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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHRC minutes 081417Orange County Human Relations Commission Minutes Monday, August 14, 2017 6:00 pm -7:30 pm Orange County Animal Services Conference Room 1601 Eubanks Road, Chapel Hill NC MEMBERS PRESENT STAFF Scott Goldsmith Tara May, Intake Specialist Joy Preslar Monica Richard Debby Stroman Marc Xavier MEMBERS ABSENT Andy Cagle excused Jacqulyn Podger (excused) Rollin Russell (excused) GUESTS L Call to Order A. Chair Monica Richard called the meeting to order at 6:03 pm. A quorum was present for the meeting. IL Introductions A. No visitors, no new members III. Minutes Approval — March 13, May 8, & June 12 A. March 13 -There was some discussion about the amendment to the minutes incorporating discussion about employment discrimination in Orange County. Ms. May clarified that everything in that portion of the minutes was amended based on the recording of the March meeting. 1. A motion was made to approve the March 13 minutes with a clarification that the HRC can make website recommendations [Goldsmith, Stroman]. The motion was approved unanimously. B. May 8 -Mr. Goldsmith expressed some concern with a statement in the May minutes that temps are used to work on housing discrimination cases. Ms. May clarified that the temp that is currently used by the department was an investigator there previously and is well - versed on the topic. Ms. Richard stated a similar concern about the process of investigations being decided by one person (the investigator) without any outside input. Mr. Goldsmith echoed her concern. Ms. May stated that the process used in Orange County is the same as HUD and other FHAPs across the country, where the investigator gathers the evidence for the investigation and the director makes the determination based on that evidence. 1. A motion was made to approve the May 8 minutes [Stroman, Preslar]. The motion was approved, Mr. Goldsmith abstained. C. June 12 -Dr. Stroman suggested a correction that would reflect her concurrence with Marc Xavier's statement 1. A motion was made to approve the June 12 minutes with Dr. Stroman's proposed correction [Stroman, Xavier]. All in favor none opposed. N. County Updates A. Tara May announced the new Housing Department director, Sherrill Hampton, who will begin work on August 21" B. Ms. May also announced that the Section 8 waitlist is open until August 17' for people who are currently homeless, meaning people living in places not meant for human habitation (e.g., outdoors, car, abandoned building) or currently in shelters or transitional housing. Applications sent via mail must be postmarked by August 17'. 1. Debby Stroman requested that information of that importance be forwarded to commission members more promptly in the future rather than waiting until the board meeting. a. Ms. Richard stated that the County Manager sent out the announcement, but she planned to announce it at the meeting and did not forward it to members. b. Ms. May stated that going forward, she would make sure important information was forwarded to members ahead of meetings. V. Applicants and Openings A. Applicants 1. Ms. May announced that there are 9 total applications in for the Human Relations Commission. Recommended applications from the HRC will be reviewed and appointed at the September 19' Orange County Board of County Commissioner's meeting. 2. Ms. May stated that she attempted to make contact with each applicant to assess their interest in serving, and heard back from 4 people. She stated that the HRC can make recommendations for people based on their applications, or can wait to recommend the people who have not called back until the October BOCC meeting to allow more time to make contact. 3. Ms. May also clarified that two of the applicants, Daniel Ryan and April Change were recommended by the Town of Carrboro and the Town of Chapel Hill, respectively, so they do not need recommendations from the HRC. a. Ms. Richard stated that Daniel Ryan previously expressed to her that he was no longer interested in serving on the HRC. i. Ms. May stated she would talk to Thom Freeman in the County Clerk's office about that resolution. b. Ms. Richard also stated that Tod Puckett is no longer interested in serving on the board. 2 4. Dr. Stroman asked if anyone seemed really interested based on the conversations Ms. May had with them. 5. Ms. May stated that Ms. Spencer and Ms. Sykes both seemed particularly interested in serving. She also stated that Ms. Spencer notified her that she would be working in Community Engagement at the UNC School of Social Work beginning in the fall, and wanted that announced to the HRC. 6. Scott Goldsmith stated that there are enough vacancies to appoint all of the applicants. 7. Ms. Richard stated she had tried to get some of the applications through for several months, so she didn't know why the County Commissioners' didn't go ahead and push them through. 8. Mr. Goldsmith stated that 5 people have resigned recently so all of their spots could be filled. 9. Ms. Richard stated that Nora Spencer came to a meeting twice, Ana Garcia came once, and it kept getting pushed back for them to be appointed by the County Commissioners, and now we are down to 9 people. She stated that part of the problem was trying to follow a process where people could vote for recommendations, but enough people have not been attending meetings to make a quorum. 