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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Relations Commission - Minutes - 07/09/1998HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES Regular Meeting - July 9, 1998 Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Azari I Staff Liaison: Chairperson: Bob Lenk Phone: 493-5809 A regular meeting of the Human Relations Commission was held on July 9, 1998 in the Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. HRC Members present: Brian Carroll, LaMills Garrett, Joe Jaramillo, Lori Lenard, Bob Lank, and Man Oberoi. HRC Members absent: Viviane Abt, Judy Berg and Leslie Frantz. Guests present: Bobbie Gonzales and Bob Viscount, Multicultural Commission. Staff Members present: Gabe Serenyi, HRC Staff Liaison Laurie Fonken-Joseph, Human Rights Officer Greg Tempel, Assistant City Attorney I. Meeting was called to order by Bob Lank, Chair, at 5:36 p.m. II. Bob Lank asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the June 11, 1998 meeting. Lori Lenard made the motion to approve, and was seconded by Man Oberoi. The minutes were approved by the HRC with no changes. III. New HRC member LaMills Garrett was introduced to those present. Each HRC member also provided brief background information about himself/herself. Two members of the Multicultural Commission, Bobbie Gonzales and Bob Viscount, also introduced themselves. IV. Subcommittee Reports Committee on Executive DPI gation. Did not meet. Human Resource Grantc Committee. Lori Lenard informed the group that Shari Olson will attend next month's meeting and report on how the United Way will integrate the activities (and members?) of the Human Resource Grants Committee into its operations. Police S uh ommitt ... Did not meet during the past month. Brian Carroll reported that the subcommittee did not review any police complaints during the month. Gabe Serenyi informed the group that the Council Health and Safety Committee will meet on June 23rd Human Relations Commission July 9, 1998 Page 2 at 4:30 p.m. in the CIC room. One of the main items of discussion will be the Police Review Board ordinance. Gabe encouraged HRC members to attend. Gabe also reported that Lt. Brad Hurst could not attend because of an emergency police matter he was working on. Lt. Hurst indicated, however, that he will be sending Police Subcommittee members another police complaint case to review within the next few weeks. Laurie Fonken-Joseph told the group that citizens were still having problems getting police complaint forms. The Police Department had indicated that the complaint forms would be available at other locations outside of the Police department, such as the Library. Having them available at several other locations would really be helpful. She requested that the Police Subcommittee follow-up with Lt Hurst on this issue. Gabe Serenyi indicated that he had received complaints recently that some front desk personnel at the Police Department were also not aware that such forms existed. Laurie also reported that one of her staff members had received a call from the Coloradoan City Editor requesting information about diversity training for the Police Department. Laurie has not been able to respond yet because she was not aware of any diversity training at the department. Bob Viscount related that Chief Harrison had attended a recent Multicultural Commission meeting and told the group that diversity training will take place for members of the department. A Coloradoan reporter had attended that meeting. Diversity. Bob Lenk reported on the activities of the committee working on the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Declaration of Human Rights. Bob asked if anyone had heard if Tom Sutherland had accepted the invitation to be the keynote speaker at the celebration. No one had heard anything at this point. Human Relations Awards Subcommittee. No report. Gabe Serenyi encouraged the subcommittee to start working on the various ideas that had been proposed by Viviane Abt. Lori Lenard indicated that the subcommittee would start meeting again to address those ideas, such as possibly re -naming the award, changing the time of year for the awards breakfast, and possibly developing some new categories of winners. Multicultural ommission Bobbie Gonzales spoke about the Eracism campaign currently sponsored by the commission. Larimer County had agreed to buy a number of Eracism bumper stickers to be placed on County owned vehicles. The commission is encouraging all member organizations to purchase bumper stickers for their respective vehicles. Bob Viscount indicated that he was planning to approach the Mayor about the issue. Bob Lank asked if any members of the Diversity Subcommittee would be interested in approaching the City about purchasing Eracism bumper stickers. Some considerations would include what specific recommendations to make to the City. Gabe Serenyi suggested that the subcommittee discuss the issue at its next meeting, and make some recommendations to the full HRC. Bobbie also reported that the Multicultural Commission has started planning another conference dealing Human Relations Commission July 9, 1998 Page 3 with diversity issues such as racism. The initial conference sponsored by the commission this past March was a great success. At this point new HRC member LaMills Garrett had several questions about the respective functions of the various HRC subcommittees. A discussion took place about the various activities and responsibilities of the subcommittees. Some additional discussion took place about the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. Lori Lenard suggested the that the HRC, in conjunction with the Multicultural Commission, send letters to all Colorado congressmen and senators urging them to support the principles of the declaration. The idea was discussed, but no final decision was made. Lori also suggested the possibility of HRC members writing letters to the editor of the Coloradoan. V. Old Business Bob Lank requested that the brainstorming topic "What do we do if the Human Rights Ordinance does not pass?" be placed on the August agenda. VI. New Business None V11. Announcements Bob Lank announced that a group called Fort Collins Citizens for Human Rights had registered with the City as a group which will work for the adoption of Ordinances 21 and 22. Bob also announced that the Unitarian Church will host a birthday celebration for Joe Stern on either June 18th or 19th. The meeting adjourned at 7:07 p.m.