Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Human Relations Commission - 08/02/2001 .a SUMMARY MINUTES—QUORUM MEETING HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MEETING August 2,2001 Commissioners-Present Commissioners-Absent Chairperson:Mr.Oscar Hinojosa, Sr. Vacancy(Sandra Terrell-Davis) Vice Chair:Dr. Sylvester Peterson Ms.Laura Aguinaga Ms.Betty Black Dr. Stuart Elovitz Mr.Daniel Gonzales Mr.Richard"Dik"Johnson Ms. JoAnn Kernick Ms.Wendy Lai Ms. Crystal Lyons Mr. Joey Maldonado Ms. Amy Rhoads Ms. Stephanie Saenz Mr.Errol Summerlin Ms.Nancy Vera Staff—Present HRC Legal Advisor—Absent L.David Ramos Mr. Joseph Harney June Shultz The Human Relations Commission held its Regular Monthly Meeting on August 2, 2001 at 5:00 p.m., in City Hall, 1201 Leopard St., Council Chambers, Corpus Christi, Texas. This meeting was a quorum meeting. The following are summary minutes of the meeting. ATTENDANCE Chairperson Hinojosa extended a"Welcome"to the new Commissioners. Roll Call—Absences:One absence-due to Commission vacancies. Currently there is one vacant position- a replacement for the position vacated with Sandra Terrell-Davis'resignation. The Council appointment is pending. Excused Absences:pending. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: The May 3, 2001, June 5, 2001 (non-quorum meeting) and July 5, 2001 (non-quorum meeting) Minutes were reviewed for approval. A Motion was made by Commissioner Summerlin to accept the minutes as presented. Dr. Peterson seconded the Motion. There were no questions, a vote was taken and passed unanimously to accept the minutes as presented. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT:There is no report at this time. COMMITTEE REPORT Housing Committee: Chair appointment pending. There is no report at this time. Committee for Persons with Disabilities: Commissioner Crystal Lyons is the Chair. The CFPWD held a meeting on Wednesday, August lat. They discussed the pending Transition Plan Project and tentative ANNED timeline. Mr. Ramos will provide information to the Commission and Committee on the initial Transition Plan prepared in 1991 to address ADA concerns. The current information is insufficient for compliance needs;however,we will utilize the old forms as a starting point and establish a new evaluation by each City Department for compliance of facilities, services and policies. We will look at each of the facilities for deficiencies. Education Sub-Committee: Commissioner Laura Aguifiaga is the Chair. There is no report at this time. Commissioner Aguifiaga indicated she would need to meet with the new Youth Commissioners to share background information,get their input,and set up a presentation schedule,and request volunteers from the Commissioners to help with the presentations. Commissioner Summerlin asked to return to the CFPWD update to discuss the Transition Plan Project. He asked questions about the tentative timeline. Mr. Ramos explained that the City has a lot to do. Commissioner Summerlin asked in general though,what kind of timeline were we looking at-one(1),five (5),or seven(7)years? Mr.Ramos explained that due to time that ADA has been in effect,we will need to do a check list, revisit what has been done and bring other areas into compliance within the next two to three(2-3)years. One of the outstanding key issues,which are being looked at,is the City sidewalk. Also, we need to address minor items that are still pending. Mr. Ramos discussed that according to statutory authority ADA issues are overseen by the Department of Justice. There was general discussion about accessibility and how to report complaints. Mr. Ramos indicated that individuals could call and report concerns. He gave an example: an individual can't get into a hospital or receive a service or access a program due to curb cuts or some other type of bather. The Department will address all inquiries or concerns that are received. The Department is trying to get back to "Education and Outreach". There is a"Call In"process available now to the public, we prioritize call and are involved in all curb cuts development and planning. Commissioner Summerlin asked if there were any specific or set goals for compliance, i.e.: 85%compliance within three(3)years. Mr.Ramos indicated that because of the time that the ADA has been in effect, the need for 100%compliance has to be part of the factoring. However, we (the City) will have a Core Group that will be monitoring the steps, such as the evaluation process, response timeline,review of needs and projected modifications, and the budgeting and timeline to implement the changes. Ms. Shultz briefly provided information on the draft timeline. Ms. Black asked about the impact on the City Budget or possible use of Grants —basically how the project would be funded? Mr. Ramos indicated that funding is going to come from (and advocates believe it should come from)the City's General Fund. Much of the work done in the past was from CDBG funding. The mind set is to now have the funds come from the General fund. Also,we need to realize that we must maintain accessibility items presently in place, i.e.: ramps, rest rooms, etc. We are looking at the bigger Departments first. Mr. Ramos is recommending those areas be addressed first, i.e.: Museum, Convention Center, Airport, City Hall, etc. There would be prioritizing based on the volume of traffic and need for accessibility to facilities, services and/or programs. Mr. Johnson provided general discussion about the Transition Plan, and the need for the City to come into compliance within the next few months. Once "Core Group" is formed, then Mr. Ramos will go out to Departments regarding selection of ADA Departmental liaisons. He anticipates completion of the Transition Plan Document in October or November 2001,if possible. OLD BUSINESS: A Budget update was provided. The Human Relations' Supplemental Budget was approved, which means that we will now be able to hire another Compliance Officer. Mr. Ramos has already sent information to Human Resources for advertisement of the position. Hopefully, the Department will hire within a month. During the interim, we will continue to utilize a temporary part time individual to handle the Intake Services, until someone is hired. Additionally, departmental staff training has been budgeted regarding HUD procedures and processes,as well as the purchase of appropriate Computer equipment to link up with HUD. We are in the process of buying the equipment. It was ordered yesterday (5 computer stations). Additionally, we will be going to Chicago for annual "Regional Training" by HUD, and a HUD representative from the Ft. Worth Regional Office will be coming to provide staff