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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Relations Commission - Minutes - 05/12/19940 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES Regular Meeting - May 12, 1994 Council Information Center, City Hall West 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Council Liaison: Ann Azari Staff Liaisons: Jaime Mares Gabe Serenyi A regular meeting of the Human Relations Commission was held on May 12, 1994, in the Council Information Center, City Hall West. HRC Members present: Rickie Calkins, Letty Coykendall, Man Oberoi, Shari Olson and Harold Wallace. HRC Members absent: Linda Beardsley, Rudi Garcia, Arnold Gum and Ramona Robertson. Guests present: Lu Fisk, Commission on the Status of Women and Lt. Pat Kelly, Fort Collins Police Department. Staff Members present: Jaime Mares and Gabe Serenyi 1. Meeting was called to order by Shari Olson,Vice Chair, at 5:35 P.M. A motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting of April 14, 1994 was made by Shari Olson. Corrections were made to the April meeting as follows: The CAB did not hold a meeting in March; a motion was made to send each individual Council member regarding the domestic partner issue and the new council member appointment issue. A motion was then made to approve the minutes with the corrections. The motion was seconded by Man Oberoi, and approved by the HRC. t Human Relations Award. HRC members were very pleased with the outcome of the HRC Awards breakfast. Attendance was higher than in the past, and attendees appeared to be impressed with and enjoying the various segments of the program. The breakfast also received excellent coverage from the local media: Channel 14 carried a piece, and The Coloradoan and The Triangle News both featured articles. The City News would also have an article about the breakfast. The suggestion was made to run the display ad again next year in The Coloradoan soliciting nominations for the HRC Awards. HRC members in attendance thanked Shari Olson and Gabe Serenyi for all their hard work in putting the program and logistics together for the Awards breakfast. AB. A meeting was held in April. Shari Olson reported that the Human Relations Grant committee has started the process of site visits to the various organizations receiving funding through the organizations. The committee has withheld funding from Helpline and Care -A -Van until it can get more information on how money is spent, ridership statistics, etc. These organizations have not been forthcoming in providing requested information to the committee. Human Relations Commission May 12, 1994 Page 2 Diversity. Jaime Mares reported on the progress of the Poudre R-1 students who have been taking photographs and videos of various City buildings and facilities to make an assessment of the City's environment. The students were focusing on things that the City was doing well, and also on areas that could be done better. Photographs and videos were currently being processed, and would then be edited prior to any presentations. HRC members thanked Jaime for all his efforts on this project. Police Subcommittee. Letty Coykendall reported that she had the police complaint process information flyer translated into Spanish. Letty had faxed the Spanish text to Deryle O'Dell for review. To date she has not heard from Deryle. The long term plan is to have the flyer printed with the text in English on one side and Spanish on the other. Lt. Pat Kelly brought copies of a complaint filed by a citizen for review by the Police Subcommittee. Pat indicated that he is recommending that the police send the citizen a letter informing him that nothing else can be done by the police about his complaint, and that he should hire a lawyer if he wants to pursue the matter further. Lt. Kelly also reported that numerous homeless people have been removed from City property adjacent to the river, and that the HRC might hear some complaints about that activity. The only complaint that has been received by the police to date is that some of the transients felt they were being dislocated illegally. A lengthy discussion followed dealing with various aspect of the homeless and transient issue. Issues discussed related to the availability of homeless shelters, food for the homeless, and available mental health services and facilities. A decision was made to place the homeless issue on the June agenda for discussion. Lt. Kelly also reported on the ACLU meeting that took place on May 12th. Committee for Executive Delegation ICED). Gabe Serenyi informed the HRC that the letters dealing with the City Council appointment and the domestic partner issues that were drafted by Arnold Gum were ready to be mailed to City Council members, Dr. Yates, etc. Since linda Beardsley and Arnold Gum were not at the meeting, the decision was made to call Linda and request that she sign the letters as soon as possible. If Linda was not available, Arnold would be asked to sign the letters. Jaime Mares reported that he had forwarded the Voices Video agreement to the City Attorney's office for review. A preliminary reading by the assistant City attorney indicated that there appeared to be no problems with the agreement. Rickie Calkins reported that two groups from Poudre R-1 School District as well as other groups had borrowed the Voices Video. III. Old Business Man Oberoi indicated that construction of the Senior Center is progressing on schedule. Man had been invited to participate on a committee that is planning for the Center's grand opening. Shari Olson reported that she had met with Jack Lang-y-Marquez and other committee members planning for the 1994 Human Relations Conference. The conference will be held in Greeley Human Relations Commission May 12, 1994 Page 3 because of a lack of available hotel space in Fort Collins as a result of CSU's homecoming weekend. The committee was able to get reasonable rates at one of the hotels in Greeley. The current plan is to hold the conference September 16 -.18. Shari will be attending monthly meetings to assist in the planning for the various conference activities. Jaime Mares gave an update on the selection process for the Human Relations Officer. Jaime indicated that there would be two selection panels: one made up of City staff who have been closely connected with various diversity programs, and a panel made up of citizens interested in diversity issues. Arnold Gum, Linda Beardsley and Ramona Robertson would represent the HRC on the citizen panel. Jaime indicated that several very well qualified candidates had applied for the position. IV. New Business. Gabe Serenyi reminded HRC members that City Clerk Wanda Krajicek had requested that the HRC nominate a member to serve on the Multi -Cultural Commission. The nominee would not automatically be appointed to the Commission, but would be one of the candidates considered to represent the City. The feeling of the HRC was that Linda Beardsley should be the nominee. Since Linda was not present at the meeting, Jaime Mares would call to ask her if she would be interested in serving. The meeting adjourned at 6:35 P.M.