Editorial Editorial (May 20, 2005)

HRC: a commission without a cause

It is no surprise that the city's Human Relations Commission appears to be dying on the vine. With only six meetings a year, very little staff time and no clear charge from the City Council about its role in the community, the future doesn't look bright.

The council was scheduled to give a thumbs up or down at last week's meeting, but put off a decision for two more weeks due to the press of other business. The reprieve might give HRC members more opportunities to explain their vision of the commission's job, but even with more time, it may not be easy to make a case for keeping the HRC concept alive.

Most recently, commission members worked hard to sift and prioritize requests from local nonprofit agencies for Community Development Block Grants, a task generally reserved for the council. But when the council was making its final decisions members mostly ignored the commission's efforts. The commission's work is only advisory, meaning that the council can accept all or none of the recommendations, a situation that can't make members of the HRC feel needed.

The council procedures committee recently made a wise suggestion: If the council wants to keep the HRC going, it should "identify three substantive projects/issues for the HRC to undertake." Mike Kasperzak, a member of the procedures committee, told the Voice, "None of us wants a Human Relations Commission in name only. If the council isn't willing to resource it at that level, then let's not just go through the motions."

That is good advice. In the past, the HRC has often been handed very low-level work that hardly justifies its existence. And then when a job that the commission could do comes along, like the request to play a major role in forming the city's position on the Patriot Act, the council rejected the idea.

The council will not have an easy decision, but if members decide to back the commission, they need to provide adequate staff time and a meeting schedule of at least 12 times a year, not to mention a clear direction on the HRC's role in the community and how it is to interact with the Council.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.