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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Relations Commission - Minutes - 01/08/1998HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES Regular Meeting - January 8, 1998 Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Council Liaison: Ann Azari I Staff Liaison: Gabe Chairperson: Bob Lank Phone: 493-5809 A regular meeting of the Human Relations Commission was held on January 8, 1998 in the Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. HRC Members present: Viviane Abt, Judy Berg, Brian Carroll, Leslie Frantz, Joe Jaramillo, Lori Lenard, Bob Lank, Man Oberoi and Joe Stern. HRC Members absent: None Guest present: Lu Fisk, Commission on the Status of Women Staff Members present: Gabe Serenyi, HRC Staff Liaison Greg Tempel, Assistant City Attorney Lt. Brad Hurst, Fort Collins Police Services 1. Meeting was called to order by Bob Lank, Chair, at 5:32 p.m. II. Bob Lenk asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the December 11, 1997 meeting. Leslie Frantz made the motion to approve, and was seconded by Lori Lenard. The minutes were approved by the HRC with no changes. III. Subcommittee Reports Committee on Executive Delegation. Bob Lank reported that the Council Health and Safety Committee met on December 18th, and voted to forward the draft Human Rights ordinance to the full Council. Public hearing is scheduled for February 10th, starting at 7:30 p.m. A Council study session is also scheduled for the 10th from 6 - 7 p.m. First reading is scheduled for February 17th, and second reading for March 3rd. Health and Safety decided to keep the ordinances as two separate ordinances. Bob Lank also reported that the CED met on January 6th and discussed the appeal that was heard by the HRC in December. The draft Human Rights ordinance does not include an appeal process as outlined in the current ordinance. The CED decided not to recommend changes to the draft ordinance with regard to an appeal process. The CED discussed agenda items for 1998, and decided to tie-in some of its activities with the Diversity Subcommittee. .rants Subcommittee. Lori Lenard reported that two organizations Ithe Women's Center and Turning Human Relations Commission January 8, 1998 Page 2 Point) have appealed the decision of the Committee not to provide funds to them in 1998. Leslie Frantz reported that the Women's Center never provided the financial data that was requested of all the applicants. At this point Bob Lank reminded all subcommittee chair to get their annual reports in. Gabe Serenyi requested that the reports be sent to him so that he could consolidate them. Bob Lank would review the entire report before it was sent to the City Clerk's Office. Human Relations Awards. Gabe Serenyi suggested that the subcommittee try to meet sometime before the next HRC meeting to do some basic ground work, such as setting the date and location of the breakfast. This was important since we want to avoid a conflict with the mayor's schedule and CSU graduation weekend. Leslie Frantz indicated she would schedule a meeting for early February. Police Subcomm4tjaa. Brian Carroll reported that the Albuquerque Police Review Board recently disbanded. He talked to officials in that city to find out why that had happened. One of the reasons for its failure was that the public never perceived that it had any responsibilities. Another problem was that it was too large - it had twelve members, and had a problem making decisions. Brian asked Lt. Hurst if the police department reports hate crimes as a separate category. Lt. Hurst responded that the police department is not required to report hate crimes as a separate category to the state. The City does report hate crimes as a specific category to the federal government. The state has different criteria. The state has designated different types of unlawful acts as "ethnic intimidation." Unless a crime meets the state's criteria, it is not reported as such to the state. Lt. Hurst then gave an example of a crime that was initially identified as a hate crime by the officer on the scene, but the designation was later changed because it did not meet the state's very specific criteria. He also reported that during the past two years, 6 - 8 crimes in Fort Collins have been reported to the federal government as hate crimes. Greg Tempel reported that the HRC had made recommendations for three changes to the proposed Police Review Board ordinance to the Health and Safety Committee. Two have been incorporated: one dealing with the removal of board members, and the other dealing with responsibility for overseeing the Citizen Liaison Program (CLP). Under the latest draft of the ordinance, the HRC will retain responsibility for the CLP. A lengthy discussion took place at this point about the HRC's third recommendation which dealt with the appointment of members to the board. Lt. Hurst reminded HRC members that the provisions of the draft ordinance are consistent with the way members of the police subcommittee are currently appointed. Council designates the "pool" of applicants ( in our case, the members of the HRC). The City Manager then has responsibility for approving the final members of the police subcommittee. Diversity Subcommittee. A discussion took place about the National Public Radio tape that was played at the close of the December HRC meeting. The program "All Things Considered" had featured a story about two Mexican -Americans who were driving to Fort Collins. Once in the city, they were followed by a rowdy group of young people in a truck blinking their lights and honking their horns. The two visitors eventually stopped, and asked the young people for directions to CSU. The young people insulted them by giving them directions to what they claimed to be the "Mexican Cultural Center" which turned out to be the local Taco Bell. Bob Lank posed the question whether the HRC should have Human Relations Commission January 8, 1998 Page 3 any type of response. A number of different options were discussed, but no final decision was made. Judy Berg indicated that this was a good entry into the larger issue of focusing on diversity issues in the City. Joe Stern related the news item that the New Orleans School Board had changed the name of a school from Washington to the name of a prominent local black doctor. He asked if this type of action is appropriate in an effort to promote diversity. The feeling was that it would be appropriate under certain circumstances. The discussion then focused on how to coordinate diversity focused activities with other City and community groups that had similar interests. Some of the groups that were identified were: • The City's Diversity Team • The Multicultural Commission • The Commission on the Status of Women • The Commission on Disability Gabe Serenyi suggested that a member of the Diversity Subcommittee contact the chair of the Multicultural Commission and find out if there are areas of mutual interest that both groups could work on as a cooperative effort. Leslie Frantz volunteered to follow-up. IV. New Business None V. Announcements None The meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m.