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HRC Minutes 091610GOLDEN VALLEY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION MEETING Minutes from the Meeting of September 16, 2010 Members Present: Christopher Jordan, Marion Helland, Roger McConico, Debra Yahle, Anne Dykstra and Bob Hoyt. Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Chief Stacy Altonen. The meeting was called to order by Chair Jordan at 7:00 pm. APPROVAL OF AGENDA Chair Jordan moved to add "Community Building Activity- PRISM" as an item following the Chair Report on the agenda. Following this item guest Phil Duran with www.outfront.org will speak. Commissioner Dykstra moved to approve this addition; seconded by Commissioner McConico. The amended agenda was approved by consensus. OPEN FORUM There was no one present requesting to address the Commission. CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT APPROVAL OF MINUTES Chair Jordan advised Jay Sandvik was listed as absent from the May 13, 2010 meeting. Chair Jordan stated Commissioner Sandvik's term ended in May 2010 and he requested that he not be re -appointed to the commission. Chair Jordan requested Commissioner Sandvik be removed from the minutes. Commissioner Hoyt moved to approve the revised minutes of the May 13, 2010 meeting; seconded by Commissioner Yahle. The revised minutes were approved by consensus. COMMUNITY BUILDING ACTIVITY- PRISM Chair Jordan advised he contacted PRISM and Feed My Starving Children to inquire if there was interest in working with the Golden Valley Human Rights Commission to establish a program designed to serve Golden Valley residents. Chair Jordan proposed the commission could work with Golden Valley businesses to solicit donations for Feed My Starving Children, which would subsidize the $19,000 needed to sponsor an event in Golden Valley. Chair Jordan advised residents would also be solicited to come out to participate in this event, bringing monetary and non-perishable food donations. Monetary donations would be donated to PRISM and food items would be donated to Feed My Starving Children. Elizabeth Johnson from PRISM addressed the commission and gave an overview of the services PRISM offers. PRISM has been serving Golden Valley for 40 years through its food shelf program, currently serving approximately 500 households each month. PRISM works with 2,000 households each month overall. Commissioner Dykstra inquired about the criteria for families requesting assistance. Ms. Johnson advised food program participants must live in the geographic area PRISM serves and a caseworker reviews income, expenses, and background information for the requesting households. Ms. Johnson stated parties seeking job counseling, mental health counseling and other services not provided by PRISM are referred to other organizations. Chair Jordan moved to make a recommendation to the city council to consider this proposed event. Commissioner Dykstra moved to postpone making a final decision until a representative from Feed My Starving Children can meet with commissioners to give an overview of their program; seconded by Commissioner Hoyt. Motion carried unanimously. www.outfront.org Phil Duran, the legal director with OutFront Minnesota, was introduced by Chair Jordan. Phil Duran gave an overview of domestic partnerships- the definition, significance of protections, etc. A municipal domestic partner registry ordinance is authorized under Minnesota law, but its provisions are relatively limited. Currently there are five cities in Minnesota that have created a domestic partnership registry. Mr. Duran distributed copies of the ordinances and provisions from the City of Edina and the City of Duluth for reference. Municipal ordinances concerning domestic partnerships also recognize domestic partnerships registered in other cities. Chief Altonen advised new ordinances in the City of Golden Valley require two readings. A representative would give an overview of the ordinance to the City Council and the public would be permitted to comment on the proposed ordinance. A final draft ordinance would then be read at another city council meeting for adoption. Chief Altonen advised the city council is requesting commissioners contemplate a domestic partnership ordinance and report feedback to the council as to whether or not language should be drafted for a proposal. Chair Jordan proposed the commission draft language for an ordinance and forward it to the council for consideration. Commissioner Dykstra moved to agree in principle with a domestic partner registration and further consider wording of the ordinance before recommending adoption; seconded by Commissioner Hoyt. Motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Dykstra moved to set a discussion meeting to consider draft language; seconded by Commissioner Yahle. Motion