Iowa Civil Rights Commission
Commissioners Meeting
211 E. Maple, 2nd Floor
July 28, 2000
10:00 AM

Meeting Called to Order The meeting was called to order by Mohamad Khan, Vice-Chairperson


Roll Call Iowa Civil Rights Commission July 28, 2000 Board meeting was held in the Iowa Civil Rights Commission ICN room at 10:00 AM. Commissioners present were Mohamad Khan, Rachel Scherle, and Jack Morlan. David Leshtz was present via satellite. Not present were Alicia Claypool, Robert Smith, and Flora Lee. Corlis Moody, Executive Director of Iowa Civil Rights Commission, Araceli Goode, Executive Secretary were also present. Teresa Baustian and Rick Autry came in at appropriate times to present their report.

Approval of Minutes The first order of business was the approval of the January 28, 2000 Board Minutes. David Leshtz had one correction for the minutes on page 3 paragraph 2 under New Business to reflect March instead of February as the month for the Commissioners’ Retreat. Motion was made by Jack Morlan to accept the correction to the minutes and seconded by Rachel Scherle. Motion passed unanimously.

Commissioners Reports Commissioner Robert Smith - (Not present)

Commissioner Mohamad Khan - No report

Commissioner Flora Lee - (Not present)

Commissioner Jack Morlan - No report

Commissioner Alicia Claypool - (Not present)

Commissioner Rachel Scherle - No report

Commissioner David Leshtz - Reported had spoken at two Gay Rights meetings.

Executive Director’s Report Guest Speakers
To begin the report, guest speaker Dennis Arthur, was presented to speak on dress codes in bars and nightclubs. He explained the reasoning behind having dress codes and how they are applied in his establishments.
The next guest speaker was Jonathan Narcisse, who spoke on his project, For My People, the first Resource on the status of African-Americans in Iowa. He explained how the project first started and the masses of resources complied from the 99 counties in Iowa incorporating educators, civil servants, and the areas of expertise along with businesses.

Meeting with the National Conference for Communities and Justice
Teresa Baustian reported on the meeting between Corlis, Rick and herself with Rudy Sims of the NCCJ, regarding collaboration in doing testing of bars and nightclubs to determine if the issues of dress codes and minorities were based on race discrimination. Motion was made by Jack Morlan, and seconded by Rachel Scherle, to table this discussion and decision until a later time. The motion passed unanimously.

Legislation
Rick Autry discussed the Proposed Bill Profiling for the Legislation. He handed out a memo regarding Subpoena Power, which ICRC does not have in the employment investigative area. Other legislation that ICRC would support, but not present, is on Racial Profiling. Motion was made by David Leshtz, and seconded by Rachel Scherle, to support both legislation bills. The motion passed unanimously.

Mission, Vision, Guiding Principles
Corlis Moody then proceeded to present the mission, vision and guiding principles formulated at Commissioners’ Retreat in their final form. Having speakers and collaboration attempt with the NCCJ is the first steps taken in following the guidance we received in the Commissioner’s Retreat.

Organization Chart
Corlis explained the changes to the organizational structure being implemented to provide better service to the public. These changes are necessary to improve the investigation process, but they are not taking place all at once or fast. Rather they would be ongoing throughout the year. The posting of the new managerial position is the first step toward improving the process.

Grants
The next item discussed by Corlis was the grants the education team has attempted to obtain for immigration training in housing and employment this year. At this point, we have not received notification that we have received it. The education team will be looking at what our priorities are and where we want to go forward.

2010 Report
Corlis reported that David Oman would be pleased to come and speak to the commissioners regarding the proposals for 2010 at the next meeting in August. Corlis will check if he could come to the September meeting due to the case review scheduled for August.

Compliance Report
Corlis presented the new format regarding the compliance report and requested the commissioners to review and give her feedback on the appropriateness of the report.

Future Commissioners Meeting August 25, 2000 - 9:00 AM Historical Building
September 22, 2000 - 10:00 AM ICRC office
December 1, 2000 - 10:00 AM ICRC office

Recognition of Public/Press Molly Culbertson from the Governor’s Office was present to observe the meeting.

Adjournment Meeting adjourned by Vice-Chairman Mohamad Khan.