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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Relations Commission - Minutes - 01/08/20151 City of Fort Collins Human Relations Commission Regular Meeting Minutes January 8, 2015, 5:30 PM City Clerk Large Conference Room, City Hall West 300 Laporte Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521 The Human Relations Commission promotes acceptance and respect for diversity through educational programs and activities to discourage all forms of discrimination based on age, disability, gender, race, religion, etc. Council Liaison: Mayor Karen Weitkunat Staff Liaison: Beth Sowder Recorder: Michele Scalva Commissioners Present: Colleen Conway, Myles Crane, Christy Doyon, Christine Hays, Joseph D. Leske, Preety Sathe, Victor Smith, and Mary Vivo Guest Presenters/Citizens: City Council Liaison, Mayor Karen Weitkunat, Assistant City Attorney, Jenny Lopez-Filkens and guest citizen, Dale Adamy. Excused Absent: Jimena Sagas CALL TO ORDER The meeting commenced promptly at 5:30 p.m. PUBLIC INPUT None. GUEST SPEAKER PRESENTATION – Mayor Weitkunat and Assistant City Attorney Jenny Lopez-Filkens The meeting began with Mayor Weitkunat recognizing the Commissioners for devoting their time and expertise to address human relations issues in the community and supporting the work of City Council. The Mayor shared her excitement about having diversity among the HRC members and welcomed the new Commissioners. Mayor Weitkunat recognized Beth Sowder, the new Staff Liaison, and shared her enthusiasm for Beth’s work at the City. Meeting Highlights Summary: 1. Council Liaison, Mayor Karen Weitkunat welcomed new commissioners Joseph D. Leske, Jimena Sagas, Mary Vivo, and new Staff Liaison Beth Sowder. The Mayor welcomed back HRC members Colleen Conway, Myles Crane, Christy Doyon, Chris Hays, Preety Sathe, Vic Smith and thanked community members Dr. Mary Lyons and Dr. James Owiny for their contributions. The Mayor also expressed appreciation for HRC’s service to the community and answered HRC member questions including plans for the 2015 schedule for B&C periodic review. 2. Assistant City Attorney Jenny Lopez Filkins briefed new members about HRC’s role under the Municipal Code, answered member questions, and offered to provide legal support as needed to the Commission. 3. The HRC reviewed that final plans were set for the January 13th Mental Health Forum on Post Traumatic Stress co- hosted with PRPLD and to be held at the Harmony/Shields Library at 7 PM. 4. The Commission voted to appoint Vic Smith as Interim Chair of the Media and Community Recognition Committee. Vic then led a brief after action review of the Commission’s December 2014 Human Relations Awards process. He noted appreciation that six Council members attended the awards function reception. The HRC voted to present the 2015 Human Relations Awards in the same City Hall venue at a date coinciding with recognition of International Human Rights Day. 5. The Commission approved its 2014 Annual Report to Council. Some edits will be made prior to submitting the report. 6. HRC members discussed a New Member Orientation packet highlighting HRC’s Framework, an Annual Planning Calendar and HRC Processes. 2 Mayor Weitkunat recognized the work done by the HRC Educational Outreach Committee and how the education efforts promote acceptance and respect among citizens. She highlighted topics that have been addressed: bullying, aging and mental health. She also thanked recently retired commissioners Dr. Mary Lyons and Dr. James Owiny for their respective contributions to the HRC. The Mayor explained her role as the HRC Council Liaison and encouraged continued communication between HRC and Council. Q & A: Mayor Weitkunat talked about HRC’s role in high performing government. She shared that sustainability has been incorporated as part of the City’s work, and HRC has a role in supporting this work because of its unique government authority in aiding citizens, particularly around issues of discrimination. Assistant City Attorney, Jenny Lopez-Filkins suggested reviewing the Boards and Commissions Manual to understand HRC’s function. Mayor Weitkunat explained that there are efforts to better align and increase the relevancy of work done by Boards and Commissions with the work of City Council and City Departments. The City wants a system that maximizes the work of Boards and Commissions, and to be able to assign work to Boards and Commissions. A step toward creating this alignment includes reviewing the HRC in 2015. Assistant City Attorney Jenny Lopez-Filkens stated there have not been any changes in HRC’s functions since she attended the HRC meeting a year ago. She also talked about the efforts to better align work between HRC and Council, and that there will likely be changes in the Boards and Commissions Manual around June or July to reflect this. Chair Crane mentioned that a Supplement on pages 6-8 to the January 10, 2013, HRC Meeting Minutes contained a summary of responses by Senior Assistant City Attorney Greg Tempel to various questions raised by HRC members. This Supplement is especially helpful to new HRC members because of the legal insights it provides concerning their role and responsibilities. These Minutes can be found in the HRC meeting minutes archive online. Ms. Lopez-Filkens encouraged members to contact her via email with any questions or when clarification is needed, and to copy the other HRC members on those emails. AGENDA REVIEW Chair Crane asked if there were changes to the agenda. Commissioner Hays requested to add two new motions under New Business. Chair Crane requested to add an item under New Business. With these additions, the agenda was approved for the meeting. Chair Crane introduced new HRC members to the citizen guest, Dale Adamy. