St. Cloud schools look to improve adequate yearly progress

St. Cloud schools look to improve adequate yearly progress
By Dave Aeikens • daeikens@stcloudtimes.com • February 18, 2010

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Twitter FarkIt Type Size A A A Next Page1| 2Previous PageStudents in St. Cloud schools are showing small gains in reading and math but are falling below district goals after one year of the equity plan, a district report shows.




Overall, students improved in eight of nine categories in reading and math. The students fell short of goals that would allow the district and schools to make adequate yearly progress, a measurement under No Child Left behind, in six of nine categories in reading and seven of nine categories in math.
The report measures student progress in categories that include all students, American Indians, Asians, Hispanic, blacks, white, limited English speaking students, low income and special education.
School board members conducted a forum Wednesday for people to discuss the equity plan that drew mostly staff members and some from the community.
“I think it shows we are moving in the right direction,” said Les Green, a school board member who is chairman of the equity and integration committee. “Anyone can argue about speed, and I would like to have more speed.”
St. Cloud school district is in its second year of receiving state dollars to provide programs for equity and integration. The district receives about $1.1 million a year and has a four-year plan for progress and improvement. About 25 percent of St. Cloud school district students are minorities.
The district receives money because it borders Holdingford, a district with almost no students of color.
Only limited-English-speaking students did not improve in reading and only American Indian students did not show improvement in math. The categories that showed improvement grew of between 1 and 3 percentage points.
White students are passing the reading tests at 80 percent and black students at almost 40 percent. Closing that gap has been a goal for the school district. The district goal is to get black students to 74 percent.
White students are passing math at a 74 percent rate and black students at a 35 percent rate. The goal is to get black students passing math at a 67 percent rate.



“What the goal ought to be, there ought to be no difference in the success and failure based on race,” Green said.




Green said the district needs to study the black children who are succeeding and share strategies with those who are not.
Julia Espe, the district’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said she is pleased with the work that is being done.
“We have a long ways to go. We have work to do. We want that (achievement) gap to be smaller,” Espe said. “We have our work cut out for us.”
The report also shows other potential inequities in staffing and in student discipline.
The district teachers are 98 percent white and the support staff is 96 percent white.
Black students, who make up about 14 percent of the student body, account for 51 percent of the out-of-school suspensions.
Whites, who are 75 percent of the students, account for 40 percent of the suspensions.
The Advanced Placement honor level courses have 13 percent students of color. About 87 percent of white students are taking AP courses. Students of color make up about 15 percent of the students who take part in extracurricular activities, according to the report.

State court reprimands St. Cloud lawyer, former mayor

State court reprimands St. Cloud lawyer, former mayor
By Dave Aeikens • daeikens@stcloudtimes.com • February 18, 2010

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Buzz up!Twitter FarkIt Type Size A A A Lawyer and former St. Cloud Mayor John Ellenbecker on Thursday received a public reprimand and was placed on two years probation by the Minnesota Supreme Court.




Ellenbecker, who has practiced law since 1981, will be required to have another lawyer monitor his work practices while he is on probation, the Court said. Public reprimands with probation are handed out to about 50 lawyers a year among the more than 15,000 who practice in Minnesota, said Martin Cole, director of the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility. The Office of Laywers Professional Responsibility filed the request for discipline with the court.
Ellenbecker was disciplined because he failed to return the property of at least three clients and then failed to cooperate with the investigation, Cole said.
“We negotiated a resolution,” Ellenbecker said. “They recognized, and I recognized, that my primary failing was not dealing with the complaint to the board of professional responsibility in a timely manner.”
The petition from the state Supreme Court was signed by Associate Justice Alan Page. If Ellenbecker does not meet the conditions of the probation, he can be suspended or have his license revoked, Cole said.
The office can recommend and the court can order discipline for a lawyer using four options: a reprimand, a reprimand with probation, suspension and disbarment.
“A public reprimand is a significant discipline,” Cole said. “Even to be publicly reprimanded is a serious step for a lawyer and not something anyone takes lightly, I am quite certain.”
The order requires Ellenbecker to:
* Cooperate with the Office of Lawyers Professional Responsibility.
* Abide by Minnesota rules of professional conduct.
* Be supervised by a licensed lawyer that Cole appoints.
* Meet with the monitor one day a quarter and provide a monthly inventory of all active case files.
* Initiate and maintain office procedures that ensure prompt correspondence to clients, courts and other parties.
* Have an assessment from a licensed psychologist or other mental health professional for issues related to depression.
* Pay $900 in costs and $50 in disbursements.
Ellenbecker served as mayor from 2001-2005 and served on the St. Cloud City Council from 1989 to 2001.

