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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Relations Commission - Minutes - 07/10/1997HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES Regular Meeting - July 10, 1997 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 July 10, 1997 in the Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. HRC Members present: Judy Berg, Joe Jaramillo, Lori Lenard, Bob Lank, Man Oberoi and Joe Stern. HRC Members absent: Viviane Abt, Leslie Frantz. Staff Members present: Gabe Serenyi, HRC Staff Liaison Lori Fonken-Joseph, Human Rights Officer Sgt. Mike West, Police Services I. Meeting was called to order by Bob Lank, Chair, at 5:31 p.m. II. Bob Lank asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the June 12, 1997 meeting. Joe Jaramillo made the motion to approve, and was seconded by Man Oberoi. The minutes were approved by the HRC with the following change: Page 3, under Police Subcommittee, the second sentence should read: Mr. Lipp gave an account of a man who was allegedly beaten by a Fort Collins police officer in the downtown area. III. Subcommittee Reports Human Resource Grants Committee. Lori Lenard reported that all members of the committee had had their first site visits. She had visited the Boys and Girls Clubs, and had been very impressed with their presentation. Human Relations Awards. Joe Stern reported that he had sent a thank you note to Keith Miser for his very timely and moving presentation at the HRC awards breakfast. Diversity Subcommittee. No report. Youth Advisory Board. This board does not meet during the summer months. Police Subcommittee. Joe Jaramillo reported that the subcommittee had met with Lt Brad Hurst, and will start working with him to develop a police complaint form. Joe Jaramillo also reported that he had received a letter from the Police Chief regarding the police review process. Chief Harrison made some suggestions as to what changes should be made to the Human Relation Commission July 10, 1997 Page 2 process. Joe did not have a copy of the letter with him. Gabe Serenyi asked Joe to get him a copy so that he could include it in the August HRC packet. Judy Berg wanted to know if the Police Subcommittee had regularly scheduled meetings. Joe responded that there were no regularly scheduled meetings at this time, but that he was working on getting those set-up. Joe Jaramillo also reported that Lt. Hurst will again be providing the quarterly reports of police activity to the HRC. Committee on Executive Deleaation. Bob Lenk informed the HRC about the City Manager's plah to appoint a 13 member task force to review the proposed and current Human Rights Ordinance. The task force is then to provide recommendations to him so that he and the City Attorney's office could make their respective recommendations to Council Health and Safety Committee. The task force would be made-up of individuals from different constituencies in the City. The first meeting will be on July 16th, with subsequent meetings scheduled throughout the summer. Bob Lank and Joe Jaramillo were selected from the HRC to participate on the task force. An individual from Boulder had been hired to facilitate the meetings. The task force may consider a number of options, including: To direct City staff to modify the proposed ordinance. To recommend that a totally new ordinance be drafted. To recommend that some modifications be made in the existing ordinance. Bob Lank also reported that the City Manager had informed him that he and Joe Jaramillo will be representing themselves on the task force, not the HRC. A lengthy discussion took place about the impact of having Bob and Joe represent themselves, and not the HRC, on the task force. The question also came up as to how the HRC would provide input to the task force. Bob indicated that he would be comfortable in passing on the HRC's inputs to the task force. Bob then opened -up the meeting for discussion about issues the HRC feels would be important to pass on to the task force. Bob indicated he would like to have a two tier list: one with higher priority issues, and one with lower priority issues. The CED had developed the following lists at their monthly meeting: - Sexual Harassment - Ancestry - Familial status - Sexual orientation - Source of income - Age 0 Human Relations Commission July 10, 1997 Page 3 Disability Gender Effects on City contracts Non-consensual name changes Physical characteristics Political affiliation Laurie Fonken-Joseph stated that the combined issues of harassment/sexual harassment represented the highest number complaints received by her office. There were 22 complaints in those categories since her office re -opened in 1994. Complaints about racial discrimination represented the second highest category, with 17 complaints. A lengthy discussion took place at this point about the higher and lower priority lists proposed by the CED. The definitions of the different categories were also discussed. Bob Lank mentioned that Council Health and Safety Committee had listed their priorities for protected classes/issues to be included in the ordinance: - Chris Kneeland: sexual orientation; mandatory mediation for issues/classes not covered or protected by the ordinance. - Ann Azari: age; sexual orientation. - Chuck Wanner: Age; sexual orientation Bob Lank invited all HRC members to attend the task force meeting on July 16th. IV. New Business A. Joe Stern reported on the Sheriff's Department shooting in LaPorte, and a quote appearing in the Coloradoan of a statement made by him regarding the incident. Joe stated that he had been somewhat misquoted by the newspaper. He had gotten a call from Chief Harrison regarding his alleged statement, and had apologized to the Chief for the quote. Joe then read a letter he had drafted to the Sheriff dealing with a recommendation that the Sheriff's Department establish a citizen's review commission for the County. Joe indicated that he had read the draft letter to Chief Harrison, who had no problem with it. He had also read the letter to the Sheriff, who did not want to comment on it until he had time to think about it. Gabe Serenyi reminded Joe that the HRC did not have jurisdiction over that issue because the incident took place in the County. Citizens could comment on the incident as private individuals, but not as members of the HRC. Bob Lank also commented that it would be inappropriate for the HRC to comment on Joe's recommendation that the Sheriff's Department establish a police review commission. Human Relation Commission July 10, 1997 Page 4 B. Bob Lank asked the HRC to think about the possibility of holding a diversity training session this fall similar to the one facilitated by Alma Vigo -Morales last year. He indicated that he would prefer not having it during a regular HRC meeting because of all the other important issues currently before the HRC. V. Announcements Laurie Fonken-Joseph reported that the National Association of Human Rights Workers will hold its 1998 annual conference in Denver. This will be a meeting of human rights workers from around the nation. Laurie asked if any HRC members would be willing to participate in planning meetings for the conference. Lori Lenard indicated she would be interested. The meeting adjourned at 7:03 p.m.