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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Rights and Diversity - 02/10/1998 APPROVED MINUTES EDEN PRAIRIE HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMMISSION TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1998 7:00 PM, PRAIRIE ROOMS A & B 8080 MITCHELL ROAD CITY CENTER COMMISSION MEMBERS: Brad Behrends, Richard Helzel, Vicki Pellar- Price, Ramon Reina, Gloria Winans, Munna Yasiri, and Deborah Yungner YOUTH REPRESENTATIVES: Andrea Brown and Sopanha Te COMMISSION STAFF: Michael Barone, Sr. Personnel Coordinator, and Jan Nelson, Recording Secretary I. ROLL CALL Chair Helzel called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM. Pellar-Price and Yasiri were absent. Yungner arrived late. II. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION: Winans moved, seconded by Reina, to approve the Agenda as published. Motion carried 4-0. III. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JANUARY 13, 1998 MEETING Reina said Sentence 4, Paragraph 4, Page 5 should be changed to: "Reina noted peer counseling ...." MOTION: Reina moved, seconded by Winans, to approve as published and amended the Minutes of the January 13, 1998 meeting. Motion carried 3-0-1, with Behrends abstaining. IV. OLD BUSINESS A. Update on Boards and Commissions Selection Process for 1998 Barone said the terms of Reina and Yungner are up this year. Reina has chosen not to reapply and Yungner has reapplied. Five other individuals showed interest in the Commission. The City Council interviewed the candidates on February 5th and will make the appointments next Tuesday, February 17, 1998. Winans asked if Barone was at the interviews. Barone replied only Chris Enger and Natalie Swaggert were asked to attend the interviews. Human Rights and Diversity Commission February 10, 1998 Minutes Page 2 B. Revised Copy of 1998 Work Plan Barone said the only revision was to move the meeting with West Suburban from February to January. V. NEW BUSINESS D. Bias Crime Response Network Training for February 1998 (tentative) Helzel suggested this item be addressed while discussing the work plan. Barone said Peter Huck called after tonight's agenda was prepared. He wants to change the training to March or, preferably, April. Barone will tentatively put them on our schedule for the April optional workshop meeting. Helzel suggested we list the Bias Crime Network as a project on the Work Plan. Yungner arrived at 7:15 p.m. IV. OLD BUSINESS C. Summary of 1997 Activity Report from West Suburban Mediation Center (includes copy of 1996 Annual Report) Barone reviewed the materials sent by Sue Nelson of West Suburban Mediation after her visit at the January meeting. As requested by Yungner at the last meeting,he asked Julie Meinzer to contact the School Liaison Officers and some School Administration people to see how familiar they are with West Suburban. He has not heard back yet. V. NEW BUSINESS A. Commission Organization: Appoint Nomination Committee Barone said we need to select a Nominating Committee to come up with the slate of candidates for the coming year. Helzel noted for the past two years we have had the Vice Chair move into the Chair position in order to retain depth of knowledge about the Commission. We would like the Vice Chair to have a year's experience on the Commission and have another two years remaining on their term. We would be open to nominations for Chair from the floor, but the Nominating Committee will bring forth the nominee for Vice Chair and Winans will be the candidate for Chair. Helzel suggested Yungner serve on the Committee. Yungner said that, while she did interview for re-election to the Commission, she also interviewed for the Environmental Waste Management Commission, so she may not be re-elected to this Commission. Reina agreed to serve on the Committee. Human Rights and Diversity Commission February 10, 1998 Minutes Page 3 Yungner asked how many are left with more than two years. Barone said we have four people left with experience. Reina noted he would like to do volunteer work with the Eden Prairie High School even though he will not be on the Commission. B. Update on Human Rights Award Process Barone said they sent letters to community organizations and churches after he determined that was part of the process in 1996. Winans asked where the luncheon will be held. Helzel said that the Chamber would like to change the venue from the City Center as they felt the service here was not what they expected. Barone thought since this is the first event we have done with them and because we want to showcase the event, we probably want to limit the risk factor and hold it outside. Reina asked about the issues they had with the service. Barone said it primarily had to do with the use of paper cups and napkins. He said it will be at the Marriott in Minnetonka, and the cost will be the same. Reina agreed we should expect a certain level of quality for the event. Winans asked when we will have an opportunity to talk with the Chamber Committee and what our role will be the day of the luncheon. Helzel thought we should volunteer to help. Barone will contact the Chamber and see what we can do to help. Winans thought the Commission members should have a visible part in the luncheon. Barone said the Mayor has the event on her calendar. Winans said the speaker is Richard Gaskins, the Vice president for Diversity of American Express Advisors. He will talk about the model he has set up for his company and that is being used by other companies. He will be able to point out the business benefits to organizations that use the diversity model. She has encouraged Gaskins to bring handouts. Yungner asked if American Express financial has some outstanding sexual harassment cases. Winans said she will check on it. Barone said he would like to have a meeting with Winans, Swaggert, himself and the Chamber people before the event to talk about direction. He will work out a date. Helzel thought, if the event goes well, we need to keep the working relationship going with the Chamber, perhaps by having someone from the Commission serve on the Work