Rock Island Today

City of Moline Human Rights Commission met May 13.

Here are the minutes provided by the commission:

PRESENT: Natividad Keim, Vice Chair

Jose Castro

Diokel Gning – Left at 7:15 p.m.

Avery Pearl

Adrian Ritchie

Matt Stoefen – Left at 6:14 p.m.

ABSENT: Betsy Zmuda-Swanson

STAFF: Amy Saunders, Legal Services Specialist

K.J. Whitley, Community Development Manager

OTHER: Margaret Kostopulos, Corporation Counsel Bonnie Ballard, President, Rock Island County NAACP

Chiquita White, Community Resource Specialist, Prairie State

Legal Services

Jim Maloney, Visitor

Sue Normoyle, Resident

Call to Order

Human Rights Commission Vice Chair, Natividad Keim, called the meeting to order at 5:36 p.m., in the Gold Room, at the Moline Public Library.

Approval of Minutes

Matt Stoefen made a motion to approve the March 11, 2024 Minutes; seconded by Diokel Gning. Motion passed unanimously.

Presentation

Prairie State Legal Services. Chiquita White, Community Resource Specialist for Prairie State Legal Services, gave a brief presentation about the services provided by the organization. The mission of Prairie State Legal Services, Inc. (PSLS) is to “ensure equal access to justice and fair treatment under the law by providing legal advice and representation, advocacy, education, and outreach that serve to protect basic human needs and enforce or uphold rights.” PSLS is a not-for-profit corporation that provides no-cost, civil legal aide to qualified clients. Ms. White’s service area is Rock Island, Mercer, Lee, Henry and Whiteside Counties.

Legal aid is available in any language, as PSLS subscribes to a language line that can translate conversations for PSLS attorneys. Ms. White encourages everyone to apply for legal services. PSLS now has 100-120+ grants for people that do not fit the low-income standard. In addition, adults 60 and over automatically qualify for services.

PSLS cannot help with criminal defense, traffic, personal injury or medical malpractice cases. The main reason is these are fee-generated cases, and the law does not allow them to handle criminal cases.

PSLS focuses on safety, housing and stability, Medicaid denials, consumer debt, collections issues and gainful employment via the sealing and expunging of criminal records. PSLS’s pro bono attorneys are retired judges.

PSLS is currently working on some special projects, including a Low-Income Tax Clinic, Domestic Violence Legal Aid Advice, and the 60 and Older Project. Through the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), there is a court-based rental assistance service. However, the potential client must have received an eviction notice to be eligible. Then, said clients may qualify for up to 18 months of past due rent up to a certain amount.

They are currently recruiting fair housing testers for the New Leaf Illinois Project. This program helps people with cannabis charges that should no longer be on their record. PSLS also has an Armed Forces Legal Assistance Project.

Per Ms. White, the 800 number is the most effective and efficient way to handle intakes. All intakes are taken by attorneys. An application may be submitted online at PSLegal.org. IllinoisLegalAide.org is also a website with good legal information.

Ms. White took some time to answer the Human Rights Commission (HRC) members’ questions.

Public Comment

Jim Maloney shared that he was interviewed by WQAD (Channel 8) when he attended a Public Transit Seminar at the East Moline Library. He was able to give his opinion concerning running longer, running on weekends, etc. His interview appeared on the WQAD news.

Sue Normoyle suggested the use of microphones for future presentations, as she has hearing issues. Amy Saunders will check with Library IT about a microphone for use during presentations.

Bonnie Ballard, President of the Rock Island County NAACP, advised that she received complaints concerning two restaurants in the City of Moline. She advised that the HRC needs to let people in the community know what the law says, because discrimination is unacceptable. Since Ms. Ballard’s attempts to discuss this matter with the business owners have gone unanswered, she plans to talk to Mayor Rayapati, but would like the HRC to do something or she may want to talk to Channel 8. Corporation Counsel Margaret Kostopulos responded that the Commission will talk about these matters later in the Agenda. Ms. Ballard responded that she wants the HRC to ask one of the restaurant’s owners to take everything off of social media or a complaint will be filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Questions on the Agenda

There were no questions on the Agenda.

Agenda Items

1. Future Presentations – Follow Up. Natividad Keim inquired about the status of a speaker from GARE. Amy Saunders, Legal Services Specialist, advised that Betsy Zmuda-Swanson has been in contact with Kristy Kumar, who is not available to speak at the time that the HRC meetings are held. She asked if the HRC could do it earlier in the day. There are no other suggested presentations at this time.

2. Remote Attendance. Margaret Kostopulos, Corporation Counsel, reminded the HRC members that if they are unable to attend an HRC meeting in person, and there is a physical quorum present, they may qualify to appear electronically. By ordinance, a quorum is only three commissioners. Under OMA, the current qualifying reasons that members may attend electronically are: (a) personal illness, (b) employment business that prevents you from attending (i.e., conference), (c) public body business (i.e., HRC-related seminar), and (d) child care or family emergency. Amy Saunders, Legal Services Specialist, needs to know on the morning of the meeting, at the very latest, when someone will need to appear electronically in order to arrange for the electronic appearance.

