Minutes_Human Rights Commission 3 10 11Roll Call:
Present:
Absent:
Staff:
Anthony Allen, Chair
Andrea Beacham
Megan Gloss
Lori Apel
Mike Elliott
Kelly Larson
Reports
Caseload Report
A written report for February was submitted.
Chairperson's Report
A written report for February was submitted.
Director's Report
A written report for February was submitted.
CITY OF DUBUQUE
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES OF
March 10, 2011
Commissioner Allen called the meeting of the Dubuque Human Rights Commission to order at 4:07
p.m. on Thursday, March 10, 2011, at the Historic Federal Building, Room 223, Dubuque, Iowa.
Kurt Hansen
R.R.S. Stewart
Lynn Sutton, Vice -Chair
Fred Davis
Carol Spinoso
Approval of Minutes
Commissioner Stewart clarified that the joint meeting with the Housing Commission will now be held
at the City Hall Annex in conference room 2. She also clarified that newly appointed Commissioners
serving as liaisons to the DDRC can both attend meetings. Commissioner Hansen moved to
approve the minutes as amended. Commissioner Stewart seconded. All in favor of approving the
meeting minutes as amended.
Old Business
Commissioner Allen distributed a confirmed list of upcoming meeting dates. Kelly asked if staff was
needed to facilitate any of the meetings. He thought that staff facilitation would be necessary for the
joint Housing Commission goal setting, the July meeting with the Neighborhood Associations and the
DCAP and DDRC meeting in October.
Review and Discuss Goals and Collaborations:
Goal #1: Fair Housing
Commissioner Sutton was named chairperson. Commissioner Sutton stated that she wanted
to look into Project Concern programs as part of this venture. She was assigned the task of
putting a study group together. Commissioner Gloss will address the testing data received
from the ICRC, and Commissioner Elliott will work on planning a second housing forum. The
next committee meeting is scheduled for April 13, 2011 at 1:30 p.m. in Conference Room II at
the City Hall Annex.
Goal #2: Improve Commission Performance
Commissioner Beacham will chair this group, and will work with faces & voices in planning the
2012 Equity Conference. Commissioner Allen is preparing a list of diversity contacts within
the city.
Goal #3: Establish a Working Group to Facilitate Transportation Goals
Commissioner Stewart stated that the committee will meet following the joint session that is
scheduled for later today.
Goal #4: Establish a Tenant Association
Commissioner Apel was appointed Chair. Commissioner Allen said that they will collaborate
with both the Landlord and Neighborhood Associations in attempting to establish a Tenant
Association.
Commissioner Stewart asked to include an agenda item on next month's agenda for discussion on
Commissioner assignment to lead meetings.
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Stewart. Second by Commissioner Hansen. All in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 4:35 p.m.
New Business
Joint meeting with the Transit Board of Trustees.
Commissioner Stewart moved to convene the joint meeting of the Human Rights Commission and
the Transit Board of Trustees at 4:40 p.m. Commissioner Beacham seconded. All in favor.
Roll Call (HRC): Anthony Allen
Andrea Beacham
Megan Gloss
Staff: (HRC) Kelly Larson
CITY OF DUBUQUE
Human Rights Commission 8 Transit Board of Trustees
Meeting Minutes of March 10, 2011
Kurt Hansen
R.R.S. Stewart, Presiding Chair
Lynn Sutton
Roll Call (TBT): Rhonda Knight R.R.S. Stewart
Matt Esser
[Absent (TBT): George Enderson Joel Lightcap
Staff (TBT): Gail Kuhle, Barbara Morck
Candace Eudaley
Commissioner Allen recognized Commissioner Stewart as Presiding Chair for the Joint Meeting.
Commissioner Stewart apologized for not sending out the ADA Anniversary Activity Summary Report
to the Transit Board of Trustees prior to the joint meeting and would e-mail it immediately. So that
each board would know where the other was coming from, she read the questions asked in the
Americans with Disabilities Act / Fair Housing Act / Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Online
Survey done by DHRC throughout June and July 2010:
Q1: What are the challenges with transportation you see facing people with disabilities?
Q2: What are the challenges with education you see facing people with disabilities?
Q3: What are the challenges with housing you see facing people with disabilities?
Q4: What are the challenges with employment you see facing people with disabilities?
Q5: The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) strives to ensure that people with disabilities have
equal opportunity to participate in employment, government, and places of public
accommodation. Other laws similarly address equality of opportunity in housing and
education. What progress do you think Dubuque has made with equal opportunity in last 20
years?
Q6: Centers for Independent Living (CILs) are non - profit organizations run BY people with
disabilities FOR people with disabilities. CILs provide four core services to consumer
partners: information and referral, peer support, independent living skills training and
individual and systems advocacy. Would you like to see such a Center in Dubuque?
The Summary of Main Ideas from Q &A/Discussion at the ADA Anniversary Roundtable:
• For many changes to occur, individuals with disabilities must speak up. This is intimidating but
necessary for services to be tailored to their needs.
• Navigating the system and finding out about the resources available is crucial. Perhaps a sort
of one - stop -shop should be created to serve as a resource center. There are currently a few
such centers in the Dubuque area but they are primarily geared towards specific disabilities
(i.e. Tri -State Independent Blind). There should be a more consistent cooperative effort to
coordinate between all organizations.
• Universal design efforts should be supported and promoted to encourage greater
accessibility. Can Dubuque go beyond state - mandated building code requirements?