10. Ms. May stated that the idea from the Clerk's office was to allow the HRC an opportunity to make the recommendations before the names and applications went before the BOCC so they would have a say in who gets appointed, which is why the process was getting pushed back. Ms. May continued by stating the BOCC can go ahead and vote on all of the applicants, with or without the HRC's recommendation if they are unable to give them. 11. Ms. Richard recommended that the BOCC go ahead and vote on the applicants in September and Ms. May stated she would begin that process with Annette Moore. 12. Dr. Stroman asked if the HRC reported to Annette, and Ms. May clarified that the HRC is its own body advising the BOCC, but staff acts as support and as the middle person between the HRC and the BOCC. 13. Mr. Goldsmith and Ms. Richard both expressed that members not attending meetings to make a quorum was making the process of recommendations difficult. Ms. Richard stated that if there were a core of 5 members who came every time, it would be easier. Ms. Richard reiterated that the BOCC should proceed to make the appointments to the HRC. She also stated that she had tried to do more outreach to people who are representative of communities and encouraging them to apply for the board. 14. Dr. Stroman clarified that the BOCC would be told that the HRC recommended certain people at the September meeting. Ms. May stated that was correct. B. Openings 1. 2 re- appointments a. Ms. May stated that Marc Xavier and Jacqulyn Podger are both up for reappointments. 2. 5 at -large vacancies a. Dr. Stroman, Ms. Richard, Mr. Goldsmith, discussed the applications for April Chang, Anita Sue Kinzer, and Jennifer Sykes. b. Motion to recommend Sykes, Spencer, Kinzer, [Stroman, Preslar] i. Mr. Goldsmith raised some concern with Ms. Sykes application, stating that it contained information that was not relevant to the work of the Human Relations Commission. ii. Ms. Preslar expressed concern that Ana Garcia - Turner was not contacted after she attended a meeting. iii. Ms. Richard stated that she attempted to make contact with Ms. Garcia - Turner after that but did not receive a response from her. She stated that the delay in appointments was a deterrent to good applicants. C. A motion was made to recommend Ms. Spencer, Ms. Chang, and Ms. Kinzer for September commissioner's meeting [Stroman, Goldsmith]. All in favor, none opposed. i. Ms. Preslar and Mr. Xavier suggested staff make contact with Ms. Sykes to discuss the Commission's charge and clarify whether or not she is actually interested in the HRC. Mr. Goldsmith agreed and Ms. Richard stated that from her application it seemed like she was interested in a different advisory board. ii. Dr. Stroman clarified that her motion was to recommend the three individuals above, and come back to Ms. Sykes' application at the next meeting. iii. Mr. Goldsmith stated he was concerned about recommending and appointing someone who was not actually interested in serving d. A motion was made to consider the other applicants after staff makes contact with the other applicants to ensure they understand the charge [Stroman, Preslar]. All in favor, none opposed. 3. 2 town resolutions VL Election of Officers A. Committee 1. Ms. May relayed that during the Executive Committee meeting, Rollin Russell suggested a committee be made to make elect officers. a. Mr. Goldsmith and Ms. Richard were both in favor of that approach and suggested Rollin take the lead as chair of the committee for elections b. Ms. May stated she would make contact with Rollin. C. Ms. Richard agreed that volunteers for the committee could be taken over email at a later date. She also clarified that she would be stepping down as chair of the commission but would remain on the board. 2. Dr. Stroman asked when Ms. Richard was effectively stepping down. Ms. Richard stated she agreed to stay in place until someone else was elected, but the sooner that could happen, the better. 3. Mr. Goldsmith asked if anyone had expressed interest in serving in the elected positions, but stated he was not interested in being elected himself. 4. Ms. Richard asked if anyone was interested in serving as Vice President, and Ms. Preslar said she would be interested depending on when her term was up. Ms. Richard verified that Ms. Preslar's term is up in 2019. M 5. Rollin's motion to make an election committee was seconded by Mr. Goldsmith. All in favor, none opposed. VII. Subcommittee Updates A. Executive Committee B. Diversity Matters 1. Town Hall Report a. Mr. Russell was not present to report 2. Community Read a. Ms. Richard asked Dr. Stroman if she was familiar with what was happening with the Community Read. i. Dr. Stroman stated that in the future she would take more of a lead on events for the Commission. She stated that Alison Spannaus is the contact at UNC for the Community Read, and she was going to be in touch with her about whether or not the HRC still needed a room to meet in on next Monday, August 21 st. She stated that minimal publicity was done for the event, so it does not seem there is any community interest in participating in a discussion led by the HRC next Monday. She stated that Ms. Moore volunteered to purchase the book for the HRC members to read and participate next Monday as a group as a pilot for future community reads. ii. Dr. Stroman asked how the members felt about reading the book over the next week and meeting to discuss it on UNC's campus. iii. Ms. Richard and Mr. Goldsmith asked how the members of the HRC participating in the Read