Normal Human Relations Commission
March 15, 2005 7:00 PM
Normal City Hall
Chairman Hathway called the meeting to order at 7:04 pm.
Present: Chairman Hathway, Commissioners, Laurie Bergner, Tim
Harshbarger, Ramesh Chaudhari, Mari McKeeth, Evelyn young
Absent: ISU Student Government Vice President
Others: Staff: Jennifer Hanna, HR Generalist; Jose Garibay, HR
Director; Police Chief Kent Crutcher; Geoff Fruin,
Administrative Analyst
- Approval of Minutes from the February 15, 2005 Meeting
Commissioners Mari McKeeth and Laurie Bergner moved and seconded to approve the minutes from the February 15, 2005 meeting. With no further discussion the minutes were approved by a unanimous voice vote.
- Police Department Update
Police Chief Kent Crutcher spoke to the commission about crime trends for Normal in 2004 and any up coming changes in 2005. Bob Hathway asked about the School resource officers and Kent told him there are 3 school resource officers in the grammar/Jr. high schools and 2 officers in the high schools. The chief informed the commission that ID theft has doubled for the past 2 years. Vice Chair Young suggested a community training seminar on ID or computer fraud theft. Chief Crutcher stated that there have not been any racial profiling complaints since July of 2004. Biggest complaint they receive is courtesy complaints.
- Town of Normal 2030 Report
Geoff Fruin discussed the report with the commission and highlighted the areas concerning diversity and their goals.
- Complaint Update
Staff informed the commission about the 3 complaints still outstanding.
They are Sexual harassment in employment, ethnic origin in public accommodation and race in employment. The sexual harassment complaint has had a successful conciliation, an agreement has been drafted and is currently still with the parties’ attorneys for review. The ethnic origin complaint had an unsuccessful conciliation meeting and the respondent party is putting together a request for a dismissal hearing before a commissioner. The final complaint, race in employment has had all parties informed and staff will be calling soon to schedule a conciliation hearing.
- Ticket price for the 2006 program
Staff informed the commission about the financing of the King program. The King program had revenue of $10330.00 and expenses of $27645.47. A difference of $17315.47 that both cities split in half. The commission had discussed ticket prices at the last meeting and wanted to have a discussion about whether to raise the ticket prices this year due to expenses. Staff informed the commission that ticket prices have not been raised in at least 10 years if not longer. Mari McKeeth moved to raise the ticket prices to $15.00 a person. Evelyn Young seconded the motion. After a lot of discussion about various options for pricing, the motion was approved by a unanimous voice vote.
- Concerns
Bob Hathway thanked the commissioners for their input and time on the commission and said that he is proud of the accomplishments this commission has made while he has been a part of it. He is especially proud of the help that he and Otis Evans did in the Unit 5 school district about school monitoring and the gay bashing issues at their schools.
Staff informed the commission about a Dept of Justice meeting that was held in Normal. Staff went as a representative for the commission. The Dept of Justice is bringing various social groups in the cities together to discussion and hopefully come up with a solution to the various issues surrounding the growing immigrant population. There is another meeting scheduled for later this month.
- Adjournment
Commissioner Ramesh Chaudhari moved to adjourn the March 15, 2005 meeting of the Normal Human Relations Commission at 8:25 PM. Commissioner Evelyn Young seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous voice vote.
Respectfully submitted
Jennifer Hanna
Human Resources Generalist