12/13/1982 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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B. Proposal to Restructure Human Rights Commissions (memo, ordinance, - additional information distributed) Mr. Gleason introduced Marge Beck, Director of Council and Community Services. Ms. Beck noted that at the December 8, 1982, council meeting she had explained the process that had been used in developing the restructuring proposal before the council. She said that the proposal before the council included one element that would require adoption by the council to make changes to the City Code and one element that contained procedural rules or bylaws to be adopted by the human rights commissions themselves. Ms. Beck said that the first element involved minor changes to the structure of the commissions. She said one of the proposal s was to change the title of the Commission on the Rights of the Handicapped to the Commission on the Rights of the Disabled, since "disabled" was a more widely accepted term. She said the proposed change to Section 2.260(2} of the code would reduce the number of commissioners from the present 9 per commission to the proposed 7 per commission. Ms. Beck said there had been some misunderstanding between staff members and commissioners regarding the term of office for commi ss i oners. She said staff thought commissioners had concurred with the staff preference of two-year terms for commissioners, but that this was not the case . She indicated some commissioners would likely testify to the council on this matter during the public hearing. Ms. Beck then referred to a proposed change to Section 2.260(3}(b} of the ordinance and said this was a technical amendment to the definition of the Commission on the Rights of Minorities to make the language of the City Code consistent with the language of national legislation regarding fair employment . practi c es. She said that the proposed change to Section 2.270 called for eliminating the present ten-member Human Rights Council and replacing it with a five-member Presi dents' Council made up of the presi dents of the fi ve commi ssi ons. She said the Presidents' Council would have certain supervisory duties in monitoring the work of the commissions relative to established performance criteri a. Ms. Beck referred to Section 2.280 regarding the Youth Commission and noted that commission would remain separate from the other four in terms of the City Code, since, in the absence of Federal legislation dealing with discrimination against youth, the Youth Commission would not be empowered to deal with discrimination compl ai nts. Ms. Beck discussed other minor changes or corrections to typographical errors in the draft document before the council. Ms. Beck said that if the above changes were adopted by the council, staff would return in the future with a routine resolution updating the list of City boards and commissions. Ms. Beck then discussed the procedural rules commissions had agreed to adopt as a part of the restructuring. She said these included basic operating requirements for the commissions and provided for development of yearly work plans at a general meeting of all members of all commissions; quarterly reports from each commission to the Presidents' Council; a required minimum performance by each commission of two direct service activities per year; and requirements for attendance at sponsored activities and at commission meetings. . MINUTES--Eugene City Council December 13, 1982 Page 4