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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBHRCMinutes_2015_07_27Brookings Human Rights Committee Minutes Monday, July 27, 2015 at 5:30p.m. Suite 230, Room 241-Brookings City & County Government Center Attendance: Penny Hauffe, Sam Jennings, Lawrence Novotny, George Hamer, and Chandradhar Dwivedi. Absent: Steve Bayer, Judy Karen, Shafiqur Rahman, and Kanbi Faith Knippling. Also Present: City Staff Shari Thornes, Common Read Committee Member Hannah Larson, Brookings Police Dept LGBT Liaison Derrick Powers, University Police Department Cora Olson. Hauffe called the meeting to order at 5:32pm. Everyone introduced themselves. A motion was made by Hamer, seconded by Jennings, to approve the agenda. All present voted yes; motion carried. A motion was made by Dwivedi, seconded by Hamer, to approve the June 29, 2015 minutes. Motion carried. Schedule next meeting. Monday, August 17 at 12:00 pm. Reports/Updates: A. Co-Sponsorship of “Mental Illness in the Workplace” Panel 1. The October 5 draft promotional flier for the workshop was distributed. i. Jennings suggested replacing the negative connotation word “illness” in the title with “health” because it is neutral. ii. The Brookings Empowerment Project (BEP), sponsors of the panel, asks that HRC be a co-sponsor of the program and to help fund advertising. a. The Brookings Committee for People who have Disabilities is seeking more information from the BEP before the Committee decides to be a co-sponsor. b. The additional information being sought includes who the panel moderator is, the formatting of the program, a list of potential questions for the panel, and the amount of funding. c. HRC has decided to be provided the same information before committing to co-sponsorship. Hauffe will contact BEP with the request. B. 2015 Equality Scorecard Update. 1. The sub-committee met before this meeting and the Brookings draft score is 52. i. The sub-committee will seek a meeting with the knowledgeable staff of Brookings Health System about any services being provided to LGBT elderly and those with HIV/AIDS. ii. The sub-committee will also meet with the staff of Brookings Boys & Girls Club about any services being provided to LGBT youth. 2. Discussion ensued on whether we can pick up some bonus points for the city providing services to LGBT homeless. i. Powers stated that the homeless population in Brookings is small and most homeless people are traveling through Brookings instead of residing in the city. ii. Olson stated that some homeless jump from house to house so they are not publicly living on the streets. Powers was asked to provide info on Police Dept letterhead as to services offered to the homeless. iii. The next day Powers reported: “The Brookings Police Department works with area organizations to distribute funds for goods and services for those who are in financial need to include homeless individuals. The organizations we work with include the Salvation Army and our local Ministerial Association. The goods and services that are provided to these individuals include fuel, lodging, food, and expenses for travel. In 2014 there were 81 individuals who came to the police department to receive financial assistance from the Salvation Army funds. The Ministerial Association distributes funds and services that are provided directly to those in need and the extent of our involvement is conducting a check to make sure the recipient does not have warrants.” iv. Both Powers and Olson were asked why hate crimes have not appeared on the required NIBRS and CLERY reports. Both indicated it is possibly due to the person filing the report in determining whether the incident would be considered a hate crime and also a matter of proper coding. Olson will examine the UPD’s 2013 & 2014 data. v. The next day Powers contacted the individual who enters the NIBRS entries at the police department. Powers reported “He was unable to search for the year 2013 as our records management system at the time did not allow that. He did recall checking in the past for this year and indicated he did not have any crimes coded with a bias motivator that would identify it as a hate crime. He did check our records management system from April 2014 through the current date and there were no incidents in 2014 which were coded with a bias motivator that would classify it as a hate crime. In 2015 we have had one incident that was coded with a bias motivator.” Powers will make an inquiry of the sheriff’s department. 3. The question was asked if the school resource officer was doing outreach to LGBT students. i. Powers responded that while the SRO has no official training in this area, he may do some unofficial outreach by providing counseling. ii. Olson reported that both she and the SRO have had discussions with high school students and they brought up the issue of LGBT harassment. The next day Powers reported that a LGBT group was started in the high school this last school year. Thornes asked the sub-committee to complete its work by August 14. C. Community Common Read 1. The sub-committee is organizing a panel on the mentoring of young people. Patty Bacon (facilitator of the Brookings Mentoring Program) was invited to be a speaker. The panel needs to include students and adults along with the school resource officer. 2. The sub-committee also wants to look at bullying of international children because there are reports of this occurring. The sub-committee needs to have the panel finalized by August 17 in order to meet the deadline for the printing of the Common Read promotional bookmarker. D. Commission Transition: Training and Procedures Development 1. Thornes reported on a phone call she had with Cathryn Oakley and Hope Wisneski of the Human Rights Campaign. i. HRC asked why Brookings did not include stronger language regarding LGBT non-discrimination in its revised ordinance. Thornes replied that state law prohibits cities from doing so. HRC questioned this and Oakley offered to research this and draft a paper on the city’s ability to test state law on this issue. ii. Since Sioux Falls and Rapid City are considering non-discrimination ordinances, this information will be useful to those cities. Hamer made a motion, and Novotny seconded, that we ask Cathryn Oakley to follow-up on her offer to research and draft such a paper. iii. Thornes scheduled a phone call for Monday with Carol ???? from the department of Justice to discuss discrimination hearing procedures. a. Thornes discussed the possibility of hiring Carol Gerry? who has recently retired from Sioux Falls Human Relations Office to draft the policies and procedures to conduct our discrimination investigations. b. If Gerry is not available then Thornes will start the drafting process. The goal is to have the procedures completed for approval by the City Council at the end of October. E. Diversity Training at Police Department 1. The potential trainers being considered are Terri Carlson from the Sioux Falls PFLAG, Hope Wisneski from the Human Rights Campaign, a trainer from the Denver office of the Department of Justice, and an individual from the South Dakota Network Against Violence. i. Olson reported that she recently attended a workshop in Rapid City that was titled “Serving Victims of LGBT”. The target audiences include the Brookings Police, campus police, sheriff’s office and the correctional staff. ii. Powers said he will recommend to the police chief to make the training mandatory for all police staff. This will require multiple training sessions. F. EEOC Fall Workshop 1. Dates are either October 19-20 or October 22-23. A poll will be conducted of HRC to select workshop topics. G. Committee Membership 1. The letter requested by the mayor outlining HRC’s timeline for commission training is on hold until we have the procedures drafted. Appointment of new members is also on hold until the mayor receives the letter. Announcements/Correspondence/Calendar: The September 25 equality summit in Sioux Falls has been cancelled. Jennings volunteered to speak on “Why Are You Here?” at the fall diversity potluck on October 4. Everything is in place for the October 29 Butler Award. Adjourn Motion was made to adjourn and was passed. Meeting adjourned 7:00 p.m. Submitted by Lawrence Novotny.