Normal Human Relations Commission
Meeting
September 19, 2006
Normal City Hall

1. Call to Order:
   Chairperson Evelyn Young called the meeting to order at 5:20 pm.
    
   1. Present: Chairperson Evelyn Young, Commissioner Terry Brown, Commissioner Michael Pullin, Commissioner Laurie Bergner and Commissioner Ramesh Chaudhari
       
   2. Absent: Commissioner Tim Harshbarger
       
   3. Others Present: Staff: Jennifer Hanna and Jose A'. Garibay
       
2. Approval of Minutes from August 15, 2006 Meeting
   Commissioners Brown and Chaudhari moved and seconded to approve the minutes from the August 15, 2006 meeting. With no further discussion the minutes were approved by a unanimous voice vote.
    
3. Complaint Review
   Staff informed the commission that there are no outstanding complaints on file. Jennifer Hanna informed the commission that the Mayor has received a complaint that is racial based in public accommodation. The complainant had received a letter from the HR Director with instructions on how to file a complaint with the commission.
    
4. New Business
   1. Officer Elections
      Chairperson Evelyn Young opened up the floor for nominations for chairperson of the Normal Human Relations Commission. Commissioner Terry Brown nominated Commissioner Young for chairperson of the commission. Commissioner Laurie Bergner seconded the nomination. Chairperson Evelyn Young called three times for any other nominations from the floor. Commissioner Ramesh Chaudhari moved to close the nominations. Commissioner Terry Brown seconded the motion. With no other nominations the floor was closed and a unanimous voice vote elected Commissioner Evelyn Young for chairperson of the Normal Human Relations Commission.
      Chairperson Evelyn Young opened up the floor for nominations of Vice-Chairperson. Commissioner Laurie Bergner moved to nominate Commissioner Tim Harshbarger as Vice-Chairperson. Commissioner Terry Brown seconded the motion. Chairperson Evelyn Young called for nominations from the floor three times. With no other nominations Commissioner Terry Brown moved to close the nominations, Commissioner Laurie Bergner seconded the motion. A voice vote was held and Commissioner Harshbarger was elected Vice chairperson of the Normal Human Relations Commission by a unanimous vote.
       
   2. Approval of 2007 Calendar
      Staff requested approval of the calendar for the 2007 year. Staff asked the commission if they wanted to continue meeting on the 3rd Tuesday of each month with June and July off and the exception of December which will meet the 1st Tuesday of the month. Commissioner Laurie Bergner moved to except the calendar as proposed. Commissioner Terry Brown seconded the motion. With no further discussion the 2007 Human Relations Meeting calendar was approved by a unanimous voice vote.
       
   3. Approval of Advertisement
      Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority sent a request for advertisement in their program booklet for their fundraising event held on October 7, 2006. The money raised from this event will go towards the goals of the organization which is educational scholarships, economics and health for African American families. Commissioner Laurie Bergner moved to approve a ½ page ad for the program booklet of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority’s fundraiser. Commissioner Ramesh Chaudhari seconded the motion. With no further discussion the motion was approved by a unanimous voice vote.
       
   4. Approval of minority radio station donation request from the August 2006 meeting.
      The commission discussed of the advertisement request from Treyce Spears from WXJR Radio. The commission discussed the stated need was for set up costs to get the radio station up and running. The radio station has a grant but needs additional funds. The commission discussed that although this radio station is about minorities and discusses minority needs the commission doesn’t feel that the money would be used to promote the diversity within the community. They decided that if the radio station were to have a program that was to advocate diversity that they should come back and request funding for the particular program.
       
5. Old Business
   1. Human Relations Commission Code Revision Review/approval
      Staff requested that this item be tabled due to a request from the legal department to further review some changed code sections. Commissioner Ramesh Chaudhari moved to table the code revision review and approval until the October meeting. Commissioner Terry Brown seconded the motion. With no further discussion the motion was approved by a unanimous voice vote.
       
   2. Creation of bylaws discussion
      Staff requested ideas from the commission to start looking at what areas they want to have bylaws in. Commissioner Evelyn Young suggested that staff get some ideas from other cities about their bylaws and share them with the commissioners to discuss at the October meeting.
       
   3. MLK committee reports
      No committees have met as of yet.
       
6. Concerns
   Mr. Jason Wallace was in the audience and was interested in being the student representative on the commission. Commissioner Evelyn Young suggested that he contact the Vice President of the Student government
   Commissioner Evelyn Young requested staff to look into asking the Parks and Recreation director to come to the next meeting to discuss the possibility of naming a park after Rosa Parks.
    
7. Adjournment
   Commissioner Laurie Bergner moved to adjourn the September 19, 2006 meeting of the Normal Human Relations Commission at 6:20 PM. Commissioner Ramesh Chaudhari 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.