A Plymouth resident says the city's Human Rights Committee has gone the way of other metro cities' groups — "in the junk drawer."
The City Council told Ada Alden last week that the committee, which hasn't met since January, won't meet again in 2013; they will reconsider its role in December or January.
"It's alarming to me," said Alden, who's on the League of Minnesota Human Rights Commissions board. "A citizen human rights commission provides helpful guidance and information to the City Council, and we don't have it."
Instead, Mayor Kelli Slavik told her, its main role — to educate the community about human rights — will be done by Parks and Recreation; police will take complaints.
"A board that meets quarterly or even monthly is not in a position to provide immediate relief if there's a concern," she said at the meeting, adding that education efforts "didn't have great success."
An all-citizen human rights commission was converted in 2011 into a committee with Slavik and other city leaders.
KELLY SMITH
@kellystrib
