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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Human Relations Commission - 10/04/2001 SUMMARY MINUTES—QUORUM MEETING HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MEETING October 4,2001 Commissioners-Present Commissioners-Absent Chairperson:Mr.Oscar Hinojosa, Sr. Vacancy(Sandra Terrell-Davis) Vice Chair:Dr. Sylvester Peterson Mr.Daniel Gonzales Ms.Laura Aguinaga Mr.Richard"Dik"Johnson Ms.Betty Black Ms. JoAnn Kernick Dr..,Stuart Elovitz Mr. Joey Maldonado Ms.Wendy Lai Ms.Nancy Vera Ms. Crystal Lyons Ms.Amy Rhoads Ms. Stephanie Saenz Mr.Errol Summerlin Staff—Present HRC Legal Advisor—Absent L.David Ramos Mr.Joseph Harney June Shultz The Human Relations Commission held its Regular Monthly Meeting on October 4, 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 Roll Call—Absences: Daniel Gonzales; Dik Johnson, JoAnn Kernick, Joey Maldonado, Nancy Vera and 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: Mr.Elovitz and Mr. Summerlin had been out on business during the previous meeting, these absences were excused. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: The September 6,2001(quorum meeting)Minutes were reviewed for approval.A Motion was made by Dr. Peterson to accept the minutes as presented. Commissioner Aguifiaga seconded the Motion. There were no questions,a vote was taken and passed unanimously to accept the minutes as presented. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT:The Chair mentioned the Commission vacancy was still pending Council appointment. COMMITTEE REPORT Housing Committee: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,October 3rd. Ms.Lyons distributed a handout on Title II Highlights,which gives a brief overview. If anyone has any questions,please let her know. She touched upon number 5—Integrated Programs, which is one of the biggest goals the Committee is working on. The Committee held a special meeting with the Building Official on Building Code Issues. They are recommending that TAS standards be adopted as our (the City's) code. This would mean that projects of$50,000 + would go to TDLR, additionally the City would adopt local accessibility laws. The Committee adopted a resolution to go to the City Manager and City Council. They discussed the pending Transition Plan Project and tentative timeline. CANNED The Committee was concerned that there are 37 departments within the City and of those only 13 attended the mandatory meeting Mr. Ramos gave to provide information to establish a new evaluation by each City Department for compliance of facilities, services and policies. The City will look at each of the facilities for deficiencies. Commissioner Summerlin asked about enforcement provisions on the new ordinance revision—who will be responsible? Additionally, will the only penalty be denial of permits? Ms. Lyons further clarified that $50,000 projects submit all plans TDLR, who will deny permits if plans are not in compliance. With the City's recommendation, City staff are proposing 1 new inspector, 2 new reviewers. The new internal process for projects lower than $50,000, would be to deny a permit of occupancy if the plans are not in compliance. Commissioner Summerlin asked for clarification that the Human Relations Department would not be responsible for enforcement? Ms. Lyons indicated that no, they wouldn't— Building Inspections would oversee that responsibility. Education Sub-Committee: Commissioner Laura Aguifiaga is the Chair. The Committee has contacted 5 local area high schools. One area Principle, from Moody High School, suggested drafting of a letter to be official. The Committee will meet with the Principles after that. It was suggested that presentations not be at an assembly—rather it be possibly at the start of a school event/performance. Commissioner Summerlin indicated he thought that if it were done before a regular performance, that it would reach a larger audience. It would run for 2 or 3 days—so it would reach students, friends, parents, teachers, etc. Commissioner Aguinaga indicated the Youth Commissioners have been very helpful in this endeavor. OLD BUSINESS: Table of Contents is pending. Mr. Ramos provided an update on the mandatory HUD Training held in Chicago, IL in late September. Next year it will be held in Los Angeles, CA. It was very useful. There were different breakout sessions on how to proceed, conciliation(their process is different from EEOC's), intake, predatory lending, etc. The next step is for the City staff to take a case and work it through with HUD. Mr. Ramos is preparing a report for the Deputy City Manager — reviewing the training. The Department is working on developing a new monthly report, with the addition of ADA issues —breaking out actual work being done,as well as the Housing changes. With respect to the Transition Plan"Letter of Support"verbiage and spelling corrections were discussed—i.e.: correct"shown"to"show". NEW BUSINESS: None at this time. ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT: Mr.Ramos provided the Administrator's Report and reviewed the information. Ms Lyons questioned that 20% of the cases exceed the contract goal of 365 days. She asked the Commission if that is acceptable. Mr. Ramos agrees that we need to work to lower all cases to the 365 days, but that the average is 301 days. He indicted that the staff are working to lower it to 270 days, however there are instances where people move and don't provide forwarding address or new address information, or problems arise with a case. Dr.Elovitz asked about the national average case. Mr. Ramos indicated that the EEOC-San Antonio District Office is striving for 180 days, but he doesn't know their status as far as compliance to that time frame. There was general discussion on why delays occur. Dr. Peterson has noted pending cases —but indicated that the average age is a benchmark standard used and discussed issues of staff support and hurdles the staff have encountered — he didn't want to imply that Compliance Officers use less than ample time for an investigation. Criteria established by the funding agency is the benchmark. He would like to see cases resolved within 150 days, but without proper and adequate staffing, he doesn't think it is possible. We can be looking at better means of addressing the City's needs. There was discussion about the City referring inquiries to other agencies. Mr. Ramos discussed the forthcoming Resource Book, which will provide information — addresses and telephone numbers,to be used in referrals. Mr. Hinojosa mentioned that the Human Relations Department lost an investigator. Mr. Ramos explained that Ruthie Caraway accepted a promotional opportunity with the Human Resources Department. Therefore, there are two vacancies — 1 newly budgeted position and the one created by Ms. Caraway's leaving. Mr. Ramos indicated he had made recommendations for filling the positions, but that they have been put on hold, pending the selection of the new Human Relations Director. Commissioner Rhoads discussed the Resource Book through the United Way and the new Info Line. She had a question about the contracting principles and how case time was tolled? Mr. Ramos explained it is from the date the case is filed. Commissioner Rhoads indicated she thought the Respondent would appreciate a 240 day case. Commissioner Summerlin expressed a concern over rubberstamping cases. He indicated that in his 15 years of work with the Commission that there has been on going discussion on statistics. Policies have been address,but there is a need to understand that there are staffing issues. He understands that there is a desire to be proactive in watching and fiduciary responsibilities and believes that aspiring for a better time frame is good. However, he knows investigating these issues are time consuming and many obstacles are placed in the way of an investigation, i.e.: Respondent requests for extensions in response time, Attorney delays, etc. Further discussion indicated that we can ask for resolutions in a timely fashion—setting a goal aspiration — that the Director can do. Federal offices are much worse on disposition of cases. Commissioner Lyons still maintains 20%is too high. She indicated she was trying to interact,but haven't seen any action. Perhaps it was done in the past. Mr. Ramos clarified that the Commission can't set contract goals. Ms.Lyons indicated however,that the Commission can set goals to help get staffing—that should be a priority of the Commission,not the Director. PUBLIC COMMENTS:None at this time. COMMITTEE CONCERNS/ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA: Commissioner Rhoads mentioned the Homeless Issues Partnership Meeting being held on the 2nd Thursday of each month at the Salvation Army. Interested persons can call for information. Additionally, there is going to be a conference on the issue of homelessness. Mr. Ramos mentioned the upcoming CUFABCC Conference to be held on October 26d' at the Bayfront Convention Center. ADJOURNMENT: Dr.Peterson made a Motion to Adjourn,which was seconded by Commissioner Rhoads. A vote was taken to Adjourn and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:20 p.m. /1 (e1 /0/ Oscar Hinojosa, Sr.Mairperson Date