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Commissioners to see draft plan for Human Relations Commission

ACC

After two months of work by a committee of lawmakers, the Athens-Clarke County Commission will review a draft ordinance for the creation of a citizen-led human relations commission. Although the ACC Legislative Review Committee will present the draft ordinance next Tuesday, some commissioners are urging their colleagues to postpone a vote until November.

The Legislative Review Committee is recommending a hold on the commission vote in order to allow Athens residents to weigh in with their opinions on the draft ordinance. Since this new body will be led by people in the community, the LRC is looking for feedback on the outlined principles in the draft from the people who could serve as members.

Mayor Kelly Girtz initially tasked the committee with creating a human relations commission on August 3rd, the same day that commissioners unanimously passed the county’s non-discrimination ordinance. That ordinance prohibits discrimination based on race, sexual orientation and gender identity. Educating the community about this new legislation is one of six purposes identified in the draft for the human relations commission.

The creation of a human relations committee is part of a larger package of legislation addressing equity and inclusion in Athens-Clarke County. In addition to the county’s non-discrimination ordinance, a new disparity study is being proposed to investigate the disparities between funds allocated to minority-owned businesses compared to others in Athens. Commissioners are expected to vote on that study on Tuesday.

The HRC is intended to listen to concerns on issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion and help Athens residents who think they have been discriminated against navigate the complaint process established by the non-discrimination ordinance. The draft also positions the human relations commission to serve as a direct line of communication between the community and the ACC government.

This four-page draft ordinance comes two months after Mayor Kelly Girtz imposed a 60-day charge for the LRC to create a human relations commission. The Legislative Review Committee met five times over the two-month window established by the Mayor.

In the early stages, the LRC determined the foundational areas of focus. In the second meeting, government officials from Atlanta, Nashville, Raleigh and Buncombe County, North Carolina shared details about their local human relations commissions with Athens-Clarke County lawmakers. By the final meetings, the ACC Legislative Review Committee mainly focused on correcting details in the draft ordinance. Most of those corrections included adjusting the language and phrases used in the ordinance to more accurately represent members’ intentions.

The Mayor and Commission will review the draft ordinance in its voting meeting on October 5th. The Legislative Review Committee hopes to take feedback from the commission and the public to refine the draft ordinance for a November vote, although Commissioners have the option to pass the plan on Tuesday without further delay.

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