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HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION (continued) Councilman Brooks explained that he was basically in favor of the formation of the Commission and thought Council should accept the recomn~endation in the report; that a Commission could not solve such problems as public transporta- tion, but could direct people to the right agencies to solve problems; and[ that he thought this would open the lines of communication. Councilman Herrin stated his opinion that responsible citizenship is something which no committee or commission has anything to do with and he felt that human relations had to be an individual relationship; that in conjunction with the Community Relations Program adopted by the Council in 1968 a Community Relations Coordinator ~iad been hired by the management to serve in exactly the same capacity as this proposed Commission and that the doors of his office are open at all times to receive any grievance or problem within the framework of the City government; that no responsible person is going to do anything to create or influence violence; and that it was his opinion that the bad results which would occur as a result of the creation of a Commission would far over- shadow the good ones. Councilman Villa stated that he would remind the Council that it had made a commitment when the Community Relations Program was adopted and that the principles were set out in the Program under which the City Council committed itself, and he felt that the time was now to create the Human Relations Commission; and he emphasized that the commitment had been made. Councilman Patterson spoke to three points of concern by persons speaking at this hearing -- (1) the fear of subpoena powers - he explained that the Commission would be advisory to the City Council, it could be extinguished by the City Council, and the City Council cannot create anything that has more powers than itself; (2) that it had been pointed out that a person to person relationship would be the best basis and while he agreed with that, he didn't feel one person could reach very many people; and (3) that it would be creating something in between the Council and the people - he explained that the Council has to rely on its commissions and he thought we needed a commission in the area of human relations. Councilman Patterson stated that he thought a Commission would be a two-way communication system, that everyone here was concerned about Santa Aha and that the best way to meet the problems was to create a Human Relations Commission. Councilman Markel stated that what was needed was good public relations with participation by the City Hall, the Council and the people and that he was against the formation of the Commission. Councilman Evans remarked that he was not committed to anything the Council did before he became a member. He stated he thought something was needed, but he was not satisfied with the proposed ordinance as pre- sented with the report; that he disagreed with several parts of it; that he thought it was fair, but that it was lacking in many things; that he could not support a motion at this time favoring the Commission with the power of subpoena; that except for that, he would concur with most of Councilman Patterson' s remarks. CITY COUNCIL -420 - December 15, 1969