MASON CITY – A Mason City Human Rights commissioner bragged last week that the agency was doing something it had never done before – community outreach and education.
However, an NIT investigation is showing that insurance salesman Steve Palmer – hand-picked by Mayor Eric Bookmeyer for the commission – could be sorely mistaken or just outright lying in comments he made last week at a public meeting.
At that meeting, Palmer was visibly agitated at answering questions about the actions, intentions and direction of the beleaguered commission. He blurted out that Mason City was “not required to have a commission” and that it was “being asked to do something that was not done in the past” regarding community outreach and education – a foundation of Human Rights agencies across the state.
Although Palmer has served on the commission for three years, he singled-out Councilman Alex Kuhn with blame for not furnishing him with plans and a framework for conducting community outreach. This outreach is designed to teach employers and landlords that discrimination is wrong and how to avoid committing discriminatory acts.
According to Diana Black, who serves the commission as an administrative assistant, “there has been no outreach events that I am aware of since March of 2014,” leaving at least 5 months of inactivity.
Between June 30th, 2013 – the last day on the job for former Director Lionel Foster – and March of 2014, very little outreach was done by Human Rights commissioners, and it was only done briefly at the request of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.
“I know at the request of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission presentations were given to housing providers/landlords that were in violation,” a source told NIT. “There [were] no speaking engagements, no print, radio, or TV commercials. The commissioners were too busy worrying about financial reports and trying to catch Lionel [Foster] at over spending.”
Commissioners are also supposed to complete training prior to performing community outreach and education. The training is described as “thorough” and “tedious” in order to be competent at conducting these events. NIT was told it takes experience as a commissioner to do a good job.
There was no indication that any of the current commissioners are undergoing training of any kind at this time that would qualify them to perform community outreach and education. NIT asked for examples of training accomplished by current commissioners from assistant Diana Black, but the attempt was made at city hall closing time. NIT will wait for that information and report once it is made available.
The source told NIT that commissioners Brian McNamara and Steve Palmer at one point completed community outreach to landlords using “a PowerPoint presentation that had been already created for them to use” and then they handed out brochures. “Neither one of them are really qualified to do those kinds [of] presentations. They did not have fair housing training and were not that familiar with Chapter 562 of the Iowa Code (landlord tenant statute in Iowa). All the commissioners who could do that kind of presentation had been taken off by Eric [Bookmeyer]. Kathye Gaines, Kathy Loeckle were [removed by Bookmeyer]. Colleen Devine resigned because Dean Genth was not reappointed. They all had some form of fair housing training.”
NIT was furnished with a list of examples of community outreach initiatives that were accomplished in previous years by the Mason City Human Rights Commission:
Television
Mediacom – commercials ran for a period of 3 to 4 years
Fox 47 – commercials ran for a period of 3 to 4 years
KIMT TV 3 – commercials ran for one year
KTTC – commercials ran for about a year.
Print Publications
Globe Gazette – Dear Amy Ad – ran weekly for close to a year. Ran ads in their periodic business publications – Ran random ads in the regular newspaper – WOW magazine 2000-2002
Created and Landlord Handbook was distributed to walk-ins and at seminars.
Globe Gazette Answer Book – beginning 2001
Advertised for a year in the Hispanic newspaper La Voz – 2008-2009
Lincoln Marketing – advertised on free City Map – fair housing ad – 2004
Created brochures for fair housing in English and Spanish.
Created a brochure concerning sexual harassment.
Created Fair Housing posters that are in English and Spanish
Created a brochure describing commissions purpose.
Landlord and Tenant handbook
Radio
KCMR – ran radio ads – ads ran for many years
KLSS – ran radio ads – ads ran for many years (most recently in 2012)
KGLO/KRIB – ran radio ads – ads ran for many years
Seminars and Events
Landlord Seminar held on May 12, 1998 at Mason City Public Library
Seminar held for First Time Homebuyers – June 1999
First Time Renters – Tenant Seminar – conducted by Commission – June 1999
Jan Alderton-Pallesen from Cedar Rapids Human Rights Commission gave a seminar to landlords – November 2000
Globe Online – create a webpage for City including the Commission – June 2000
TeamQuest Technologies – Create webpage – March 2000
For all the Right Reasons: Multifamily Housing Accessability – in Mason City, Iowa – June 2000
Housing Roundtable Forum by Mason City Steering Committee – April 2001
Housing Assistance Fund Meeting sponsored by Iowa Finance Authority – June 2001
28E Agreement signed with County – November 2001
Partnered with Iowa Legal Aid – signed agreement – partnership initiative grant – in 2003
Expanding the Dream – Accessible Housing in Iowa – September 19, 2003, at Mason City Public Library
First Home/Fair Housing presentation in Mason City – ICRC came up and Director participated – October 2003
Disability Management Consulting Group – accessability study on Mason City conducted October 2004
Design and Construction Seminar held by the Commission – May 2005
Hired Outreach Coordinator (Melissa Weiner) – 2007
Government Channel – Fair Housing slides – 2008 – ongoing
North Iowa Diversity Team – Melissa Weiner participates actively – ethnic luncheon in park Commission had booth and participated – September 2009 – yearly event.
