A.G. Gancarski
Next up on the Wednesday morning budget review docket: the Human Rights Commission.
10:34: There has been a reduction in staff. HRC is paid in a per case basis, so revenue goes down as staff goes down. They lost three people in the last budget cycle, as cap was reduced. Six employees on General Fund, and two Grant employees (employed at a deficit). Housing staff shortage, related to housing discrimination, is acute. They had a deal with HUD where they get paid $2800 per case; not as many cases, but it is “lucrative.”
10:38: As a “labor-intensive” organization, every labor force cut decreases efficacy.
10:39: Functions include training and investigations for equal employment rights issues.
10:40: Onto enhancements. “The work hasn’t gone away while the bodies have.” The desire is to add two more bodies to reduce slowness of investigations, which can take up to two years now. They also lack people to handle intake interviews. A third to a half of cases that come in are actually taken, based on validity of claim.
10:42: Mousa asks about preventative activity. Training is and would be more available, if they had more staff to facilitate. There is required HUD outreach and training also. Commercial businesses, also, get training if they want it.
10:44: Mousa says there’s a perception that the HRC is “complaint-driven” and that he doesn’t know if the word is “out there” regarding other functions. He suggests that they need more outreach work. The HRC has been called a “duplication of effort,” but except in the case of HUD, there are efforts made to avoid said duplication.
10:47: Enhancements, says Mousa, are all compiled to a list citywide, and will be handled after bottom line is addressed.
10:48: Right now, the function is investigations. The clear implication is that, for the purposes of effectiveness, they need more resources. Sometimes things fall through the cracks.
10:50: Budget cuts are driven, says Mousa, by some “people who think the organization should be abolished completely.” This clearly is not his position.