training on August 23rd. There was a follow-up report on the CCHRC Annual Conference,which was held on July 20"'. Mr.Ramos thanked the Commission. It was a long day;the Keynote Speaker was excellent. In fact,afterwards,he has since referred us cases. The revenue generated from Conference Registration fees go into the City's General Fund. The expenses were paid out of our annual departmental budget. Mr. Ramos asked for the Commissioners input on time of year to hold the conference and/or other suggestions of items they would like to cover. We have sent out"Thank You"letters and Certificates of Appreciation to our Speakers and Sponsors. NEW BUSINESS: Nomination and Election of the Vice Chair(delayed from July 2001)-Commissioner Summerlin made a motion and was seconded by Commissioner Kernick,to nominate Dr.Peterson(if he was willing to accept the nomination—he accepted the nomination). No further nominations were put forward and nominations were closed. A vote was taken and passed unanimously to reappoint Dr.Peterson as the Vice Chair. Sub-Committees—Appointments: Education Sub-Committee-Chairperson Hinojosa asked Nancy Vera if she would be willing to accept an appointment to the Education Sub-Committee to replace Scott Elliff. Ms.Vera accepted the appointment. Housing Sub-Committee—Presently it is comprised of Commissioner Maldonado (representing the Real Estate Association), Commissioner Summerlin (representing the Coastal Bend Legal Services), and Commissioner Kernick. Chairperson Hinojosa asked the following new Commissioners if they would be willing to accept appointments to the Sub-Committee—Commissioner Black(representing the Apartment Association) and Commissioner Johnson. Chairperson Hinojosa asked the Sub-Committee to determine amongst themselves who will be the Chair of their Committee. Orientation and training for new Commissioners — Mr. Ramos proposed mailing several options Wednesday or Thursday, in the morning (9:00 a.m. — 12:00 Noon), or mid-afternoon (2:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.), or in the evening(5:00—8:00 p.m.). There was further discussion,then Commissioner Summerlin suggested holding the training on the weekend, i.e.: 9:00 a.m. — 12:00 Noon. Possibly having breakfast and/or lunch. It was determined that we would schedule the date for a Saturday and notify the Commissioners. ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT: Mr.Ramos explained what EEOC and HUD is for the new Commissioners. Mr.Ramos provided the Administrator's Report—discussing the EEOC contract,which ends in September, he indicated that we have resolved 91 cases as of July 2001. The Contract was for 91 cases, however to maintain FEPA status,we must do 100 cases to remain in compliance. We were notified that we are being considered for an upward modification—which means that EEOC would add 25 more cases, therefore the Department is looking at resolving 9 more cases to meet the 100 cases status + 25 additional cases over that. Staff is in the process of completing that number of cases, without knowing the outcome of the upward modification request. Mr. Ramos reviewed Housing issues. We are focusing on "Education and Outreach", we are also participating with an area coalition and have recent assisted with sponsoring a Fair Housing Conference. The Department is authorized by ordinance to take housing complaints. With the implementation of the HUD Interim Agreement,we now are taking housing intakes,which are then sent to HUD,for their review and assignment. They help and advise us with respect to the forms and their investigative process, otherwise we follow our ordinance and do informal investigations. The same process applies to Public Accommodation complaints; they are received under the authority of our ordinance. We conduct information investigations to determine if there is"cause" or"no cause"to believe that discrimination has occurred. With respect to ADA(Americans with Disabilities Act) the Department is continuing to assist people with inquires, i.e.: accessibility issues, school district, university, businesses, we go out and do surveys,provide technical specifications,mail out information,etc. The Human Relations' present priority is completing EEOC contract. Mr. Ramos is meeting with Compliance Officers on a weekly basis; to ensure case closures are done in a timely manner. As well as ensuring that investigations are comprehensive and thorough. Commissioner Johnson asked about whom individuals should contact regarding sending out responses for information requests. He also asked what kind of success the Department experienced in Respondent's becoming compliant? Mr. Ramos indicated that most businesses who contact him are addressing remodeling issues or in the process of buying or starting a business. The inquiries are for technical information purposes. The necessary information is provided to them for implementation. Complaints are taken for enforcement purposes. Presently, we have only 1 ADA/PA case. It is one where the owner didn't want to comply, even with all our attempts to provide information about the legal requirements, ADA and Ordinance information and written contact attempts. We have sent that complaint to the Department of Justice District Office. They are the agency who will pursue it for enforcement, since our ordinance doesn't have enforcement steps. Mr. Ramos explained time lines for complaints and compliance. Conunissioner Black asked where people could get this information? Mr. Ramos indicated that Commissioners may refer calls to him. He will sit with that person and discuss any concerns or technical questions, plus provide any necessary copies or take a complaint,as needed. Ms. Shultz mentioned the Texas Accessibility Academy training that was held and that there will be future training opportunities if any of the Commissioners are interested. There was brief discussion about the up- coming two-day training for Architects. PUBLIC COMMENTS:None at this time. COMMITTEE CONCERNS/ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA: Commissioner Vera expressed her thanks to the Human Relations Commission and City staff regarding the CCHRC Annual Training Conference. She congratulated the Commissioners and staff, who had worked hard on it and indicated she could tell by quality of the presentation. Commissioner Summerlin requested excused absences for those meetings he missed due to family matters and death bereavement. The absences were excused. ADJOURNMENT: Commissioner Aguifiaga made a Motion to Adjourn,which was seconded by Commissioner Vera. A vote was taken to Adjourn and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:45 p.m. ?/C& 70/ Oscar Hinojosa, Sr., ' erson Date