficient processes affecting workloads.
Team Formation
Council directed staff to plan how to address the audit findings. Smith briefed the plan to council in April 2024, including a top-down approach to educate leaders and supervisors on DEI and review policies and programs, and a bottom-up approach through a JEDI Action Team of employees to plan and execute improvements with Smith. The plan included training for all employees in DEI concepts (including intent vs. impact), emotional intelligence, dialogue and conflict management, with additional training for supervisors and the action team.
In April 2024 all employees were informed of the team and invited to join. Thirteen volunteered with supervisor approval. There was no selection procedure because all interested employees were welcomed to the team. Team members began working together in spring 2024.
The Role
The JEDI Action Team is an advisory group to city management and fellow employees, ultimately accountable to Salmerón. He describes them as “informing decision-making on how we make our workplace the best it can be, certainly better than the audit.” He said they will create the city’s JEDI lens, which Albright College describes as a framework to ensure that policies, procedures, programs and decisions support DEI. Salmerón said the team provides input when asked (like on remote work policies equitable for all staff) and proactively provides input on issues of which they become aware. Smith said the JEDI Action Team’s role is to help ensure city employees have a work environment that feels safe to them, in which they can provide feedback or ideas and that avoids unintentional harms.
Smith characterized the team as conversational and collaborative in how they discuss issues and make decisions, which they make by consensus. Smith said they feel confident and supported by their supervisors to lead JEDI work.
Salmerón and Smith said the team will be permanent, with members continuing as long as they want and changing over time. The team receives no funding because their activity occurs within their workday around their primary job responsibilities. The cost of team training was included in the Tribesy contract. Because the team is internal to city staff, its meetings and activities are not open to the public. They do not keep minutes of their meetings, though Smith said it could become necessary in the future if the team grew larger. Though the team’s work isn’t public facing, its members are not anonymous. Salmerón said the city released their names to Greenbelt residents who made Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) requests for them recently.
August Memo
At the August 12 council meeting, Councilmember Rodney Roberts questioned Public Works staff on a department proposal to pay an automobile dealership to replace a city vehicle engine, saying of the dealership’s price quote, “If you’re dumb enough to take that, then you are.” (See November 7 issue.) Employees contacted the Action Team the next day, according to Smith, who said the remarks affected employees’ morale and their feelings about engaging with city council. She said team members said, “If we’re here to make
equitable change, if we’re here to address the concerns employees have, then this is what we want to be our first call to action.” She said the team brainstormed recommendations to address the concerns and wrote the memo.
Salmerón said that as a manager, it’s his job to ensure city employees have a safe and welcoming workplace, which includes city council meetings when employees are asked to attend those meetings.
The city council addressed “Unbecoming Conduct of a Councilmember per Council Standing Rules” in its December 9 meeting. At that Monday evening meeting, the council voted 5-2 to publicly rebuke Roberts (with Roberts and Councilmember Silke Pope opposed). Look for a report on that council meeting in next week’s issue.
Next Steps, Continuing Efforts
The JEDI community audit results will be reviewed at the December 18 council worksession. The JEDI Team has drafted justice, equity and inclusion definitions and a city vision statement, which they shared with city staff and will share with residents for feedback before council review and adoption. The team will review city processes and procedures to incorporate JEDI, conduct employee engagement activities to gain employee input and build relationships across departments, conduct employee awareness and education events, and plan JEDI improvements to address audit findings.
Salmerón said the 2023 audit revealed challenges the city wants to address, to improve working and living experiences for employees and residents, including calling out when someone calls an employee dumb. He acknowledged that “it’s not easy work,” and emphasized the importance of trust among city staff, between staff and city council, and between Greenbelt voters and the council they elected, because trust enables good governance.