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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Human Relations Commission - 11/07/2002 SUMMARY MINUTES:QUORUM MEETING HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION MEETING November 7,2002 Commissioners-Present Commissioners-Absent Chairperson:Mr.Oscar Hinojosa, Sr. Vice Chair:Dr. Sylvester Peterson Ms.Laura Aguinaga Mr.Joey Maldonado Ms.Betty Black Ms.Amy Rhoads Dr. Stuart Elovitz Dr. Gustavo R. Valadez Ortiz Ms.Karleen Engel Mr.Richard"Dik"Johnson Ms. Crystal Lyons Ms.Ruth Silva Ms. Stephanie Saenz Mr.Errol Summerlin Ms.Nancy Vera Staff—Present HRC Le2a1 Advisor-Absent L.David Ramos Mr. Joseph Harney Wanese Taylor Butler June Shultz The Human Relations Commission held their Regular Monthly Meeting, on November 7, 2002 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. CALLED MEETING TO ORDER: Chairperson Hinojosa called the meeting to order. INTRODUCTION: New Youth Commissioner,Erica Alatorre,who comes to the Commission from King High School. Ms.Alatorre provided a brief background statement. ATTENDANCE: Roll Call: Mr. Hinojosa — P; Dr. Peterson— A; Ms. Lyons —P; Ms. Aguifiaga— P; Ms. Black — P; Dr. Elovitz—P;Mr. Johnson—P;Mr.Maldonado—A(Business Conflict); Dr. Valadez Ortiz—A(Addressing emergency issues at College);Ms.Rhoads—A;Ms. Silva—P(arrived late);Mr. Summerlin—P; Ms. Vera —P;Ms.Alatorre-P;Ms.Engel—P;and Ms. Saenz—P. Excused Absence:Discussion of last month's absences,reasons were provided by:Karleen Engel-College visit; Errol Summerlin -Business (out of town) - Motion made to excuse these absences by Dr. Elovitz; seconded by Dik Johnson-Vote-motion passed. Minutes: Approval of September 5th minutes - these were minutes that had requested corrections completed. (Minutes were provided to replace the original draft minutes distributed last month.) Minutes: Approval of October 3rd minutes -were provided for review and approval. Commissioner Vera requested a correction on the second page,first paragraph, and sixth sentence -wanted to add clarification of ... getting on with the charge of the Education Subcommittee. Commission Vera made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected, seconded by Ms. Lyons; vote taken - motion passed and minutes were approved as corrected. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT:None at this time. COMMITTEE REPORTS: SCANNED Housing Subcommittee: Commissioner Johnson sent an e-mail about a meeting in the Human Relations Conference Room. Those who attended were Mr. Ramos, Commissioner Maldonado, and Commissioner Johnson. They discussed the charge of the Housing. The Subcommittee may be involved with complaints and may help the Director deal with them. Being new in this,there was discussion on where we are,where we've been and where we're going. He will be meeting with Commissioner Summerlin,as he has extensive history of the Housing Subcommittee. The Housing Subcommittee wants to coordinate public awareness and outreach. He spoke with the Builders Association today. Commissioner Johnson will meet with different individuals and coordinate. Committee for Persons with Disabilities: Commissioner Lyons indicated that the Committee held their monthly meeting the day before. The CFPWD is continuing to put together an ADA Non-Discrimination Ordinance. The draft isn't complete, once complete, they will e-mail it to the Commission and then we'll move forward. Once you've had it for a few days for the Ad Hoc Committee's review,then Commissioner Lyons would talk with them. The Committee Meeting was primarily about the Ordinance and Transition Plan. The Transition Plan is moving along. Last night there was a CIP presentation at the Planning Commission and they spoke at the meeting. Education Sub-Committee: A meeting was held October 8th at Miller. Commissioner Aguinaga (previous Chair)and current Chair Vera reviewed the charge. Then she did some research for the Sub-Committee on the Internet. Diversity Examples provided-pictures of diversity. They are currently working on revising the Mission Statement and Purpose. They have scheduled December 5th for the next meeting. They want to include some new activities,as well as Public Relations and outreach for the Commission. Chair Hinojosa asked Commissioner Vera for a list of the current members. She will provide it to him. OLD BUSINESS: A. Ordinance-Pending. Will e-mail or mail copy for review. Any feedback from Commissioners