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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Human Relations Commission - 05/03/2001 MINUTES-QUORUM MEETING HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MEETING May 3,2001 Commissioners-Present Commissioners-Absent Chairperson:Mr.Oscar Hinojosa, Sr. Vice Chair:Dr. Sylvester Peterson Dr. Stuart Elovitz Ms.Laura Aguinaga Mr. Scott Elliff Mr.William"Bill"Bonilla Ms. JoAnn Kernick Mr.David"Phillip"Engel Crystal Lyons Mr.Joey Maldonado Mr.Errol Summerlin Ms.Laura Rios Ms. Sandra Terrell-Davis Ms.Lena Coleman Mr. Joshua J.Vaughan Non-Voting Advisory-Absent Rev. Willie Davila One(1)Vacant Position(Anna Mercado-Flores'Resignation) Staff—Present HRC Legal Advisor—Absent L.David Ramos Mr. Joseph Harney June Shultz Chairperson Hinojosa made the announcement and welcome of the appointment of a new Ex-Officio Commission Member, Crystal Lyons, who is the Chairperson for the new Committee for Persons with Disabilities. Ms. Lyons indicated she was pleased to be part of the Commission and looked forward to participating and learning more about the work being done. ATTENDANCE Roll Call — Absences: Dr. Sylvester Peterson (unknown), Laura Aguinaga (out of town), Bill Bonilla (unknown), Lena Coleman (unknown), Philip Engel (unknown), Joey Maldonado (work conflict), Laura Rios (unknown), Non-Voting Advisory Member — Reverend Davila, and one (1) vacant position on Commission was absent. Excused Absences: APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: Minute's Reviewed for approval—Mr. Elliff made a motion to approve the April 5th, 2001 minutes, Dr. Elovitz seconded.A vote was taken and the minutes were approved. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT: Mr. Hinojosa again extended his welcome to Ms. Lyons. He also discussed the current vacancy. The vacant position will not be filled until after the election. New Business(Out of Order): HUD CONTRACT: Mr. Ramos provided an update on the HUD Contract. The City did receive the contract. The HUD contract has been signed by the City Manager and Mr. Ramos and forwarded to Ft. Worth. The first directive is for staff to go to training. We will use the TEAPOT System,which will allow us to interact with HUD,use their forms and file complaints with them immediately and electronically with HUD. Staff will be going to training on May 15th— 18t1i. Next, we will get training on the investigative process—to be held approximately in August. That Training will be held in Chicago,IL and will cover the 1 "�' Vii, ' mandatory investigative requirements. In order to address the computerized process, we must get new computers. Our present equipment cannot interface with the federal system. The next step of the contractual phase is for the Human Relations Department to develop and sign an agreement for"Capacity Building". It will outline our proposed efforts in providing a "Substantially Equivalent Fair Housing Program",how we will spend the grant monies that are awarded and what it will entail. There is a different timeline requirement for completion of housing complaints. We only have 100 days in which to complete a case. It is more time intensive. For the first three years, the City will receive $115,000.00 per year, and then we will seek an on-going annual work sharing agreement. We will provide outreach and training through regular town or focus group meetings. It is finally here. The Chair reverted back to the Agenda: COMMITTEE REPORT Housing Committee: No report from the Sub-Committee at this time. Committee for Persons with Disabilities: David Ramos and Crystal Lyons provided a report to the Commission. The Committee has held two meetings. They have elected officers and Crystal Lyons has been appointed the Chair. The main things they want to do are - they are planning a retreat to align their Mission Statement, develop goals and objectives and look at issues at hand. They will be a working committee. They will actively be looking at compliance within the City, such as through facilities and services, and reviewing and monitoring the City's Transition Plan (Title II as a Public entity) for deficiencies and remedies. ADA has been in existence for over 10 years. There are still numerous areas to address, even here in the City Council Chambers. They want to help educated the City Council and bring issues to them. Unfortunately, when looking at issues concerning people with disabilities, it isn't given a priority status. Education process is a number one priority. Ms. Lyons indicated that the Committee wasn't going to align their Mission Statement and goals and objectives to the City Council. Rather,the Committee will establish their Mission Statement and goals and objectives from the purpose as outlined in the Ordinance that founded them. We won't have a lot of sub- committees, or that's my hope. My hope is that at the Retreat,we will look at the bigger picture. We look at what is missing in the bigger picture and we can have some policies that will be guiding policies and work from there. Yet one of our bigger jobs will be to educate and advise the City Council on the bigger things they can do in their position, rather than spend a lot of time on little things and spin our wheels. Another