The nonprofit organization that manages the Orange County Human Relations Commission to battle hate and discrimination is asking citizens to support its continued funding.
Rusty Kennedy, the chief executive of OC Human Relations, the nonprofit organization that supports the commission, sent an email last week encouraging supporters to attend Tuesday’s Orange County Board of Supervisors to implore the board to maintain the organization’s annual $252,000 contract to run the commission.
The contract will not be put up for a vote at the meeting and it is unknown when it may be considered.
According to the commission website, the body was founded in 1971 to “seek out the causes of tension and conflict, discrimination and intolerance, and attempt to eliminate those causes.”
A “public education and awareness campaign to create a hate-free environment in Orange County” has recently been launched with #HateFreeOC to “bring diverse communities together and promote a peaceful and inclusive community where everyone can thrive.”
Government employees were working for the nonprofit organization running the commission from its formation in 1971 until six years ago when the board eliminated the organization’s staff and instead entered into a contract to have it run the commission’s programs.
Orange County Board Chair Michelle Steel and Supervisor Andrew Do have taken issue with a “blurring” of the lines between the nonprofit organization and the county agency. There have also been some concerns about the commission violating Brown Act rules.
Kennedy said contracting with his organization to run the commission has saved taxpayers money.
“It’s hard not to have some blurring as we’ve been subsidizing that public commission for over 30 years,” Kennedy said. “Over $30 million we’ve raised over the last 26 years to support the human relations project.”
Kennedy said it is a “unique public-private partnership, and that when his organization was asked to bid for funding this past year it won the county staff’s recommendation easily. The supervisors have the final say, however.
Kennedy downplayed the Brown Act issue, saying it stems from someone from Steel’s staff finding a parking lot gate closed when he tried to attend one of the agency’s meetings and failing to find the other entrance, which was open. The county’s attorneys counseled the commission’s staff on Brown Act regulations, Kennedy said.
Do said he is uncomfortable with such a close relationship between the nonprofit organization and the county agency because the organization could issue statements about current events without clearing it with the Board of Supervisors, which is providing much of the funding.
We have absolutely no oversight in what they’re doing,” he said.
Do said he supports the idea of a human relations agency.
“I’m all for it,” Do said. “In fact, because I do want the independence of the commission, that’s why I’m looking at it to keep it as independent and robust as possible.”
Do said the county can’t just be primarily concerned with saving money on the commission.
“Cost should not be a driving factor,” Do said. “Human relations, especially in this day and age, is very important.”
— City News Service