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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995 04-12 HRRMMINUTES OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE . HUMAN RIGHTS AND RESOURCES COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF BROOKLYN CENTER IN THE COUNTY OF HENNEPIN AND THE STATE OF MINNESOTA REGULAR SESSION APRIL 12, 1995 CITY HALL CALL TO ORDER The Brooklyn Center human rights and resources commission was called to order at 7:10 PM. ROLL CALL Members Present: Chairperson Lerbs, Commissioners Nesseth (arrived at 7:15 PM), Yang, Achtelik, Eoloff, Maddox (arrived 7:12 PM), and Nyquist. Also present were Council Liaison Hilstrom (arrived at 7:20 PM) and Staff Liaison Gohman, recording secretary. Member Absent and Unexcused: Commissioner Henry. INTRODUCTIONS New member Dean Nyquist was introduced to the members of the human rights and resources • commission. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - MARCH 8. 1995 There was a motion by Commissioner Achtelik and seconded by Commissioner Eoloff to approve the minutes of the March 8, 1995, meeting. The motion carried. APPROVAL OF AGENDA - APRIL 12. 1995 There was discussion to add an update of the League of Minnesota Human Rights meetings information to the agenda under Other Business; discussion to be conducted by Commissioner Eoloff. There was a motion by Commissioner Nyquist and seconded by Commissioner Yang to approve the April 12 agenda with the addition of discussion of League of Minnesota Human Rights business. The motion carried. PRESENTATION - NORTHWEST HENNEPIN HUMAN SERVICES COUNCIL Patty Wilder, executive director, and Joselyn Gay of Northwest Hennepin Human Services Council (NWHHSC) presented an overview of what NWHHSC has been doing, and also talked about diversity training and bias response. Wilder stated that NWHHSC had, in the past, been involved in extensive diversity training involving focus groups in the communities as it relates to cultural diversity training in the northwest area. She informed the commission that the Brooklyn Center City Council and supervisors had been through extensive training several years • ago, along with the cities of Robbinsdale, New Hope, Crystal, and Brooklyn Park. Wilder also stated that NWHHSC is meeting with the area's human rights groups to discuss bias response - what groups are doing and what do human rights' groups want to do in this area. 04/12/95 - 1 - There was general discussion regarding bias response. Chairperson Lerbs stated that bias response is a priority with our commission. Commissioner Eoloff stated that in the summer of 1994, she was taking phone calls regarding some bias problems and she did not know exactly what to do or how to handle the calls. There was general discussion about bias response and . how to get more involved in this area - how to involve the city government, do we receive reports from the police department when there is a bias report/crime, and does the commission respond. There was a general consensus that the Brooklyn Center human rights and resources commission felt bias response was an important topic. Wilder suggested working with other human rights groups for training and learning how to handle bias response. Once that is in place, bias response can be promoted and citizens can be informed that the human rights commission handles bias response by printing flyers or putting articles in newsletters. Gay stated the best way to get a bias response plan together is to follow these steps: A. Create a plan by determining what the commission wants to accomplish. B. Develop a response team through an efficient network; someone responds immediately when a report comes in. C. Be consistent in what you decide to do and how to handle things; set up the system on how to handle calls. D. Training is essential; train the response team to handle calls in an appropriate manner. Commissioner Eoloff confirmed that when calls were received in the summer of 1994, many times she was lost and had a hard time determining what to say. The commission viewed a video from NWHHSC. The commission thanked Wilder and Gay for • coming before the commission to make the presentation. Wilder noted the commission can contact her if the commission has anything they would like to work on and NWHHSC would be glad to help out. Staff Liaison Gohman stated the commission would like to work with NWHHSC on cultural diversity training in the near future. WORKPLAN Chairperson Lerbs stated that in order to get the workplan rolling, he would like to see subcommittees created for some of the items on the workplan. There was general discussion of the workplan with members stating their interest in various priorities. Commissioner Nesseth volunteered to chair a subcommittee for the float which is workplan priority number one. Council Liaison Hilstrom stated that subcommittees could work to get things moving; if all of the commission works on it at one time, it may be a slow process; subcommittees are a good idea. Commissioner Yang stated he would like to see ethnic participation in a float, and he volunteered for the subcommittee. Commissioner Eoloff also stated she would volunteer for the float subcommittee when she is able. Council Liaison Hilstrom stated that the subcommittee may want to contact the substation to get more volunteers to help work on this area. Commissioner Yang stated he would like to see a timeline laid out for all items on the workplan priority list. Commissioner Nesseth noted she would like to be involved in number three on the workplan priority list. There was general discussion on the timing of projects and timelines. Commissioner Achtelik suggested one idea may be to start with number one on the priority list and work down the list. • 04/12/95 -2- There was general discussion and question