The addition of a human rights commission to Salt Lake City will benefit the city generally without specifically solving any discrimination problems, Mayor Rocky Anderson says.
The commission, which the City Council formed Tuesday night from the vestiges of the multi-ethnic community resource board, will provide general suggestions about curbing discrimination in Utah's capital.
But it won't be allowed to enforce anti-discrimination laws or investigate specific instances of discrimination — and that toothlessness bothered Anderson.
"It is, unfortunately, more window dressing than substance," he said. "It's a way of making it seem like we're doing something when we're really not."
One council member who sponsored the ordinance that created the commission disagreed with Anderson.
"Where there needs to be teeth, it ought to be the policy-makers and elected officials who make the changes," Eric Jergensen said. "Ordinances drive the laws we set, and ordinances drive how we respond to it. This commission is not an adjunct of the 3rd District (state) Court. This is a commission, not a court."
But Ty McCartney, the staff administrator for the police-civilian review board who also would likely administer the commission, said the same argument could have been made about justice courts, low-level courts meant to deal with everyday concerns without cluttering dockets on higher courts.
The commission should have been a more approachable way for people to complain about discrimination without filing civil lawsuits or seeking criminal penalties, McCartney said. Instead, it appears to have an educational and advisory mission, rather than investigative, he said.
"If this is the first step of this commission, and it will evolve into something with a little more power," he can understand the current ordinance, McCartney said. But "if this is truly their intent and this is what their vision is, then I'm concerned because it doesn't have any teeth."
Anderson said it was a good show for the city to have the commission — "it can't ever hurt to provide a new means of getting input from people about perceived human rights problems in our community" — but wished the commission had the ability to take action on complaints.
As the ordinance passed, the nine future members of the commission will provide feedback to the city council and mayor's office and educate communities about avoiding discrimination. The commission replaces the multi-ethnic board, which was for racial and ethnic discrimination, with a charge to root out practices that may be discriminatory based on race, religion, color, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, medical conditions, physical limitations or national origin.
"We spent up to three years developing this ordinance to make sure that it covers some of the very obvious cases of discrimination but also covers a wide range of discriminatory processes," Jergensen said. "We are looking forward to it being a resource for community councils in terms of issues of discrimination."
E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com