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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Relations Commission - Minutes - 08/14/1997r HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MINUTES Regular Meeting - August 14, 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 August 14, 1997 in the Human Resources Conference Room, 200 W. Mountain Ave. HRC Members present: Joe Jaramillo, Lori Lenard, Bob Lank, Man Oberoi and Joe Stern. HRC Members absent: Viviane Abt, Judy Berg, Brian Carroll, and Leslie Frantz. Staff Members present: Gabe Serenyi, HRC Staff Liaison Lori Fonken-Joseph, Human Rights Officer Lt. Brad Hurst, Police Services Greg Tempel, Assistant City Attorney I. Meeting was called to order by Bob Lank, Chair, at 5:33 p.m. II. Bob Lank asked for a motion to approve the minutes of the July 10, 1997 meeting. Man Oberoi made the motion to approve, and was seconded by Joe Stern. The minutes were approved by the HRC with the following change: Page 3, under New Business, the last sentence should read: Bob Lank also commented that it would be good for Joe Stern to clarify his letter stating that the letter was from him, not the HRC. III. Subcommittee Reports Human Resource Grants Committee. Lori Lenard reported that each panel was about one third of the way through visiting agencies that had submitted funding requests. Sam Szymanski was meeting with each panel to review progress to date. Police Subcommittee. Joe Jaramillo reported that the subcommittee meeting was canceled because of the flood. He also indicated that he did not have a chance to talk with Chief Harrison about the Chief's memo dealing with the police review process. Joe asked all police subcommittee members to review the police complaint form draft, and be ready to discuss it at the next subcommittee meeting. Gabe Serenyi suggested that the subcommittee consider providing input to John Fischbach and Dennis Harrison regarding its recommendations for the police review process. The City Manager and Police Chief will be making recommendations to Council Health and Safety Committee regarding that issue at the September H&S meeting. Lt. Brad Hurst reported that Chief Harrison had been asked to put his recommendations into ordinance form for review by the H&S Committee. Human Relations Commission August 14, 1997 Page 2 Bob Lank indicated that, in his opinion, the major change outlined in Chief Harrison's memo was that the police subcommittee, and the Human Relations Commission in its police review capacity, would be reporting to the City Manager. Lt. Hurst reported that another option still under active consideration is the establishment of a commission separate from the HRC to review police related issues. Bob Lank pointed out that the HRC could make recommendations that would extend beyond the issue whether there should or should not be a separate police review commission. The HRC could provide input on such issues as: The commission's subpena powers. What the reporting structure should be. What investigation powers the commission should have. Lt. Hurst informed the HRC that the Police Department will be holding a Citizen Police Academy, beginning on September 4th, and continuing every Thursday evening through November 13th. He invited all HRC members to submit an application for the program. Among other things, the academy will cover such areas as investigation techniques, firearms training and search and seizure techniques. The program will also include a police ride -along. Committee on Executive Delegation. Bob Lank reported on the meetings held to date by the Human Rights Ordinance Task Force. So far the group had met three times, including hosting one public forum. The public forum attracted about 120 people, and about 30 people spoke out about their experiences with various forms of discrimination. This meeting was video taped, and the tape is available on -loan from the City Manager's Office. Additional meetings have been scheduled, including a second public forum to be held in September. One of the objectives of that meeting will be to reach - out to people who were not represented at the initial public forum. The task force will also have a full - day retreat to discuss in-depth some of the really controversial issues, such as the inclusion in the ordinance of sexual orientation as a protected class. Bob also reported that the CED had met, and discussed the issues that were brought -up at the public forum. At this point HRC member Joe Stern left the meeting, leaving the meeting without a quorum. This would impact the meeting only if a vote had to be taken on substantive issues. IV. New Business Joe Jaramillo indicated that HRC member Judy Berg had suggested that the HRC should send a memo to the Police Department to thank them for their efforts during the recent flood. After some discussion about the issue, the HRC decided to send a letter to the editor of the Coloradoan thanking all individuals and groups who had contributed to the flood relief efforts. Bob Lank indicated that he would draft the letter. Because of the non -controversial nature of the above action, Assistant City Attorney Greg Tempel felt that a formal vote did not have to be taken (which the HRC could not do because of a lack of a quorum). Human Relations Commission August 14, 1997 Page 3 V. Announcements A. Bob Lank announced that the Council Health and Safety Committee will be meeting at 6 p.m. on Monday, August 18th in the Police Services Training Room. Two key items on the agenda will be status updates on the Human Rights Ordinance Task Force as well as the police review process. B. Gabe Serenyi announced that JR Duncan from the City's Human Resources Department will be taking over as the HRC Staff Liaison, effective in November. Gabe will be having surgery on his feet which will keep him away from the office during November and December. This situation presented a good opportunity to turn over staff liaison responsibilities to JR. Gabe has been the staff liaison since November, 1993. The meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.