thing will be the involvement and participation of the members as a priority and she is advocating no such thing as an excused absence. Pretty sure agreement on that yesterday, if too busy to attend, then step down and allow someone else who is available to come in. The reason this committee came about was that they were appointed by ordinance,from by working with staff as an informal committee/task force. A lot of City staff would say that there wasn't anything in place that said they had to deal or work with the task force. The Committee knew they needed to address that. Mayor saw the need, and he is open to disabilities issues that affect anyone. There was a need for public outreach and/or a speaker's bureau. We are not going to try to tackle everything at once,but we will look at the bigger picture and work from there. As the Chair of the Committee per the ordinance, she will sit in on the Commission meetings as an ex- officio member. Commissioner Summerlin asked what staff she had? Ms. Lyons indicated the same as the Commission. The Committee has been put under the Human Relations Department. The Committee was not put under the Commission, but under the Human Relations Department — but the administrative support staff is through David Ramos,and their Legal Advisor is Joseph Harney. The Chair asked how many members the Committee had? Ms. Lyons indicated there were nine. Five were original members and four were brand new members and even in this type of issue. Commissioner Summerlin expressed a concern that he was trying to understand. In many respects there is an overlap in issues the Human Relations Commission 2 addresses in employment,housing, public accommodation and ADA compliance. He expressed a concern that the Human Relations Department staff may be overwhelmed. Because here we are—staff was cut by two full time staff members, which reduced them to four staff members in the office now. There was a reduction in force of two — or in other words 33% of the staff, and then we took on the Fair Housing initiative. So we now have the H:-OC compliance issues, investigation issues. We have the Fair Housing and ultimate investigations and now we will also have the ADA compliance issues for four staff members. I understand why they would want the Committee under the umbrella of the Human Relations staff,but I want my objection noted to the City Council that they are heaping a lot on a limited number of staff, after having cut that staff. When we were looking at the cuts initially, we were concerned about their ability to do the work that we were getting ready to undertake with HUD, when they also have EEOC compliance requirements and contract to perform under. It seems to me that the City Council(and it has nothing to do with the formation of your Committee), but that the City Council should have added another City staff member to assist with this new endeavor. As I look at the charge and what I understood to be the charge- compliance with City Facilities, new constructions, issues under Title III, public accommodations. That can be very extensive. Having dealt with issues of this type myself, it is widespread in the City that we are not in compliance. I foresee that we could have one dedicated staff member working on just that responsibility. I am concerned about the burden being placed on the staff. We whole-heartedly support your endeavor,I just hope that staff will be able to handle it all. As they move forward,and if find they are getting over-whelmed,I hope that they will approach this Commission and your Committee to discuss the need for additional staff. And maybe,we can make certain the City Council hears that. Ms. Lyons spoke to that. She indicated that Mr. Ramos is playing a dual role. He is the Interim Director and the ADA Coordinator. When the Director position is filled,then, she assumes there will be a separate ADA Coordinator position, which will be filled. She doesn't know where that person will come from or where the funds will come from to pay for that salary,but that will be the solution. If it doesn't come about shortly after the Director is hired,then this Commission and our Committee will have to pass on resolutions to the City Council about that. Our Committee is just an advisory committee. It will not be doing the extensive kind of compliance work that you all do as the Commission. We aren't going to require anywhere near the time from staff that the Commission does. We're advising the City Council on how to get their house in order,and then what we can do out in the community. So it is really won't be a situation where we will need a Compliance Officer. We will need someone who can handle things Mr. Ramos has been addressing. For one thing, we don't have an ordinance with enough teeth in it to have it for people with disabilities. For right now it shouldn't be a fear—because we haven't been charged with that task. The Chair asked Mr.Ramos if there wasn't plans to provide more help to the Department? Mr. Ramos indicated that when he was initially asked to provide his assistance in the Human Relations Department that there were plans, that if he wasn't appointed as the Director, that he would still stay in Human Relations to handle ADA Compliance. But it is a little