Force Issues Subcommittee of the Chamber. C. Update on Human Rights Youth Scholarship Award Process Human Rights and Diversity Commission February 10, 1998 Minutes Page 4 Barone distributed the mailing list of businesses from the Chamber. He said we have received pledges totaling $1200 so far. Yungner asked if the names on the list are the people in the companies that are responsible for donations. Barone said they are the contact for the Chamber. Winans thought we need to target the list to identify the ones large enough to deal with. Commission and Staff members reviewed the lists and marked the ones that should be called. Commission members discussed how they should make the calls and how the phone conversation should be conducted. E. Designate Review Committee for Human Rights Youth Scholarship Award Application Deadline is February 27, 1998 Barone said we need to get a review committee for the applications. Helzel, Reina, and Te will serve on the committee. Barone will check to see if Brown would also like to serve. Winans noted May 28th is the award night at Eden Prairie High School, and we may have enough for two scholarships. Reina said he would like to discuss that because he would like to see if we can increase the amount from$500. Yungner also thought it should be increased. Helzel thought we should see what comes back. He would like to see it become self sustaining and we should help to endow it. Barone noted he has not yet heard back from the Finance Department about the balance left in the fund. F. Approval of 1998 League of Minnesota Human Rights Commission Dues MOTION: Reina moved, seconded by Behrends, to recommend approval of the 1998 League of Minnesota Human Rights Commission dues in the amount of $222.82. Motion carried 5-0. G. Report from Gloria Winans on Eden Prairie School District Sponsored Diversity Forum held January 26 Winans said on January 26 the Eden Prairie School District Committee that looks at putting together their five-year plan had a public forum on diversity with a panel of students to share their experiences. About 60 people attended the forum. The District provided training facilitators, and they broke up into small groups to discuss issues the School District should look at in relation to diversity. They will prepare a report on the results to share with all those who attended. She noted she went as a resident and not as a representative of the Commission. VI. REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS Human Rights and Diversity Commission February 10, 1998 Minutes Page 5 A. Housing, Transportation & Human Services Board: Brad Behrends Behrends said the January meeting was held with six different groups of child care providers. He said the critical problems with day care are in the areas of infant care, ages 1-5 and early morning and evening care. He said the Senior Community Services for Suburban Hennepin will give their proposal for funding at the February meeting. They will also get proposals from the various providers at that time. Winans noted the article in the Eden Prairie News about the Habitat for Humanity house that will be built here. She asked if E. P. Common Ground would be a likely candidate for the Non-Profit Human Rights Award. Behrends noted his term on the Board will be up in March. B. League of Human Rights Commissions: Gloria Winans Winans was not able to attend the January meeting. She is still weighing whether to accept the position of Treasurer. She would be willing to continue as the liaison to the League when the new term begins in April. They are working on a venue for the 1998 convention. Two more cities have joined the League. The new President is Larry Nicholson from Moorhead. Commission members discussed having a pin made for members of the Commission using the logo from the summer event. Barone said he would look into it. C. Report of Youth Representatives: Andrea Brown Te asked how we are doing with promoting the Youth Scholarship as she has not heard anything at the High School. Barone said he was told that David Knutson is the contact. Someone from the High School called and asked for more applications. Te said a diversity committee is being formed. When she saw the sign-up list, no one had signed up yet. Winans suggested Te sign up. Reina thought she should find out what it is all about first. Te said she will investigate it and report back. VII. REPORTS OF STAFF A. Activity Status Barone said there was one incident where a resident received an harassing phone call. He contacted the Police Department who followed up. They chalked it up to a prank phone call, and there have been no more calls since. Human Rights and Diversity Commission February 10, 1998 Minutes Page 6 Winans asked what type of family received the call. Barone said it was an Asian family. Reina asked if there are young children in the family. Barone said they are young adults. VIII. FUTURE AGENDAS Barone noted there will be no optional workshop in February. There will be a Youth Scholarship meeting prior to the March 10 regular meeting to review the applications. He suggested the Nominating Committee can meet by telephone as they did last year. Reina asked if we have a deadline to make the phone calls for funding of the Youth Scholarship. The consensus was to have them done by February 20. Barone asked Commissioners to provide feedback on contributions as the phone calls are made. He will provide a copy of the letter that went out to the companies asking for a pledge. He noted we asked the companies to submit their checks by June. February 24 7:00 - 9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop March 10 7:00 - 9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting March 24 7:00 - 9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop April 14 7:00 - 9:00 PM HRDC Regular Meeting April 16 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM HRDC & ED Chamber of Commerce Human Rights Award Luncheon April 28 7:00 - 9:00 PM Optional HRDC Workshop IX. ADJOURN MOTION: Reina moved, seconded by Behrends, to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried 5-0. Chair Helzel adjourned the meeting at 8:45 p.m.