TRPC blasts, then rejects advisory board’s recommendation to follow Trump’s DEI order
A recommendation from an advisory group to the Thurston Regional Planning Council didn’t last long on Friday as the council first blasted the advice to scrub diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) language, and then voted to reject it.
Concerned about putting federal funding at risk, the Transportation Policy Board recommended last month that TRPC scrub the draft of a regional transportation plan of DEI references the Trump Administration has outlawed through executive order. Thurston Regional Planning Council Executive Director Marc Daily said the document contained about 60 references to equity.
“This document was largely done before the change in administration, and so our work had been done under the previous administration’s guidance, which had heavy emphasis on diversity, equity, inclusion and environmental justice,” Daily explained at the April 9 meeting.
The Transportation Policy Board ultimately voted on the following motion: “Release the draft for public review, recommending that between the draft and the final review we revise the document to ensure compliance with the new administration’s executive orders.”
Despite the recommendation, Thurston Regional Planning Council members and residents who spoke during public comment wanted nothing to do with that request.
“We demand that you not scrub the regional transportation plan of language that the current administration finds offensive,” said former Olympia School Board member Talauna Reed, who added that she was speaking on behalf of the NAACP of Thurston County. “We demand that you instead resist an unlawful threat and defend our values and integrity of our regional planning efforts. Be strong. Do not concede, absent a federal court order to do so.”
TRPC members shared their opinions, too, including Lacey City Council member Robin Vazquez, who chairs the council.
“I want to start with saying how proud I am of the draft regional transportation plan,” she said. “I think it is a really remarkable document that says something about our values as a community, and I don’t think there is any value in adjusting the language in the long-term plan when the directives coming from the federal administration are legally absurd and constitutionally ignorant.
“I think we should remain firm in our commitment to our community’s values. TRPC’s responsibility is to craft policy, not with an eye toward years, but toward generations,” she said.
Another member, Hilary Seidel, who serves on the Olympia School Board, struck a more punitive note.
“I want to issue a really strong rebuke to the reckless discussion and the recommendation from the TPB,” she said. “The action that was introduced by (Lacey) Mayor (Andy) Ryder was not properly noticed, which meant that the members did not have enough time to consult the bodies they represent, and the public did not have enough time to weigh in, and when we do work like this, that’s so important. Improperly, we harm the reputation, not only of ourselves as individuals, but the integrity of this body and of our collective governing body.”
Robert Vanderpool serves on the Transportation Policy Board as a city of Olympia representative and on TRPC as its Intercity Transit member. He apologized for the vote he made on the board.
“I sincerely regret voting on this item,” he said. “I believe that if we had more time to sit with this, as we traditionally would with most agenda items, we would have likely voted differently.”
However, the planning council vote was not unanimous. Yelm Mayor Joe DePinto cast a “no” vote and explained why.
DePinto said he is not a fan of the federal government telling local government what it should and shouldn’t be doing, and as a person of color, he supports those terms being included in the transportation plan.
But he isn’t willing to risk future funding.
“This is a very tough decision for a lot of us to make,” he said. “I understand that, but I do think that we need to heed the recommendation of the Transportation Policy Board in our decision on this.”
DePinto made the first motion of the discussion, to approve the recommendation from the Transportation Policy Board, but his motion failed from lack of support.
Vazquez was ready to move on to the next meeting agenda item when Carolyn Cox spoke up.
Although Cox is perhaps better known as a Lacey City Council member, she serves on the council as the LOTT Clean Water Alliance representative.
Her motion: “I move to reject the recommendation from the Transportation Policy Board and move the plan forward as written.”
That motion passed.
“I think we did the right thing today,” said Cox at the end of the meeting.
