2009-04-14_Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of `~1 ~j,, I -March Minutes Minnesota, USA 1 Human Rights Commission Minutes 2 DRAFT-March 10, 2009-DRAFT 3 4 Commissioners Present: Chair David Singleton, Vice Chair Marie Oftelie, Philip Crump, 5 Thelma McKenzie, Tam McGehee 6 7 Commissioners Excused: Janet Delmore 9 Others Present: City Manager Bill Malinen; Recording Secretary Sheila Stowell 10 11 Call to Order: Chair David Singleton called the Human Rights Commission (HRC) meeting to 12 order at approximately 7:05 p.m. 13 14 Approve Minutes of January 13, 2009 15 Member Oftelie moved, seconded by Member McGehee to approve the meeting minutes of 16 January 13, 2009 as presented. Motion carried: 5/0. 17 18 Update on Civilian Review Board for the Police Department 19 Member McGehee reported on her research with eight other metropolitan suburbs and her 20 finding that each suburb had systems in place, similar to that of Roseville. Member McGehee 21 said she had issues with this cyclical process. 2 ~l3 Chair Singleton said there appeared to be no need to create a commission to address law 24 enforcement issues; and he was comfortable with the system currently in place. 25 26 Member Crump said an independent civilian review board was good to provide transparency, if 27 that was the original intent; however, he didn't have input as to how it fit in with existing 28 commissions or with the HRC. He said if the intent was to provide additional transparency, 29 having a disinterested party look at a situation and recommend action, whether binding or not, 30 seemed to achieve that purpose. Member Crump noted that legal issues would need to be 31 resolved. 32 33 Chair Singleton encouraged discussion related to options other than creating a separate Civilian 34 Review Board for the Police Department. 35 36 City Manager Malinen reviewed the history and intent of the Ethics Commission to address 37 citizen concerns with staff or advisory commissioners. 38 39 Member McGehee said many things were more easily diffused by having a disinterested group 40 hear a complaint and such a system may avoid lawsuits. Member McGehee suggested a subset of 41 members of the Ethics and HRC to hear such issues and serve in that review function. 42 43 Commissioners discussed whether a recommendation from the HRC was warranted, reiterating 44 concerns related to legal issues and frequency of complaints. Commissioners noted that while ~5 Roseville was not similar in size to Minneapolis or St. Paul, there was a lot going on in the