Administrative BriefCITY COMMISSION INFORMATION MEMORANDUM
Volume 33, No. 24
August 11, 2011
ADMINISTRATIVE BRIEF FROM GINA MCDONALD
HUMAN RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
The mission of the Salina Human Relations Commission is to eliminate discrimination and to
establish equality and justice for all persons within the City of Salina through civil rights
enforcement, advocacy and education.
Our Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) activities have increased this quarter. Because of the
ADA Amendments Act, we provided training related to the new regulations; especially dealing with
the changes to the definition of disability and the definition of service animals. We have also
worked with all City departments on updating our Self Evaluation of programs regarding
compliance with the ADA.
The following is just a few of the projects that staff has also been busy with.
• Staff is working with the Smoky Hill Museum on access to their displays for both people
with disabilities and Spanish speaking visitors.
• Darrin Stineman and Dina Giron continue to work with Saline County Emergency
Management on access to information for Spanish speaking individuals.
• Gina McDonald and Darrin Stineman also partnered with the emergency management
services and the Red Cross to participate in FEMA training related to including people
with disabilities in planning for disasters.
• Darrin Stineman has been collecting information about emergency shelters in mobile
home parks and access to them by all residents.
• Gina McDonald was invited to present to the Kansas Association of Centers for
Independent Living and the Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Association on Fair
Housing and Independent Living Philosophy.
• The department is continues to train all city staff on diversity.
• Fair Housing training has been provided to Ashby House residents on a bi- monthly
basis.
• Darrin Stineman continues to do outreach to allow us to come and do Fair Housing and
Diversity Training to high school and middle school students.
• Up to date, assistance was provided to 266 people who called or came to our office on
housing, employment and public accommodations. These were information and
referrals that take anywhere from five minutes to many hours to provide the assistance
requested.
• During this calendar year we have opened cases for 14 people who filed complaints.
These were one employment, 11 housing, and two public accommodations cases.
These cases are more formal and average 30 days of work each. Sandra Beverly is the
lead investigator on these cases.
MONDAY'S MEETING
Enclosed are other items on the agenda. If any Commissioner has questions or cannot attend the
meeting, please contact me.
Jason A. Gage, City Manager