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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC Minutes - 06/23/99 WS MINUTES Eugene City Council McNutt Room--City Hall June 23, 1999 5:30 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Scott Meisner, Nancy Nathanson, Pat Fart, Betty Taylor, David Kelly, Gary Rayor, Gary Pap~. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Bobby Lee. JOINT WORK SESSION OF THE EUGENE CITY COUNCIL AND THE EUGENE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION Mr. Torrey called the meeting of the City Council to order. Ms. Gillette called the Human Rights Commission to order. All those present introduced themselves. The council was joined by Human Rights Commissioners Gillette Hall, Diane Duke, Charles Dalton, James Dean Poynor, Marcy Middleton, Neil Van Steenbergen, Ron Chase, Jason Thelan, and members of the Human Rights Support System. Ms. Hall reviewed the meeting agenda Human Rights Commission members reviewed highlights from the previous year for the commission and Human Rights Support System (HRSS). Commission members previewed the fiscal year 2000 work plan and identified key issues and work activities. Chairs of commission committees discussed their committee's focus and upcoming work activities. Commission members identified emerging issues facing the commission. Mr. Farr suggested regular commission updates and that each commissioner identify a councilor to talk to throughout the year. Ms. Hall thanked the City Manager for a substantial step forward in the City's diversity efforts. She also thanked him for involving the commission in the development of hiring criteria for City positions. Mr. Van Steenbergen thanked the council for its willingness to support the program with additional staff, specifically acknowledging Bobby Lee's contribution to that effort. Ms. Hall praised the council for its work on immigrant justice. MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 23, 1999 Page 1 5:30 p.m. Mr. Van Steenbergen discussed the value of the cognitive mapping process to the commission. He thanked the council for helping in that process. He particularly acknowledged the work and inspiration of former liaison Bobby Lee. Ms. Hall commended Mr. Fart for his work as liaison to the commission and said his commitment to his work was a tribute to him and the council. Ms. Hall thanked Mayor Torrey for his participation in International Human Rights Day. She said that he had handled a difficult situation admirably. Mr. Van Steenbergen acknowledged the effort of Police Department staff Rick Siel, Tim McCarthy, Thad Buchanan, Roy Brown, and Jim Hill. He expressed appreciation to police staff for its willingness to listen and participate. Mr. Van Steenbergen acknowledged Helen Towle, saying she had been supportive and helpful. Mr. Van Steenbergen thanked Mary Walston for her support of the commission and staff, and Warren Wong for his attendance at commission meetings. He thanked Lauren Chouinard for his honest and open communication, Marilyn Mays for assistance with the City's diversity program, and Melissa Pearson for her work in recruiting employees. Mr. Van Steenbergen thanked Human Rights Program staff Greg Rikhoff, Mary Feldman, and Francisca Johnson. He said that he trusted them, liked to be with them, and they had a real commitment to human rights. In his experience with similar programs he had not enjoyed the same level of support. He thanked the commission, its committees, and volunteers in the Human Rights Program. He thanked Eugene citizens for coming to the commission for assistance. Ms. Hall thanked the council for allowing commissioners to serve and work with it. She looked forward to working together in a collaborative and constructive way. She asked the council what the commission could do to assist the council. Mr. Torrey thanked Ms. Hall for the commission's presentation. Mr. Fart asked Mr. Van Steenbergen how many hours he dedicated to the HRSS. Mr. Van Steenbergen estimated that conservatively, about 30 hours a month. Mr. Farr said before he joined the commission he had been unaware of the scope of the HRSS and its importance to the Human Rights Program. He noted the many volunteer hours spent on the program. He called the council's attention to specific examples of cases in the notebook distributed to councilors as examples of what Eugene does. Mr. Fart said that the work of the program averted other costs to the City. Ms. Nathanson referred to the charge and work plan of the commission and asked if there was a Human Rights Program service profile. She asked if the commission had considering reviewing a service profile to see if it was consistent with the commission's work program over the coming year. Responding to a question from Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Dalton said that the commission had not discussed the Community Redevelopment Agency; he had not heard anything about it for some time, although it had been employed in Eugene in the past. He said that the commission could take a look at it, and it was certainly "on the table." MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 