Multicultural Affairs Committee

Meeting Minutes

Elm Street Building
Jefferson City, MO
May 7, 2002

Attendees (per sign-in sheet)

Greg Anderson*, Cynthia Bowser, Tom Cabanas, Robert Clay, Frank Dolan, Richard Gaffney**, Rachel Griffin**, Mary Jo Horn*, Jeff Jaquess**, Kevin Johnson**, Julius Johnson, Tom Judge, Celine Koier, Manley Lampkin, Patricia Pride, Adam Swofford (for Wilma Partee) Bernard Thompson and Steve Wyatt**

** MAC Officer, * Division Representative/Alternate

Quorum noted. Chairman Johnson called meeting to order at 1:05 p.m.

Jeff Jaquess distributed printed copies of the January, February and April meeting minutes for those present to review. Since the minutes were quite lengthy, Mr. Johnson said for the members to review and comment on any errors. Several typographical errors were found, and Mr. Jaquess will correct these errors before posting on the Intranet. A motion was made to approve and second the minutes with corrections and the motion passed.

Steve Wyatt gave the recording secretary a copy of the budget as it stands. Division of Administrative Support is getting the bills and invoices paid. Most Diversity Conference facilitators have already been paid. The United States Department of Agriculture did help pay some speakers' costs at the conference. Some facilitators mistakenly charged some items to the state that should not have been charged, and letters to those facilitators have been sent. Karen Kremer has been helping by using SAM II to pay the bills. Ramada Inn has been paid in full for their services.

Old Business:

MAC Policy Review Subcommittee and the EAC: During the last several months, there have been policies that have been approved by the executive staff that were not reviewed by the EAC or the MAC policy review subcommittee. MAC would like to know what policies are being considered for review. Alice Geller is the main point of contact. MAC needs to get a new group of employees that can review the policies before they are approved in the executive staff meetings. The Employee Advisory Council (EAC) is also supposed to review. MAC does have a representative on the EAC.
Attendance at the Lunch and Learn has been low, but the information presented has been rich in culture. In June, Wilma Partee will be giving a talk about the Human Resources section of DNR.
Subcommittee reports
- Mr. Jaquess reports that Julie Stone, Dick Gaffney, Kevin Johnson and Tanya Black have sent him information for the 2003 MAC calendar. Wilma Partee has mentioned that the 2003 calendar would be better received if it was printed on heavier "card stock" paper. She will talk to Gary Heimericks about the extra cost. Mr. Jaquess will also contact Bill Houston at the State Printing Center about the extra cost. Next year MAC will mention the "Missouri State Employee Recognition Week" on the calendar as announced by Governor Bob Holden.
- Cynthia Bowser reports that it has been quiet about the International Food Festival that will be held this year at the Governor's garden. No one from the Governor's staff has returned her calls. The other agencies (Dept. of Economic Development, Office of Administration, Dept. of Mental Health and DESI) that had expressed an interest have not contacted her either. Ms. Bowser needs to know by the end of May if they can participate, and she will contact them once more.
- There was no other subcommittee reports.

New Business:

2003 Officer elections - the ad hoc election committee consists of Bernard Thompson, Mary Jo Horn, Tom Judge, Manley Lampkin and Celine Koier was formed. The group with Tom Judge acting as chair will collect names of nominees, and then present them before the MAC membership for vote via e-mail, phone-in or paper ballot. Results should be ready for the June 2002 meeting.
2002 Missouri Legislative Black Caucus Conference - Jeff Staake sent out a memo explaining that with the budget constraints this year, DNR attendance would be low this year. In the memo, Mr. Staake said that MAC members could/should have priority but still could only send officers. MAC proposed to send Kevin Johnson, Tanya Black (EAC representative), Jeff Jaquess and one other person preferably someone who has never attended the conference). According to Rachel Griffin and Mr. Jaquess, only two people have requested conference information from them.
The nomination for new subcommittee chairs will be tabled until the June meeting. MAC needs to rotate the members on the committees so that people are not "burnt out".
Mr. Jaquess mentioned how the MAC Intranet pages will be in a new format similar to the DNR State Fair pages.
It was announced that the Juneteenth celebration would be held in Jefferson City on June 15, 2002. MAC hopes to attend and represent DNR.
Ms. Griffin would like more people to attend the Lunch and Learn sessions.
MAC will present an award to Maxine Shaifer Harriman at her end of June retirement. She was a charter member of MAC over ten years ago.
MAC did not win the Governor's Quality and Productivity Award, but Kevin Johnson did attend the ceremony. The agencies that did win saved the state money.
Denise Evans would like to know at what events MAC has represented DNR in the past. She would like to have MAC present at all DNR outreach functions.
Adjourned at 2:43 p.m.

Mr. Jaquess recorded these minutes.