3. Race Discrimination Complaints. Margaret Kostopulos, Corporation Counsel, advised that the HRC may want to think about how it wants to handle these complaints when they come along. The HRC has previously discussed sending letters to the parties involved. In the future, the HRC may want to think about being involved in an adjudication or mediation process, which would take more time. Diokel Gning suggested doing a letter to the businesses, since the HRC is not yet equipped to do adjudications. Margaret is willing to assist with the letter. Natividad volunteered some language for inclusion in the letter. Avery Pearl agreed that these matters need to be addressed, because the alleged actions do not align with the kind of community the HRC is trying to build. He suggested inviting them to a future meeting. Ms. Ballard opined that the persons involved need training to avoid the filing of an EEOC complaint. The Commission agreed to do a letter to each of the two businesses. Ms. Ballard suggested having an HRC member call the victims to see what would make them feel better. The HRC members directed Margaret to write letters to the businesses.

4. Housing Complaint. Amy Saunders, Legal Services Specialist, advised that the gentleman that called her with a housing complaint did not come to the meeting tonight. So, there is nothing to do at this time concerning this agenda item.

5. Scam Prevention Seminar – Follow Up. In Betsy-Zmuda Swanson’s absence, Jose Castro advised that Greg, from South Moline Township, attended the rescheduled seminar. However, no one else from South Moline Township, that had signed up for the last seminar that was cancelled, was in attendance. Four additional people attended the seminar, and they all received Hy-Vee gift cards, as there were only four cards to give away. The HRC tabled this matter indefinitely.

6. Zero Suicide Initiative Training – Follow Up. Adrian Ritchie, Matt Stoefen, Betsy Zmuda Swanson, Jose Castro and Anna Castro attended the Zero Suicide Initiative Training and received certificates of completion. Natividad Keim advised that she will take the online training, as she was unable to attend at the scheduled time.

7. Quad City Alliance for Immigrants & Refugees – Racial Healing Workshop for Immigrants. Adrian Ritchie reached out to the Quad City Alliance for Immigrants & Refugees and will be doing a workshop at Moline High School under the umbrella of the Minority Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT) group. The MLT president is creating a flyer. The goal is to bring awareness to refugees and what they are going through. The workshop is scheduled for Friday, May 17, 2024, from 1:00-3:00 p.m. There will be several translators present for the various languages. They want to help immigrant and refugee students understand the culture. Adrian will bring feedback from the workshop to the June HRC meeting.

8. Annual Pride Event. Matt Stoefen was going to present this item, but had to leave early unexpectedly. Amy Saunders, Legal Services Specialist, shared that the Pride event is on June 15 this year. The HRC members discussed walking in the parade last year, and Natividad Keim handed out flower seed packets. Natividad brought a wagon to carry everything in the parade. There was discussion. Jose Castro made a motion to participate in the Pride Parade; seconded by Adrian Ritchie. Motion passed unanimously. There was additional discussion concerning how much to spend on parade items. Adrian Ritchie made a motion to allocate up to $200 for candy and an additional $200 for non-food items to be handed out; seconded by Avery Pearl. Motion passed unanimously.

9. Annual MLK Family Fun Day & Parade. Amy Saunders, Legal Services Specialist, shared that last year, Alderperson Timion, asked if the HRC could participate in the Annual MLK Family Fun Day & Parade, that will be held on Saturday, August 17, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Avery Pearl advised that the parade starts at 10:00 a.m. Natividad Keim is happy to walk in the parade. Avery Pearl works for the King Center, so he will already be there doing different things. The HRC tabled this item to the June 2024 HRC meeting.

10. Special Infrastructure Task Force (Amy). Amy Saunders, Legal Services Specialist, shared that Mayor Rayapati would like someone from the HRC to attend the quarterly Special Infrastructure Task Force meetings. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, at 9:00 a.m., at Moline City Hall. Jose Castro volunteered to attend this meeting. Avery Pearl and Adrian Ritchie would also like to attend. Per the HRC’s request, Amy will obtain more information to bring back to the June 2024 HRC meeting.

11. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) - Follow Up. Margaret Kostopulos, Corporation Counsel, mentioned that there is no follow up for this agenda item tonight, because it concerns GARE.

12. HRC Website - Follow Up. Natividad Keim shared that she and Diokel Gning met last night to put together a website outline. Natividad can present their outline at the June 2024 HRC meeting. They are keeping it simple and getting closer to being ready to meet with City of Moline IT staff.

13. Strategic Planning – Follow Up. Because the Library was closing in 10 minutes, Avery Pearl made a motion to table the remaining agenda items to the June 2024 HRC meeting; seconded by Adrian Ritchie. Motion passed unanimously.

14. Bylaws – Follow Up. This item was tabled to the June 2024 HRC meeting per the vote in Item No. 13 above.

15. 15. Miscellaneous Business. This item was tabled to the June 2024 HRC meeting per the vote contained in Item No. 13 above.

Public Comment

Sue Normoyle, Resident, mentioned an invitation to an event at Trinity Lutheran. She will forward the email to Amy Saunders tomorrow to email to the HRC members.

Bonnie Ballard, President of the Rock Island County NAACP, told the HRC members about the NAACP Banquet on June 29, 2024.

K.J. Whitley, Community Development Manager, stopped in, towards the end of the meeting, to let the HRC members know about the Splash Bash event at the new Riverside Riverslide on Saturday, June 15, 2024.

Next Meeting

The next regularly scheduled HRC meeting is on June 10, 2024.

Adjournment

On motion of Adrian Ritchie, seconded by Avery Pearl, and approved unanimously by the HRC, the HRC meeting adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

 http://www.moline.il.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/10068