Human Rights Scrambles to Hold Events as City Commissions See Funds Halved

MOSCOW – The Moscow Human Rights Commission determined Tuesday to secure plans at its August meeting for two September events – especially since next year’s funding, like that of most city commissions, is cut in half in the proposed city budget.

Meanwhile, the next commission event is the Great Moscow Food Drive, which will be Aug. 1 at the downtown Moscow Farmers Market and East City Park. Learn more at https://www.humanrightslatah.org/#

About $2,000 remains of the commission’s $3,250 appropriation for fiscal year 2025-26, which expires at the end of September. The board will work on using that to fund a social justice forum and its second Better Together Dinner for University of Idaho students.

The commission is allotted $1,250 in the city’s proposed 2026-27 budget, which the City Council will finalize in August. The council intends $750 to be used for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Human Rights Breakfast, said Moscow Police Chief Anthony Dahlinger, who is the city’s staff liaison to the commission. The remaining $500 would be used at commission discretion. 

“All of the commissions took a hit to their budgets,” Dahlinger told the group. This is partly because the health insurance cost for city employees is going up by nearly 30 percent, he said, and revenues are not increasing.

Among other commissions, the Fair & Affordable Housing Commission requested $3,600 but gets $1,250 in the proposed budget, that board was told by Evan Holmes, its liaison to the City Council, earlier this month. “One commission only received $200,” he said. 

The Farmers Market Commission is allotted $1,500; Arts Commission $4,000; and Parks & Recreation Commission $500 in the proposed budget. The city’s other commissions are: Historic Preservation, Sustainable Environment, Transportation and Tree. 

The budget is proposed, not final, until the City Council Aug. 17 vote, said Sage McCetich, the council’s liaison to the commission. “But don’t expect much change,” he added. Though a public hearing on the budget is completed, the public can send comments to council members.

Commissioner Jana Argersinger requested a meeting for commissioners to plead with the City Council for more funding before the vote; McCetich and Human Rights Commission Vice Chair Nick Smiley-Kallas agreed to work on that. “We have some core events that we need to continue to fund,” Smiley-Kallas said. 

Those include the upcoming Palouse Pride event, the Sheikh Community Unity Awards (held every two years), Juneteenth, community forums and films at the Kenworthy theater. Many are cosponsored with the Latah County Human Rights Task Force.

“A budget of $1,250 doesn’t give you much to work with,” said Joann Muneta, chair of the task force and its liaison to the commission.

The commission voted unanimously to spend no more than $250 on a social justice forum in September, mostly for refreshments. 

A “Know Your Rights” forum has been requested by local prosecutors, Smiley-Kallas told the commission at its June meeting. However, both Mia Bautista, city prosecutor, and Bill Thompson, Latah County prosecutor, have busy schedules and may not be able to speak.

Smiley-Kallas said he would contact them again and/or seek alternate speakers so the forum can be held in September with 2025-26 funds. The City Council chambers in City Hall would be free of charge as a venue. Commissioner Vanessa Stevens proposed that no honorarium be offered to the speakers in order to cut costs. 

In other business and reports, the Human Rights Commission:

* Heard from Dahlinger that no hate incidents were reported in the past month.

* Will vote at its August meeting on which two questions it will include in the city’s citizen survey, which will go out this fall.

* Heard from Muneta that the first bring-your-own 4^th of July picnic at East City Park drew about 400 people. It was primarily hosted by United in Community, a group formed in Moscow in May 2025. The successful event likely will be held yearly, Muneta said.

* Was asked by Argersinger to sign up to staff a table at the Palouse Pride event in East City Park and to bring giveaways like rainbow cookies or attractive trinkets. Stickers purchased by the commission will be available for free. 

* Heard from Argersinger that the commission’s presentation to City Council at its July 20 meeting was well received. The focus was the Better Together Dinner for UI students and the potential of funding help through joining the Rural Welcoming Initiative. 

She said the council replied that any city affiliation like that – such as tree city, bee city, sister city bonds – would need to be scrutinized by city staff and administration. “The application is due in November,” Argersinger said, “so there is time.”

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Moscow Human Rights Commission is Aug. 18.