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Council passes commission ordinance

Ottumwa Courier - 6/9/2022

Jun. 9—OTTUMWA — Very soon, Ottumwa will be resurrecting what was lost seven years ago.

The city council during Tuesday's meeting unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance to re-establish a human rights commission and then fast-tracked the process by waiving the second and third readings.

Once the ordinance is published, applications will then be accepted for the nine voting members of the public to be appointed to the commission on a volunteer basis. According to the ordinance, appointments "shall represent the diversity of the people of Ottumwa with respect to race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion or disability."

There also will be three members of the city on the commission — the mayor, city administrator and one member of the council.

"This is to get us off the ground," city administrator Philip Rath said. "And I understand there are a number of individuals that are interested in participating in it."

Re-establishing the commission, which was dissolved in 2015, is one of the keys under "Celebrate Diversity" in the city's 2040 comprehensive plan. Because the population is under 29,000, the city is not required to fund a commission.

Over the past year, the city had meetings with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission regarding the implementation of a commission, and there were two paths the city could elect — a civil rights commission that would effectively handle cases, or go to a human rights commission, which serves as more of an advisory and educational role, and can point residents in the right direction with their cases.

Under this commission, members will have the following roles:

— listening to community members and providing access to resources, or assist in the resolution of complaints

— connect citizens to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission if complaints require enforcement

— recommend to the mayor and city council any policies or programs to further the commission's goals concerning human rights in the community

— collaborate with organizations and individuals to provide education and training with the goal to end discrimination and inequities

— collect data to identify and report upon various populations in the community, and create a report on a bi-annual (twice a year) basis

— provide planning to promote the human rights of members of the community

— ascertain the status of human rights in the community and report to the city council annually

— recommend education and community training opportunities relevant to human rights and best practices

— connect various populations through promotion and creation of events to celebrate culture and inclusion

Once commission members are appointed, the Iowa Department of Human Rights will then assist with training to get the commission started.

In other business:

—The council approved the sale of Legion Memorial Field and a portion of Pickwick Park to the Ottumwa Community School District. Each transaction is $1, and, in the case of Legion Field, the school district must continue to use it for recreational purposes, or the property goes back to the city automatically. If the district should sell the property, either for recreational use or something else, the city has right of first refusal to buy back the property for $1. The sale of Pickwick Park is for the expansion of Douma Elementary School.

—The council approved RG Construction's bid of just over $573,000 to build the Ottumwa Park campground shower house. The project has a budget of $800,000, with an engineer's estimate at $616,000.

Chad Drury can be reached at cdrury@ottumwacourier.com, and on Twitter @ChadDrury

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(c)2022 the Ottumwa Courier (Ottumwa, Iowa)

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