Monday’s meeting of the Vancouver and Clark County councils to discuss homelessness was believed to be the first joint meeting in at least 15 years.
County Manager Mark McCauley and City Manager Eric Holmes weren’t sure exactly how long it had been. McCauley has worked at the county for 16 years and didn’t recall any joint meeting. Holmes said Monday’s meeting was the first in his 10 years with the city.
Columbian archives point to one joint meeting, on Nov. 20, 2000, to discuss forming a human rights commission. Vancouver was the only one of the state’s 10 largest cities with no human rights panel. The city council and what was then a three-member Board of Clark County Commissioners met for a two-hour work session at City Hall. Then-city Councilor Jim Moeller chaired the group that proposed the commission.
More than 100 people attended. Both boards agreed there were problems with discrimination. Both agreed they needed more information. Last week’s meeting had a similar conclusion: Councilors agreed Clark County has a homelessness problem, want more information and will discuss it together again.
So, what was the outcome of that November 2000 meeting? The city council approved establishing a nine-member human rights commission, and the county signed on as a participant, agreeing to pay half the $100,000 first-year budget.
Betty Sue Morris, Craig Pridemore and Judie Stanton comprised the county’s board. Moeller, then-Mayor Royce Pollard, Dan Tonkovich, Jeanne Harris, Jack Burkman, Pat Jollota and Jeanne Lipton were on the Vancouver City Council.
The local commission would have focused on education and mediation efforts, leaving discrimination complaints to the state Human Rights Commission.
There were fierce critics who testified at public hearings. Enough petition signatures were gathered to put it on the 2001 ballot.
On election night, 64.7 percent of Vancouver voters rejected the city-county Human Rights Commission.
“The rejection capped a bitter campaign that included a struggle by opponents just to get the measure on the ballot and had one city councilman continually on the political hot seat,” Gregg Herrington wrote in a story published Nov. 7, 2001.
Five years later, the state Human Rights Commission opened a satellite office in Vancouver, now at 312 S.E. Stone Mill Drive.
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