Auburn Human Rights Commission
Members: Present (P) Absent, (A); Excused (E)
Karen Sheftic-Burns, Ex.Dir. P Fred Richardson, Comm.; P Zan Liebowitz, Sec.; A_
Judah Rodriguez-Sierra; P Fr. Stephen Mack; A Loretta Snell; A Gwendolyn M. Jones; P
Valerie Bauhofer;__A__Kent Brandstetter; P Anthony DeCaro; A
Members Present: 4 ; Members Absent: 4 ; Members Excused: 0_
Minutes: September 2003
The Human Rights Commission meeting was called to order at 5:15 pm. May minutes and the general meeting held in June were approved/second by K. Brandstetter/G. Jones. Review and discussion of the following items on the agenda including the Director’s Report are as follows:
· Monthly intakes respectively for June – August (56, 26, 44) consisting of questions and complaints dealing with eviction/housing matters, requests for legal assistance, employment/termination, and general matters. Members discuss previous months intakes.
· The previous months have been busy with a Juneteenth Day Program arriving and culminating with success. Nearly 400 students and community members attended along with a representative from the NYS Governor Pataki’s office. After approaching some students with a question of “Did you like the program?”, I was met with a resounding “Yes! I liked this part the best because…” and they went on to elaborate their comments. Once again, Wegmans co-sponsored the reception portion of the program and did a great job. The Commission is fortunate to have such good support. Members discuss the successful program and
note that the format will be changed for Juneteenth Day 2004. Ideas discussed, but are not limited to, possibility of Syracuse University and their African American cultural performers for our J-Day; also send one copy of the national African American news magazine featuring Auburn Human Rights Commission Juneteenth Day comments - to each member of Council including the City Manager. HR members are pleased with the national coverage given to our local Commission.
· Auburn Human Rights Commissioner Richardson has approved having the Executive Director work off site during City Hall construction for air conditioning/heating system. Service for Human Rights assistance and Legal Aid can be obtained by calling the phone numbers posted outside the Human Rights office door. Human Rights Commission Members: please see the inappropriate letter from the City Manager sent to the HR Director’s private home.
Also, Members please see Commissioner Richardson’s response to this letter with copies
of the General Municipal Law supporting his statement.
Members are displeased with the Manager’s display and believe civility is lacking. HR invited the Manager to our meeting, but, to date there has been no response. Members discuss taking this issue to the Thursday evening Council meetings, also noting that in other arenas a lawsuit would be pending against this type of harassing behavior.
· Planning for this year Human Rights Fundraiser Raffle has produced the following donations from area merchants: Merry Go Round Playhouse/2 season 2004 tickets; Holiday Inn/Weekend Getaway Package including breakfast; Foley Florist/fresh flower arrangement; Springside Inn/Sunday Brunch for 2; Apple Auto Wash/car wash gift certificates. The beginning of raffle sales will be at our information booth at Tomatofest. All awards for last season’s fundraiser are complete with the exception of one award. Curley’s Restaurant has failed to honor their donation agreement at the time of this writing. This has happened after numerous
friendly reminders via mail and phone. This is the first instance a presumably reliable and professional local organization has caused a deficit for a non-profit organization helping a student. The Commission will have to pay in order to cover what Curley’s Restaurant agreed to donate to the student scholarship fundraiser. Members are displeased with Curley’s Restaurant’s failure to honor a donation commitment and advise dismissing any more communication with this restaurant. HR will move forward and purchase a certificate from a reliable restaurant in order to keep the ticket in good standing for the person who purchased a raffle in good faith.
· Budget: Members please see monthly activity reports attached. Also note, the HR office has purchased a printer for the laptop. Members discussion.
· Attended Homsite meetings/Annual program
· Participated in the Auburn Enlarged School District’s Oasis Guest Reader program. Memers discussion.
· Beginning Educational Advertising campaign. This will run throughout the year.
· HR Awards Recognition program has planning underway. This program will be held on Wednesday, October 1 from 6-8 pm at the Schweinfurth Art Center with catering by the Downtown Deli. Pricing needs to be finalized. Our Guest Speaker is Monique Wright-Williams, Executive Director of the Booker T. Washington Community Center. A Call for Nominees release was sent to newspaper and cablevision. The Citizen published the information but needed to reprint the piece due to their omission of information. Cablevision (Adelphia) was slow to meet our deadline due to their work strike and stated they would “try their best.”
Nominations have arrived for review/selection by Commission Members. After review/discussion, HR members have voted and chosen the following Awardees: Shawnte C. Barr – Youth Award; Ricardo Aguilar Sarg – Community Advocate for Migrant Workers; Laurel Ullyette – Community Volunteer Award; Walmart – Corporate Award for diversity in hiring and community support.
· Completed an eight-part series on Succeeding as a Manager. Part 1: Getting organized; Part 2: Assessing Self/Team; Part 3: Managing change; Part 4: Leadership skills: Part 5: Developing your staff; Part 6: Motivating your people; Part 7: Cultivating communication skills; Part 8: Power of positive attitude. This training provided invaluable skills for managers while promoting success for management and support staff alike. Members approve and discuss stating this information is useful to all managers.
NEW BUSINESS: Tomatofest information booth/signup for weekend schedule. HR spoke with Mike Talbot from Parks & Recreation and verbally confirmed the delivery/placement of 2 folding tables and 4 chairs at our reserved site for both days. Members discuss and volunteer for information booth duty at specific times throughout the weekend. This year HR has invited NAACP to share booth space with us as NAACP group does not have a booth.
New board nominations and current non-attending members were discussed. New and interested potential individual’s names were discussed. Members with numerous absences were also discussed.
OLD BUSINESS: None
Next COMMISSION MEETING Wed. Oct. 1 at 5 pm directly followed by Human Rights Awards Program
Motion to adjourn/second by G. Jones/K. Brandstetter.
Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm
| 