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Crane asked for a motion to approve the November HRC meeting minutes. Commissioner Sathe motioned for approval. Commissioner Hays seconded and it passed 8:0. BUDGET REPORT Staff Liaison Sowder provided a budget report with a stated balance of $4,100.00 to begin 2015. The current balance after this year’s expenses is $3,626.00. Commissioner Hays stated she had not been reimbursed for November 13, 2014, catering expenses. Commissioner Hays contacted former Staff Liaison Christine Macrina who is checking into getting this resolved. Chair Crane requested a motion to approve the budget. Commissioner Leske motioned for budget approval and Commissioner Doyon seconded. It passed 8:0. 3 STANDING COMMITTEE AND LIAISON REPORTS Executive Committee (EC) CPD/CSU: No report. LCOA: Chair Crane reported his attendance at the last meeting and highlighted some of the lesser-known programs and services at LCOA including the Senior Tax Workoff Program, where seniors within a certain income range can adjust $400 off their property taxes by working within Larimer County. Senior Advisory Board (SAB)/Partnership for Age-Friendly Communities (PAFC): Chair Crane reported that a Summit on Aging conference is tentatively being planned for later this year and its coordinators are seeking $20,000.00 in donations to fund a related research project regarding Affordable Housing for seniors in Larimer County. Chair Crane shared that $14,000.00 has been raised to date. This latter amount includes support from the Cities of Fort Collins and Loveland, Larimer County and other organizations. The City of Fort Collins has also donated the use of the Senior Center for the event. Staff Liaison Sowder shared that the City’s Social Sustainability Department received approval to commit $2,000 to this project. Government Relations Committee (GR) City Council Meetings: GR Chair Sathe will be asking Commissioners to sign up to attend a minimum of one Council meeting in 2015, or as many meetings as they are interested in. Commissioner Hays clarified that when attending Council meetings, it is important to attend and hear the public portion and learn if there are any HRC-relevant citizen concerns. Commissioners can leave after this part. Citizen Liaison Program/Citizen Review Board: No update. These meetings are held the second Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the CIC Room, City Hall West. Educational Outreach Committee (EOC) January 13th PTSD Mental Health Forum planning/status: Chair Crane is facilitating the event and briefly updated Commissioners on the forum plan and letter to the editor he prepared. Future scheduled 2015 Forums: EOC Chair Hays shared that she has been developing a document summarizing audience feedback from the forums. She will send it to the new members for their review. EOC Chair Hays gave green ribbon pins supporting mental health to new members. EOC Chair Hays shared information about attending the Mental Health First Aid training hosted by Touchstone. The training is currently free with the support of a grant. Event dates are provided on Touchstone’s website: http://touchstonehealthpartners.org/resources/mental-health-first-aid. EOC Chair Hays distributed signed thank you cards from the commissioners planning the Mental Health Forums to be mailed to the event speakers. Media & Community Recognition Committee (M&CR) Appointment Interim M&CR Chair: Commissioner Hays motioned for Commissioner Smith to be the Interim M&CR Chair. Commissioner Sathe seconded and it passed 8:0. Interim M&CR Chair Smith announced that Tracey Mead, a 2014 HRC Award Recipient, had just been hired as the Executive Director of Project Self-Sufficiency. 4 After Action Review and Discussion: HRC Annual Awards: Commissioners shared the positive feedback they received about the 2014 HRC Awards Event. For new members, Commissioner Hays provided a summary of how the event was conducted. Commissioner Hays motioned to conduct the 2015 Awards Event in the same format as the 2014 event. Vice Chair Conway seconded and it passed 8:0. OLD BUSINESS 2014 Annual Report-finalize edits: With addition of the corrections stated at the meeting, Commissioner Doyon motioned for approval of the 2014 Annual Report for submission. Commissioner Smith seconded and it was approved 8:0. Commissioners discussed area translation services and also that HRC used to have a list of translators. Staff Liaison Sowder will identify existing translation services and