HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/21/2017 05A Ethics and Equal Rights Exploratory Committee - First Quarterly ReportBUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL
YAKIMA, WASHINGTON
AGENDASTATEMENT
Item No. 5.A.
For Meeting of: March 21, 2017
ITEM TITLE: Ethics and Equal Rights Exploratory Committee First Quarterly
Report
SUBMITTED BY: Joan Davenport, Staff Liaison
Maria Rodriguez, Committee Chair
SUMMARY EXPLANATION:
The purpose of the Ethics and Equal Rights Committee (EERC) is to evaluate the potential term,
goals, vision and structure of an Ethics and Equal Rights Committee and make a
recommendation to the City Council as to whether the EERC should be created as a permanent
committee. The EERC was tasked with exploring issues such as wage theft, tenant rights
and discrimination.
The Committee has met twice monthly since January 5, 2017.
ITEM BUDGETED: NA
STRATEGIC PRIORITY: Neighborhood and Community Building
APPROVED FOR
SUBMITTAL: City Manager
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
BOARD/COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION:
Distributed at the >A
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Ethics & Equal Rights Committee
2"d Floor Conference Room — 129 N. Second Street, Yakima, WA 98901
Quarter 1 — Progress Report
1. Introduction When the EERC was formed, the members felt that meeting twice
a month would help to get traction to see how we can be a useful resource to the
City of Yakima
2. January Meetings During these meetings discussions were had to determine a
tentative mission for the EERC as well as comparisons with other communities like
Yakima. These comparisons, led us to see that many other cities did have similar
committees, commissions, or departments within the city to aid and be a resource to
the community
Results Mission [insert mission/elevator speech here'. We don't have to re-invent
the wheel, other communities are already doing what we want to accomplish.
3. February Meeting: During these meetings presentations were made by the Police
Chief and the Fire Dept. Chief to aid us in what services or outreach efforts they are
doing to be more inclusive Priorities of the EERC were discussed based on reports
made at previous meetings as well as City Council priorities
Results More presentations by other City Staff might be needed to clarify issues
Out of the 15+ priorities identified, the EERC decided to focus on 3 to start doing
further research on the inclusivrty, ethics and equality of those items
4 March Meeting: During the first March meeting, priorities were reviewed to
determine the most pressing for the group and to serve as a starting point.
Results: The three topics that were identified were 1) Housing, 2) Wage Theft, and
3) City Investments The committee has been broken up in groups to do research
and report back on 3/23/17 meeting
5. Overall Results: The EERC is working hard to identify gaps were service can be
improved and more equity can be showcased in the community This will not be a
short process and needs time We understand we are not solving the problems but
rather, make a recommendation to City Council of the findings
Yakima
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