The Valparaiso City Council is looking for more control over the advisory human relations council.
The HRC currently reports to the mayor, but council member Emilie Hunt thinks it's too important to be overseen by one individual. "This proposal, very simply, ensures implementation of our city's code, not any one individual's interpretation of it," Hunt said during Monday's city council meeting.
Under the proposed ordinance, the mayor would still appoint three of the 10 members, while the city council would appoint the other seven. Mayor Jon Costas acknowledged that the mayor and the city council could each appoint whatever advisory groups they want, but he didn't like the idea of giving them his.
"It's not really about control. I'm not a control freak," Costas told council members. "It's about their role in advising the mayor, and what I expect out of that committee is different than what you want to do with this committee, from what I understand. I mean, it's not been clear what you expect."
Costas said the group has been helpful to him in his role of managing the city's staff and operations.
The advisory human relations council's current chairperson, Alison Quackenbush, criticized the proposed change, calling it disrespectful and accusing council members of trying to manage the city, rather than govern. "There seems to be an assumption that so many of our dedicated city employees — and, in my case, a volunteer — may lack in knowledge, are not to be trusted or after a long municipal career don't know anything about what they're talking about or have an ulterior agenda," Quackenbush said.
But council member Robert Cotton felt the change would bring the human relations council closer to what residents originally called for: a full human rights commission. He felt the change could restore some of its initiative, at a time when minority groups may feel more hesitant to voice concerns. "With eight percent of our city being Hispanic and people being able to be scooped up . . . and maybe naturalized citizens," Cotton said.
This follows a debate during a March city council meeting over how active a role the human relations council should take in planning events. Hunt maintained that the proposed changes were more administrative in nature, rather than a change in purpose. She felt it was reasonable for the city council to have appointments, since it adopted an ordinance in 2011 to create the human relations council.
Still, council member Peter Anderson felt the city council would be overstepping its bounds. "Trying to tell cultural groups how, when and where to celebrate their own heritage is offensive and patronizing," Anderson said.
In the end, council members voted six-to-one to table the proposed ordinance, to allow for more conversations.
