Minutes Human Rights Commission 1 14 08CITY OF DUBUQUE
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES OF
January 14, 2008
Commissioner Oswald called the meeting of the Dubuque Human Rights Commission to order at
4:20 p.m. on Monday, January 14, 2008, in Conference Room 2 at the City Hall Annex.
Roll Call: Anthony Allen
Present: Mary Coan
Shane Oswald, Chair
Vince Vanden Heuvel
Katrina Wilberding
Gretel Winterwood
Absent: Marco Rubinstein
Staff: Kelly Larson
Carol Spinoso
Molly Menster
Approval of Minutes
Upon a motion by Commissioner Wilberding and second by Commissioner Vanden Heuvel, the
minutes of the December 10, 2007 meeting were approved unanimously.
Caseload Report
Carol summarized the December Caseload Report. There were thirty-six intakes, five new cases
filed, ten cases under active investigation, one case in mediation, one case in backlog and five
cases were closed. The case summary details a claim of disability discrimination in the area of
public accommodation.
Chairperson's Report
Commissioner Oswald stated that the Dubuque Community School District has published
redistricting of the two high schools. Shane asked that commissioners bring any opinions or
concerns regarding that realignment to next month's meeting.
Director's Report
Kelly provided a written report highlighting past and future initiatives.
Anthony is interested in attending the National Fair Housing Policy Conference sponsored by HUD
April 8-12, 2008, in Atlanta.
Subcommittee Reports
Education and Outreach
National Origin: Commissioner Vanden Heuvel reported that the group is working on grants
to help fund the $10,000 video that Craig Schaefer is creating.
Race: Anthony reported that the groups met to discuss the structure, topics and format of
the presentation.
Disability: Commissioner Winterwood stated that the speakers are ready to be trained.
Housin4: Anthony and Gretel have agreed to serve on this subcommittee.
Sexual Orientation: Molly reported that a presentation was made to the resident assistants
at Clarke College. They are planning another presentation for Clarke students in February.
Accessibility
Commissioner Wilberding reported that Proudly Accessible Dubuque now has a board of
twelve who have divided themselves into three working committees. By February they will
be part of the Greater Dubuque Community Foundation. Katrina spoke to about 25 people
at the Sertoma Club on accessibility and the Human Rights Commission. Accessibility
articles appeared in the City Focus newsletter and the Telegraph Herald. The building
inspector is now on board, and Rich is working on ordinance amendments as it relates to
enforcement issues. For political correctness, Katrina encouraged people to use the term
"physical difficulty" instead of "disability."
Formation of Subcommittee to Address Goals
Commissioner Oswald voiced his concern about there not being any current oversight for the
indicators for success and suggested that a subcommittee be formed to coordinate, organize and
track individual activities related to the current goals. Discussion followed as to whether a
committee was needed to do that. Commissioner Allen suggested the use of a timeline to track
commissioner responsibilities and activities. Commissioner Oswald felt that they needed to
determine: 1) how they will notify the community that there are speakers available; 2) how they will
distribute information to the Education subcommittee; and 3) determine the content of the
publications so that it's consistent with the presentations.
As a starting point, Commissioners' Wilberding and Coan offered to review current departmental
Power Point presentations and publications. They will format the information, and present it at next
month's meeting. In addition, Mary will send a questionnaire to commissioners to determine what
should be addressed in the human rights publication,.
Commissioner Oswald asked that they review the goals for next month's meeting, so that they can
discuss the next steps.
Adjournment
There being no further business to come before the Commission, Commissioner Wilberding moved
to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Allen seconded. Motion passed by consensus. Meeting
was adjourned at 6:08 p.m.
The next regular meeting is February 11, 2008.
~~~ ~~.
Minutes approved as submitted:
..
Minutes approved as corrected: