On Monday, the human rights commissions for Bloomington and for Monroe County convened a first-ever joint session.

Among other areas of collaboration, the two groups want to make it easier for local residents to get help with human rights issues.

The idea is that someone who’s in a crisis should not have to make an effort to figure out which of the two commissions should handle their complaint.

A common online complaint form is one of the technical tools the two groups want to use to simplify procedures from the perspective of a resident.

According to assistant city attorney Barbara McKinney, it was the first time a joint meeting of the two commissions had ever taken place.

Monday’s meeting served as a way to start working through some details of the collaboration between the two groups that has been in the works for at least a few months.

The meeting built on an interlocal agreement ratified by Monroe County commissioners early this year. Continue reading “Joint meeting of city, county human rights commissions builds on interlocal agreement” →