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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Relations Commission - Minutes - 02/10/2000I HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES Regular Meeting - February 10, 2000 Human Resources Dept. Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Bill Chairperson: Bob Lenk Phone: 493-5809 Ph.221 A regular meeting of the Human Relations Commission was held on February 10, 2000 in the Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. HRC Members present: Tim Daugherty, Dan Devine, Mary Gomez, Shion Hung, Bob Leak, Man Oberoi and Barry Siff. HRC Members absent: none Staff Member present: Gabe Serenyi, HRC Staff Liaison I. Meeting was called to order by Bob Lenk, Chair, at 5:43 p.m. II. Bob Leak asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the regular meeting held on January 13, 2000. Man Oberoi made the motion to approve, and was seconded by Barry Siff. The minutes were approved with no changes. III. Subcommittee Reports A. Committee for Executive Dele ation Did not meet. B. Police Subcommittee Gabe Serenyi announced that Lt. Hal Dean would no longer be the Police Services liaison to the HRC. That role would be assumed by Lt. Karen Carlson. Hal had indicated that he would pass the information on to Karen regarding the HRC request for Citizen Liaison Program training. Gabe also mentioned that he had sent an e-mail to Lt. Dean making note of the fact that the HRC was interested in having one of its members act as a liaison to the Citizen Review Board (CRB). Hal responded indicating that the CRB was very agreeable to the idea. Gabe suggested that the Police Subcommittee discuss the issue at its next meeting, and decide if it wanted to appoint a specific individual to fill that role, or keep it open, depending on which one of its members was able to attend a given meeting. Bob Lenk suggested that Police Subcommittee members, as well as other HRC members, might consider participating in the Police Ride -Along program. Lt. Karen Carlson would be the person to contact to make arrangements for that. C. Diversity Subcommittee. Barry Siff reported that the subcommittee had met on February 1st. One of the issues discussed was developing stronger ties with other groups in the City that have similar goals and objectives as the HRC. He pointed out that making contact with the new Human Rights Officer was a priority. The Multicultural Commission was another group to establish stronger ties with. Man Oberoi mentioned that the subcommittee also agreed to collect diversity data from the City. Gabe Serenyi 1 Human Relations Commission February 10, 2000 Page 2 indicated that the best way to obtain that information is to contact the City's Human Resources Director, Rick DeLaCastro. Barry Siff announced that the Youth Multicultural Retreat, which was canceled six months ago due to lack of interest, has been rescheduled for later this month. D. Human Relations Awards. Dan Devine reported that the subcommittee met on January 20th at the Jasmine Gardens Restaurant. Gabe Serenyi joined the group because of his past history with the Awards breakfast. A number of different issues were discussed and decided. The deadline for nominations was set for March 31 st. The date for the breakfast was originally set for April 25th, but Gabe was informed by the City Manager's office that the date would not work for the City Manager. Gabe is working with the Mayor's office as well as the City Manager's office to coordinate a mutually convenient date, probably during the first week of May. Gabe will inform all HRC members once a date has been set. Shion Hung is working on developing a list of potential speakers. Tim is making arrangements for the caterer. Dan is responsible for drafting an article for City News, which is distributed monthly with the utility bills. Dan also coordinated the mailing of the nomination forms two weeks ago. Shion asked for ideas for a speaker for the breakfast. Some of the names mentioned were: Dorothy Bland, editor of the Coloradoan; Barb Spalding, the new Human Rights Officer; Ofelia Miramontes, Vice Chancellor for Diversity at the University of Colorado; and the minister from Greeley. E. Grants Committee. No report. IV. Old Business None V. New Business • Bob Leak asked for nominations for the office of Vice Chair. Man Oberoi nominated Barry Siff. There were no other nominations. Dan Devine made the motion to appoint Barry to the office. The motion was seconded by Tim Daugherty. • Bob Lenk spoke briefly about the appointment and background of the new Human Rights Officer, Barb Spalding. Bob had been a member of one of the interview teams that selected Barb for the position. • Dan Devine brought up an idea for discussion. He proposed that someone from the City (possibly the HRC Council Liaison, Bill Bertschy) write a letter to the work place supervisors of each of the HRC members informing them of the volunteer work being performed by the HRC member. The intent would be to provide workplace recognition and acknowledgment of the many hours of volunteer service performed by HRC members. This would highlight the fact the company has an employee who not only puts in a full day's work, but also finds time to give back to the community. The pros and cons of Dan's idea were discussed. The decision was made to pursue the idea. Dan volunteered to draft a letter for Bill Bertschy's review and, hopefully, signature. Bob Lenk would also sign the letter. HRC members decided that the March 9th meeting would have to be re -scheduled because several members would be out of town. The decision was made to have the March meeting on Thursday, March 23rd. VI. Announcements None The meeting adjourned at 6:55 p.m.