2015_0713_CCpacket - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

�� � REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Department Approval Date: July 13, 2015 Item No.: 15.c City Manager Approval Item Description: Community Engagement and Human Rights Commission Structure Discussion BACKGROUND On July 6 the City Council discussed authorizing the advertising for three vacancies that currently exist on the Human Rights Commission. The City Council tabled advertising the vacancies pending a more comprehensive discussion of commission structure. Staff has prepared options that the City Council may consider in the event a restructuring of commissions is desired. Attachment A includes the duties and functions for each commission in City Code. Currently our Community Engagement and Human Rights Commissions are charged with the very large responsibility of trying to identify how to pare down efforts. The Human Rights Commission currently devotes a lot of time trying to figure out what area of human rights to focus on (i.e. mental health, immigrant/refugee needs, voting rights, Fair Housing, etc.). The Human Rights Commission no longer hears complaints of human rights violations which was a major reason for its origination in the 1960's. The Community Engagement Commission has devoted a lot time trying to define community/civic engagement, whether or not the commission should be engaging directly or advising, and engagement equity (engagement efforts equally distributed across all demographics regardless of homeownership status, tech savvy, or resource availability.) �� City staff has been reviewing all existing volunteer opportunities for effectiveness. The City most recently entered into a Service Enterprise Process, currently managed by Points of Light, to create a robust volunteer program. The Service Enterprise Process is a research based training and consulting model that leads to organizations reimagining the way they strategically engage � volunteers. This process has allowed us to start thinking creatively about what volunteer opportunities we are providing, including opportunities on our commissions. Frustrations from both commissions include commissioners that would like to be out in the community `doing' versus commissioners that would like to serve merely in an advisory/informational role. The options listed below are designed to provide opportunities for both styles of commissioner involvement: Option A— Mer�e Community En�a�ement And Human Ri�hts Commissions One option for the commissions would be to merge the commissions. The idea would be to include the major responsibilities of each commission into the merged commission. The size of Page 1 of 3