The Human Rights Commission attracted an unusually large audience — including several council members and Mayor James R. Knight Jr. — for its regular monthly meeting Tuesday night at the Hopkinsville Municipal Center to see the commission promote Raychel Fort Farmer to executive director.
Farmer, 32, has served as HRC’s part-time executive assistant for four years, working alongside executive director Idalia Luna, who resigned Monday following an undisclosed conflict that some board members linked to the “current political climate.”
Following a brief closed session to discuss personnel, the board returned to open session and voted unanimously to promote Farmer. Her salary will be $49,330, including approximately $2,000 for a health policy stipend.
Farmer previously worked for the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain as an employee training coordinator and shift leader. She graduated from Hopkinsville High School in 2008 and attended the University of Kentucky. She is currently working on a bachelor’s degree in business administration through Western Governors University, an online program.
A graduate of the 2023 class of Leadership Hopkinsville-Christian County, Farmer is active in her church, Virginia Street Baptist, and serves on the Focus Leadership executive board. She is married to Sahib Farmer, who works for the Walmart Distribution Center, and they have five children ages 18 months to 10 years.
Farmer is taking over a program that faces several changes, some prompted by a reduction in funding after Hopkinsville City Council reduced HRC’s budget by about 5%, to $80,000, and Christian Fiscal Court completely eliminated county funding for the program.
Human Rights Comission supports residents, diversity
HRC, established as the Human Relations Commission in 1963, assists residents who believe they have been discriminated against based on factors such as race, gender or religion. It does preliminary investigations to determine if cases should be forwarded to state civil rights officials, and offers remediation in some cases.
The commission also sponsors events to highlight and celebrate the community’s diversity.
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Farmer is a certified diversity trainer. In the past year, HRC has provided training to Pennyroyal Center, Pennyrile Area Development District and the Kentucky Museum and Heritage Alliance, said Farmer.
Future of HRC remains unclear
City Administrator Troy Body attended the meeting to update commissioners on city hall plans to rearrange several office spaces. HRC will be moved out of the two offices it has occupied for several years. Finance employees will move into those spaces.
Body said he will meet with the new executive director to determine where HRC will be located — likely moving from the second floor to the first floor — but he would not commit to providing two offices.
Commissioner Yasamin Ausenbaugh said city officials shouldn’t assume that the HRC board is going to reduce its staff to one employee. The agency is in transition but has not made a decision to eliminate the office assistant, a position HRC has had since the 1970s, she said. (The board adopted a budget Tuesday that includes approximately $13,000 for an assistant.)
“I don’t want any tension here. I have to do what is best for the city,” Body said.
Resignation follows concerns over ‘political climate,’ community event
The commission voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the 2022-23 budget to cover the cost of offering Luna certain terms related to her early departure. She had planned to leave on July 21 because her family is moving out of state. However, she agreed to leave roughly a month sooner after the commission’s executive committee raised the issue of “political climate.”
The budget amendment provides $9,058 to cover 168 hours of accrued vacation time, one month of salary and Luna’s July health insurance stipend.
According to emails Hoptown Chronicle obtained through an open records request, Luna and commissioner Caleb Ballard disagreed over a meeting of HRC supporters on Tuesday, June 20, at the Pioneers Complex. The group that met spoke about how to advocate for HRC in light of reduced funding, said people who were present. The meeting was publicized in a flyer created by HRC. Ballard said it was an HRC meeting and commissioners should have been informed. Luna said it was a meeting of potential volunteers.
Commissioners respond to early departure
Outgoing chair Niecy Hillis and others on the commission thanked Luna for her work. Hillis said Tuesday was her last meeting because she has recently moved to Bowling Green.
“I can tell you unequivocally, she has been an outstanding director,” commissioner Molly Lewis said. “She has always conducted business professionally, tactfully, speaking truth where truth needs to be spoken — but in a way that gets the points across without being detrimental to anyone.”
Alluding to the unspecified conflict that resulted in Luna leaving a month ahead of schedule, Ausenbaugh said, “In my heart, I wish the last week had gone different, but it is what it is. We are going to open a new chapter today. We are going to do our best as commissioners, I hope.
“I should have known this as a grown woman — but I have learned this last week that some people will say what they want to say behind closed doors but will not say it in public.
“And I have learned this week that some people say things in public, either in face-to-face public or on social media public, without knowing the whole story.”
Ausenbaugh asked the commission members to remember that “every action we take in public is a representation of this board, whether we mean it to or we don’t.”
She added, “We have to hold each other accountable when we say things in a public forum that does not align with the goal and the mission of this commission. We’ve still got work to do, y’all.”
In other business, the commission approved the nominating committee’s recommendation for new officers. They are:
- Nikki Chambers, chair
- Yasamin Ausenbaugh, chair-elect
- Becky Dearman, secretary
- Stephen Spicer, treasurer
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