• Transportation needs are not being met, especially on nights and weekends.
• Creating a more cooperative attitude with business is important. We must get businesses on
board and demonstrate how compliance and support of individuals with disabilities is in their
best interest. Perhaps offer more sensitivity training to encourage this."
The Recommendations from Chapter 5 if the East Central Intergovernmental Association Passenger
Transportation Plan FY 2010 -2014:
"Job Access Reverse Commute (Continuation Project) ... The Regional Transit Authority partners
with the urban public transit system, Keyline Transit and dozens of area human service organizations
including the Area Residential Care, Hills and Dales Child Development, Department of human
Services, Iowa Workforce Development, Delaware / Dubuque / Jackson County CPC's, the
Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Regional Planning Affiliate to coordinate employment
and job readiness training transportation in RTA service area. The JARC project in 2011 is a
continuation project for employment transportation and will provide approximately 32,000 rides,
149,000 revenue miles and 9,100 revenue hours of service. RTA operates eight 16- passenger buses
Monday through Friday on split shifts from 7 -9am and from 2:30- 4:30pm, transporting 110
passengers to the following job sites within the city limits of Dubuque: Vocational Services Center,
McGraw Hill Publishing, Can Redemption Center, Dittmer Recycling, Pepsi, Finnin Fords, Colonial
Terrace, Goodwill Super Center, HyVee, Burger King, Crescent Community Center and Stonehill
Care Center. RTA also operates one 16- passenger bus Monday through Sunday from 8 -10pm
transporting 7 -10 passengers to the following jobs sites within the city limits of Dubuque: Crescent
Community Center, Stonehill Care Center and Goodwill Super Center. Service is a subscription
service and was implemented by the Regional Transit Authority January 1, 2007. Service is open to
the general public and predominantly utilized by passengers with disabilities who are living below the
poverty level."
And the Recommendations for Keyline (now the Jule):
Expanded Hours and Days of Service
- Maintain a consistent schedule
Expand services within Dubuque and to Dubuque West End
- Educate Community route information and widely market services
- Provide a greater accessibility to services"
Discussion followed of potential ways to collaborate with particular focus on transportation issues
raised at the ADA Forum, many of which have also been raised to the Transit Board already by
others. Ms. Morck stated that the 2009 Transit Study done for the City of Dubuque by LSC
Transportation Consultants was only over three weeks.
Idea: Creative strategies perhaps some collaborations between public and private partnerships to
help bridge some of the gaps in services and expand services. To keep Transit needs in awareness if
opportunities for funding would become available.
The new buses will be arriving sometime between May and July if things remain on schedule. They
will have a ribbon cutting ceremony in August.
Idea: Use the August 15th Summit with the Housing and Transit Boards at the Comiskey Park Field
House as a way to collaborate on getting public input and introducing the community to the new
buses.
Idea: Use something like the Envision 2010 process to envision transportation needs in Dubuque for
the future (i.e. 2020). Entice participation through a contest of some sort to help gather input/ideas
and select a winner and proceed with it. Need a way to keep people engaged to carry it out and
collect demographics as they go. Possible Slogans: Help us drive the Jule, What do you see in 2015.
Perhaps use the rebranding contest as a model. Perhaps a simulation of some sort; "If you couldn't
afford gas what would you do for transportation ?" Since 25% of Iowans do not have Internet, we
could possibly go through DCSD including contest information / transit surveys in the school
information packet sent out at beginning of school year. Ms. Kuhle stated Transit did that with a
questionnaire on safe ways to get to and from school and will find out when we would need to have
those to DSCD by to be included in the packets. Discussed advertising with churches and
collaborating with UD or UW -P to get college students to assist with study. Ms. Eudaley is working
with Clarke / Loras / UD to see if there are any student groups willing to sponsor a referendum to put
part of student fees towards City transportation. Then all students (high school and college) could
ride for free just by showing ID.
It costs about $900 to make 9,000 copies needed for DCSD packets. Sending contest information /
transit surveys out with utility bills may also be an option, but again there will be a printing cost. We
may need to investigate available grants in order to proceed with this. Ms. Kuhle will check on the
Transit side to see if there is anything available. Ms. Larson stated that the Community Foundation
has a grants database that we could look into, and Commissioner Stewart said collaborating with the
Dubuque Center for Independent Living may also be an option, although their funding is not certain
yet. Possibly other groups (i.e. disability groups, Science Valley Agency on Aging, etc.) would be
interested in joining in as well and may have funds to assist. The majority of people who ride public
transportation in Dubuque are transit dependent. We could ask Housing Department to pass out
route information to their constituencies.
Commissioners Stewart, Davis and Hansen are serving on the Transit task force and Commissioner
Gloss will serve as the liaison between the Commission and the Transit Board.
Non - profits can advertise events for free on the inside of the buses. The flyers will need to be 11"
high and up 17" long. Transit will hang the prepared flyers. They have 12 buses now; will have a
total of 16 big buses by July /August.]
Adjournment
Motion to adjourn by Commissioner Stewart. Second by Commissioner Hansen. All in favor.
Meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
The next Human Rights Commission meeting will be a joint meeting with the Housing Commission on
Friday March 25, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. at the City Hall Annex Conference Room 2.
The next Transit board of Trustees meeting will be Thursday April 14 at 4:15 in the Historic Federal
Building.
Minutes approved as submitted'
Minutes approved as corrected'