Stearns County launches new site

Stearns County launches new site
By Kirsti Marohn • kmarohn@stcloudtimes.com • February 17, 2010

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Twitter FarkIt Type Size A A A Stearns County is launching a redesigned Web site today that encourages residents to stay up to date and share information through social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.




The new site was designed to look more modern and make it easier for users to find the information they are seeking, said George McClure, the county's information services director.
It's also intended to encourage citizen participation, he said. The site features a "Community" page, where users can follow county news on Facebook and Twitter. They can share their own photos of county scenery or events using the photo-sharing site Flickr, or post YouTube videos.
At Tuesday's county board meeting, McClure noted that a growing number of people — particularly younger residents — are relying on such online tools.
"There's just millions and millions of folks that prefer to get their information in this style versus going to a Web site and reading a news release," he said.
The site can be viewed in English, Spanish or Somali. Users can view a calendar of upcoming events and take a poll on a county-related topic. They also can rate the value of the Web site's content, as well as post comments on blogs written by county staff.
"The Web site's a lot more interactive, and it's one more way you maybe stay in touch with local government," McClure said.
Stearns County's Web site has received national recognition and has seen increased use. About 34,000 different people visited the site in January, McClure said.
About 3,000 people pay their taxes annually online, and 99 percent of applications for county jobs are completed online. The county's list of jail inmates attracts more than 20,000 visitors each month.
Redesigning the Web site took nearly two years, including focus group meetings and searching for a vendor, McClure said.
Michigan-based Artemis Solutions Group redesigned the site for a cost of about $95,000. The firm will host the site for an annual cost of $3,300.

Grant sought for regional human rights office

Grant sought for regional human rights office
By Kari Petrie • kpetrie@stcloudtimes.com • February 9, 2010

money to help create a regional human rights office.
The city is requesting $70,000 of the Community Development Block Grant funding. The money would be used to offset a regional office budget of $110,000. The grant would recur for four years.
Each participating city would pay a portion of the additional $40,000 of the budget based on population. Under the plan the Minnesota Department of Human Rights would provide services on a contractual basis.
A regional office was suggested in 2008, initially with the support of St. Cloud, Waite Park and St. Joseph. The plan was to create a regional human rights office and human rights commission to provide services to area cities that signed on to participate.
Such services include outreach, education, enforcement and mediation.
But when cities started facing tighter budgets with cuts to Local Government Aid, they withdrew support for the office. St. Cloud continued to operate its office despite a vacancy in the director position that resulted from a hiring freeze.
St. Joseph and Waite Park, original supporters of a regional office, have discussed this month at council meetings whether to renew the partnerships to create such an office.

Attacks against Somali community show need for strong human rights office

By Dr. Luke Tripp
February 04, 2010


Attacks against Somali community show need for strong human rights office

A packet of hateful and derogatory depictions of the Prophet Muhammad engaged in bestiality was stapled to the telephone pole outside Deko Farah’s St. Cloud shop in January 2010. This was not an isolated hateful incident, but many have attempted to frame this incident as a case of an individual bigot who was exercising his freedom of speech.

In fact, County attorneys in Benton and Stearns counties said that they would not file criminal charges against him. This perverted framing is a deceptive maneuver to direct our attention away from systemic racism in St. Cloud.