share them with Commissioners. Martin Luther King (MLK) Day Parade: Commissioner Smith is gathering information about HRC’s past participation in MLK Day. Chair Crane shared that HRC has a banner to carry in the MLK parade, which is Monday, January 19th at 11 a.m. beginning in Old Town Square. Anyone interested in marching can contact Chair Crane and he will forward their information to the CSU MLK event coordinator. Chair Crane stated that some of the Commissioners volunteered this year to review students’ poetry and art honoring MLK day. Commissioner Hays stated the contact information of newer HRC members needs to be shared with the CSU MLK event coordinator and Chair Crane will do this. Per Commissioners: None. NEW BUSINESS New Commissioners Orientation discussion: Chair Crane created a new member orientation hand-out. Staff Liaison Sowder stated there is a 5-minute DVD that is an introduction to Boards and Commissions, which needs to be watched in the first six months of being appointed. Commissioner Hays suggested that new members check the minutes to see if their meeting contributions were accurately recorded. Request for 2015 HRC meeting speakers: Chair Crane stated additional HRC meeting speakers are needed for the months of March through August. Commissioner Smith contacted Toni Zimmerman at CSU to speak on diversity. Commissioner Doyon suggested a presentation from Disabled Resource Services (DRS). Commissioner Vivo will provide contact information for DRS. Commissioner Vivo suggested the CanDo program. An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission representative and a Police Department representative will each attend a meeting. Francis McDonald, Department of Civil Rights, Department of Regulatory Agencies is presenting at the February HRC meeting. Chair Crane shared the SAB will be inviting HRC to present at one of their meetings. He invited other Commissioners to make that presentation. Discussion RE: HRC review by City Council: Topic was discussed earlier in meeting with the Mayor. Chair Crane and Vice Chair Conway shared highlights of the last review. March elections for officers, committee chairs and volunteer committee assignments: Chair Crane highlighted some of the possible changes in committee chairs and volunteer committee assignments. Commissioners informally discussed their committee work and chair position interests. 5 Per Commissioners: Chair Crane brought a copy of a proposed City resolution to the meeting and he asked for a motion to discuss it. Commissioner Smith motioned and Commissioner Sathe seconded. Commissioners reviewed the proposal and after thorough discussion unanimously voted against supporting the proposed resolution 8:0. Commissioner Hays motioned to change the order of future meeting agendas by moving all New Business before the Standing Committee and Liaison Reports. Commissioner Doyon seconded and it was approved 8:0. Commissioner Hays motioned that if business at a regular HRC meeting goes beyond 7:30 p.m. and a quorum of Commissioners is present, that the meeting continues past 7:30 p.m. Commissioner Doyon seconded and it was approved 8:0. Commissioners discussed options for sending and replying to email and agreed to begin new methods to reduce the HRC email volume. Sending thank you emails with no additional information to all commissioners was discouraged. Chair Crane briefly reviewed the different ways to make a motion at the HRC meetings. UPCOMING Events/Announcements Per Commissioners: Chair Crane announced the Lincoln Corridor Open House Event, January 12th at 5-7 p.m. and the State of the City annual event at the Senior Center on February 5th at 5 p.m. Staff Liaison Sowder announced the 2015 Homeless Summit on Wednesday, January 21st in two sessions, 9-11 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. at the Lincoln Center, RSVP requested. Registration is through the Homeward 2020 website. Staff Liaison Sowder will email the event flyer. Staff Liaison Sowder announced the HUD Consolidated Plan review on January 12th in the Community Room, 4-6 p.m. She also reminded HRC members that the HRC Spanish brochures, which will be kept in her office. Commissioner Sathe asked about hosting a HRC activity supporting community youth, and the Commissioners informally discussed this. Chair Crane added the Youth Commission is currently being restructured. Meeting Highlights/Discussion Recap and Approval Chair Crane recapped proposed meeting highlights summary as outlined on page 1 of these Minutes. Chair Crane asked for motion to approve the meeting highlights. Commissioner Hays motioned and Commissioner Sathe seconded. It passed 8:0. CLOSING/Call for Adjournment Chair Crane requested a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Smith motioned and Vice Chair Conway seconded. It passed 8:0. The meeting adjourned at 7:34 p.m. The next HRC regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 12th at 5:30 p.m. in the CIC room. Meeting Hand-outs: 2nd Draft HRC 2014 Annual Report New Member Orientation packet: (1) HRC Framework, (2) Preliminary Annual 2015 Business Planning Calendar and (3) HRC Processes Proposed resolution