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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995 09-13 HRRMCITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION SEPTEMBER 13, 1995 CITY HALL CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center human rights and resources commission was called to order at 7:00 p.m. ROLL CALL Members present: Chairperson Lerbs, Commissioners Brown, Nesseth, Eoloff, Achtelik, Nyquist, Yang, Braziel, (7:10 p.m.)and Maddox (7:35 p.m.). Also present Staff Liaison Gohman. Council Liaison Hilstrom was absent and excused. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - JULY 12. 1995 AS AMENDED There was a motion by Commissioner Nesseth and seconded by Commissioner Brown to approve the July 12, 1995, minutes as amended. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - AUGUST 9. 1995 There was a discussion that on page three, third paragraph Nesseth should be added to: "There was a motion by Commissioner Eoloff and seconded by Commissioner ese to include North Hennepin Mediation in the consideration even though they were not present to make a presentation. " There was also a discussion of the fifth paragraph on page three to change it to: There was a motion by Commissioner Nesseth to table this discussion regarding voting if members should vote. the sefyiees that are under- eetisidefatien for- fandilig.- The motion failed for lack of a second. There was a motion by Commissioner Nesseth and seconded by Commissioner Eoloff to approve the August 9, 1995, minutes as amended. APPROVAL OF AGENDA - SEPTEMBER 13.1995 There was a motion by Commissioner Eoloff and seconded by Commissioner Nesseth to approve the September 13, 1995, agenda. The motion carried. PRESENTATIONS-(CONTINUED)-REQUESTS FOR CONTRACTUAL SERVICES There was a general discussion of the Commission regarding two additional contractual services to be reviewed at tonight's meeting. Those services were directed to come before the Human Rights and Resources Commission by the Council. The services are INVITE, INC. and Project of Peace. 0 09/13/95 -1- PROJECT PEACE Daneen Bergland from Project Peace made a presentation about the program to the Human Rights and Resources Commission. The request for funding is for $47,953 in 1996. There was a general discussion about his rate of project that has been around since the 1980's. Daneen Bergland also stated that 50-60% of the use for services from Brooklyn Center. Commissioner Nyquist stated that he would not vote on this due to a possible perceived conflict of interest. INVITE. INC. Joe Ryan made the presentation for INVITE, INC. Also present were board members and volunteers of the program. There was a general discussion and presentation summarizing that INVITE, INC. has been in operation since 1990. INVITE, INC. works in firehouse park as part of an outreach program for youth in our community, also working directly with the police. Commission members had questions regarding this program. CONFLICT OF INTEREST-VOTING Chair Lerbs discussed with the commission possible perceptions regarding conflict of interest. This involved board members of services who are also Human Rights Commission members. Commissioner Achtelik stated that if a HRRC member serves on a board of a service that is interviewed, the HRRC member withdraws across the board on voting on any of the contractual services. There was a general discussion regarding this. Commissioner Nyquist stated that he would not vote on any of the contractual services that have come before the commission. There was a motion by Commissioner Eoloff and seconded by Commissioner Achtelik stating: Commission members who are on a board of one of the contractual services HRRC is voting for abstain from voting on all contractual services in this process. There was a general discussion regarding this motion. All in favor: Commissioners Lerbs, Eoloff, and Achtelik. Those opposed: Commissioners Maddox, Brown, Nesseth, and Braziel. Those abstained: Commissioner Yang and Nyquist. Motion failed. There was a motion by Commissioner Nesseth and seconded by Commissioner Maddox stating: Commission members serving on boards abstain from voting if their services directly relate to the board on which they are serving. If there is a perceived conflict of interest, it is up to commission members to vote if that member can or cannot vote in this process. There was a general discussion on the motion. Those approved: Commissioners Eoloff and Nesseth. Those opposed: Commissioners Lerbs, Maddox, Brown, Achtelik, Yang, Nyquist, and Braziel. The motion failed. Commissioner Nesseth then presented a motion stating: Board members serving on contractual services of other contractual services and their own that are up for evaluation should abstain from voting if there is a direct conflict, such as monies allocated for same services, and if board of directors does not abstain and other commission members perceive 09/13/95 -2- 0 a conflict, a HRRC member cannot vote. This motion failed for lack of a second. There was a motion by Commissioner Eoloff and seconded by Commissioner Nesseth stating: The Human Rights & Resources Commission develop a policy to have board members and groups the HRRC are evaluating abstain from voting on their own organizations, and also from