By Ann Marie Bush, Topeka Capital-Journal, June 17, 2010
The city council's decision to eliminate the Topeka Human Relations Commission's three-employee department Tuesday night had some people questioning how open cases will get closed and how new cases will be handled.
"I'm very disappointed that the home of Brown vs. Board would get rid of the only civil and human rights enforcement agency in the city government," said Bill Beachy, chairman of the Topeka HRC. "My concern is that we need to have local enforcement."
TOWN HALL MEETING
The Topeka Human Relations Commission will have a town hall meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the first-floor conference room of the city’s Cyrus K. Holliday Building, 620 S.E. Madison. Rio Cervantes-Reed, executive director of the commission, will discuss what she sees as being the future of THRC. The public is invited.
Beachy used this example: "If you have a burglar in your backyard, you don't call the state highway patrol, you call the local cop on the beat."
The mission of THRC, which was formed in 1961, is to ensure fair and equal rights for all Topekans in the areas of housing, employment and public accommodation. There are nine volunteers who serve as Topeka human relations commissioners.
While Rio Cervantes-Reed, executive director of the Topeka Human Relations Commission, said she doesn't doubt the Kansas Human Rights Commission's ability to investigate and handle cases, she worries about the additional workload.
"My only concern is that they are realizing budget cuts, too," she said. "I'm also concerned that the cases we have open right now may burden their caseload."
The HRC has 23 open cases in employment, Cervantes-Reed said.
At the city council meeting Tuesday night, 10 people spoke in regard to the proposal to abolish the department as part of an effort to plug a $4 million hole in the 2010 general fund budget. Some said the step would force people who believe they are victims of discrimination to seek help from KHRC, which they said already has an unacceptably large backlog of cases.
Ruth Glover, assistant director of the Kansas Human Rights Commission, said while KHRC had 990 open cases as of May 31, the commission doesn't consider that a backlog.
"We have had an increase (of filings) because of economic downturn," she said.
On June 30, 2009, KHRC had 799 open cases.
KHRC is feeling the budget crunch, Glover said, and some of its open positions haven't been filled.
Cervantes-Reed and Beachy said they question why the decision to close the city agency was made.
"I support the city manager in what he's trying to do in order to meet the budget, but when I see the numbers, I have to question if this is the only way to get there," Cervantes-Reed said.
City manager Norton Bonaparte said if the human relations department were disbanded about July 1, the city would save $71,000 this year and $163,000 next year. A decision on when the department's doors will be shuttered hasn't been made.
When the department is disbanded, Cervantes-Reed said two of the three staff members will have the right to seek jobs elsewhere in the city's workforce. Cervantes-Reed, who has been executive director since September 2007 and served as interim director for nine months before that, doesn't have that luxury. She is seeking employment elsewhere.
The current nine-member board will continue to operate as usual, Cervantes-Reed said, but Shawn Maisberger, assistant to the city manager, will oversee the board.
Members of the board are committed to what they are doing, Beachy said, but some have discussed the possibility of stepping down after their department "was pulled out from under us."
"I'm disappointed," said Beachy. "I made calls to all of the city council members (before the vote), so I probably wasn't as surprised. But the disappointment still comes through. To me, they know better. To claim that this is done as a budgetary matter, it just doesn't make sense."
Ann Marie Bush can be reached at (785) 295-1207 or ann.bush@cjonline.com.
For more on the Council's decision to eliminate the Human RElations Department read, Open-carry legal; HRC dept. killed.