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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Human Relations Commission - 11/01/2001 SUMMARY MINUTES—QUORUM MEETING HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MEETING November 1,2001 Commissioners-Present Commissioners-Absent Chairperson:Mr.Oscar Hinojosa, Sr. Vacancy(Sandra Terrell-Davis) Vice Chair:Dr. Sylvester Peterson Ms.JoAnn Kemick Ms.Laura Aguinaga Ms. Wendy Lai Ms.Betty Black Mr.Errol Summerlin Dr. Stuart Elovitz Mr.Daniel Gonzales Mr.Richard"Dik"Johnson Ms. Crystal Lyons Mr. Joey Maldonado Ms. Amy Rhoads Ms. Stephanie Saenz 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 November 1, 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: JoAnn Kernick, Wendy Lai,Errol Summerlin 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. PUBLIC COMMENTS/PRESENTATIONS: Mayor Loyd Neal was present. He spoke with the Commission briefly about the work of the Commission and the support they have from the Mayor and City Council. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES: The October 4, 2001 (quorum meeting) Minutes were reviewed for approval. A Motion was made by Dr. Peterson to accept the minutes as presented. Commissioner Aguinaga seconded the Motion. There were no questions,a vote was taken and passed unanimously to accept the minutes as presented. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT:None at this time. COMMITTEE REPORT Housing Committee: Mr. Ramos and Commissioner Maldonado met to discuss background history of the Sub-Committee. He will e-mail members, to arrange for a meeting. Ms. Lyons and Mr. Johnson are involved with the Housing Coalition. They will try to set a time and place to meet after this meeting. Committee for Persons with Disabilities: Commissioner Crystal Lyons is the Chair. The CFPWD has not met since the last Commission Meeting. On Tuesday,Mr. Ramos gave a presentationto the City Council. Council Members had some suggestions in response to the information provided. At some point in April, 1 SC;A1 !NED there will be a Public Forum,we need to start advertising about it in January 2002. Hopefully some of the Commissioners will attend. Oscar asked about the letter of support from the Commission regarding the Transition Plan Project. Ms. Shultz indicated that it had been finalized and issued. Education Sub-Committee: Commissioner Laura Aguinaga is the Chair. No dates have been provided regarding training. It is still pending,but being worked on. Commissioner Saenz mentioned working with Hospital on"Disability Awareness"presentations. OLD BUSINESS: Table of Contents materials were provided in each Commissioner's Packets. Insert the Table of Contents at beginning of Notebook, and insert the dividers according to Table of Contents. (Note: the sections are divided by a heavier paper stock-green page.) Mr.Ramos provided an update on the Transition Plan Project. He provided a presentation in response to a request from the City Council,following receipt of the Commission's"Letter of Support". The letter was helpful in getting the message out about the Project. Now the City Council is aware and the Committee For Persons With Disabilities are helping. Mr. Ramos has been designated as the ADA Coordinator and the City has developed a core group of City Employees (i.e.: Joseph Harney is a member). Each department has been notified of the mandatory requirement of a self-evaluation. Once the self-evaluations are received, the core group will then evaluate the information to determine what to do, when and where the money will come from. They will develop and present a preliminary report on deficiencies to the City Council,and then follow through with more than one Public Forum meeting for input from the community. Mr. Ramos asked the City Council and media to help announce the Public Forum meetings. Overall, the presentation went very well. It made them informed and brought about awareness to others within the community who watch the Council meetings. The final report projected target date is for July 2002. Vice Chair Peterson commented that since the City is viewed as more of a retirement center, would the benchmark be that we have a higher level of elderly or disabled—does that play a factor in the study? Mr. Ramos indicated that the definitions are clearly defined — so those with disabilities would need and receive accommodations. Example: Solid Waste Services new"Trash Can" program—at least sixty (60) accommodations have been requested, with possibly forty (40) more requests pending. We look at the aging population and more people with disabilities. But the kicker is that a lot people moving out from institutions and more persons in wheelchairs. Chair Hinojosa asked if the Human Relations Department staff were screening? Mr. Ramos responded, "Yes, we realize that there might be some abuse, but we're asking for doctor's letters with medical reasons for accommodations. Plus drivers know their zones and they can keep on top of it and observe for instances of abuse. If abuse is reported, then Mr. Ramos will address it. This additional task has put a burden on the Department staff. Mr. Ramos will be meeting with Solid Waste Services Supervisors tomorrow to transfer the process to that Department. Mr. Ramos' role as the City's ADA Coordinator is to address the situation only if a refusal to provide the accommodation is issued,and/or if there is a citizen's complaint/grievance,then Mr.Ramos would address it for the grievance process. Some people feel it's a burden for them to go to the doctor, or that there would be a cost associated with the request, etc. There have been heavy calls and the City needs to provide better service. Mr. Ramos has spoken to with the Deputy City Manager, George Noe and Legal, Joseph Harney. Dr. Elovitz suggested that those persons with the designated license plates or Social Security Disability status should have some paperwork on that, could they just have that faxed to the office? Mr. Ramos indicated that he has gone to homes and prepared affidavits in some instances. Mr. Johnson indicated that the City needs to be careful —if you say that there is no disability, then they're injured, and then there may be a liability issue. Mr. Ramos indicated that they are working on it. Mr. Johnson acknowledged that it is difficult to handle. 