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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - September 26, 2006 - HRC City of Azusa Human Relations Commission Minutes from meeting of September 26, 2006 Present: Paul Naccachian, Marty Villanueva, Ilean Ochoa, Terry Franson, Logan Westbrooks, Christina Valdez, Diana Williams and Nancy Gibson Heath Hamilton Absent: No one Also in attendance were City Manager Fran Delach and Coordinator Claudia O. Shields Meeting called to order at 7:07 pm Motion to approve minutes by Diana. Ilean seconded. II. Public Comment: None III. Scheduled Item: Discussion with the City Mgr., Fran Delach Fran said he was happy to be in attendance once again and reiterated that the city staff supports this commission. Claudia's grant proposal has been approved by City Council. The city desires this idea because of budget constraints. This is a good way to provide additional staff without having to use extra funding. This is a way to help the HRC to achieve to achieve it's goals. The interns will be a way to deal with young people. Claudia will ultimately be accountable. Claudia spoke about her proposed internship proposal. Three interns will be working 11 hours per week or two interns will work 16 hours per week. She said instead of one staff person, we will have three or four. Nancy wanted to know what our role as commissioners is. Terry wanted to know where they will have their workstations. Diana asked what their duration of commitment would be. Claudia answered that they will attend meetings, work from home, the police station or City Hall (per Fran). They will work with the HRC for a period of 6 to 9 months, based on their school term or however long they want to participate. We will have a pool of qualified staff to hire from. They will get paid and course credit. Terry asked how the program will be evaluated. The interns will have a long drive to Azusa as well as other possible issues. Communication will be very important. Will we as a commission be able to ask them to do something?We need to know how soon will they start, how many will there be and who will they work with. He wanted to know if Judy Hutchinson of Apu is on board with this. He asked Paul and Marty if they will be supervising the interns. Paul said he has no time or desire to supervise the interns. Marty said that the proposed intern program seems like more of a burden than a service to the commission. Fran suggested that if there is ever a problem, contact Claudia, Fran, Frank Chavez or Bob Garcia. He said they will be just like part-time employees. IV. Scheduled Item: Coordinator's Staff Report Claudia says she submitted her grant proposal to Canyon City Foundation on Sept. 1st,the deadline. She had mailed every commissioner a hard copy but both Paul and Marty never received their copy. She handed Marty her copy and said that it was undeliverable because she forgot to put an apartment number on the mailing address. Paul did not receive his copy. Neither of these Commissioners received their email copy either. Claudia said that she e-mailed both to say that they could pick up their hard copy at the PD the morning of the meeting. Both Commissioners said that they never received such an email. Fran said that once the funds are offered we can either say"yes"or tweak it if we want. We can pick and choose because of the way it was written. The City will be making the final decision. Paul said that Antioch University was not originally going to be included in the grant. This collaboration was never mentioned to the commission before. Claudia said that the call for proposals does not allow us to fund existing projects. Diana said"Thank you"to Claudia and that nothing is set in stone. We can discuss this and we do need funding for our projects. She asked that her comment be noted for the record. Paul said that all comments are noted for the record. Paul said he noticed that in the proposal, funds are earmarked. Do we have to follow what is stated? Claudia said that the funding may need to be negotiated. This is a performance budget. The City Council can still say"yes or no". Her supervisor told her to go ahead and write it. We can negotiate afterwards. Paul mentioned again that we were not told that Antioch or any other partners in the grant would be part of the grant. Marty reminded her that Claudia told the Commission as well as herself in a telephone conversation that if the Commission did not accept the internship program, she would leave her position as Coordinator because she had already committed to another full time position at Antioch University. Marty said that Claudia said it at least five times both at a meeting and during the telephone conversation. Claudia said she was just kidding. Claudia explained where the money will be allocated in the grant budget. She said that we would still need to find sponsors, donors and we could sell ads. Ilean wanted to know if the dates were accurate for starting. Regarding her timeline: who will be accomplishing all this? Where do I fit into all this? She further explained that if the interns showed up tomorrow at her doorstep, she would not know what to say or do with them. To delegate or work with interns requires additional workload that is not likely to occur with a coordinator that is willing to put in limited amount of hours, Ilean said. There was some confusion with Commissioners Diana and Logan regarding the internship proposal and the grant proposal as to whether they both are interrelated or separate proposals. Paul provided copies of the internship proposal that was submitted in our previous meeting and explained that the internship program was a separate proposal. Claudia answered that it is all negotiated as part of memo of understanding. Nothing is set in stone. The work plan is flexible and who does what and when is flexible. Others have agreed to do various tasks. The theatre group will get only$2500.00. At APU, Jenny Dedaian offered the use of the theatre at a reduced cost. Various groups will train students for the drum circle. Youth will be trained as facilitators. Claudia said that all of these groups have offered to stay and work with the HRC regardless of whether she stays on as Coordinator or not. Terry wanted to know who would work with all these groups if you leave? We are already overburdened. Claudia answered, "You commissioners could do this. I don't want it to be a burden. I can help with any subcommittee if I resign. I could consult on a volunteer basis. Fran said that he will come to us with questions on the grant if the City accepts the funding. Claudia said that the proposal is just a preliminary plan. The negotiations will begin after. Claudia reminded the commissioners that her hours are one hour everyday at the AZPD. She could also be reached by her cell number. After Claudia left, the remaining Commissioners had a discussion regarding the proposed internship program. It was decided unanimously that the HRC would do a thorough review of both Claudia and the internship program after the MLK/Hands Across Azusa event in January 2007. Paul made the motion and Marty seconded it. The motion of the Commission was as follows: 1) That the program shall begin immediately with the planning of the HAAZ celebration scheduled for January 14,2007; 2) That there will be a full and thorough review in the performance of"intern- coordinator-Commission"collaboration in our regular meeting in January 2007 to determine whether the program has the potential to be successful and; 3) That if the majority of the commissioners feel that there are issues or concerns with the program,then the Commission reserves the right to discontinue with the program and request for a coordinator who is willing to contribute at least 20 hours to the Commission. Adjournment at 9:35 p.m.