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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Human Relations Commission - 12/06/2007 Corpus Christi Human Relations Commission Summary of Minutes for December 6, 2007 1. CALL MEETING TO ORDER Chairperson, Crystal Lyons, called the meeting to order at approx. 5:02 PM with a quorum of eight. 2. ROLL CALL A. Present Commissioners: Crystal Lyons Errol Summerlin Linda Fallwell-Stover Marta M. Del Angel Margie Myers Richard Pulido Lucy Reta Sam Watson Johnny Meisner(Youth) Lauren McAdams (Youth) Staff 1 Legal: Leon Bazar(HReI) Wanese Butler(HReI) Patsy Garcia (HReI) Yvette Aguilar(Legal) B. Absent Commissioners: Robert Adler Kelley A. Knight Pastor Derrick Reaves Jared Cummings (Youth) MOTION 3. EXCUSED ABSENCES Motion passed to excuse Kelley Knight, Pastor Derrick Reaves and Jared Cummings. MOTION 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Motion proposed and passed to approve the minutes as written. [ Linda Fallwell-Stover arrived at approximately 5:05 PM. ] 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS I INTRODUCTIONS 1 PRESENTATIONS A. Announcements - None. B. Introductions - New Staff Member, Patsy Garcia (HReI Management Aide). C. Presentations —None. 6. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT The Chairperson, Crystal Lyons, requested to move the Chairperson's Report after Item 10 Administrator's Report. The Commissioners agreed. Page 1 of 5 7. SUBCOMMITTEE REPORTS A. Housing Subcommittee - Margie Myers, informed the Commission regarding the Short Sale Program. Ms. Myers stated if a homeowner is behind on payments and is headed for foreclosure, the lender would work with them to eliminate a foreclosure process. The homeowner could not go in and take cash out, but they could keep their home out of foreclosure. The lender may also work with the homeowner on refinancing so they would not lose their home. Ms. Myers informed the Commission on the Short Sale Form which was created and promulgated by the Texas Association of Realtors. Crystal Lyons suggested to Commission members to contact Margie Myers and/or the Texas Rural Legal Aid for more information. [ Lucy Reta arrived at approximately 5:10 PM. ] B. Committee for Persons with Disabilities (CFPWD) — Chair Linda Fallwell- Stover reported the CFPWD met on December 5, 2007. As part of the Chairperson' report she shared the following information: • Visited Rice School - a school for students with disabilities and includes other children. Donated toys that were used as table tops for the Barbara Jordon Media Awards. The children were very appreciative of the toys and had a great time. • Report from the City Engineering Department regarding on-going questions about re-construction vs. resurfacing. The CFPWD is working on getting information and interpretation from the Engineering Department and the City Manager's Office. The CFPWD also asked that all projects be presented to the CFPWD and that in the future all projects reflect whether or not ADA components are going to be part of the that project. • Report from the Parks and Recreation Department on where they are on improvements on area parks. Referred one Latchkey concern to the department director and expect to get a report back at the next meeting. • Received no report from Development Services. • Human Relations Department — Leon Bazar provided information on citizen complaints relative to ADA grievances. He will continue to provide information to the committee on how the grievances are managed. • Discussion of an initiative by a CFPWD member regarding funds that are being provided to the City of Corpus Christi by the Regional Transportation Authority and using those funds to take care of ADA compliance issues in the city. Further discussion in the next meeting. C. Education Subcommittee - Richard Pulido stated that the Youth Commissioners met on December 5, 2007. The Youth Commissioners prepared a PowerPoint presentation to present a dry-run/critique type Page 2 of 5 presentation to the Commissioners at the next meeting. In addition to the PowerPoint presentation, the Youth Commissioners would also like to have a person who has had issues with EEOC to present their testimony during the presentation. Leon Bazar responded that part of the agreement when there is mediation or settlement is that neither side will talk about the case. Mr. Bazar recommended that the Human Relations Department can share cases as in committee meetings, however, an individual is not allowed to comment on their case. Mr. Pulido also stated that there will be a Spring Student Council Convention for all area schools and the Youth Commissioners are hoping to present the PowerPoint presentation at the convention. D. Diversity Subcommittee—Errol