The City of St. Cloud, historically a very conservative White town, has only recently become home to a significant population of about 6,000 Somalis who represented about 10 percent of St. Cloud’s population of 68,000 people in 2009. There has been a series of hateful attacks against the growing Somali community since they began arriving here in the 1990s.

We should keep in mind that the attacks began before the tragedy of September 11, 2001, when America’s anti-Islamic fervor reached hysterical levels. In November 2002 the Somali Center, a local headquarters for Somali culture, was vandalized. A racist message was spray-painted on the newly opened Somali market, mosque and community center in south St. Cloud.

In May 2004, students, parents, and members of the community gathered to discuss several incidents that were racially motivated at Technical High School in St. Cloud. The school’s principal, Roger Ziemann, said the fights were between Somali students and others at school and off campus.

District Diversity Coordinator Gary Loch said the fights brewed out of frustration. He further commented, “Somali kids are very tired of being told to go back where they came from,” and he asked rhetorically, “If you heard that every day, how would you feel?”

St. Cloud police were called to Tech or the area 69 times in 2002 as compared with 128 times for all of 2003. They had been called to Apollo High School or nearby 71 times in 2002 and 138 times in 2003.

I believe that Somalis are under attack in St. Cloud because of their race (they are Black), their religion (they are Muslims), and their immigration/refugee status (they are perceived to be untrustworthy aliens).

The animosity against Somalis reflects the sentiments of a significant segment of conservative White residents in the city of St. Cloud whose views are politically expressed by their right-wing extremist congresswoman, Michele Bachmann, who represents Minnesota’s Sixth Congressional District.

Bachmann is a staunch advocate of barriers against immigrants and their culture. Her voting record on anti-immigration legislation is graded A+.

One comment Bachmann has never explained came during a debate she had while running for Congress the first time in November 2005. Prompted by a question on the rioting in France and Europe at the time, Bachmann said, “Not all cultures are equal, not all values are equal,” letting it be known that she thought that people of the Muslim faith had an inferior culture to that of the United States and the West.

The point is that racism and religious intolerance are deeply rooted and still prevalent in St. Cloud. It follows that we need a strong human rights office in the city’s government to change the climate of bigotry in the city.

We need to make our demand for justice and human rights a top priority of city government. We can do that by lobbying and pushing city government officials to provide financial resources to support a full-time human rights director.

Dr. Luke Tripp is professor and chair of the Department of Community Studies at St. Cloud State University. He welcomes reader responses to lstripp@stcloudstate.edu.

Your turn: St. Cloud area needs Human Rights Office

Your turn: St. Cloud area needs Human Rights Office
By Luke Tripp • St. Cloud • January 30, 2010

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Twitter FarkIt Type Size A A A Next Page1| 2Previous PageA packet of hateful and derogatory depictions of the Prophet Muhammad engaged in bestiality was stapled to the telephone pole outside Deko Farah shop in December.




This was not an isolated hateful incident. But many have attempted to frame this incident as a case of an individual bigot who was exercising his freedom of speech.
In fact, county attorneys in Benton and Stearns counties said they would not file criminal charges against him.
This perverted framing is a deceptive maneuver to direct our attention away from systemic racism in St. Cloud.
The city of St Cloud, historically a very conservative white town, has only recently become home to a significant population of about 6,000 Somalis who represented about 10 percent of St. Cloud’s population of 68,000 people in 2009.
There has been a series of hateful attacks against the growing Somali community since they began arriving here in the 1990s.
We should keep in mind that the attacks began before the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, when America’s anti-Islamic fervor reached hysterical levels.
In the mid-1990s, Stride Toward Unity, a black community organization, was formed to advocate for blacks and newly arrived Somalis.
Both groups were experiencing problems of racial discrimination.
In November 2002 the Somali Center, a local headquarters for Somali culture, was vandalized. A racist message was spray-painted on the newly opened Somali market, mosque and community center in south St. Cloud.
In May 2004 students, parents and members of the community gathered to discuss several incidents that were racially motivated at Technical High School. Principal Roger Ziemann said the fights were between Somali students and others at school and off campus. District Diversity Coordinator Gary Loch said the fights brewed out of frustration.
He further commented that, “Somali kids are very tired of being told to go back where they came from,” and he asked rhetorically, “If you heard that every day, how would you feel?”
St. Cloud police were called to Tech or the area 69 times in 2002 compared with 128 times for all of 2003
They had been called to Apollo High School or nearby 71 times in 2002 year and 138 times in 2003.



