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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Ames Human Relations Commission - AHRC Minutes 8-24-2017M I N U T E S HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION August 24, 2017 This regular meeting of the Ames Human Relations Commission was called to order by Chair John Klaus at 5:32 p.m. in Conference Room 235 of City Hall. Commissioners Heidi Thompson and Anneke Mundel were present. Amy Harris-Tehan and Joel Hochstein 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 JULY 27, 2017 – Moved by Anneke, seconded by Heidi to approve the minutes from July 27. Motion carried unanimously. Amy Harris-Tehan arrived at 5:34 p.m. INCLUSIVE AMES SUBCOMMITTEE – No report was provided. Amy asked to discuss this item further when Joel is in attendance. TRANSLATION OF CITY DOCUMENTS AND SERVICES – John noted this was carried forward from the last meeting. Anneke asked Heidi what the Hospital translated. Heidi asked Anneke how the school district decided what to translate. Heidi shared that the Hospital used a firm called Lingualinks, which is clinically certified to do translations for patients, and primarily had documents translated into Spanish. Heidi noted there was a charge per word for translation. Heidi mentioned she felt the Council had asked the Commission to gather information regarding how to translate City documents and services. John felt that the mention of translating the resolution in question during that meeting was more of a taunt by a particul ar Council Member. Anneke suggested adding this topic into the Commission’s Strategic Plan. Anneke asked about translating the complaint form. Brian noted that the forms are forwarded to the state and that they may not be accepted in other languages; he did not know. It was moved by Heidi, seconded by John, to authorize Anneke to contact the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and get information regarding whether the complaint form can be made accessible to those with limited English proficiency. Motion carried unanimously. Heidi asked if the Commission should consider a recommendation to the City to evaluate whether to translate different documents. It was moved by Heidi, seconded by Amy to evaluate, as part of the Strategic Plan, what the key human relations issues that might be proposed to the City Council to address in the Resident Satisfaction Survey. Motion carried unanimously. AHRC STRATEGIC PLAN – John asked if the Commission wanted to adopt the existing plan, remove items, or add to it. John mentioned he had researched the United States Civil Rights Commission Strategic Plan and forwarded information from it. Anneke noted she liked the way it had been organized. John explained the five goals the USCRC had: 1) be a Civil Rights Watchdog, 2) Objective Information Analysis, 3) Public Awareness, 4) Effectiveness in Communication, 5) Management Excellence. Anneke asked about the Council’s response to the Commission’s latest communication. Brian noted it was not referred at the last meeting, and it was not known whether that was intentional or an oversight. Amy expressed that she felt this was an advisory Commission, and that the Commission did not report to the City Council. John expressed interest in raising issues for the Council to consider. Amy stated she did not want to have to ask the Council what the Commission should be doing. She offered to contact Council Member Beatty-Hansen to ask about the Commission’s last email, and suggested that Joel should organize others in the community to put pressure on the City Council to make human relations a priority. Anneke noted the first section on the Strategic Plan. She suggested asking the Iowa Civil Rights Commission for information regarding complaint resolution. Heidi noted that information is posted on the ICRC website. Heidi suggested eliminating the first bullet regarding meeting with the investigators, since local investigations are not taking place. Amy suggested that the current strategic plan was more tactical, compared to the goals that are stated for the USCRC, which are more strategic. It was moved by Amy, seconded by Heidi, for each Commissioner to take one of the five sections of the USCRC Strategic Plan and translate it into the Human Relations Commission’s strategic plan and develop action steps for each. Motion carried unanimously. Assignments will be as follows: 1) Civil Rights Watchdog – John 2) Objective Info Analysis – Heidi 3) Public Awareness – Amy 4) Effectiveness in Communication – Anneke 5) Management Excellence – Joel There was discussion of what Management Excellence meant. Brian suggested that perhaps it involve how to keep the Strategic Plan at the forefront of the Commission’s regular activit ies. Amy asked whether each person could have a draft of their section by the next Commission meeting. Heidi asked whether a special meeting was needed sooner, since the year was getting on and the annual report would be due to the Council in a few months. Amy and Anneke noted they were busier with students coming back. Heidi brought up the Commission’s involvement in the IRIS Peace Walk in September. IOWA CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT – It was moved by Amy, seconded by Anneke, to recommend the approval of the ICRC Cooperative Agreement regarding the filing of civil rights complaints. Motion carried unanimously. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS – Heidi asked whether any complaints had been received. Brian noted there had been a call from an individual today regarding an issue that did not take place in Ames, and it was referred to ICRC. Amy noted the June 20 City Council minutes were not on the City website. Heidi asked if the resolution could be added to the Commission’s webpage. Brian noted he would work on that. NEXT MEETING: SEPTEMBER 28, 2017 The meeting adjourned at 6:28 p.m.