carried unanimously. A discussion meeting was set for Thursday, October 7th, at 7PM. NEW BUSINESS Juvenile Justice Initiative Commissioner Dykstra advised the Hennepin County Juvenile Justice Division has reduced their incarceration rate in the last two years by more than 60%. A new set of protocols was developed to assess a number of risk factors when a child is charged and increase the family's and child's access to support services to keep them out of jail. Hennepin County is interested in sharing the success of this initiative with other counties across the state. To that end, Chief Altonen had suggested the Human Rights Commission request the Hennepin County Chiefs of Police Association extend an invitation to Angelique Kadem, the state head of juvenile justice, to speak at a Hennepin County Chiefs of Police luncheon, held the first Thursday of each month at the Golden Valley Country Club. Commissioner Dykstra moved to contact the Champlin Police Chief (and current president of the Hennepin County Chiefs of Police Association) Dave Schwarze to arrange a date for Angelique Kadem to be invited to speak on the methods of reducing incarceration rates of children; seconded by Commissioner McConico. Motion carried unanimously. Once a date is set a letter of invitation would be sent to Angelique Kadem on behalf of the Golden Valley Human Rights Commission. COMMITTEE REPORTS Executive Committee There was nothing to report. II. Nomination and Governance Committee There was nothing to report. III. League of Minnesota Human Rights Commission Commissioner Dykstra advised the juvenile justice initiative will hopefully result in a statewide conference to organize efforts across Minnesota counties. The LMHRC is working on a format for human rights commissions called Peacebuilding, which is a format that promotes proactive action in the community to build better communities as opposed to always working from a negative aspect of confronting hate and bias crimes. Commissioner Dykstra advised human rights commissions are coming together to plan ways to implement this strategy. Another opportunity would be to do some public forums that promote civility with regards to elections and getting people to the polls. Mr. Cole from Breck contacted Chair Jordan and advised his students are interested in coming before the commission to make a presentation with regard to run-off elections. IV. Program Committees Human Riahts Communitv Issues Chief Altonen advised there is nothing to report. Chair Jordan inquired if the Human Rights Commission budget was reduced. Chief Altonen advised she will check into this and report back to the commission. Chair Jordan inquired if the Human Rights Commission could have a designated e-mail address now that the city website has been re -designed and Chief Altonen advised questions or complaints can be sent to the main city hall e-mail account and forwarded to her and Amanda Johnson, but HRC cannot have its own address so as to prevent violations of the open meeting law. Share the Dream There was nothing to report. 45th Anniversary of Golden Valley HRC Commissioner Helland moved to cancel the plans for the 45th anniversary event due to reduced membership and many other pending projects; seconded by Commissioner Dykstra. Motion carried unanimously. OLD BUSINESS iNeighbor Setup and Calendaring Option Chair Jordan advised he set up calendaring information on the iNeighbor website under zip code 55427. City of Golden Valley's Electronic Documents Retention Policy Chair Jordan inquired about electronic storage of e-mails and documents. Chief Altonen advised e- mails that are city -generated are the responsibility of the city. Other e-mails pertaining to city business that have been circulated amongst commissioners in the past would either need to be circulated to a city staff member for retention or retained by commissioners. Once a commissioner's term has ended a commissioner is advised to purge documents and correspondences related to city business. Chair Jordan advised Marion Helland is being honored with the Envision award next Tuesday at 6:30pm at City Hall. Chair Jordan thanked Commissioner Helland for all she has done and continues to do. Chair Jordan reported a communication was sent out regarding the 125th anniversary of the City of Golden Valley. A planning meeting will be held on September 22nd at 7PM at City Hall. The City of Robbinsdale will be hosting a human rights event honoring a holocaust survivor on Tuesday, September 28th, at 7PM at the Elim Lutheran Church. NEXT MEETING The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, November 4th, beginning at 7PM. This meeting was scheduled a week early as November 11th is Veterans Day. ADJOURNMENT Moved by Commissioner Dykstra, seconded by Commissioner McConico to adjourn the meeting at 8:58 pm.