Somalis are under attack in St. Cloud because of their race (they are black), their religion (they are Muslims) and their immigration/refugee status (they are perceived to be untrustworthy aliens).
The animosity against Somalis reflects the sentiments of a significant segment (43 percent in the 2008 election) of conservative, mostly white residents in St. Cloud whose views are politically expressed by their right-wing extremist Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, who represents Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District.
She is a staunch advocate of barriers against immigrants and their culture. Her voting record on anti-immigration legislation is graded A+ by NumbersUSA, a group lobbying for reducing immigration levels.
Furthermore, as noted by The Uptake in 2008, “one comment she has never explained came during a debate she had while running for Congress in November 2005.
Prompted by a question on the rioting in France and Europe at the time, Bachmann said, ‘Not all cultures are equal, not all values are equal,’ letting it be known that she thought that people of the Muslim faith had an inferior culture to that of the United States and the West.”
My point is that racism and religious intolerance are deeply rooted and still prevalent in St. Cloud.
It follows that we need a strong Human Rights Office in city government to change the climate of bigotry in the city.
We need to make our demand for justice and human rights a top priority of city government. We can do that by lobbying and pushing city government officials to provide financial resources to support a full-time human rights director.
This is the opinion of Luke Tripp, professor and chairman of the Department of Community Studies at St. Cloud State University.

Forum focuses on posting of cartoons in St. Cloud

Forum focuses on posting of cartoons in St. Cloud
By Mark Sommerhauser • msommerhauser@stcloudtimes.com • January 27, 2010

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Anywhere else is a different story, Lam told city leaders and a crowd of hundreds at City Hall on Tuesday night.
Lam was speaking about last month's posting of anti-Muslim cartoons in St. Cloud, at a forum hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations—Minnesota Chapter.
Many speakers questioned local authorities' response to the incident, and asked why the man who has admitted to posting the cartoons doesn't face criminal charges. Others criticized city leaders for not doing enough to combat long-standing discrimination against Muslims and people of color.
Lam told city leaders she's been to plenty of "kumbaya meetings" about discrimination. This time, Lam wanted to know what will happen next.
"I've been here for four years, and I'm scared of this city," Lam said. "What are you going to do to show that you are going to protect all citizens of St. Cloud?"
City leaders responded with little beyond what was announced Friday, when city attorneys cited a Waite Park man who's admitted to posting the cartoons. Sidney Allen Elyea is charged with two counts of violating an ordinance against posting materials on fixtures — civil charges that carry maximum fines of $250 each.
That wasn't enough for many at Tuesday's forum, who suggested the man could be charged with disorderly conduct or other, more serious offenses. City Attorney Jan Petersen told the crowd that his office considered pressing criminal charges against Elyea but decided it wouldn't hold up in court.
City leaders also urged residents to report instances of discrimination or harassment. St. Cloud Police Chief Dennis Ballantine said that entails a "two-way street" of cooperation between city leaders and community members.
"You've got to work with us," Ballantine said. "You can't sit back and wait for us to find all the solutions."
For Lam — who moved here from Rochester to attend St. Cloud State University — the cartoon incident sparked her own ugly memories of facing discrimination in St. Cloud. Lam was born in Sudan and is Christian, but says she's been heckled in public for being a Muslim. The issue is especially meaningful to Lam because she says her family fled Sudan to escape religious persecution.
Others told similar stories, like Fathiya Mohamed. She said many Somalis graduate from local universities but flee St. Cloud, believing there are no opportunities for them here.
Mohamed, a Somali who lives in St. Cloud, said Tuesday's forum was a start toward reversing that problem.
"It was a great learning opportunity for everyone," Mohamed said.

