153.03 POWERS AND DUTIES.

   The Human Relations Commission shall:

   (a)   Establish and maintain a principal office in the City and such other offices within the City as it considers necessary.

   (b)   The Commission shall report directly to the Mayor, and through the Mayor    to Council, its advice and assistance in seeking solutions to the many problems comprising the urban crisis, to assist and recommend methods for creating and maintaining harmony and mutual respect in metropolitan Mansfield .

   (c)    The Mayor shall appoint the Director of Human Relations upon recommendation by the Commission; employment of additional staff shall remain within the province of the Commission; subject, however, to the City's personnel policy and procedures.

   (d)    The Commission shall communicate to the Mayor present and future causes and sources of tension or disorder in any part of the community; and in order to do so, conduct fact finding activities about such causes and disorders, and arrange direct communications between various resident groups, organizations, and the City administration or any combination of them.

   (e)    The Commission shall audit and review the human relations aspect of the City administration, including, but not limited to, equal employment practices, the contract compliance program, the efficient and productive processing of resident complaints against any City department or operation, and fair and equitable distribution of services to the residents.

   (f)    The Commission shall recommend to the Mayor programs of action and constructive change which will correct those causes of intergroup tension and disorder which underlie the urban crisis including, but not limited to, the elimination of intolerance and unjust conditions of bias, discrimination and prejudice against minority groups, and programs to insure equal enforcement of law and equal protection of law for all minorities.

   (g)    Upon specific request of the Mayor the Commission may conduct hearings, or may hear complaints or inquiries from any resident or group of residents submitted through the staff or otherwise, and shall conduct hearings upon specific request of the Mayor.

   (h)    Support a comprehensive educational program in cooperation with the Board of Education and other administrative agencies of the City, for the students of the public schools of this City and for all other residents thereof, designed to eliminate prejudice on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, age or ancestry in this City, to further good will among such groups to emphasize the origin or prejudice against such groups, its harmful effects, and its incompatibility with the principles of equal protection of the law and the full rights and privileges of citizenship.

   (i)    Issue such publication, pamphlets, reports and such results of investigations and research as in its judgment will tend to promote good will and minimize or eliminate discrimination because of race, color, sex, national origin, handicap, age or ancestry.

   (j)    Formulate policies to effectuate the goals and objectives of this chapter and make recommendations to the administrative offices and legislative body of the City to effectuate such policies.

   (k)    The City shall be the prime funding agent of the Commission, and its fiscal operation shall be subject to review and analysis by the City; the Commission shall keep an accounting of its receipts and expenditures which shall be available at any time for examination by the proper officers of the City.

      (Ord. 81-158. Passed 6-2-81.)