difficult to say because of the Budget process. That process is not there yet, whereby we could say we could have 8, 6 or even 5 staff members. There are only four at this point. We have to work from the existing budget—which is how we projecting for next year. And there is a supplemental budget process,which he has submitted a supplemental request. But we have not come to that yet, to know what is going to happen. The Director position has been advertised,but we don't know what will happen with staffing or the budget. The Chair asked if Mr. Ramos was submitting the budget, he would be asking for an additional staff member? Mr.Ramos said he did it as a supplement. Commissioner Summerlin indicated this was noted as a supplement, there were no promises. Mr. Ramos indicated that was correct. Housing Committee Report:Report provided by JoAnn Kemick 3 A Fair Housing Seminar was held in April. Approximately 85 individuals attended. The Speakers were all very good. The panel discussion was very good and very beneficial for real estate issues, financing, and ADA issues. There were extensive handouts. David Enzel, Assistant Deputy Secretary of HUD, from Washington,D. C.was our Keynote Speaker. The Mayor was present. It was overall a very good seminar —but it would have been better if more had attended. Ms.Lyons indicated that it was a wonderful seminar —very good and informative. Mr.Ramos provided a little background history. Dr. Gurley, Judy Telge of Accessible Communities, Inc. and Richard Bullock of the Coastal Bend Council of Governments worked together to hold the first event. This was the second"annual" event,where the City worked with ACI and COG to provide a Fair Housing Seminar to the Community. We requested if any of the Commissioners wanted to help out. Maybe next year,because of our outreach requirements,possibly we (the City) could take the lead role and involve the Commission more fully, this way all Commissioners could be involved. It would meet our HUD requirements and help to educate the public. Oscar asked if the seminar would be held in April next year? Mr. Ramos indicated, yes, because it is recognized as "National Fair Housing Month". Education Sub-Committee:Report provided by Scott Elliff Commissioner Laura Aguifiaga is the Chair. As she was going to be out of town,she asked Commissioner Elliff to make the report in her stead. The Education Sub-Committee met last week. It was their initial meeting. They worked on the charge and scope of the sub-committee, as well as the dos and don'ts. Their discussion narrowed the scope—Outreach,Training and Technical Assistance relevant to discrimination in the work place, housing, and access to places of public accommodations, to employers, businesses and other organizations including schools. They discussed how to put together an informal Speaker's Bureau that would involve Commissioners and staff. They would go to Schools, Businesses and out in the community when asked. They would be recognized as persons who could go out into the Community and act as facilitators in presentations and address issues like that which arose in the FBISD. There was understanding that with the annual rotation of Youth Commissioners, that it would be good for the Youth Commissioners to participate—they will give feedback to the Commission (good and bad) and work on means to go into each of the area schools. Also it is recommended that the Youth Commissioners be appointed from different schools, so that there will be diverse input. They will assist in identification of topics of interest and recommend some ideas on the best way to get into the schools and/or address the students. They were asked to think about points of entry—because what would be valid at Ray (such as Student Council) may not be the same needed for Miller, King or Flour Bluff, in example. There was discussion about the desirability of having the Commission come and visit the different campuses. Commissioners and staff will be approached for resource speakers. We should maximize people from the Commission, as well as work with people from other organizations. The next meeting date has not been scheduled. They will try to do so later this evening. Additionally, Commissioner Elliff indicated that Bill Bonilla was present at last month's meeting, because Commissioner Elliff got his e-mail address from him. Therefore we need to make that correction in the minutes. 5:50 p.m.quorum ended. Commission now at non-quorum status. The following are a continuation of informal minutes. NEW BUSINESS: OLD BUSINESS: Budget: Update provided by David Ramos. We turned in our preliminary budget. The budget figures were the same as last year. However,the budget is actually lower, than this year through the allocations, and has submitted a"Supplemental Budget Request" for an additional Compliance Officer and targeting HUD monies for capacity building. The position was to bring staff up to three Compliance Officers to address the EEO and Housing investigation and intake process needs. The Director position still needs to be filled, and the compliance dealing with the Committee and ADA has not been conveyed to Mr. Ramos yet. He will be the first one to go to the City Manager there are some concerns. And if he is selected as