Speak Out Against Hate event is today

Speak Out Against Hate event is today
Times staff report • January 20, 2010

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The protest will be at 2-5 p.m. at Ritsche Auditorium. The Somali Student Association is putting on the event. University President Earl H. Potter III will speak during the event.
The cartoons were found in at least two locations in the city last month.

Stolen books result in SCSU safety alert

Stolen books result in SCSU safety alert
Times staff report • January 2, 2010

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Twitter St. Cloud State University issued a safety alert Thursday after offices at Centennial Hall were broken into before Christmas and textbooks were stolen.




Trim molding was removed from windows of office doors in four offices and the glass removed, which resulted in the installation of tamper-resistant screws on Dec. 24, according to Miles J. Heckendorn III, St. Cloud State University public safety director.
On Wednesday, it was reported another office in Centennial Hall had been entered in the same way with the door sustaining damage and a textbook stolen; on Thursday, it was reported someone had attempted to enter an office in Headley Hall the same way, according to the safety alert
St. Cloud Police Department is investigating and St. Cloud State has increased Public Safety patrols while the exterior doors to the halls are being secured earlier each day over the break.
Anyone with information about the burglaries should call police at 251-1200 or SCSU Public Safety at 308-3333.

137 journalists killed in 2009 in one of deadliest years on record

137 journalists killed in 2009 in one of deadliest years on record


Thursday, December 31, 2009



Brussels - A total of 137 journalists were killed in 2009, one of the most lethal years for media workers on record, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said Thursday.

The Brussels-based organization said that 113 of the journalists had fallen victim to targeted killings, overshadowing the decrease to 109 killed in 2008.

IFJ President Jim Boumelha said that the Philippines, Mexico, and Somalia led the list of most deadly countries for journalists in 2009.

'The devastating massacre of 31 journalists and media staff in the Philippines in November and fresh violence against colleagues in Mexico and Somalia have made this a year of terrible bloodshed for media,' Boumelha said in a statement.

The most shocking killings of 2009 occurred in the Philippines where 38 journalists and media staff were killed. 31 media casualties were counted on November 23 in a massacre in the Maguindanao province.

Iraq, which had been the most dangerous country for most of the past decade, had five killings in 2009, down from 16 the previous year.

Russia in 2009 saw six journalists killed, making it one of the five most deadly countries.

The IJF represents over 600,000 journalists in 125 countries around the world.

Striking cabdrivers protested yesterday near City Hall, later marching down Broadway to the Hall of Justice and Horton Plaza.

By Leslie Berestein,
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Friday, December 25, 2009



Nelvin C. Cepeda / Union-Tribune
Striking cabdrivers protested yesterday near City Hall, later marching down Broadway to the Hall of Justice and Horton Plaza.

Striking cabdrivers protested yesterday near City Hall, later marching down Broadway to the Hall of Justice and Horton Plaza.

A few days after about 300 San Diego taxi drivers went on strike to protest the amount of money they pay to lease cabs, organizers gathered the drivers in a City Heights meeting hall to rally them. The impassioned speeches were in Somali.

In San Diego, Somali immigrants are nearly synonymous with the taxicab industry. Since Somalis began settling here in large numbers as refugees in the early 1990s, fleeing a civil war at home, they have come to dominate the business as drivers. While there is no official figure, it is estimated by groups who work with African immigrants and by drivers themselves that at least three-fourths of San Diego cabbies are East African, the vast majority from Somalia. Others are from Ethiopia and Eritrea, and a few are from other African countries.



