Present: Bernard Bidne, Flora Lee, Liz Nichols, Mohamad Khan, and Jack Morlan

Staff: Don Grove

Public: Alan Heisterkamp, Yasmin Williams, Sgt. Douglas Young, Royce Barnum, Heather McMillin, Mark Prosser, Paul Geer, Brad Gorter, Marc Hein, Leonard Anderson, Dick Hayes, Kristin Mackey. M. Rogers, J. Huff, Sally O’Donnell, Travis Hanson, Kim Hanson, Dave Amick, Joe Frisbie, Judi Hoylett, and Michelle Venable-Ridley

Items:

1. Call to Order

2. Recognition of Public and News Media

3. Commissioners' Reports

Khan – said he attended the recent meeting of the Polk County Diversity Coalition; discussion at the meeting centered around setting up an agenda for the coming year; and said he also helped welcome new students at Drake University during their annual orientation session.

Nichols – no report

Lee – thanked the Commissioners for coming to Sioux City and thanked Sioux City for hosting the meeting.

Bidne – reminded other Commissioners and the audience that Friends of Iowa Civil Rights, Inc. is holding their "very worthwhile" Annual Awards Banquet on October 22, tickets are $25, and to register contact ICRC’s Dawn Peterson; noted that the Workforce Center and the Community College in Mason City are sponsoring a series of free "English as a Second Language" classes; and thanked police officers around the State for their overall excellent work.

Morlan – no report

Matt Boley, director of the Mary Treglia Community House, welcomed the Commissioners and briefly described the important work being done by staff and volunteers at the Community House, particularly noting their very successful ESL classes and their educational programs for youth. Boley also talked about the work of the Siouxland Diversity Coalition, one of Iowa’s oldest and most active community diversity appreciation teams.

4. Next Meeting Date/Time/Location

October 23, 1998/9:30-11:30/Des Moines

ICRC Offices, 211 E. Maple Street

5. Following Meeting Date/Time/Location

December 4, 1998/10:00/Davenport

6. Approval of Minutes of August 28, 1998 Meeting

Khan moved to approve the minutes; Bidne seconded. Motion passed.

7. Presentation by Mark Prosser, Police Chief of Storm Lake, on "Police/Community Relations"

Prosser noted that the diversity in his community has heightened dramatically, beginning in the mid-!980s. Prosser said Storm Lake is now home to people from Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Laos, Vietnam, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Prosser said that one in four police contacts on the street with Storm Lake residents presents a language barrier issue and one in three contacts in the office presents such an issue. Prosser offered information on what his police department and community are doing to improve relations between minority members of the community and police. Prosser highlighted the following actions:

in collaboration with several other city/county offices, hired two people to work as community service officers to help with interpretation/translation and to help police officers become more aware of cultural differences in the community

posted traffic signs in three languages – English, Spanish, and Lao

to get "customer" feedback, police office staff surveys every 100 th person who makes contact with an officer, and that feedback is published in the department’s annual report which is made available to the general public

mandatory diversity and cultural awareness training is given to all city employees twice a year

a team of city/county employees from the Storm Lake Diversity Task Force attends the Lt. Governor’s Faces & Voices Annual Conference

each police officer is required to make and report one "public relations" contact each day; these are contacts initiated by the officer not related to "regular" police work

the police department regularly tracks and reports to the media/community the "true" facts regarding arrest rates among members of the majority and minority communities

the police department publishes an informational "crime prevention tips" quarterly newsletter, in three languages, written by police officers that is distributed to every household in the community

all police officers have been ordered not to use any form of hate words in communication; and every officer knows that severe discipline will result if such words are used

an advisory committee has been formed to meet regularly with the police chief to discuss/resolve community issues and complaints against officers; the committee is composed of business, education, and community members

8. Woodbury County Sheriff Dave Amick and Sioux City Police Chief Joseph Frisbie discussed diversity-related issues/concerns in the Sioux City area. They talked about Sioux City’s "community policing" program and the need to hire more minority police officers. One issue raised that generated considerable discussion was the testing procedure for police applicants. The concern is that timed tests are unfair to persons whose primary language is not English. An ex-officio member of the local Civil Service Commission stated that he believed that testing times are extended for applicants based on language needs. The Commissioners encouraged the community to continue its work in resolving that issue.

9. Yasmin Williams and Travis Hanson, members of Sioux City West High School’s Multicultural Student Committee, detailed a number of the Committee’s programs/projects, including conflict resolution, multicultural parties and dances, and the desegregation of the school’s lunchroom. It was noted during their presentation that the Student Committee had won this year’s Prism Award from the Lt. Governor for their excellent work in teaching the value of diversity.

Adjourn