Justin Hubbard of the Jamestown Justice Coalition speaks during Tuesday’s Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education meeting. P-J photo by Katrina Fuller

Members of the Human Rights Commission said they are concerned with being censored and silenced by the Jamestown City Council.

Last week, the commission held its regular monthly meeting — the first since the council voted against the reappointment of former commission member Justin Hubbard.

Hubbard had been nominated by Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist to be reappointed to the commission, but the council voted against the reappointment.

The Rev. Uvie Stewart Jr., commission chairman, said there are “issues in this city” and he is now worried about bringing up concerns of residents in Jamestown if the council can vote him off the commission. He said this is a form of censorship and could silence members of the commission.

“If (the council) expects this commission just to lay down and be quiet and say everything is happy and beautiful like Candyland, that’s not going to work here,” he said.

Billy Torres, commission member, asked which commission member will be next not to be reappointed for “being outspoken.”

“Our hands our being tied here,” he said. “Are we being minimized on certain subjects? I wonder how much power we do have to resolve things in the community while being sensitive to others.”

Momina Di Blasio, commission member, said she and the other members of the commission shouldn’t be worried about what they say during a meeting because they might not get reappointed.

“I guess I’m uncomfortable with the fact that it borders on the line of censorship a little bit,” she said.

The Rev. Dodi McIntyre said Hubbard, who heads the Jamestown Justice Coalition, was an advocate for the marginalized members of the community.

“I just want to publicly state how disappointed I am in the decision to not reappoint Mr. Hubbard to our commission,” he said.

Commission members Kellie Roberts, Kimberly Knight and Matt Misizszek also voiced their disappointment in the council for not reappointing Hubbard. The Rev. Daniel Groh, who only moved to Jamestown a couple of years ago, said it’s disappointing that the council didn’t reappoint Hubbard because they might not have liked some of his “views.”

“As a newcomer, it doesn’t impress me at all,” he said.

The commission also discussed how they are now two members short of the 12-member group. They discussed how they will review a list of potential new members and discuss their options with Sundquist, who will need to nominate two new people to the council to be approved to the commission. The commission members said they will aim for the March meeting of the council to have two nominees ready for a potential appointment.