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Town of Normal, Illinois. Committed to Service Excellence.

Normal Human Relations Commission
Meeting
December 13, 2005 5 PM
Normal City Hall

  1. Call to Order:
    Chairperson Evelyn Young called the meeting to order at 5:09 pm.
     
    1. Present: Chairperson Evelyn Young, Commissioner Ramesh Chaudhari, Commissioner Tim Harshbarger, Commissioner Terry Brown, Commissioner Laurie Bergner, Commissioner Mari McKeeth
       
    2. Absent: none
       
    3. Others Present: Staff: Jennifer Hanna and Jose Garibay
       
  2. Approval of Minutes from September 20, 2005 Meeting Commissioners Laurie Bergner and Mari McKeeth moved and seconded to approve the amended minutes from the September 20, 2005 meeting. With no further discussion the minutes were approved by a unanimous voice vote.
     
  3. Complaint Review
    Staff informed the commission that there are 3 outstanding complaints on file. Those complaints are as follows:
     
    05E1YTD2 Racial in employment Requesting dismissal from commission later in agenda
    05E2YTD3 Racial, disability & age in employment Requesting dismissal from commission later in agenda
    05E3YTD4 Sexual harassment in employment No response from complainant after sending the conciliation agreement that was agreed upon by all parties at the conciliation meeting on November 1, 2005
     
  4. New Business
    1. Commissioner Attendance
      Attendance was discussed by all commissioners. It was decided that all commissioners should call a minimum of 24 hours in advance if they can not attend the monthly commission meeting or if they are going to be late. The commission also discussed the issue of the ISU representative not taking part in the commission for 2 years. It was recommended to have the Town student liaison committee review the situation and make a recommendation for solutions.
    2. Review Human Relations Municipal Code & Discussion
      The commission discussed the Human Relations code and asked staff to draft proposed amendments to the code incorporating language clarifying jurisdictional issues and adding an appeal of staff jurisdictional rulings to the commission and new procedures for handling formal complaints. The Commission agreed to a retreat to have discussion about possible revisions to the code. Staff asked for the commissioners to send her their March calendars and she would contact the legal department about attending as well.
    3. Request for Dismissal of complaints #05E2YTD3 and 05E1YTD2
      Staff requested the commission to dismiss complaint #05E2YTD3 due to the parties coming to a resolution prior to the scheduled public hearing and complaint #05E1YTD2 due to no response to a 30 notice to the complainant. Staff tried to contact the complainant concerning setting a date and time for the public hearing. Commissioner Terry Brown moved and Commissioner Laurie Bergner seconded to dismiss complaints #05E1YTD2 & #05E2YTD3. With no further discussion the commission the dismissals by a unanimous voice vote.
  5. Old Business
    1. King Luncheon
      1. Awards
        The commission voted for the youth “I Have a Dream” and the adult Human Relations Awards to be presented at the 30th Dr. Martin Luther King Awards Luncheon on January 14, 2006. The commission voted by putting their choices in the order of preference. The youth award had one person nominated twice so the commission reviewed her nominations for approval and voted on the adult award.
         

        Adult Nominees
        Commissioners Dr. JoAnn
        Walters         		Dr. Jeanne
         Morris
        Terry Brown 1 2
        Mari McKeeth 1 2
        Ramesh Chaudhari 1 2
        Evelyn young 2 1
        Laurie Bergner 1 2
        Tim Harshbarger 1 2
        Total 7 11

        Commissioner Ramesh Chaudhari moved to select Lauren Murphy for the youth award and Dr. JoAnn Walters for the Adult award and Commissioner Mari McKeeth seconded the motion. With no further discussion the vote was approved by a unanimous voice vote.
         

      2. Logistics
        Staff stated that they have met with the Interstate Center and everything is set for the event.
      3. Program Committee
        Terry Brown stated that there will be a video of Dr. King and will run through out the event. The committee selected someone to sing one of Dr. King’s favorite hymns.
      4. Public Relations
        Evelyn stated that both she and Otis Evans from Bloomington HRC appeared on City Vision in November to solicit nominations and speak about the event.
         
  6. Concerns
    Staff reminded everyone about the reception on the 13th for the previous award recipients. It starts at 6:30 at the Illinois State University Bone Student center, ISU President, AL Bowman is sponsoring the event for the Bloomington and Normal Human Relations Commissions.
     
  7. Adjournment
    Commissioner Tim Harshbarger moved to adjourn the September 20, 2005 meeting of the Normal Human Relations Commission at 9:03 PM. Commissioner Mari McKeeth seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous voice vote.

Respectfully submitted

Jennifer Hanna
Human Resources Generalist

This page last modified 05/14/08.