without including residents would be reported on the annual report. iv. Dr. Stroman stated that the importance was in reading the book itself and the value the topic would bring to the members' understanding of the issues faced by Muslims and Arabs in the country today. V. Mr. Goldsmith asked if the members could read the book on their own and Dr. Stroman reiterated that discussing the topic as a group would help better their own understanding b. Dr. Stroman stated that the members didn't have to gather on next Monday, but that reading the book and discussing it at a later time would be beneficial for everyone's understanding and help them all better equip themselves to serve the county's residents i. Ms. Richard indicated that meeting to discuss the book at a later date would work better for her. Mr. Goldsmith agreed with that sentiment. ii. Ms. Preslar stated that she could most likely attend next week's event. iii. Dr. Stroman caught Marc Xavier up on the current topic as he arrived. iv. Mr. Xavier agreed that reading the book would be beneficial to the HRC as a whole C. Ms. Richard reiterated that she feels it is important to do something community -based so that the novel can spread further than the commission itself. i. Dr. Stroman agreed and stated that once the Commission reads the book, they could organize an event later d. Ms. Preslar stated that it is beneficial for the Commission to participate in something conducted by the University. e. Dr. Stroman also announced some of the other events UNC is putting on for the Read and suggested those be publicized for residents to attend. She also announced that there are trainings to be discussion leaders on August 15 and August 19 for people who are interested. f. There was a consensus to read the book as a commission and plan an event to incorporate the public in early September 3. Ms. Richard announced that she had been contacted by James Williams of the NAACP about holding a Community Read or some other event in February 2018 to mark the bicentennial birth of Frederick Douglass. a. Dr. Stroman suggested the HRC do both the current UNC Community Read and also plan a similar event for February 2018 focused on Frederick Douglass. b. Ms. Preslar suggested that the bicentennial be a theme of the Human Relations Forum in February. C. Community Relations D. Community Justice VIII. Other Business /Announcements/Upcoming Events A. Ms. Preslar stated that she needed to speak with Ms. May after the meeting regarding another advisory board. B. Race and ethnicity on HRC application 1. A motion was made to recommend the Clerk's office replace the term `Caucasian' with `white' on advisory board applications [Stroman, Goldsmith]. a. Dr. Stroman stated that the term Caucasian is outdated and does not reflect the language used on the federal census. She believes the County should update the language on the application to keep up to date. b. Mr. Goldsmith stated that he believed that categorization should be removed completely and leave it open -ended for people to suggest their own identity and diversity. C. Dr. Stroman stated that Annette Moore had previously mentioned that the county uses those categories to track race and ethnic information d. Ms. Richard clarified that Dr. Stroman was speaking in reference to all of the applications for all Orange County advisory boards while Mr. Goldsmith was speaking in terms of the specific application for the HRC. e. Mr. Goldsmith expressed concern with the term `white' f. Dr. Stroman stated that she teaches on the topic and that scholars in the field have determined that Caucasian is an outdated term. She equated it using the term `Negro' today. D g. Ms. Richard reiterated Dr. Stroman and stated that it is similar to the term `mongoloid' used for Asians. h. Mr. Goldsmith continued by stating he was troubled by the association of `white' with white supremacists, and expressed that as a Jewish man, he would not be considered `white' by their definition. He stated that it also excludes a large group of people who would not consider themselves white. He stated that `Caucasian' is not a perfect term either because it suggests that individual came from the Caucasoids. i. Ms. Preslar stated she understood Mr. Goldsmith's concern because she has Irish ancestry and does not feel that `white' is representative of her but acknowledges that it's the best option. She stated that a term like `peach' would more appropriately reflect her actual skin tone, but that's not a recognized racial category. Ms. Preslar echoed Mr. Goldsmith's assertion of the association of `white' with white supremacy and stated that she did not feel it was the best idea given the current issues around the country with white supremacists. j. Ms. Richard stated that the concerns about representation from Ms. Preslar and Mr. Goldsmith are a common problem across all recognized racial categories. She continued by stating the term `white' acknowledges white privilege k. Ms. Preslar stated that given her background she did not feel that her family benefited from white privilege. 