the 4 Director, he will definitely recommend to the City Manager that someone be hired to look at the compliance for ADA,because it takes a lot of time. You have to go out into the community and talk with people. It will take some time to let the Commission know. His concern at the time was that the $115,000.00 that was awarded is spent according to the contract. To have the ability of a third compliance officer to really look at the HUD program and start running with it. The next process will really stay with the City Manager. Commissioner Terrell-Davis asked, so if you are appointed as Director,you are going to want one position as a Compliance Officer and if you're not selected you going to still stay in the Department and address ADA issues? Mr.Ramos indicated that was his understanding. Commissioner Terrell-Davis asked if there would still be a request for another Compliance Officer? Mr. Ramos indicated that what he envisioned was to have three Compliance Officers—all trained in each of the areas. Instead of designating one person, because it will take a little while to get started and to not have one person designated to do HUD and not do EEO. All three would do intake and investigation in EEO and HUD. If one person were to be designated for only HUD and they became ill,it would take too long to train another individual. There was discussion about the Commission's participation in the Budget Review Process with the City Council. There has been a past practice of Commissioners being present during the public comments and or providing support. Commissioner Summerlin—in coming to a clearer understanding of what has been submitted, there is the Director, 3 Compliance Officers (one added through the supplemental request), an ADA Coordinator and the Management Assistant. Mr.Ramos clarified no;the ADA Coordinator position was not identified in the Departmental Budget. Commissioner Summerlin continued,then that's five—the Director, 3 Compliance Officers and the Management Assistant. And the ADA position, under the ideal scenario, David gets promoted, and he goes and talks with David Garcia to get the ADA person. There was further discussion about the Commissioners being present at the Budget Public Hearing. Mr. Ramos indicated that he would e-mail the Commissioners once he is notified of the dates. Flour Bluff I.S.D.: The meeting was cancelled. It will be held later in the month. An update will be provided at the next meeting. CCI-IRC 2001 Annual Training Conference:July 20,2001 (Mr.Ramos and Ms. Shultz provided an update) The Conference is scheduled for July 20th. Most of the speakers have been scheduled; we just need the Keynote Speaker. Mr. Ramos asked the Chair for names of Commissioners who would be interested in being Moderators. The Chair indicated that he would like to see some of the Commissioners who haven't been moderators before participate. Commissioner Kernick asked—it would mainly involve introducing the Speakers? Mr. Ramos indicated yes. Commissioner Kernick indicated she would be willing to be a moderator. The Chair will be involved throughout the day, Commissioner Elovitz, Commissioner Summerlin and Commissioner Terrell-Davis indicated they would be willing to assist as moderators also. It will be a big help. ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT Mr. Ramos indicated that as Ms. Shultz has indicated that the Department is getting a tremendous amount of calls. It is amazing to see the number of calls we get from people looking in the phone book. It is getting to be a critical time for our Department. We are in the final months of the "Production Phase", which means that the number of intakes and resolutions from June 2000 through May 2000, will be the statistics used to determine next year's contract. We needed to produce 20 resolutions,but presently have 30, so we have met the requirement. But we need to meet this year's annual contract. We have to complete 100 resolutions. We have two requirements—minimum resolutions and the compliance to the timelines. Mr. Ramos provided a verbal recap of the statistical information for the month of April 2001. Our caseload number has really gone down. One of the things that Mr.Klein, State and Local Coordinator, has charged Mr.Ramos with ensuring that all cases over 400 days are to be closed as soon as possible. He is working real close with the Compliance Officers on this. Ms. Shultz has also helped out. We've started to close those out and the numbers have really gone down. 5 Public Comments: The Chair indicated that in the audience we had a guest,Eva Marie Luna,who is working with the Latino Education Project. She is the Program Director. Ms.Luna briefly provided information to the Commission about the social work outreach and targeting that is being done. Mr. Ramos asked for her telephone number for referrals that might come in. She provided her Work Telephone Number: (361) 980-0361 and Cell Telephone: (361)816-2439. There was discussion about Mr.Vaughan's graduation and end of term. Well wishes were extended. Motion made by Commissioner Summerlin, for the meeting to adjourn and seconded by Commissioner Terrell-Davis. Meeting adjourned at approximately 6:30 p.m. 77,0 /0/ Oscar Hinojosa, Sr., erson Date Minutes Approved 6