Community Policing Board Winter event – informational booth – February 2009
Embracing Diversity and Writing Contest – Commission co-sponsored writing contest – March 2009
National Night Out Event – informational booth – August 2010
Chair Kathy Loeckle spoke to Greater Board of Realtors about fair housing – February 2010
National Night Out – informational booth – August 2011
Outreach Coordinator met with Luis Arellanes at New Iowan Center – August 2011
Outreach Coordinator met with Jeanette Vazquez – Iowa Legal Aid – August 2011
Chair Kathy Loeckle spoke to Greater Board of Realtors about fair housing – June 2011
Lionel J. Foster – Director Activities
Former Commissioner Dan Raemaker has asked Director to speak to his classes at the high school on more than one occasion.
NIACC professors have also routinely asked Director to speak to their classes.
Director served as the president of the Iowa League of Human Rights Agencies for 10 plus years.
Director received volunteer awards from Governor Branstad and Governor Vilsack
Fort Dodge Human Rights Commission Director, Richard Kelley, invited Lionel Foster to speak to their Commission, City officials, Webster County officials on February 10, 1994.
Director participated in African American history forum at the MacNider Art Museum – April 1997
Director spoke in Hampton, Iowa, to Kiwanis Club about fair housing – September 1997
Director spoke to Mason City Kiwanis Club about fair housing – October 1997
Director spoke to the Mason City Lion=s Club about fair housing – October 1997
Director attended a press conference in Davenport, Iowa, for HUD – October 30, 1997
Director appointed to housing task force by Governor Vilsack – July 2000
Director spoke to Greater Board of Realtors – May 2000
Director spoke to American Realty Management and staff about fair housing – September 2001
Director assisted individuals in Duluth, Minnesota, to start their own human/civil rights Commission. Was asked to come to Duluth to provide training.
Director provided training to the Cedar Falls Human Rights Commission – provided training on investigation
Director spoke at Rotary Club Meeting – July 2010
Director spoke to SHRM – May 2010
Director spoke to Iowa Workforce Development about employment and housing – February 2011
Director asked to speak on public radio in August 2011
Director inducted into African American Hall of Fame – August 2011
Director spoke to the IDOT about Title VI – in August 2011
Director spoke at the Regional Executive Council on Civil Rights meeting in Kansas City in Aug/Sept 2011
Director trained the staff at the Waterloo Human Rights Commission – January 2012
Director met with Student to discuss civil rights – February 2012 (Director has met with many students over the years to discuss civil rights and to help them with their papers)
Director spoke to Cerro Gordo County employees about Title VI – March 22, 2012
Director did radio announcements for Three Eagles Communication – March 2012
Director participates with the Youth Task Force on the Promise Teams project
Training
With inception of the Commission’s HUD Fair Housing contract in 1996, staff has been required to attend training. Staff and Commissioners over the past 14 plus years have attended extensive training regarding Fair Housing. The training attended is too numerous to mention. Here are some highlights.
Kathye Gaines has attended the most training of all the Commissioners. She has completed 5 weeks of training at the National Fair Housing Training Academy (NFHTA) and is a trained investigator for housing cases.
Lois Fingalsen/Sheila Stoeckel – have each attended 2 weeks of training at the NFHTA.
Dennis Wilson attended EEOC training on 2 occasions.
Kathy Loeckle has attend 1 week of training for the NFHTA.
Received EEOC contract in 2006. Staff has attended EEOC training receiving the contract.
Colleen Devine has attended conferences for both HUD and EEOC.
Melissa Weiner has completed 2 weeks of training at the NFHTA. Melissa has also attended EEOC training.
Elena Godfrey has completed 2 weeks of training at the NFHTA.
Amy Simpson has completed 5 weeks of training at the NFHTA. She also has attended numerous conferences and training for HUD and EEOC since 1999.
The director and former Chair Loeckle also conducted training sessions in May 2011 for Commissioners and new Commissioners and friends on several occasions.
In 2012, staff attended the annual EEOC conference in St. Louis, Missouri.
In 2013, staff attended the annual EEOC conference in Denver, Colorado.
* The VHS tapes of the commercials are available should anyone want to see them. Some commercials also were put on a CD. These may have been destroyed or thrown away by the current commission.
Just face the facts. This commission doesn’t care one bit about human rights or the rights of renters. They are 100% landlord and will do nothing to stop or control them. Everything else is a smokescreen.
It’s pretty clear Steve Palmer don’t care anything about human rights. I can’t believe anyone would buy insurance from such a negative person.
I think NIT should look into this Ann Harty character. What are her motivations for being on the HR Commission? Why did she want on there? Why did she so quickly deny that Diana Black was ever supposed to do intake of cases from the public? Something here smells like a 2-day-old Moscow Mule with cigarette butts floating in it.
I wonder why Cameron Sarjeant quit? He was president of the group for a while.
Outreach most certainly was done in the past, for years! There were periodic workshops for landlords, on THEIR rights, and for employers on dealing with the employees and EMPLOYERS’ rights. They don’t know about them because they don’t know anything about the commission!
Community outreach in this case means teaching landlords how to get away with discrimination.
Or maybe more. Sometimes landlords dream up creative ways of making up past due rent.