1. Dr. Stroman stated that Ms. Preslar could still benefit from white privilege. Ms. Richard agreed. Both Dr. Stroman and Ms. Richard acknowledged that they both also have privilege. m. Mr. Goldsmith stated that everyone has privilege to a certain extent and clarified that his concern was with the association of the term `white' in today's climate and that he is not sure he agrees that `white' is a better word than `Caucasian'. n. Mr. Xavier stated that the association between `white' and white supremacy does not have any real consequences for people who are white, only those who are not white. o. Mr. Goldsmith reiterated that he would not be considered white by a white supremacist p. Mr. Xavier stated that unless Mr. Goldsmith chose to tell someone that he is Jewish, he would be considered white. Mr. Xavier also pointed out that the issue of representation began with the creation of racial categories at all. q. Dr. Stroman agreed with Mr. Xavier and continued to say that the outside chooses our assignments based on how we are perceived, and that the Federal Government has chosen to use the terms `white'. She again expressed that her concern was with getting the county's categorization in line and up to date. r. Ms. Preslar stated that it may be a good idea to have a discussion at a later time to address which term would be most appropriate since the HRC has already been out ahead of issues of the Confederate Flag. She also stated 7 that she agreed that Caucasian was not the best term and she had never felt Caucasian because she was not from the Caucasoids. S. Dr. Stroman stated that she believes the application lists all of the nationally recognized racial categories and also includes other for people who do not identify with one of the options provided or do not want to list anything. She reiterated that the reality is that people are placed into categories and the application should list the most appropriate ones possible. t. Mr. Goldsmith again stated that he would like to get away from categories altogether and ask about diversity open- endedly. He also expressed concerned with weighing in on an issue he believed not enough was known about. U. Dr. Stroman stated that she wanted to get the application up to date in terminology and that in the community she would not refer to a white person as Caucasian. She also stated that it was embarrassing for a Human Relations Commission to have that language. V. Ms. Preslar agreed that she would not use the term Caucasian to describe a white person either. 2. Dr. Stroman restated her motion that the HRC make a recommendation to the Board of Commissioners that we remove the word Caucasian from the categories on the county's applications. There were 3 in favor and 1 opposed, the motion carries. 3. A motion was made to suggest adding "what diversity do you bring to this committee ?" on the Human Relations Commission application [Goldsmith, Xavier] . a. Mr. Xavier suggested that the application include both racial and ethnic categories and also add a question about diversity. b. Dr. Stroman reiterated her comment from earlier that the county uses the ethnic and racial data collected on applications. 4. Mr. Goldsmith restated his motion to make a recommendation that a question asking "what diversity do you bring to the HRC? I.e. race, religion, etc." be included on the HRC application. All in favor, none opposed. The motion carries. a. Mr. Goldsmith also requested to obtain clarification from the Board of Commissioners on whether or not they can remove the racial categorization from the applications. C. Frederick Douglass event 1. There was a consensus to have some type of event in February in honor Frederick Douglass's birthday. D. Charlottesville 1. Mr. Goldsmith stated that he was curious to see what was going to happen in other places due to the events in Charlottesville. He stated that almost all marginalized groups are being threatened more than ever and it is important for the community to come together so show support. 2. Dr. Stroman stated that Chief Blue informed her that the "alt- right" filed a permit to come to UNC on September 20. She said they have to turn in certain required documents, which they most likely will do since they are used to the process. She also stated that they filed a permit for NC State during the same time. There is no guarantee that they will come, but community leaders are preparing for what to do if they do follow through. She suggested that the HRC make a statement about. 3. Ms. Richard stated that she would like to suggest that the community prepare a crisis plan. She also stated that she wanted to recommend that the Board of Commissioners come out with a statement and the HRC also come out with a statement. 4. Dr. Stroman and Mr. Goldsmith agreed with Ms. Richard's suggestion. Mr. Goldsmith continued, stating that they should make it clear that white supremacists are not welcome in Orange County and they're not welcome in Chapel Hill. 5. Ms. Preslar agreed and said that they would most likely be granted a permit under the First Amendment but that it should be made clear to any visitors that no group supporting or advocating for violence against any group due to race, ethnicity, etc. will be endorsed. 6. Ms. Richard stated that the HRC could draft a statement and seek approval from the Board of Commissioners to publish it. She also stated that the Charge could be used to help draft the statement. 7. Mr. Goldsmith recommended the statement include that Orange County is diverse, believes in diversity, and does not support hate groups and does not want them here. 8. Ms. Preslar pointed out that unfortunately a lot of people with the same beliefs do live in Orange County. She also pointed out that there is need to clarify the difference between groups like Southerners without Hate and Hate Groups. IX. Adjourn Meeting was adjourned at 7:45 pm NEXT MEETING: September 11, 2017 6:OOpm at Animal Services 9