“It is the easiest thing to do when you come from another country, and you know how to drive,” said Hakeem Kalif, 40, who arrived from Somalia in 1992 and began driving a taxi four years later. “You only need a Thomas Guide.”

The cabbies follow in a long-established tradition, the immigrant social hiring network, an informal system of referrals and recruiting that has existed for as long as immigrants have been landing on these shores.

Just as social networks help determine where new arrivals to the United States settle, they also help determine the jobs they get, with established immigrants helping arriving family members and friends find work.

The end result is one ethnic group heavily represented in a particular industry: for example, Mexican immigrants in construction, Iraqi Chaldean immigrants operating liquor and convenience stores, Korean immigrants operating small grocery stores, Vietnamese immigrants in the nail-salon industry.

“A brings in B, B brings in C, and C brings in D until finally, you’ve got A through Z,” said Ivan Light, a professor emeritus of sociology at UCLA and co-author of “Ethnic Economies,” a book that examines ethnic-dominated industries. “You don’t own the business, but you control access to it, and it becomes a valuable economic resource for the community in the sense that you get to certain point, and you control access to the jobs.”

The same can happen in a corporate environment, Light said, recalling a tour of a Los Angeles bank several years ago during which the manager pointed out to him that on one floor, most of the workers were Cuban. The immigrant employees had such a strong social network that they themselves took care of finding applicants when there was a vacancy.

“As soon as one Cuban left, they recruited another,” Light said. “The bank was happy with it because the Cubans were good workers, and the Cubans were happy with it because they could find jobs.”

Driving a taxi has become a common occupation for Somali immigrants and other East Africans, not only in San Diego but also in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Washington, D.C. In San Diego, with an East African population that includes an estimated 15,000 or more Somalis, it is not unusual to see a Muslim cabbie pull over to observe a call to prayer by taking a moment to pull a small prayer rug onto the sidewalk and kneel toward Mecca.

Most of the local Somali cabbies say they were referred to the job by word-of-mouth. Ahmed Syaed, a driver and strike organizer who sits on the board of a Somali taxi drivers association, said the cabbies — who typically work 12-hour shifts, sharing a car with another driver — enjoy the flexibility the job gives them to find a few hours here and there for college or trade classes, or to study English. Many also have families.

“It is important for us to have such a flexible job,” Syaed said last weekend during a meeting at the East African Community and Cultural Center in City Heights. “Many of us are students here.”

Bob Montgomery, director of the International Rescue Committee in San Diego, said Somali immigrants entered the taxi industry soon after refugees began arriving in San Diego, following in the footsteps of earlier Ethiopian immigrants, who had also taken to driving cabs. The freedom of driving a cab works for immigrants from these largely agricultural economies, where the climate determines the workday, he said.

“Especially with East Africans, the 9-to-5 work schedule is something new to them — not to all of them, but to a lot of them,” said Montgomery, whose office helped settle the bulk of Somali refugees in the area. Immigrants from South Asia, the West Indies and Africa make up the bulk of the nation’s taxi drivers, said Bruce Schaller, deputy commissioner for planning and sustainability with the New York Department of Transportation. Five years ago, while working as a private consultant, Schaller wrote a report on the growing number of immigrants in the taxi industry.

Until the 1970s, it was much more common to see native-born U.S. citizens behind the wheel of a cab, he said. Things began to change as crime became a growing concern, Schaller said, making driving a taxi a riskier occupation than many U.S.-born workers wanted. A changing job market also meant new opportunities for younger drivers, such as temporary office work.

According to Schaller’s research, which was based on U.S. Census data, only 8 percent of the nation’s taxi and limousine drivers in 1970 were immigrants. By 2000, that had risen to 38 percent, one of the highest proportions of immigrant workers of any occupation in the country.

Some immigrant drivers see their job as a steppingstone as they study or learn English, Schaller said. Some have stayed in the industry but have gone on to buy their own taxis or even a fleet; in San Diego, for example, immigrant cabbies typically lease from immigrant cab owners, among them Russian, Middle Eastern and other African immigrants, including former drivers. There are about 1,000 taxis in San Diego.