voting those organizations that HRRC members perceive a conflict of interest as determined by the commission. The motion carried. Commissioner Nyquist abstained from the motion. DISCUSSION ON VOTING ON CONTRACTUAL SERVICES Commissioner Achtelik stated she had perceived conflict of interest with Commissioner Nyquist scoring contractual services. Commissioner Nyquist stated that he would voluntarily abstain from voting on any of the contractual services that have been brought before the commission for this 1996 budget review. Scores were then being turned in to Chair Lerbs for tabulation regarding contractual services. TRANSPORTATION There was a general discussion on transportation. There was a motion by Commissioner Nesseth and seconded by Commissioner Achtelik to send a recommendation to the Council from the Human Rights & Resources Commission that transportation is a very large issue and suggest that the Council form a transportation committee to study and make recommendations specifically regarding transportation in our community. There was a general discussion regarding the motion. Those approved: Commissioners Lerbs, Nesseth, Braziel, Yang, and Achtelik. Those opposed: Commissioners Eoloff, Brown, and Maddox. The motion carried. There was a motion by Commissioner Lerbs and seconded by Commissioner Nesseth to send the transportation options received by staff regarding medical services that can be added to 5-Cities Transportation Program to the Council and also ask 5-Cities Transportation Program to distribute it to the riders for their information. The motion carried. BUDGET The Commission discussed the budget. There was a general discussion about the overall budget now being adopted by the City Council including budget cuts, and a no increase from the levy from 1995 to 1996. Commissioner Nesseth suggested that a subcommittee be formed to discuss the budget. There was a motion by Commissioner Nesseth and seconded by Commissioner Maddox to have staff forward budget information to Commissioners Brown and Chair Lerbs and have these two commission members bring to the Council the future financial needs and concerns and ask the Council to reconsider funding for Human Rights Commission. The motion carried. Chair Lerbs abstained. • 09/13/95 -3- BIAS RESPONSE PLAN Commissioner Brown discussed the bias response plan, the subcommittee met, there was a rough draft and asked that it be placed on the next agenda for the commission's review. WORK PLAN The commission stated that the work plan should be put on the October agenda. OTHER Staff Liaison Gohman asked who was interested in attending the League Conference. There was also a general discussion regarding questions for the City Manager. Chair Lerbs discussed the conflict of interest and asked if there were any problems tonight in the area of voting that had been submitted. Chair Lerbs stated Commissioner Nyquist abstained from voting on any contractual services and also stated that Commissioner Maddox, at this time, only abstained from Brooklyn Peacemaker. Chair Lerbs asked if there was a conflict of interest perceived by commission members. Commissioner Eoloff stated yes that she believed there was a perceived conflict of interest with Commissioner Maddox voting specifically for North Hennepin Mediation Services. There was a general discussion regarding this matter. Chair Lerbs called the question to the commission and asked all members if Commissioner Maddox can evaluate North Hennepin Mediation Services. Those members voting to allow Commissioner Maddox to evaluate North Hennepin Mediation Services: Commissioner Yang. Those opposed to Commissioner Maddox evaluating North Hennepin Mediation Services: Chair Lerbs, Commissioners Nesseth, Eoloff, and Achtelik. Those abstained: Commissioners Braziel, Brown, and Maddox. Commissioner Maddox's vote would not be accepted for North Hennepin Mediation Services. Commissioner Yang stated that he was uncomfortable with this process. There was a general discussion about voting. Chair Lerbs asked if there were any other perceived conflict of interest. None were noted. Commissioner Achtelik stated that she has two unexcused absentees on the record and is asking the commission to change them to excused. She had stated that she could not attend either the July 12, 1995, or August 9, 1995, and asked that they be excused. There was a motion by Commissioner Maddox and seconded by Commissioner Nesseth to change the two unexcused absentees both from July 12, 1995, and August 9, 1995, to excused. The motion carried. Chair Lerbs stated that in the future he would like to see those who are going to be absent put their absentee request in writing. Commissioner Yang was concerned and stated that it appeared members are not paying attention to each other in discussions. He stated that members need to slow down and see what everybody's point is and conduct ourselves in a more respectful way than sticking 09/13/95 -4- directly to the rules of order. He would like to see a consensus and a discussion before a decision is made so we all have a clear knowledge and understanding of what is happening. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Achtelik and seconded by Commissioner Braziel to adjourn the meeting at 10:22 p.m. The motion carried. • 0 09/13/95 -5-