2 NEW BUSINESS: Chair Hinojosa announced that Mr. Ramos was selected as the new Director of the Human Relations Department. Mr. Ramos further discussed the changes in Human Relations Staff. Ruthie Caraway, Compliance Officer has been promoted to a position in the Human Resources Department. This created one vacancy,plus the vacancy from the Supplemental Budget. Prior to the appointment the positions were advertised, interviews were conducted and selections were made. However,the final selection was put on hold pending the selection of the Human Relations Director. Once the decision was made,one Compliance Officer was hired,but one of the positions was pulled for reclassification of the position. The Deputy City Manager has requested that the Compliance Officer position be reclassified to a managerial level Administrative Assistant position to the Director. It would address the gap between the Director and the Compliance Officers. The recommendation has been approved and the request will go through Human Resources. They are in the process of reviewing the Office and developing a job description. Although the position will be managerial, it will be a working position,with assignment of cases. When the Director is out of the Office, that position will manage the Office. Human Resources will determine where on the chart it will be. ADNIINISTRATOR'S REPORT: Mr.Ramos provided the Administrator's Report and reviewed the information. Housing—the Office is working with the HUD Regional District Office from Ft. Worth. We have been assigned a case and holding weekly conference calls regarding training and the status of the investigation (going through various steps, as the investigation progresses). The Office now has access to the Teapots System. Mr. Ramos is developing a Planning Report, similar to EEOC, on Housing. The Department anticipates only ten (10) housing cases during the first year. During the third year of the Interim Agreement, they will start planning on the number of cases anticipated to be taken and closed, as well as outreach and other related work. Presently the case is at the stage of the investigative plan. Mr. Ramos will provide regular updates. ADA — the Office has received a lot of calls regarding Solid Waste Services accommodation requests. Additionally,Mr.Ramos has received a substantial amount of calls on ADA Technical Assistance,because of Building Official referrals. They are in the process of revising the City Building Code Ordinances. Mr. Art Sosa will be providing an update report on the status of that project at the next Committee For Persons With Disabilities meeting(next Wednesday,at 3:30 p.m.). Permit applicants are told to come and talk with Mr. Ramos regarding question on Technical Specifications. Mr. Ramos has recommended that Building Inspection staff attend the Texas Accessibility Standards Academy training. It is too much work for Mr. Ramos to continue to handle by himself,but he will work out a process for it. He'll provide an update at a later date. EEOC—the Office has a contract for 128 cases to stay here for investigation and closure;and 172 intakes— where cases are taken in the office and then referred to the San Antonio District Office for investigation and closure. During the month of October, there were only 3 resolutions. However, note that when looking at closures, although the case has been closed, we must hold the case in the office for fifteen days before it is actually a closure. Therefore, although we have other pending closures,they are not presently a technical closure as they are in the fifteen-day holding period. During the fifteen-day period,the Charging Party can request that the San Antonio District Office perform a Substantial Weight Review, which can reopen the case. 7 cases were deferred, average case age is still 300 days, contract principles average case age is 365, currently have 96 cases, 17 cases are over 365 days. Those cases are targeted for closure. The Office has had only one Compliance Officer, so staff has not been able to close as many cases. Next month's statistics should be better. Mr. Ramos has started breaking up the caseload between the two Compliance Officers and himself. With the new computers, Compliance Officers can now access HUD and EEOC database systems from their desks. Mr. Ramos has also requested a draw down from HUD for the full first year aware of $115,000, from which the computer purchase will be deducted. Normally drawdowns are done in 3 increments; however, they are allowing the City to draw down the full first year amount because of the capacity building process for the first year. Commissioner Lyons asked about the nature of the HUD complaint. Mr. Ramos provided general background — the basis filed under was disability and race (black), the issue was eviction. Presently reviewing the information and looking at the various applicable theories. Based on that, the Compliance Officer will then ask for various types of information to prove or disprove the allegations. There is a requirement to complete Housing cases within 100 days. The clock has already started. Commissioner Maldonado was curious—if not completed within the 100 days,what then? Mr. Ramos explained that you may request an extension on the investigation. You prepare a letter notifying the Complainant and the Respondent that we will be unable to complete the case within the 100 days. We have subpoena power and ask for extensions prior to the expiration of the 100 days. We can go into a conciliation process before closing the case. PUBLIC COMMENTS:None at this time. COMMITTEE CONCERNS/ITEMS FOR NEXT AGENDA: Dr. Peterson asked if staff put in a work plan to identify where many complaints or calls come in and an idea to know where to be proactive in addressing concerns. (i.e.:Housing needs—agencies responsible for this—to get an alert from our office.) He would like to see the number of calls coming in. He doesn't think we always do everything we can to curtail contacts. Mr.Ramos indicated that is an excellent idea— this would be in line with our outreach,a lot of contacts on Fair Housing are people looking for an entity, but we need to do outreach. The Commission can go out in the community and help the Human Relations Department be proactive—housing and education could be the starting point. The Committee for Persons with Disabilities is being proactive in address ADA issues. We can address hate crime issues. Commissioner Lyons asked if we have a way of tracking demographics or general tracking information? Mr.Ramos indicated we could do some research by use of the Census tracts. But it hasn't been done. Items for the next Agenda: Sub-Committee Reports Nancy Vera requested an excused absence—she was working with some Special Education classes. Vice Chair Peterson made a motion to reflect it as an excused absence and Commissioner Elovitz seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed. ADJOURNMENT: Dr.Peterson made a Motion to Adjourn,which was seconded by Commissioner Elovitz. A vote was taken to Adjourn and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at approximately 6:15 p.m. Oscar Hinojosa, Sr./chairperson Date 4