Key points from the Human Relations ordinance forum at Minot City Council meeting

MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) - The Minot City Council is once again putting off whether to amend the city’s human relations ordinance, largely due to a couple of council members not being present at Monday night’s meeting.

The addition of people within the LGBTQ+ community seemed to be the point of contention.

Several citizens spoke out against updating this ordinance.

Arguments made against the update was that it wasn’t ethically in the council’s place to make this decision. Others said that it would be redundant because of the civil rights act of 1964.

Those who argued in favor of it said it would be a statement of acceptance and would be in line with federal law.

RELATED COVERAGE: Human relations ordinance prompts discussion at Minot City Council

RELATED COVERAGE: Minot human relations ordinance talks tabled

Mayor Tom Ross said he’s in support of tabling the vote on human ordinance relations until the entire council is present.

“We can have up to 20 members on that committee, and I would be in support of standing on that committee, and we have 40 applications from residents to sit on that committee,” said Ross.

The council voted to hear more public discussion on this topic, but ultimately decided not to make a decision until every member of the council is present.

Your News Leader reached out to the two alderman who were not present--Carrie Evans and Paul Pitner--for comment on why they were unable to attend.

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