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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Ames Human Relations Commission - AHRC Minutes 7-27-2017M I N U T E S HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION July 27, 2017 This regular meeting of the Ames Human Relations Commission was called to order by Chair John Klaus at 6:01 p.m. in Conference Room 235 of City Hall. Commissioners Anneke Mundel and Joel Hochstein, were present. Amy Harris-Tehan and Heidi Thompson were not present. Staff member Brian Phillips was also present. PUBLIC FORUM – There was no one present to speak at public forum. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JUNE 22, 2017 – Moved by Anneke, seconded by Joel to approve the minutes from June 22. Motion carried unanimously. INCLUSIVE AMES SUBCOMMITTEE – No report was provided. FOLLOW-UP FROM CITY COUNCIL MEETING – Joel asked Brian to explain where the Municipal Equality Index response was. Brian explained that a draft scorecard had been received and responded to since the last Commission meeting. He anticipated receiving additional points based on several corrections that had been sent to the Human Rights Campaign. Amy Harris-Tehan arrived at 6:12 p.m. Joel reviewed the recommendations discussed at the previous meeting. He indicated that the recommendations remaining are: City non-discrimination ordinance, job postings, the equity advisor, the law enforcement relationship with the LGBTQ community, and the recognition of LGBTQ events and activities. Joel felt the next question is whether the Commission wanted to move these forward to the City Council. John asked how the other Commissioners felt. The Commission discussed whether further information was needed prior to preparing a document for the City Council. Joel explained that he had prepared a document with the original recommendations sent to the Council, plus revised comments with further details. Amy stated a letter accompanying the recommendations would be helpful. It was moved by Anneke, seconded by Amy that Joel write a letter on behalf of the Commission to the City Council with these recommendations. Motion carried unanimously. The Commission discussed what the letter should request. Brian suggested the letter should ask for the Council to refer the letter to a future agenda for a joint discussion with the City Council. It was moved by Joel, seconded by Amy, to draft the letter to request a joint meeting to discuss it. Motion carried unanimously. TRANSLATION OF CITY DOCUMENTS AND SERVICES – Joel mentioned he had researched comparable cities in Iowa, but could not find many examples outside of using Google translate on the website. He did find translation services for transit documents. John asked how certain languages are selected as those to be translated to. He felt the Commission was trying to address an issue without knowing what the problem was. Amy stated it came up from the Safe Community Resolution, and that Rick and his group had taken it upon themselves to translate the resolution. John said he would like to know from Heidi what the hospital translates documents into and how. Anneke said the school district translates certain documents. Joel said a data point would be what documents are requested for translation. It was moved by Amy, seconded by Joel to place this topic on the August agenda to explore it further with input from Heidi. Motion carried unanimously. AHRC STRATEGIC PLAN – Joel mentioned that the primary reason to put this on the agenda was that the Commission needed to decide if it wanted to request a workshop with the City Council to discuss its role. The strategic plan would follow the discussion with the Council. Amy stated her preferred approach would be to develop a strategic plan by itself, then to ask the Council to review it. John suggested then to set a date to review it. It was moved by John, seconded by Amy, to discuss the Strategic Plan at the August meeting. John stated everyone would read the current plan prior to the meeting. Motion carried unanimously. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS – Anneke asked for some of the brochures. Joel stated he had several to provide. He also noted there is a revision needed to the section of the brochure that uses “he/she” references. NEXT MEETING: AUGUST 24, 2017 The meeting adjourned at 7:08 p.m.