By Lisa Carolin
As the Chelsea Human Rights Commission gets close to finishing work on its by-laws before seeking approval from the city council, members are now talking about how to make their commission an integral part of the Chelsea community.
At its June 21 meeting, member David Gilbert offered some ideas to publicize the commission.
“We need to let people in the community know what the Human Rights Commission is,” he said. “We need to let people know how to use the complaint form and let them know when our meetings are.”
HRC member Susan Morrel-Samuels suggested, “I hope that people will look beyond the complaint form about us. Once we get our by-laws approved, it would be a great next step letting people know we’re here and who we are.”
She suggested a partnership with the Chelsea Chamber of Commerce as well as reaching out to youth in Chelsea with something like a photography or essay contest that has a “public face”.
HRC member Dan Kaminsky suggested working with Realtors in the community as well as a partnership with the police department.
“We can look at how to connect with some of these groups in a community forum,” said HRC member Lynn Fox. “We could have a meeting of nonprofits in the city. Maybe they will feel that there’s a collaboration available.”
They set a goal of early fall for scheduling a forum.
The Chelsea HRC, using the Ann Arbor Human Right’s Commission’s by-laws as a guideline, further edited the document to make it fit with Chelsea. They unanimously approved (Voshel absent) a motion to send the by-laws to City Manager John Hanifan for review and revision according to their discussion.
They also approved a motion regarding permission to Skype requesting that Hanifan confer with the city attorney and city council as to whether it’s possible to Skype at a public meeting as long as there’s a quorum in person.
The Chelsea HRC meets next on Wednesday, July 5 at 5:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers.
