06-11-12 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JUNE 11, 2012 Ms. DeRose advised no. She stated that it is federally mandated but it is optional whether local communities or local government set up their own Human Rights agencies. The South Bend Human Rights Commission was one of the first human rights agencies within the State, probably one of the first in the nation. Ms. DeRose and Ms. Cekanski-Farrand stated that they believe it began in 1973. She stated almost ten years after the Civil Rights Act was passed. Councilmember Dr. Fred Ferlic asked if St. Joseph County had one. Ms. DeRose stated that the county does not. Councilmember Dr. Fred Ferlic asked what is their annual budget. Ms. DeRose advised that she does not have that information, but what she does know of it, is that most of it is furnished by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which has designated South Bend as one of its local agencies to receive it claims. She stated to answer Councilmember Henry Davis concerns, people can file claims with the Human Rights Commission who don’t live within the City of South Bend and the commission gets paid for those claims by the EEOC. She stated that they cannot investigate; they refer those to either the Indiana Civil Rights Commission or the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Councilmember Dr. Fred Ferlic asked if we get paid for South Bend residents. Ms. DeRose stated that they do get paid for South Bend residents. Councilmember Dr. Fred Ferlic asked if it was fully federally funded. Ms. DeRose advised that most of the commission budget is federally funded. She stated that there is a small portion funded by the City and the City provides her services to the Commission and that is a form of cost allocation. She stated that there is another component of city funding. She stated that the Department of Housing and Urban Development contributes for the housing investigations that they do and the EEOC contributes for all of the employment discrimination cases that they do. Council President Dieter asked if this list includes Redevelopment property. Ms. DeRose advised that she does not know. She asked to have a list of all the properties owned by the city. Council President Dieter stated that he believes the list of Redevelopment properties is at least as big as this. He stated that he would like the Council to have a list of Redevelopment properties, because he knows it’s a lot bigger than this list. He stated that there is probable office space and he doesn’t know if they even went and looked at that. Ms. DeRose advised that they did and Mr. Inks was present this afternoon. She stated that she knows that they have done a thorough job of looking at anything that would be amenable to this usage. Council President Dieter advised that for the record he would like to get that list, so that they have that also. Councilmember Oliver Davis asked if the City of Mishawaka contracts services or in the plans of contracting services. Ms. DeRose advised that there is discussion and dialogue going on between South Bend and Mishawaka. She stated that Mishawaka has not contributed anything at this present time. She stated that they do help sponsor the Human Rights Awareness Luncheon that took place at the end of April. She stated that she believes that contribution is about $5,000. 8