HomeMy WebLinkAboutWomens Commission - Minutes - 07/20/19984
--
•
i
`iud a Commission on the Status of Women
. ; a Minutes .
July 20, 1998
Present: JoAnn Ginal, Danielle Johnson, Lynne Warner, Becki Fosha, Rita Anastasio,
Ruth Weatherford, Bobby Gonzales; Peggy Loonan, Connie Merrill, Susan Crowe, Lena
Sunthankar,•AnnemarieEvans.
:; '
Council Liaison: Chris Kneeland
Excused Absences:' Beth Fitzgerald, Nancy Meginness, Dana Hyatt
L Call to order: Meeting was called to order 6:05.
IL. Introduction of New Members: Round the table introductions of members
new and experienced.
III. City Council Liaison Report
Chris gave a quick introduction and thanks for our work on the Commission.
Her term will be ending in April, and she urged us to encourage qualified
citizens, especially women, to run for office. Often women don't feel they know
enough, have enough experience, or enough time, or they don't consider
themselves capable. She stressed it is a very do -able job, that everyone has the
right background: requirements are only that you are committed to it, then you
can make the job fit you. It is a position of policy -making, not running the city.
She has offered her support for someone who decides to run.
y
City Council Work Sessions are where the content of the issues city council
decides upon is discussed. The "experts" and presenters who come into these
meetings to inform council are predominantly men; women's voices are absent
from the discussion, and that's not changing. More often than not, Chris and Ann
are the only women in the room. These sessions are open to the public, but not
open to public input. She wants us to keep this issue in our minds and try to
come up with ways to track it or address it.
Danielle asked about the policy for contracting minority -owned businesses.. Chris
responded that this tends to be a complicated issue, but she doesn't know the
details of the policy.
City Council continues to work on the issue of affordable housing, as the income
disparity increases. On the Human Rights Ordinance, Council has appealed to the
Human Relations Commission and the group who brought the ballot issue to
focus on community discussion. Council is continuing to review the Police
Citizen's Review Board which has some kinks yet to work out. Chris is also
working on a Community Choices Program. The proposal is built upon the
"Build a Generation" model which helps kids build certain aspects of themselves
through involvement in activities, in the interest of leading them to make wise
choices for their future. They have selected Junior High Schools to be the focal
point of the project as it seems to be a crucial turning point in children's lives.
,.This project is still in planning stages, and she welcomes our input: Annemarie
mentioned attention to the high suicide rate in Fort Collins, Lynne suggested
attention to summer activities, and intramural sports were also discussed.
Transportation is another big issue being discussed by Council. Chris is hoping
for an innovative approach to the transportation issue. This is a women's issue as .
in the past, one -car families generally allowed the car to the man. Free bus passes
for under 16 students have been very successful, as well as VanGo and Foxtrot
Problems with large scale bus systems include a very high cost . In general the
transportation issue will be one of the biggest issues we face.
Chris noted that city plans are created around physical structures, not social
structures.
JoAnn asked Chris for suggestions for a transportation expert to review our study.
IV. Minutes: Becki pointed out that Chris Carney has been appointed as a county
judge, not a district judge,
Lynne is not on the nominating committee, but offered to help out
Minutes approved as amended.
V. Review Agenda
VL Announcements
Mail was distributed and read.
Regarding Lu Fisk's gift, it was decided that it would be nice to take her out to
breakfast as a celebration of her service on the Commission. JoAnn, Danielle and
Becki will set up a time to do that and let members know when and where.
Becki announced that she has applied to join the Navy, and that this may be her
last meeting, depending on when the Navy asks her to leave. She has enjoyed her
involvement with the Commission and will miss it. She will continue work on
the nominating committee and the commission as long as she is able.
VJI. Business
A. Update on Presentations of Study
JoAnn talked about the two practice presentations at Zonta, and at the
Senior Advisory Board. Zonta International was very interested in the
report, with many questions and they offered to work with us on the report
'N;qL
as we move to the implementation stage. They wrote up a short piece on
our report in their newsletter. Danielle added that they shared many of
'i our concerns: income disparity, living wage, health care, etc. They
inquired about the particulars of the living wage, mental health, medicaid,
3 and several specific questions about elaborating on our statistics. The
Zonis presentation was very positive. Kathleen Duff asked if she could
put our report on the entire editorial page the day after we present it to
Council.
,.,,.,The Senior Advisory Board presentation was inquisitive in a different
way. +The group wanted to receive a very focused presentation on the
issues of senior women in the community, which was a piece of our report
but not the whole. They felt that the bulk of the presentation was not
relevant to them. They inquired about some statistics on senior women
that we couldn't offer. Issues faced by senior women are important for us
to bear in mind, as well as to incorporate into our work JoAnn invited
the group to work with us, and they agreed to bring it up at their next
meeting. Bobby offered to be a liaison to the board, building ways to
work with them. The chair contacted Danielle to explain the
misunderstanding and explained that we were slated to talk about our
report. She committed the Senior Advisory Board to provide their input
to our report. JoAnn suggested that we do a presentation of the survey at
the next meeting. We need more practice presentations for expert groups
lined up —Rita suggested a women Realtor's group, Bobby offered the
league of women voters, and it was agreed that the City Council should
come first. Other suggestions included the Aspen Club (JoAnn) at the
hospital, Directors Of Volunteers In Agencies (Susan).
B. Marcile N Wood Award: Rita has received three nominations for our
award. Marcile Wood was a PhD in home economics, she helped set
up united child care on a sliding scale among other things, and
contributed a great deal to the community and to women. Lynne knew
her and found her to be a great inspiration. The deadline for the
selection was July 10. It was brought up that this is strikingly few
nominations, but is typical of the past. The wording of the letter,
providing examples, and elaborating on the general idea of the award
were ideas that were suggested. We can encourage people to nominate
women, as well as nominate women as individuals ourselves. The
presentation to Council will be on August 18. Invitations to the
reception should include Zonta Club members, previous recipients, list
of groups we sent nominations to, County Commissioners`. Lynne will
work on getting city assistance to send out our invitations. Postcards
and phone calls in conjunction are seemed to be the best. Danielle and
Rita will meet to organize a phone tree and the invitation process. A
discussion about working to expand our influence ensued.
We need to include a work plan in the new member packet, and it
might be a good idea to include one in next months packet to refresh
our knowledge of it ,.� i ,I—. , ,,> wci
C. Nomination Committee: Danielle has expressed an interest in being
secretary, and no other offers have been made for the officer positions.
The job descriptions were read and discussion ensued. � Some tentative
offers came from around the table, and Becki will call members again
develop a slate for next month. ;
D. Lambda Theta Nu request: A Latina women's organization that is
involved in many women's and Latina events has asked, us for
monetary help getting to an upcoming retreat, which we cannot offer
as we have no authority to delegate city money., Becld will write a
letter in support of their work and offer the volunteer time of Lynne ,
Rita, and Susan. ..
E. Volunteer to bring refreshments for August: Ruth,
VL Adjourned 8:55 pm. _