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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Relations Commission - Minutes - 11/13/1997HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES Regular Meeting - November 13, 1997 Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. Council Liaison: Ann Azari Staff Liaison: J.R. Duncan Chairperson: Bob Lenk Phone: 493-5809 A regular meeting of the Human Relations Commission was held on November 13, 1997 in the Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. HRC Members present: Viviane Abt, Judy Berg, Brain Carroll, Leslie Frantz, Bob Lenk, Joe Stern, Man Oberoi. HRC Members Absent: Joe Jaramillo, Lori Lenard. Staff present: Greg Tempel, Assistant City Attorney Mike West, Police Services J. R. Duncan, HRC Staff Liaison Guests present: Lu Fisk, Commission on the Status of Women I. Meeting was called to order by Bob Lenk, Chair, at 5:35 p.m. II. Bob Lenk asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the October 9, 1997 meeting. Judy Berg made the motion to approve, and was seconded by Leslie Frantz. The minutes were approved by the HRC with no changes. III. Subcommittee Reports Human Resource Q=s Committee. Leslie Frantz reported that the final allocation meeting will be Monday, November 17, 1997. At the meeting she will find out how much money will be available for 1998. Committee on Executive Delegation. Greg Tempel handed out the most current draft of the Human Rights Ordinance. Bob Lenk stated that the task force has finished going through recommendations on all the different basis for discrimination and has provided its recommendations for what should be in the ordinance. The draft will be presented to the Health and Safety Committee on November 20, 1997, and there will be a public forum on December 3, 1997. There will be another Health and Safety v Committee meeting in December and then a study session with City Council in January. The HRC has the opportunity to give comments to the Health and Safety Committee at the November meeting and at the December meeting. The draft contains two ordinances, one which does not address sexual orientation, and a second ordinance which inserts sexual orientation into the first ordinance. Included with the draft was a summary of changes from the current ordinance. Greg discussed each change with the group. Bob stated the CED had voted to approve a previous draft of the ordinance which included sexual orientation throughout the ordinance. After Greg explained all the changes listed on the summary page, a discussion began about how the Task Force determined the terms and definitions included in the draft ordinance. Bob told the committee that some of the terms were taken directly from the original ordinance, some were voted on by the Task Force and added, and some language was included to reflect State or Federal law, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Another discussion took place as to whether the term "sex" should be added to the definition of harassment on page 5 of the draft ordinance. Although sexual harassment is defined on page 6, it was felt a person could be harassed due to their sex without a sexual focus or intent. The committee also talked about replacing the work "sex" with the word "gender" when referring to a female or male. The members talked about what specific changes or comments they would like to recommend to the Health and Safety Committee. Everyone agreed that sexual orientation should be included in whatever ordinance is finally adopted. There was discussion as to whether the draft should place sexual orientation into its own ordinance or whether sexual orientation should be incorporated into one ordinance. The rational behind a two ordinance format was based on the belief that if people had a concern about sexual orientation being included, they could petition for only the second ordinance to be removed and leave in tact the first ordinance. A concern about placing sexual orientation into a separate ordinance was that by doing so you are taking a group of people and isolating from the rest of the population listed in the first ordinance. By doing this, it may send a signal that gays and lesbians are in fact different from everyone else. It was determined that a motion on the proposed ordinance would not be taken during the meeting and that the discussion would be tabled for the December meeting. Police Subcommittee. Brian Carroll handed out and discussed comments and suggestions which were discussed at the Police Subcommittee meeting concerning the proposed Citizen Review Board ordinance. The committee agreed to send the comments to Chief Harrison for his review. IV. New Business Drafts of all the work plans for 1998 were turned in. V. Announcements J. R. Duncan relayed a message from Mayor Ann Azari acknowledging her appreciation for the hard work the committee has been doing. The meeting adjourned at 7:10 p.m.