23, 1999 Page 2 5:30 p.m. Mr. Kelly thanked the commission. He was proud to live in a community with a thriving Human Rights Commission. He thanked Mr. Van Steenbergen for his efforts the preceding Friday as a peacekeeper attempting to defuse tension during the anarchists' protest. Mr. Kelly supported the work program. He echoed the positive remarks made by commissioners about the HRSS. He hoped it could be marketed better with more support. He endorsed Mr. Farr's suggestion for a council-commissioner connection and regular reports. Mr. Kelly supported the commission's participation on the newly formed Police Commission. Mr. Kelly asked the commission to discuss its work on the Hyundai situation. Mr. Chase said that the commission was waiting for Lane County Tax Assessor Jim Gangle to complete his work; following that, the commission would meet with Mr. Gangle to discuss his findings. Mr. Fart anticipated closure by the council recess. Mr. Kelly suggested there was a isolation between the Latino community and the remainder of the community, and expressed interest in the commission's thoughts on that, and how it could be addressed in the context of the work plan. Ms. Hall said that she had the same sense of alienation and of being a targeted and at times an unwanted community. She welcomed the council's encouragement to work on the issue. Mr. Rayor perceived the commission as helping to "cast a broader net" than the City Council could alone. He believed the council could use the commission to cast a net over the kinds of emerging issues that may be below the surface, and could advise the commission and the council on how to address them. He wanted to be able to refer difficult issues, such as Hyundai, to the HRC for its input. He thanked the commission for its proactive work on Hyundai. Mr. Meisner said the HRC had a very good reputation, as evinced by the number of applications received for the five vacancies. He expressed appreciation to continuing members for bringing a sense of continuity and history, and excitement about the new members. Regarding reporting, he said that summary minutes or a monthly report of the nature of the discussion on particular topics would be very helpful. Regarding the possibility of additional staff support for the HRSS program, Mr. Meisner suggested that volunteer coordination needed to be looked at in a more comprehensive way. Mr. Meisner said that the input he had received about the recent riot indicated the matter was of concern to many citizens. He said that the challenge facing the commission regarding its work plan activities related to civil disobedience. Transferring violent conduct into more civilized behavior was challenging. He thanked the commission for its work. Ms. Taylor expressed reservation about the concept of volunteers writing tickets. Mr. Poynor said the State operated a volunteer enforcement program. The State volunteers were assigned to specific areas during specific hours. Every participant must be a licensed driver. The City's program would not rely on licensed drivers, but rather volunteers traversing the city encountering violations. Several cities conduct similar programs. MINUTES-Eugene City Council June 23, 1999 Page 3 5:30 p.m. Ms. Taylor did not think people parked in handicapped spaces on purpose. Mr. Poynor disagreed, saying that when spaces were signed it was difficult to argue it was not intentional. Ms. Taylor believed warnings were better than tickets. Ms. Taylor asked if the commission addressed cases where a citizen believed that the City was abrogating their housing rights, for example. Mr. Poynor said yes. He said that the HRSS had good experience with City departments in responding to such complaints. The HRSS also addressed cases of housing discrimination. Ms. Taylor said that a constituent expressed to her that the commission was not interested in women's issues, and regretted the lack of a women's commission. She asked if the commission was comfortable that the majority of Police Commission members were men. Ms. Hall said that the commission could do many things better. She did not recall an instance where the commission had been asked to take action on a women's issue; the Human Rights Education & Outreach Committee had considerable links to women's support services. She added that the commission was more than willing to act on women's issues. Mr. Farr said that the commission was responsive to complaints, but not proactive enough in making people aware of the program and their options. Mr. Van Steenbergen observed that the HRSS worked on eight gender-related cases in the last year. The most recent issue concerned harassment. He agreed more work needed to be done. Mr. Dalton said that he was aware of the council debate over the Police Commission, and said his appointment was due to his long-term interest in police issues. He believed that having balanced representation of the community at-large was always a good idea when trying to determine how to provide public service. Each group needed to keep in mind how much it looked like the community it was serving, and that included gender balance. Ms. Taylor asked