Multicultural Affairs Committee

Meeting Discussion

Elm Street Building
Jefferson City, MO
Nov. 7, 2001

Attendees (per sign-in sheet)

Kevin Johnson**, Tanya Black**, Jeff Jaquess**, Steve Wyatt**, Ken Purvis*, Clarice Morgan*, Richard Gaffney*, Manley Lampkin, Cynthia Bowser, Saundra Farrow, Frank Dolan*, Bonnie Banks, G. Lawson Penny, Dan Schuette, Mary Jo Horn*

** MAC Officer, * Division Representative/Alternate

Chair, Kevin Johnson noted we did have a quorum and called the meeting to order at 1:16 p.m.

Budget Officer, Steve Wyatt gave a budget report. MAC had 700 calendars printed out instead of 500. This was due to MoDNR divisions and programs ordering copies after the calendars had gone to press. MAC total cost for the calendars including the extra copies is $1,154.77. The extra copies placed MAC over budget for the calendar year, but Mr. Wyatt will meet with Gary Heimericks concerning the extra cost.  Mr. Wyatt reported $8,500.47 remaining in the budget.

Jeff Jaquess mentioned that the minutes for the September 20001 meeting were still being transcribed by Chris Buckland who recorded them. Mr. Jaquess read the "discussion" from the October 2001 meeting. Dick Gaffney brought up discussion concerns regarding why MAC pages are on the Intranet and not the Internet. Mr. Johnson mentioned that some pages are going to be placed back on the Internet for the world to see. Discussion about the multicultural activities that MAC does for the department will probably be on the Internet.

Jeff Jaquess gave a Calendar Committee report. Mr. Jaquess said the calendars are printed and are being distributed. Any volunteers or information for the 2003 committee will be appreciated.

Tanya Black reported that the Employee Advisory Council has been meeting and having meaningful discussions. Some Policy Review Subcommittee information that was submitted by Bud Pratt for EAC review was late and not in the proper format for EAC to review. Patricia Pride's comments did get there in time for EAC to review, because Ms. Pride did follow procedure. Ms. Black reported that much EAC business is conducted via e-mail since the EAC members are located in offices all across the state. Ms. Black recommends that people submitting information to the EAC do research about the policy before submitting it to EAC.

Bonnie Banks reported that the Planning and Implementation of Long-Term Goals Subcommittee had not met since Cynthia Bowser had stepped down.

The Retention and Recruitment and Public Relations Subcommittee has not met yet.

The Memberships, Foods Festivals, Brown Bag Lunches Subcommittee has not met yet.

The Policy Review Subcommittee did meet and comments were sent to the EAC as mentioned above.

Mr. Johnson mentioned that Kenny Seeney with the Diversity Conference was having a meeting at Ramada Inn concerning the Diversity Conference 2002. Mr. Seeney and conference facilitators want better room dividers so there is less interference and noise from adjacent sessions.

Mr. Banks reported on the Historical Archives Subcommittee and said that past material and articles on MAC have been collected but still need to be gone through and sorted out for relevance.

In new business, G. Lawson Penny mentioned his e-mail concerning placing the DNR employee of the month picture and reason for the award on the MAC web page. Mr. Penny said that most DNR employees do not know who the current EOM is because most staff never go to the first floor of the Jefferson building and see the picture posted there. Mr. Penny said that by the time the EOM is announced in Inner Resources, it is usually two or three months after the fact. Discussion items included the recognition and announcement of EOM, promotions and new hires under the jurisdiction of Human Resources (HR) or Outrach and Assistance Center.  People thought both programs could contribute, HR could provide the "who's who" information and OAC could display it on the "Intranet." Mr. Penney agreed to investigate further. MAC is hoping that HR and OAC could set it up where MAC would link to this page of the EOM and the EOM page would link back to MAC pages.

Mr. Jaquess introduced new MAC member Mary Jo Horn as the alternate from Geological Survey and Resource Assessment Division, and Mr. Johnson introduced Frank Dolan as the new MAC representative from Air and Land Protection Division.

Mr. Jaquess is going to revise the MAC web pages to reflect the new division names. He is also going to redraft the portion of the bylaws that mentions the number of representatives and alternates from each division.

Since there have been several times in 2001 that not all divisions were represented and no business was able to take place because MAC lacked a quorum the following was discussed. Have the chairman of MAC be able to appoint a "protem" representative for the day so that a quorum is present. An example would be since Bob Mesa has not been able to attend recently, but Manley Lampkin has been in attendance, let Mr. Lampkin be the division of State Parks representative. The representative could only represent their division. A state parks person could not represent Division of Administrative Support. Mr. Banks made a motion to amend the bylaws, and Mr. Jaquess seconded the motion. After more discussion it was tabled to be brought back up at a later meeting after the bylaws committee has had a chance to talk about the change. There was discussion about the lack of attendance from Division of Administrative Support at the meetings.  It was suggested that the secretary get an attendance record for the last year or so.

Mr. Gaffney brought up for discussion having a MAC motto. It was suggested that the Latin phrase Multae culturae, una patria which means, "Many cultures, one country" be adopted. Ms. Black suggested the phrase be changed to "Many cultures, many countries."  Mr. Banks and Cynthia Bowser made and seconded a motion to vote on the matter but then it was tabled until another meeting.

Mr. Gaffney also brought up a complaint that a person from Geological Survey and Resource Assessment had made about the lack of mention of a deer-hunting award in Inner Resources. He wanted to put a "personal" in the next edition of the Inner Resources in-house magazine. It did not meet the criteria promulgated by Nina Thompson a couple years ago. It discriminates against those of us who are of the "frontier", "pioneer", or "hunter" cultural group. I want to bring this before the MAC for a resolution of support for changing the discriminatory policy about what can and cannot be published. Mr. Gaffney investigated and found out that in 1998, the communications director, Nina Thompson, had changed the guidelines of what was allowed in Inner Resources. Mr. Gaffney does not know if the current director, Connie Patterson, feels the same way. MAC members decided that it is nothing that MAC has a direct influence over and recommended that Mr. Gaffney have the person contact Inner Resources about the current guidelines.

Dan Schuette gave gifts of appreciation (watches) to Mr. Penny and Ms. Black for their past efforts in MAC.

Someone noticed that since September 11, 2001, no people from the Mideast or Far East cultures have attended MAC meetings and that several DNR employees are from that part of the world.

The meeting adjourned at 2:54 p.m.

Mr. Jaquess recorded these minutes.