should be sent to the Human Relations Office. It will go back to the Committee For Persons With Disabilities for the December Meeting. B. Charge of the Commission - There was discussion about orientation of new Commissioners. New ideas presented,however,they are limited by Ordinance in their authorization and responsibilities. If someone is uncomfortable with something,then run it by the Chair,Mr.Ramos and Legal. Presented information on how charges are handled, what the ordinances look like, i.e.: Housing related authorities and responsibilities-have other duties,such as possibly participating in a Public Hearing,if the need arose. C. Small Business Workshop-There was discussion about the Workshop. We had a Guest Speaker from Washington, D.C. Those who attended were very happy with the dialogue. It was an excellent workshop. This one dealt with ADA issues. The speaker was from the Department of Justice, who covered topics such as Tax Incentives for Recruitment and Hire of Persons with Disabilities,provision of examples of definition of disabilities,reasonable accommodation,etc. D. There will be another workshop in December that will be presented by EEOC-San Antonio District Office. It is not free. It is an"Employment Law"Workshop,which will be held on December 4th. We will send out information,once we receive the brochure. E. Housing Statistical Data-Dr.Peterson had requested some statistical and background information on Housing issues within the local area. (Commissioner Elovitz left.) We couldn't locate the specific statistics he wanted. However,we provided the handout distributed as an initial starting point. There is other information on the Internet. Mr.Ramos will also call the HUD Ft.Worth Regional District Office to request information. Commissioner Summerlin discussed denials of housing due to protected class. When preparing for the Substantial Equivalency Ordinance, several years ago, there was discussion about Fair Housing "Testing". There are separate grants available, where you utilize a process of taking individuals of different classes, same job and background information, except for class issue. You see what the outcome is when going out and completing the application process. In part,met with resistance. We wanted to do this to gain Council approval -but they didn't want to do it. So we went to San Antonio, TX-the closest place to recently do it (a few years ago). They were astonished to learn the level of discrimination across the board. Bottom line - the San Antonio study is there. Austin also has one, but we wanted San Antonio's because of the closest similarities for composition of the City. It would be possible for us to do testing here, but it's not very popular. Any Non-Profit with HUD experience could apply for funds and perform the testing. Mr. Ramos can look into this further. Chair Hinojosa questioned that Commissioner Summerlin indicated that there was opposition to testing in the past - by whom? Commissioner Summerlin indicated that if he were to disclose where it came from, it could create ire, therefore it would not be beneficial to raise it. Commissioner Summerlin further discussed that in fulfillment of commission duties, as we go around in our private lives, if we observe a problem with non-compliance, i.e.: violation of ramp(s) or restroom(s), then he would talk with Managers. He also mentioned that he always thought if the Commissioners had a card,they could give it out and tell whomever to have the Manager call them. You could get a call or refer them to Mr. Ramos for technical specifications. Commissioner Lyons mentioned also tax incentives. Commissioner Summerlin asked if they could possibly have a card. If you're on the Commission for three years,you'll have use of it. Chair Hinojosa asked Commissioners to refer them to Mr.Ramos. Commissioner Summerlin clarified that no,it is his right as a citizen of the U.S. to let them know of concerns. They are not serving as an enforcement officer. Commissioner Lyons indicated it would be a courtesy to do so. Commissioner Summerlin indicated that it would be a courtesy to the business and that it may eliminate non-compliance. Commissioner Lyons discussed her past use of a card when she was on the Governor's Committee. It is important and a positive thing to have the card. Commissioner Vera discussed this as a part of. educating the community about the Human Relations Commission and their efforts. Chair