if the commission cooperated with other groups working on similar issues. She asked if there was an antidefamation league in Oregon. Mr. Kelly said there was a state group. Mr. Van Steenbergen called her attention to page 13-14, which was a list of the commission's community partners. Mr. Torrey said that the council wholeheartedly felt the commission was important. He said that the riot the previous Friday illustrated its importance. He was convinced that the Police Commission would be expected to discuss the topic of what constituted an appropriate response. Mr. Torrey said the commission must find a way to reach out during the next census period to get people to be counted. He said that it was a tough challenge. He asked the commission to find out what the City and commission could do to assuage the fears of the Latino community. He said that if the City did not count all the minorities in the community, it would lose dollars that it could spend to assist the minority communities. Mr. Torrey pointed out that there was no other community he was aware of that respected diversity as much as Eugene, and it was willing to identify problems that would otherwise not surface. MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 23, 1999 Page 4 5:30 p.m. Mr. Johnson acknowledged and thanked the commission for the hours it spent working on community issues. He had stressed the importance of diversity and human rights to the organization and believed the message was accepted because employees recognized the value of diversity. He said that staff was happy to work with the commission. Chief Jim Hill thanked Mr. Van Steenbergen for his work and assistance to the department. He said the HRSS took a tremendous work load off the department and defused situations that the department often did not have the resources to address. He liked the fact the HRC represented a standing forum for important discussions. He agreed that the Police Commission needed to be closely aligned with the commission and believed the proposed structure would accomplish that. Regarding gender balance on the Police Commission, Chief Hill said that he would track that and take remedial action if needed. Mr. Torrey asked if the commission reached out to the Asian community. Ms. Middleton said that she recently presented an award to the Asian Council through the Lane Arts Council. She agreed that spreading the word about the HRC was important, and a volunteer base to do outreach was needed. Ms. Hall noted the commission's involvement in the Asian Celebration. Ms. Nathanson noted that the words "discrimination" and "harassment" were associated with adult activities, but they were issues for youth as well. She asked the commission to put emphasis on developing a way to reach out to youth. She wanted to ensure that all youth felt like they were part of the community or could be part of the community. Mr. Farr said that the HRC discussed working with youth, and had a youth member. It was an important issue in the forefront of the commissioners' minds. Mr. Dalton added that the HRC had a lot of networks into the community, and currently there were several groups he had worked with, including CALC and the Minority Advisory Committee, working with the school districts on issues of harassment between kids. He thought the commission could get more formally involved, but individual commissioners were already informally involved. Ms. Duke said that the HRSS had worked in the schools with the districts reacting to discrimination and harassment. Administrators are concerned about the incidents, and fear they will happen again if nothing is done. She said that the school districts have been proactive in seeking the commission's help. Mr. Rayor did not think the Human Rights Program should be only a complaint-driven system, but a proactive system that could encompass the City's vendors and contractors and the businesses in the enterprise zone that could be worked with if a situation arose. Mr. Farr noted that the commission currently had a member that was on the Bethel School District. Mr. Meisner moved, seconded by Ms. Nathanson, to approve the commission's goals and work program for FY2000. The motion passed unanimously, 7:0. Mr. Farr indicated his interest in further discussion of his suggestion for council-commission liaisons. MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 23, 1999 Page 5 5:30 p.m. Mr. Meisner noted his concern that the liaison concept would be an incremental addition to the council's work load that might prove heavy. Mr. Meisner noted the council's 4:3 rejection of a Metro Plan rezoning amendment for the James Family Trust. The James Family representatives had contacted Councilor Lee, who had agreed to present a motion to reconsider. However, Mr. Lee was not present and the motion would not be made at the meeting. Mr. Kelly asked for legal counsel regarding ex parte contacts. Mr. Johnson said that the situation was not clear in the post hearing setting. The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. (Recorded by Kimberly Young) MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 23, 1999 Page 6 5:30 p.m.