SIOUX CITY -- The city of Sioux City has hired a diversity and inclusion coordinator.
Monday was Nancy Li's first day on the job. Li, a graduate of California State University, Fullerton, previously worked as a physical damage and cargo claims adjuster for Great West Casualty Company. Before serving as a claims adjuster, she was a human resources assistant for Great West Casualty and a records coordinator for ITT Educational Services, Inc., according to her resume.
"I'm just really pleased that that position has been filled," Mayor Pro Tem Dan Moore said during Monday's City Council meeting. "I expect a lot of good things to come from that."
The diversity and inclusion coordinator position replaces the community inclusion liaison position, which oversaw the Inclusive Sioux City Advisory Committee. The committee provides guidance to the council on matters relating to diversity, equity and inclusion.
The coordinator is assigned to the human resources department rather than the City Manager's Office and has more of an emphasis on diverse recruitment for the city. However, the coordinator continues to work with the City Manager's Office on diversity programming and also staffs the inclusion committee.
The job description changes were requested by the council and came on the heels of the May 28 firing of the city's first community inclusion liaison, Semehar Ghebrekidan.
Ghebrekidan had been on administrative leave since Feb. 21. She was ultimately fired for violating general standards of conduct, work rules, Iowa code and city administrative policy, according to documents obtained by The Journal. Since she was hired in 2021, Ghebrekidan oversaw the inclusion committee.