Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

Home Browse Search

the discussion with the City. She added that the HRC was honored to be working with the City Council on this issue. Ms. Urbina said the HRC would continue to work with executive managers and City departments on human rights issues and would continue to work to add gender identity as a protected class to the City anti-discrimination code. Goal3: Work With Police Department and Community Members to Promote Equitable, Respectful Treatment by the Police of All People in Eugene, Particularly Vulnerable Populations Ms. Rich said that the HRC would monitor current and proposed police oversight systems. She acknowl- edged the Police Commission and its collaborative work with the HRC to create a safe community where people felt that they could come to a group that would listen. Goal 4: Respond to Discrimination, Harassment, and Incidents of Inequity Ms. Urbina said that this goal was where the HRC would react to emerging issues as necessary and where the Advocate Response Team (ART) played such an important role. She said that for example, at the Mental Health Forum, there was a great deal of testimony about unsatisfactory encounters with the EPD from people who had mental health issues. She said that a great collaborative project that could come from this forum would be training for police officers to teach skills on dealing with people who have mental health disabilities. Ms. Urbina said that the HRC was very successful and, due to that success, issues continued to be brought to the commission. She said that all of the commissioners took their position very seriously, but there would be a time when the commission would have to say "no" to someone because of limited resources. Goal 5: Encourage and Promote Community Awareness and Collaboration on Critical Human Rights Issues Ms. Rich pointed out that the commission had many allies and worked very well with other human rights organizations and groups. She noted the recent collaboration with City Club on the Study Circles. Ms. Urbina said that over 200 people signed up to participate in the Study Circles. · Ms. Rich acknowledged and thanked the following people: Mayor Piercy; the Eugene City Council, especially David Kelly for serving as the liaison to the commission; City Manager Dennis Taylor; Assistant Manager Jim Carlson, especially for his guidance in securing one-time funding for program brochures in Spanish; Sergeant Jennifer Bills and Cindy Coleman for working with the HRSS advocates on police cases; Captain Chuck Tilby, Lieutenant Pete Kerns, and Chief Bob Lehner for their assistance in informing community members about the department's new social security number policy; Lieutenant Carolyn McDermed and Helen Towle for serving as department liaisons to the commission; the Eugene Police Commission for including the HRC in so many parts of their work on police oversight recommendations; staff members Sue Hamley (LRCS, Adaptive Recreation), Linda Dawson (PDD), Ned Nebata (Facilities) for regular participation with the HRAC; the Minutes Recording staff for keeping accurate records; Mary Walston, Division Manager of the City Manager's Office, for continued support of the Human Rights Program staff and commission; HRC staff Matt Beecher, who was no longer with the program; HRC staff Greg Rikhoff, Francisca Leyva-Johnson, and Karen Hyatt; and HRC volunteer James Dean. MINUTES-Eugene City Council Work Session October 24, 2005 Page 12