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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - July 25, 2006 HRC Fi • OF AZt1SA Azusa Human Relations Commission Minutes from July 25, 2006 Meeting I. Meeting called to order at 7:13 p.m. II. Commissioners in attendance: Diana Williams, Heath Hamilton, Paul Naccachian (Chair), Marty Villanueva, Ilean Ochoa, Logan Westbrooks, Terry Franson III. Absent: Nancy Gibson, Christina Valdez Azusa Police Lieutenant Frank Chavez & Coordinator Claudia 0. Shields were also in attendance. IV. Public Comment— City Clerk, Vera Mendoza came by to distribute the most current copy of the Brown Act to HRC members. She also mentioned that the Agenda must be posted 72 hours before our meetings. Her office will post at the various locations if we are unable to do so. V. Approval of Minutes — Motion made to accept minutes by Paul, seconded by Ilean. VI. Scheduled Items 1) Elections: Paul reminded the group that there are 3 open commissioner positions as of September 2006: Diana Williams, Nancy Gibson and Terry Franson, who is the only commissioner appointed by the HRC. There was a motion by Logan Westbrooks to appoint Terry for a second 3 year term which was seconded by Heath Hamilton. Diana asked Commissioner Franson to briefly state what his goals for the HRC are. Terry said that he enjoyed working on the commission with his fellow commissioners but if we had someone else in mind, he would understand. He said that he doesn't understand discrimination or prejudice. He said he would continue to reconcile wrongs and work more collaboratively with AUSD. He is a connection to APU that the HRC will always have. He also stated that he needed to discuss the issue with his wife first before he could accept another term. He asked if we could please table the re-appointment. Marty stated that the Bylaws would need to be amended due to the fact that we needed 8 members to vote. Logan moved to amend the bylaws to state that we needed only 6 members. Heath seconded the motion. A vote was taken and Terry Franson was reappointed for a second 3 year term. Paul, the Chair made clear that the amendment to the bylaws should be narrowly construed and applied only in emergency situations. Given the fact that our July meeting is when the Commission does elections, and given the fact that two commissioners were absent, the amendment to the bylaws was appropriate. Paul said that he originally took over former Commissioner Rick McDonald's position of chair but that it is now time for reelection, he would be happy to serve as chair for another year. Motion to nominate Paul as Chair by Ilean Ochoa, seconded by Logan Westbrooks. Paul was elected as Chair by a unanimous vote. A motion was made by Terry Franson to nominate Marty for Vice Chair. Marty said that she was hoping to serve as Secretary instead. Terry asked if she could serve in two positions. Marty said that the Bylaws state that Commissioners could serve in one position only. Heath volunteered that he would like to serve as Vice Chair with the assistance of Paul and Marty. Motion to nominate Heath Burke Hamilton as Vice Chair by Ilean, seconded by Logan. Heath was elected as Vice Chair by a unanimous vote. A motion was made to nominate Marty Villanueva as Secretary by Paul Naccachian, seconded by Diana Williams. Marty was elected as Secretary by a unanimous vote. 2) Youth Conference: July 6th, a brainstorming session was held at the Light and Water Dept. upstairs conference room with two AUSD teachers, Paul, Marty and Nancy. The next meeting with teachers will occur in early August for further development of Conference planning. The site of Munson Chapel and classrooms for the October Conference has been reserved by Terry Franson at Azusa Pacific University at no charge to the HRC. The projected cost for lunch per person is $6.00 which will be cooked and served by APU cafeteria/catering. There will be approximately 120 people attending the Conference. Breakfast and snacks will be purchased separately. Funding is needed. A question of how much is budgeted for the Youth Conference was asked. Claudia said the HRC has $2,000 in their budget and maybe $2,000 more. She attended the pre-funding workshop for the Rosedale Foundation this morning and learned that the proposal deadline is Sept. 1st so we may not get the funding in time for the Conference. Ilean said that we should submit a proposal anyway because that foundation's focus is to benefit the children. Claudia asked for the proposed budget for the Conference. Frank Chavez said he needs the proposed budget for next year from Claudia but said that it is best if the HRC finds funding from other sources. Diana suggested that we advertise on HRC brochures that the Conference is FREE. Ilean reminded us that we need to get the flyers approved by the District Office if they are to be distributed at school sites. She also recommended that we be very cautious about student pick up after the Conference. 3) Future of the HRC Frank Chavez asked the Commissioners if email is a useful way to communicate with the Coordinator. He asked if he should report that the Commissioners do not want to cooperate by reading and answering their emails. Logan responded that he is "surprised at the complaints of the Coordinator. The Commission was anticipating the Coordinator's arrival but now she is making such a big deal about non- communication. This must be a two-way street. We, the commission are being treated as if we are a loose cannon. What was the motivation behind the rush to get Claudia hired so suddenly?" Ilean and Marty both said that emails were not their preferred method of contact. Logan again said "the issue is communication". He feels that perhaps the City Mgr. does not like our commission. Logan thinks that the City Mgr. should have consulted the Chair, Paul Naccachian, to clarify the Coordinator's role and the Commission's role before writing up her new job description. Terry Franson said that the former Coordinator, Donna Parker, left a gap. The Commission lost our funding and there was no "Hands Across Azusa"that year. The city had just hired a new City Manager, and Commissioners Naccachian and Villanueva stepped up to keep the Commission running. They managed to get funding for the next years Martin Luther King Celebration and we sponsored other successful events such as the passage of the Armenian Genocide Resolution, Library exhibit case and the evening of Armenian Music, Film and Dialogue, and the Youth Recognition Dinner for their Art entries at HAAZ. Also, after much discussion that it would be detrimental if the office of the Coordinator were inside the Police Dept. and now the P.D. is in charge of our Coordinator. Ilean Ochoa asked if Claudia might"not accept the Coordinator position as it stands. The community does not want the Police Dept. involved. We redid our brochure and eliminated the Police Dept. from the wording". Frank Chavez apologized for not knowing the history of the HRC. Paul said that the City Manager has now provided more rigid rules for the HRC. Logan said the most important thing for us to do now is to meet with the City Manager, perhaps invite him to our next meeting. Terry said "we need to be a team. Why did the communication stop? It seems that control and trust became issues for us". Paul and Marty were in agreement with Terry. Frank said that the City doesn't want anyone going to the schools. The Coordinator is the liaison between the city and the school district. Claudia said that when she was hired, it was so sudden. The City Manager wanted her to start the position immediately for 6 hours per week. She had already applied for another job at Antioch University and she was hired to start full-time on September 1st. Logan asked, "did the City Mgr. have a change of heart or why did he rush the Coordinator?" Heath Hamilton then asked Claudia, "We can't delegate to you? Are we only an Advisory Body?"Claudia said that if we asked her to do something, as long as it was within reason, she would cooperate. Claudia read the job description, given to her by the City Mgr., to the HRC (see attached) Terry asked if the job description was changed since Donna left? Claudia answered that she did not know. Terry asked how we could bring clarity to this issue if Fran, the City Mgr. is your authority? As a part-timer, she should help us to move forward as a team. We need role clarification from the Bylaws and Fran. Paul mentioned that we are an independent body. Frank Chavez asked, "How can we work together? Can we use emails?" Claudia offered to send a sheet around so that each member could write down their preferred method of contact for the future. Logan motioned if we could ask the City Mgr. to meet with us at our next meeting so that we might open the lines of communication and move forward. This was seconded by Terry and it was unanimously approved. Meeting was adjourned at 10:08 p.m.