Bainbridge’s new Race Equity Task Force will meet for the first time this week.

The task force was created at the urging of Bainbridge Councilman Matthew Tirman.

Tirman said testimony at a council meeting last October — where more than a dozen citizens addressed the council about the treatment and marginalization of communities of color on Bainbridge — convinced him that the city needed to do more on race issues.

“It was a wake-up call,” Tirman earlier told the Review. “They told us stories of the unfair treatment that they feel they received across their lives.”

“From a city council perspective, it really hadn’t come to our attention,

and certainly on our radar,” he added.

The councilman took those concerns to heart, and Tirman noted he knows there are members of the community who are facing real struggles, from homophobia to racism.

The proposed task force got off to a strong start even before the first meeting was scheduled.

The council unanimously approved the creation of the seven-member task force in December, and 26 people applied to serve on the committee.

Members of the task force are Brenda Fantroy-Johnson, Kian Ashabi, James Friday, Janna Chan, Sue Wilmot, Savanna Rovelstad and Vyette Bronalenior.

Task force members were appointed to terms that run until June 2019; the ad hoc committee is set to disband July 1.

Three city council members were also chosen as liaisons to the task force; Tirman, Joe Deets and Rasham Nassar.

“My role in this, and the other council members, is to facilitate discussion,” Tirman said.

It’s incumbent for the council to listen, learn, then react, he said.

The task force will meet monthly, and is expected to give advice and counsel to the council on matters that include identifying programmatic, community and legislative options to “ensure that Bainbridge Island lives up to its commitment of an open and welcoming community for all,” according to the city.

The Race Equity Task Force will gather for its first meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7 in the council conference room at city hall.

At Thursday’s meeting, the task force will elect a chair and a secretary.

The group will also discuss its meeting procedures, and undergo training on open government laws by Deputy City Attorney Robbie Sepler.

The task force will get training from a member of the city’s Ethics Board, as well.

Afterward, the group will talk about the overview and vision of the task force.

Upcoming meetings of the task force have been planned for April 4, May 2 and June 6.