Summerlin shared that the subcommittee has been reviewing the City of Corpus Christi Construction Procurement and Professional Services Contracts Minority, Women and Small Business Enterprises Good Faith Effort Plan. The document was produced by Dr. Gurley, former Human Relations Director on May 2000. The document is very detailed and reveals that there is great disparity/underutilization of minority and women businesses and small businesses in general. The document never surfaced and was never presented to the City Council or Human Relations Commission. Mr. Summerlin stated that once the document review is completed, it will be presented to the Human Relations Commission and then the City Council for adoption. Mr. Summerlin noted that the review process is tedious and the committee will continue to work on the project and hope to place it on the Council agenda sometime after January 2008. 8. OLD BUSINESS A. Emergency Preparedness— None. 9. NEW BUSINESS None. 10.ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT Leon Bazar provided the Commission with a copy of the Human Relations Department Case Closures/Activities Summary for Month of November 2007. • 7 Employment Closures (3 settled for financial settlements). • 13 New Charges: 5 handled by Human Relations; 8 were sent to San Antonio • Human Relations currently has 86 active cases. • 7 charges were not completed due to charging party withdrawing after the intake interview. • Wanese Butler partnered with two representatives from the San Antonio office and conducted approximately sixteen EEOC presentations. The presentations were held at Ray High School, Miller High School, Moody High School and King High School through the work study program. • The Human Relations Department also conducted a neighborhood presentation Page 3 of 5 on Employment Discrimination, Fair Housing, ADA and Public Accommodation. Approximately 25 Northside neighbors and [HIALCO] Neighborhood Council members attended the presentation. • Housing Complaints: 21 open cases for investigations; 3 closed cases. • ADA-Street/Solid Waste Services Trash Pick-up program currently has approximately 270 participants. The program assists persons with disabilities who have no other resource in their home available to help them place the trash can out to the curb for pick-up. The Human Relations Department obtains documentation from the participant's physician and coordinates trash pick-up with Streets/Solid Waste at no additional cost to the customer. • One day training seminar sponsored by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR). 75 registrants; 60 attended. The seminar focused on pedestrian elements in construction. Representatives from the City of Corpus Christi, Texas Department of Transportation, Regional Transportation Authority, Registered Accessibility Specialists, Designers and Contractors attended the seminar. • Mr. Bazar attended Executive Leadership Training and planned to attend the City of Corpus Christi's Rodeo Contest. • Turnover Taskforce, a committee composed of City Directors, have been meeting regularly. The committee is focuses on how to start keeping the best qualified employees within the City. The committee will conduct a presentation to Skip Noe on December 200. • United Way Campaign coming to and end. All indications show that the city contributions will exceed last year's goal of$150,000.00 from city employees. • 4 Mediations scheduled for the month of December. • Continuing case reviews with HUD; anticipating to close 11 age cases in the month of December. • Weekly case reviews on EEOC cases; last year closed 96 cases — target 87. This year's contract is 100 case closures. [Resumed with Item 6— Chairperson's Report by Ms. Lyons] CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT • Crystal Lyons thanked everyone for attending the December meeting and was pleased that all four sub-committees presented reports. She encouraged continuing efforts and work on all subcommittees. She was excited to see management involvement on the Disparity Subcommittee. Ms. Lyons also announced that December 6th would be her last Commission meeting as she is resigning and wished everyone well. • Leon Bazar recognized Ms. Lyons for all her efforts with the Committee for Persons with Disabilities Committee and the Human Relations Commission. • Errol Summerlin noted the importance of the Chairperson's role. He recognized Ms. Lyons for her leadership, focus, compassion and strength. Page 4 of 5 11.PUBLIC COMMENTICONCERNSIAGENDA ITEM REQUESTS: A. Public Comments— None presented. B. Commissioner Concerns —None presented. C. Agenda Item Requests— None presented. 12. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business, the meeting adjourned at approximately 6:00 PM. Page 5 of 5