on a theme for a float. Commissioner Nesseth stated cultural diversity is one idea; make sure all persons are represented. There was discussion of how to get members involved, possibly working with churches, schools, and the substation. Commissioner Achtelik suggested we enlist volunteers from the high school, incorporating different countries and cultures, and possibly using the art teacher or their influence in the high school to help in decorating the float. There was a consensus that Commissioner Nesseth would lead the float subcommittee, which would include Commissioners Yang, Eoloff and Maddox. CULTURAL DIVERSITY There was general discussion regarding diversity training among staff. The discussion went back-and-forth between bias response and cultural diversity. Chairperson Lerbs stated he felt it was important to get City staff involved in cultural diversity training. Staff Liaison Gohman suggested she could work directly with NWHHSC to coordinate such training for staff. Commissioner Nesseth noted she felt it was important that commissions also be trained in diversity. Commissioner Yang noted that the first step is for our commission to get to know each other. He would like to know about the backgrounds of each commission member, what is common, what we share with each other, and this will help us work together. This would give us a recipe of who and what we are as human beings. Chairperson Lerbs suggested beginning the next meeting with personal introductions and telling about ourselves. There was a motion by Commissioner Yang and seconded by Commissioner Nesseth to put on the agenda to do introductions with backgrounds, introducing ourselves, at the next meeting. The motion carried. Chairperson Lerbs talked about cultural diversity training. There was general discussion about • the budget and funding for diversity training. Staff Liaison Gohman stated there is approximately $8,000 allocated to the HRRC for training. Part of that money is used for the Heritage Festival; the remaining could be used for training. There was general discussion of expenditures within the budget, and about budget funding and expenditures. There was a motion by Commissioner Eoloff and seconded by Commissioner Maddox to approve cultural diversity training for staff, to remain fiscally responsible when scheduling the cultural diversity training for staff, and open up such training to all commission members. Finally, for Staff Liaison Gohman to report back to the commission on the amount that will be used and needed for training. The motion carried. BIAS RESPONSE There was general discussion about bias response and how the Brooklyn Center HRRC would like to handle this area. Staff Liaison Gohman stated she could contact Patty Wilder of NWHHSC directly to inform NWHHSC our commission is interested and report back to the HRRC at the next meeting. Commissioner Nesseth stated she would be interested in having joint bias response meetings with other human rights commissions. Commissioner Eoloff stated she felt we needed a general discussion on this area, how deeply involved we want to get into the bias response. Commissioner Maddox stated that a community forum and dialog may be important, letting people know the commission is here, let people state their problems, and it will give the commission an idea of what is happening. The commission continued to discuss bias response discussions of subcommittees, working with Patty Wilder, etc. Chairperson Lerbs stated he understands there is a consensus that we are interested in working with a bias response plan or formulating such a plan. The consensus of the commission was to have Staff 04/12/95 -3- Liaison Gohman work with Patty Wilder and report back to the commission on how to proceed in this matter. Commissioner Nesseth asked if Commissioner Eoloff would be comfortable teaching bias response based on her experience in the area. Commissioner Eoloff stated she would be comfortable teaching the group, but she would need one whole night to deal with bias response. There was a motion by Commissioner Eoloff to inform the commission at the next meeting on how to handle response crimes/bias response. The motion failed for lack of a second. JOINT MEETING There was a general discussion that we may want to move the joint meeting from the human rights and resources commission to a council appreciation-type meeting. There were comments that the joint commission meeting has been very successful and we want to make sure it continues to be a success in the future. OTHER BUSINESS Commissioner Eoloff reported that the president of the Minnesota League of Human Rights resigned on the seventh. It appears that the Minnesota League of Human Rights is working through this controversy. UNEXCUSED ABSENCES Chairperson Lerbs reported that Commissioner Henry now has three unexcused absences which need to be addressed. Commissioner Nesseth stated that we need to let the position go, and it should be opened for a new body; also, that John Henry has been a good, active commissioner in the past, but it is now time to open it up for someone new. Council Liaison Hilstrom suggested the commission try to locate Commissioner Henry and send a letter if possible. Commissioner Achtelik stated she could try to locate Commissioner Henry. There was a motion by Commissioner Yang and seconded by Commissioner Eoloff to wait one week to check and see if they could locate Commissioner Henry, determine if they have any information, if he has decided to resign, or go on leave. Voting Aye: Commissioners Eoloff, Yang, Achtelik. Voting Nay: Chairperson Lerbs, Commissioners Maddox, Nesseth, Nyquist. Motion failed. ADJOURNMENT There was a motion by Commissioner Eoloff and seconded by Commissioner Achtelik to adjourn the meeting at 9:00 PM. The motion carried. • 04/12/95 -4-