A general meeting of the City of Orlando CHAPTER 57 REVIEW BOARD was held on THURSDAY, September 10, 2015 at City Hall, 400 South Orange Avenue, 2nd Floor Veterans Conference Room in Orlando, FL 32801. A quorum was met and the meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m. by GingerMalcom, BoardVice Chair. The Board reviewed and approved the July 9, 2015 minutes; motion made by Nathaniel Friends and seconded by AlfredaForshee.
Ginger requested introduction of the Board and City of Orlando Staff. Welcome to Kyle Reynolds, Board Coordinator and Recording Secretary for Nominating Board and Citizen Police Review City of Orlando, and Amanda Henry, a Florida Hospital Intern accompanying Board Member Louis Preston, Jr. was introduced.
Record of Attendance –
Board Members: Ginger Malcom, Board Vice Chair; Nathaniel Friends; Wanda Bonet-Gascot; Louis Preston, Jr.; AlfredaForshee; Ron Nesbitt
Board Member Absent: BassemChaaban, Board Chair
City of Orlando Staff: Patricia Newton, Assistant to Director/Human Relations Official; Carmen I. Feliciano, Human Relations Specialist, Board Secretary; David Gillespie, Fair Housing Investigator; Marcia Hope Goodwin, Chief of Staff/Director
2015 – 2016 Meeting Schedule
Carmen Feliciano handed out the 2015 – 2016 meeting schedule for the Chapter 57 Review Board Meetings. The Board unanimously approved the schedule, meeting on the second Thursday of each month; Nathaniel Friends made a motion and it was seconded by Louis Preston, Jr.
Board Vice Chair – Update
Ginger Malcom,Vice Board Chair, updated the Board about the tour to Lynx. Board agreed that the tour should be done at the next Chapter 57 Review Board meeting on October 8, 2015, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
AlfredaForshee informed the Board that Gina Bernard, MBE, did not have a specific training agenda but if any of the Board members wanted training a one on one session would be scheduled by contacting Gina Bernard.
Update on Case Closures
Patricia Newton reported that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) conducted in August its annual assessment review of the City’s Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), which is managed by the Community Affairs and Human Relations Office. HUD reported that the City’s FHAP is in good standing, resolving 16 fair housing complaints before the 100-day closure date and awarded $72,275 to close out fiscal year 2014-2015 successfully. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Worksharing Agreement for FY 2014-2015 was successfully met with 15 case resolutions, more than 130 intakes and awarded $16,725.
Upcoming City Events
Marcia Hope Goodwin thanked the Board for their participation at the Orlando Speaks Workshop held on August 25, 2015. Marcia then asked the Board if they had suggestions for the upcoming Orlando
Speaks event, which will be held on October 13th at Edgewater High School. Ginger Malcom said that the event would be better if the material would be accessible to her (vision impaired) because the printed and visual material was not accessible to her.
Patricia Newton thanked Board members for attending the Florida Dispute Resolution Center Annual Conference from July 31st to August 1st; the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Orlando Training Seminar on Friday, August 14th and the Back to School Summit held on Saturday, August 15th at City Hall that was co-sponsored by the Board.
Appeal Hearing – Tammy Albright vs. William Lamb
Having heard the facts presented by David Gillespie (Fair Housing Investigator) in the above housing complaint, and questions ensued, Nathaniel Friends made a motion and it was seconded by AlfredaForshee to adopt the no cause finding of the Human Relations Official. The Board voted unanimously that there was no reasonable cause to believe that a violation of Title VIII of the Fair Housing Act, as amended, and Chapter 57 of the Code of the City of Orlando had occurred.
Adjourn
All Board members agreed to meet on Thursday, October 8, 2015 at 9:00 a.m. and there being no further business to come before the Chapter 57 Review Board, the meeting was adjourned at 11 a.m.; motion made by Nathaniel Friends and seconded by Ron Nesbitt.
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Carmen I. Feliciano, Recording SecretaryDate