Hinojosa asked if they could obtain cards? Mr. Ramos indicated that Ms. Butler had recently made him some ADA Citywide Coordinator cards. They can modify and draft one up for the Commission's review at the next meeting. We can let you review it for changes. Commissioner Johnson discussed walking into any place - chances are good that you are not going to be talking to who can fix the problem. Cards will get to the person who can act on it. Commissioner Vera requested provision of brochures for the Human Relations Office. This way the Commissioners could also hand them one with their card. Commissioner Black asked about the number of calls received each day. Mr. Ramos indicated that the Office received an incredible number each month-approximately 1,200 to 1,300. However, not all are for us, some calls are referred to other agencies. If they are interested,he could provide the numbers. Commissioner Black asked if we tracked the contact calls? Mr. Ramos indicated he could bring some samples. Commissioner Black indicated she didn't have any idea that the Human Relations Office received that many calls. She asked if we tracked the numbers of cases that did not meet the standards? Mr. Ramos discussed the model of proof and intake standards we utilize. We don't track the cases that do not fall within our jurisdiction. We do maintain a file for the Intake Forms,which are the cases that weren't files. We make notations on the form for the reason of lack of jurisdiction, such as LOJ (Lack of Jurisdiction), exceeds the required timeline, insufficient number of employees, non- Title VII,etc. NEW BUSINESS:None. ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT: Mr. Ramos distributed the monthly report (October 2002). This was the first month of the new contract year. October closures, intakes, and general information were reviewed. Discussion on production phase at the bottom, pertained to monthly statistics, compiled for use of next year's contract projections. We received an upward modification this year. (Commissioner Summerlin left.) M • There was discussion of last year's figures. Regarding tracking,Mr. Ramos asked the Commission to note that there are delays in statistics, i.e.: we were paid for 128 cases, but closed 142. He discussed how EEOC-SADO has a review process, that there are occasional cases that are held or not reviewed the same month as sent. Mr.Ramos indicated that we are still in Capacity Building Phase with HUD. We are still going outreach. They are also working with the Housing Subcommittee, and will devise other ways of outreach through Commissioner Johnson and Commissioner Summerlin. We are administering housing charges with the Ft. Worth HUD Regional District Office. We are still reporting to a Technical Advisor. We are receiving one-on-one training. We are following the same process, as with EEOC. Gearing up for now, and some information to come on the Fair Housing Act. Public Accommodations -no new charges. We closed two and are in the process of closing another. We have 100 days to close a case. AGENDA ITEMS/CONCERNS/PUBLIC COMMENTS: Concern-Commissioner Lyons asked about training for the new Commissioners (we have two new ones). We need to schedule a Training Session. Mr. Ramos agreed. He will set up a training date for the new Commissioners (and any other interested Commissioners). He suggested that if other Commissioners came,it could give insight to the newer members. The training takes approximately 2-3 hours. Ms. Shultz will contact the new Commissioners to identify a date. Let her know if you can't make it on a Saturday or want to do it on a one-on-one basis. Concern: Commissioner Saenz asked about a Letter of Recommendation. Mr.Ramos can draft one. Some Commissioners asked if she wanted them to do it as a group or individually. There was general discussion. Colleges look at this very closely. Chair Hinojosa indicated that he could provide a letter from the Chair. There was discussion about e-mailing the draft letter to the Commissioners for changes/suggestions. Discussion about having one letter that all Commissioners sign. Concern: Commissioner Silva asked for a letter for her Personnel File by the Commission Chair and Human Relations Director. Motion to adjourn made by Commissioner Johnson, seconded by Commissioner Black; vote — motion passed. Adjourned at 6:13 p.m. Minutes Approved By: re- , /C% s-/0-2 Oscar Hinojosa, Sr.,leeTilt.0 Chairperson Date 4