Human Rights Commission

City of Morgantown Human Rights Commission Meeting Minutes January 16, 2014 Present: Jan Derry, Vice Chair Bob Jones – Research Consultant Anne Marie Lofaso, Member Anne Marlene Robinson-Sovino, Secretary Don Spencer, Chair Visitors: Mustafa – a Social Work Student from Northern Iraq John Miles Meeting called to order by Don Spencer, Chair, at 7:20 p.m. when a quorum was present. Mike Fike reported a conflict and was unable to attend. A seven minute film on “The Story of Human Rights” distributed by HumanRights.com was shown while waiting for a quorum to be established. Public Session: Mustafa stated that he has been a student in Morgantown for the past two years and is interested in studying human rights. He expressed interest in the human rights need survey being conducted by the Commission. John Miles expressed concern about the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and mentioned in particular the statement on the right to be free from want. He also questioned the ability to meet the cost of non-discrimination. Communications: The up-coming annual MLK Day events sponsored by WVU and the Community Coalition for Social Justice were discussed. The Commission will be represented with need survey tableing at the CCSJ art exhibit at Arts Mon, the WVU MLK Breakfast at the Mountain Lair, and the CCSJ MLK Day at the Metropolitan Theatre. Other items included announcing the Housing Roundtable being planned by NWCIL and CLIC to be held at the Mon Gen. Hospital on January 23 and the progress being made on the Trail Mural on Diversity at Wiles Hill Community Center on Wednesday evenings. Minutes of the December HRC Meeting: The minutes of the regular meeting on December 19 and the special meeting on January 14 were reviewed. On a motion by Anne Marie Lofaso, seconded by Marlene Robinson-Savino, both sets of minutes were approved by vote without dissent. Follow-up on Special Meeting (1/14): The Commission discussed the up-coming presentation of the resolutions to the City Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on January 28 with hope that the City Council will move the resolutions forward for a vote at the next regular meeting (2/4). The cover letter for sending the resolutions to the City Manager/City Council was approved as distributed in the agenda packet. 1 In regard to the Human Rights Need Survey, Bob Jones distributed copies of the survey as received from the printer along with an overview which had been prepared with the survey committee. Thereafter the Commission members divided up the list of potential partnering organizations with which members could be the contact on the survey distribution for the Commission. This list will be reviewed at the February meeting of the Commission. On the matter of preparation of a budget request for FY 15 – due February 7 – the Commission reviewed a draft budget relating to a plan for expenditures pertaining to the printing of an Inclusive City Plan and the organizing of a “Year of an Inclusive City”. Other ideas suggested were having an evening program on MLK Day at the Metropolitan Theatre on Ghandi, presented by Charles de Salvo, and planning an education program in cooperation with the Extension Service (Tony Michael) which would relate to unions and independent workers. Don Spencer agreed to prepare the request and to circulate it to Commission members before submitting it to the City Community Development Office. Follow-Up on Regular Meeting Items (12/19): The Commission reviewed a draft of an Annual Report on its first year of activity terminating on 12/31/13. Two corrections were made, and thereafter the members approved the report for submission to the City Manager for approval for distribution. Spencer reported that Susan Sullivan has been working on Jan Derry and the Commission’s recommendation that the City web site be made more accessible and stable for users by becoming “Bobby Approved”. This site conversion is a required federal standard for government organizations, and now the City of Morgantown is working with its IT consultant toward compliance with this standard. It may be the first City in the State to comply. Due to the adjournment hour, other items on the agenda were set aside to be considered at the February 20 meeting of the HRC. The meeting was adjourned at 9:05 p. m. 2