City of Lawrence

Lawrence Human Relations Commission

February 19, 2015 – 5:30 PM

Minutes

 

Members Present:  Scott Criqui, Bill Welch, James Dunn, Carl Edwards, Sarah Bloxsom

 

Members Excused:  Katrina McClure

 

Staff Present:  Toni Wheeler, Scott Wagner and Elizabeth Hafoka, Briana Edmo (City intern)

 

Public Present:  Danica Moore, USD497

______________________________________________________________________

 

Commission Meeting Called to Order

The Lawrence Human Relations Commission (LHRC) Meeting was called to order by Chairman, Scott Criqui, at 5:30 p.m. in the Carnegie Building, located at 200 West 9th Street, East Gallery Room, Lawrence, Kansas 66044.

 

Chairman Criqui welcomed everyone to the meeting and discussed the role of the Lawrence Human Relations Commission as an advisory body to the Lawrence City Commission.

 

Approval of Minutes

Chairman Criqui asked the commissioners if there were any additions or changes on the minutes from the November 20, 2014 meeting, there were none.  Commissioner Welch motioned that the minutes be approved, it was seconded by Commissioner Dunn, and all voted in favor.

 

Receive Presentation

Danica Moore, USD 497 gave a presentation to the commission entitled “Racial Equity: The USD 497 Journey”.  Ms. Moore is the K-12 Equity TOSA coordinator for USD 497.  The presentation discussed the Board of Education goals regarding diversity and equity which includes a mission statement with educational equity included in it.  Data was presented on graduation rates, staff demographics and student demographics.  Ms. Moore explained the various networks that the district has put together since hiring the Pacific Educational Group (PEG) to help them with achieving equity goals.  Progresses towards the equity goals were then presented.

 

Commissioners then asked questions of Ms. Moore.  Commissioner Bloxsom asked what the goal was and how will it be measured in terms of equity?  Ms. Moore said that the district will keep adding layers, largely based on the PEG model.  The district will continue to track data and has testing in place to measure outcomes.  An equity audit is performed each year at each school and that data is tracked as well.

 

Receive Staff Report

 

Case Report Update - Ms. Hafoka gave a report on the current Human Relation Cases.

Housing – a housing disability case has been closed since the last commission meeting.  There was a finding of no probable cause.  There are currently no open cases being investigated.

 

 

 

Staff Updates

Ms. Hafoka introduced her intern – Briana Edmo, who has also been working in the office and assisting with human relations work, including investigations.

 

 

Outreach Activities

Scott Wagner reported on outreach activities since the last meeting. 

 

Human Relations Commission outreach items were provided to the University of Kansas Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity and information on the commission and enforcement of the City’s human rights code was provided for an update to their training manual.

 

Information on the Human Relations Commission was also provided to Jameelah Jones, who was recently appointed by the KU Student Senate to be the first Director of Diversity and Inclusion.

 

Project Updates

Scott Wagner provided an update on the request for proposals (RFP) that was issued in September for the production of an outreach video for the commission.  Interviews with firms by the video subcommittee and staff took place December 1st.  A decision to proceed with a local firm – Through A Glass Productions was made.  A contract has been signed and just today a draft script was received.  The video subcommittee will be sent the draft for feedback.  Scott also asked the commission to start thinking about volunteer actors that can be used in the video.

 

An update was also provided regarding HUD’s proposed rule first published in July 2013 on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.  A recent article was passed out to the commission on the rule and its status.  Staff noted that the final rule has not yet been published and it is not clear when that will occur.  Staff will continue to monitor developments regarding implementation.

 

Fair Housing Month – April 2015

Scott Wagner reminded the commission that April is celebrated each year as Fair Housing Month by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  On April 7, the City Commission will proclaim April as “Fair Housing Month” in Lawrence.  Vice-Chairman Welch noted he could attend the meeting to receive the proclamation.  There will be information on Cable Channel 25, information in the City’s monthly publication – “The Flame” and advertisements regarding Fair Housing Month.

 

A new idea was presented to help promote awareness of Fair Housing.  Scott Wagner passed out information from other communities across the country that had conducted a Fair Housing Month poster contest.  Scott had previously met with Danica Moore of USD 497 and Milton Scott of the Lawrence Douglas County Housing Authority and they were supportive of partnering with the commission on this activity.

 

The commission indicated support for this new activity.  Danica Moore discussed the ways in which her office can get the contest information out to the schools in the district.  The contest will be open to all students, from kindergarten through twelfth grade in the City.  A subcommittee of Chairman Criqui and Vice-Chair Welch was appointed to work on implementing the contest.  A motion was made by Commissioner Welch, and seconded by Chairman Criqui to conduct the contest to be sponsored by the Human Relations Commission and to authorize the subcommittee to work with staff and community partners to implement the details.  All voted in favor of the motion.

 

 

Scott Wagner provided an update from a question asked of staff at the November meeting regarding City benefits provided to domestic partners.  Starting in Jan 2014, the city’s healthcare plan allowed employees to cover a domestic partner on their plan. The premiums are post-tax and employees have to pay imputed income so that has deterred some from covering a partner.  Beginning in Jan. 2015, our paid time off programs (family sick leave) can be used to care for a domestic partner.  FMLA, even though it’s unpaid, can also be used to care for a domestic partner.  Due to state law, we are not allowed to offer life insurance coverage for domestic partners but we will keep on top of any changes that may come in that arena.

 

Staff also reminded the commission that elections for officers will occur in May.  Staff also noted that a new human relations commissioner was appointed by the Mayor at the February 17th meeting of the City Commission and an appointment letter was just sent out.

 

Commission Items

Chairman Criqui asked if there were any commission items.  He stated that he had attended a public forum on February 4th at the Lawrence Public Library on the topic of Police Department Community Relations.  Three organizations sponsored the event – the League of Women Voters, the NAACP and Equality Kansas.  About 70 persons attended the event.  Chief Khatib answered many questions from the audience for about an hour and a half.  Chairman Criqui envisions this meeting as an on-going forum for community discussion and the partner agencies expect to meet again regarding next steps.

 

 

2015 meeting dates and times were distributed to the committee.

 

Public Comment

There was no public comment.

 

Adjournment

Commissioner Dunn motioned and Commissioner Welch seconded for adjournment, all voted in favor to adjourn at 6:50 P.M.