The striking cabbies are at odds with owners affiliated with Yellow Cab over lease rates that they say are too high in comparison to their recession-battered earnings. But when the money is good, it’s not a bad job to have, Schaller said.

“Some will be driving a cab for a long time to come,” he said. “But they are very, very proud of their sons and daughters who are going to Harvard or MIT.”

Leslie Berestein: (619) 542-4579 ; leslie.berestein@uniontrib.com

St. Cloud passes 2010 budget

St. Cloud passes 2010 budget
By Kari Petrie • kpetrie@stcloudtimes.com • December 22, 2009

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Twitter Next Page1| 2Previous PageAttempts to fully fund a St. Cloud Human Rights Office failed Monday night and the council passed the city budget as initially proposed.




The council passed a $76.5 million 2010 budget, which is a nearly 10 percent cut in spending compared with 2009. They also approved a $23 million property tax levy.
The budget passed with a 6-1 vote, with council member Sonja Berg voting against the budget. Berg had proposed an amendment to the budget that would fully fund the Human Rights Office.
The office was reorganized after its director left and a city hiring freeze prevented officials from hiring a new one. A coordinator working in the City Attorney’s Office now oversees human rights work.
For 45 minutes the council discussed funding the human rights office and listened to testimony supporting the office. The budget discussion was not a public hearing, but Council President Bob Johnson allowed several members of the audience to speak.
Kevin LaNave is a former chairman for the St. Cloud Human Rights Commission. He said funding a human rights office is critical to the city’s safety and livability, evoking a often-cited descriptor of St. Cloud.
He rejected the idea that the city should wait until a regional office can be funded, as city officials have said in the past.
“If full funding of a regional human rights office is an urgent priority ... then so is full funding of the city’s human rights office,” LaNave said.
St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization Executive Director Mohamoud Mohamed said the city is taking a step backward by not funding the office.
Not funding the office is hurting some of the trust between government officials and minority communities, he said.
“It is killing our relationship with you,” he said.
Berg offered an amendment to include fully funding the human rights office and hiring a new director. Fellow council members did not vote for the approval, citing concerns over where that money would be found.
Council member Carolyn Garven offered an amendment to allocate an additional $30,000 to the human rights office. The 2010 budget included $20,000 to pay for the coordinator and $13,400 in nonpayroll funds. That money is included in the City Attorney’s Office budget



Garven also said she would like a stronger human rights commission with representation from the communities and groups that lobbied the city to reform the office Monday.



“I want to put a huge amount of authority in the commission on how to do this,” she said. “I don’t want a director anymore, I really want all of you.”
Johnson suggested that city administration take some money from several different areas of the budget to piece together the $30,000. He used the example of the money used to pay a consultant to run the council’s annual retreat.
“I believe you could parse out a couple thousand here and there to put together (the funds),” Johnson said.
But Mayor Dave Kleis reminded the council that there is still a possibility of cuts to the 2010 budget. He said “the likelihood is high” that the city will face additional reductions in Local Government Aid. The city also is still in negotiations with some of its labor unions.
The 2010 budget that passed Monday includes no wage increases.
If unions don’t accept a contract with no wage increases, Kleis said further cuts will have to be made to the budget.
While those council members who spoke said they support a human rights office, some said they were concerned about finding the resources to fund it.
Council member Dave Masters said he would need to know where all the money was coming from before he could support an amendment adding $30,000 to the budget for human rights work.
Council member George Hontos said he would like to see a plan of action before supporting additional funding. Hontos, a long supporter of a regional human rights office, also bristled at the fact St. Cloud has received so much criticism over the issue.
“We are the only (city) willing to put any money in a human rights office and we are getting most criticism,” he said.
In the end council members approved the budget that was initially put before them, one that keeps in place a hiring freeze and has no wage increases.
“This budget is very well done given the circumstances we face economically,” Johnson said.