Affirmative Action -Public Institutions

 The LWV of Beloit affirms:

• that the city manager and school superintendent be responsible for consistent and objective monitoring and reporting of the progress and effectiveness of their affirmative action policies, practices, and procedures.   

The LWV of Beloit recommends:

• that yearly progress reports of the city/school district affirmative action policies, practices, and procedures be given to the city council/school board and made available as well as to any interested citizen or community group.
• that the city council/school board and citizens of Beloit hold the city manager and school district superintendent accountable for hiring practices that do not follow their institutions’ stated affirmative action policies or procedures.

The LWV of Beloit supports:

• the establishment of non-discriminatory job descriptions for all full-time, part-time, temporary and seasonal employee positions in the city and school district.
• the application of affirmative action guidelines to all city and school district employees whether they are full-time or part-time, temporary or seasonal, employee positions in the city and school district. 

The LWV of Beloit recommends:

• that goals to reach parity in city/school district job categories also represent the various city departments and school staff.
• that city and school district employment applications and supplemental forms comply fully with equal opportunity guidelines.
• that the employment application supplemental forms state clearly and simply that the requested information is needed for statistical purposes only and that questions are to be answered voluntarily.
• that advertisements of all jobs and their descriptions (and/or summaries) be placed to reach as many individuals as possible.
• that all job openings and their descriptions be posted by the city/school district in a timely manner in a variety of easily accessible sites
• that citizens be informed that this information is readily available.
• that every effort be made by the city and school district to notify the community and minority groups of all job openings,
• that the city and school district provide awareness-raising and educational in-service workshops and training programs to promote a work environment free of discrimination.
• that the city and school district clearly provide Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) referral information to all employees.
• that the city and school district encourage and support managers' efforts to provide equal opportunity in work assignments, additional training, transfers, and promotions.
• that the city and school district provide procedures for resolving discrimination complaints for the benefit of all employees from their first day of employment.
• that the city and school district keep statistical records of promotions and reasons for employment terminations to aid in evaluating progress or problems in achieving affirmative action goals. (The categories should be general enough to provide anonymity for individuals.)

The LWV of Beloit supports:

• efforts to achieve pluralistic representation on public commissions, committees, and advisory boards.

 The LWV of Beloit recommends:

• that the city/school districts aggressively seek contracts and services from local and underrepresented minority businesses, including:
• identifying and listing such businesses and informing, involving, and assisting them in the bidding procedures.
• listing all contracts and services purchased by the city/school district as part of affirmative action procedures.

 Behavioral Health  

The Janesville and Beloit League of Women Voters firmly believes that effective treatment of behavioral health is important to overall health and social wellbeing of Rock County residents.

We encourage the Board of Supervisors, in their role as policy makers, and the County Administrator to support evidence-based policies and practices regarding mentally ill and/or addicted individuals and their families.

We encourage the Rock County Human Services Department to continue to follow proactive procedures and policies by:

• Providing an affirmational, welcoming atmosphere/service that is culturally competent, trauma-informed, and recovery-oriented.
• Building respectful and compassionate relationships with individuals and their families
• Managing co-occurring disorders (mental illness, substance abuse, and other issues occurring simultaneously) together with coordinated treatment
• When involuntary treatment for mental illness and/or addiction is required, providing the least restrictive option to meet the needs of the individual in a location close to their home.
• Pursuing harm reduction options when an individual is not yet ready for treatment such as wet housing, halfway housing, and needle exchanges
• Separating behavioral health issues from criminal activities through diversion courts, deferred prosecution, realistic probation rules. After detox or crisis events, following up with the individual the next day to try to connect the individual with services.
• Identifying and advocating for the needs of mentally ill and addicted individuals.

We encourage the Rock County law enforcement and courts to provide alternatives besides incarceration for mentally ill and addicted individuals.

We encourage all County, municipal, and district governments and agencies to:

• Provide training for employees to become “Behavior Health friendly”, so employees may understand mental illness and AODA issues and become more competent working with these individuals.
• Provide first responders, correctional officers and youth workers with training, resources and skill-building opportunities to de-escalate and manage crisis situations
• Adopt policies to allow agencies to cooperate and communicate with each other about mentally ill and addicted individuals and issues, as allowed by law.
• Provide mental health and addiction resources in schools

We ask the Board of Supervisors to provide sufficient funding so these evidence-based practices can be carried out by County employees.  We recognize that funding preventive measures saves money in the long run, and support funding in the following areas:

• Staff to provide the range of treatments needed to treat this population, including counselors and therapists, caseworkers, child psychiatrists, professionals who can prescribe and monitor medications, social workers for assisting incarcerated individuals to successfully integrate into the community to reduce recidivism
• Sufficient staff for agencies to provide effective treatment, to communicate between agencies, and to communicate with families of those affected.
• Local resources for inpatient care, including single occupancy psych beds.
• Harm reduction options such as wet housing, halfway housing, and needle exchanges for individuals who are not yet ready for treatment.
• Diversion courts to separate behavioral health issues from criminal activities.

Adopted May 2, 2017, Janesville League of Women Voters and April 29, 2017, Beloit League of Women Voters

Housing

 The LWV of Beloit supports:

• coordination with regional and local, public and private, efforts to secure adequate low-income housing in Beloit and for the greater Beloit area.
• a local housing authority.
• increased investment in public housing.
• efforts of the City of Beloit to seek increased federal, state, and private funding for housing programs to be administered by the city and ‘passed through’ to other organizations.
• consistent use of city programs and resources to upgrade the quality and improve the availability of Beloit’s housing stock, both rental and owner-occupied, for an economically diverse resident population.

The LWV of Beloit recommends:

• that the City of Beloit supports programs which enable homeowners to retain their homes and improve Beloit’s older housing stock. Examples are:
  • foreclosure prevention and supportive services, incentives for housing rehabilitation, technical assistance for home maintenance, and/or
  • programs to enable elderly and disabled families to sustain and maintain homes.
  • that the City of Beloit continues to acquire, rehabilitate, and sell foreclosed or condemned homes in order to stabilize neighborhoods.
  • that the city ensures that privately-owned rental housing is safe and meets housing codes.

The LWV of Beloit supports:

• requirements that new multi-family units meet basic handicapped accessibility standards.
• city policies which maintain a neighborhood’s existing character through sensitive redevelopment, revitalization, and rezoning.

The LWV of Beloit recommends:

• that the City of Beloit work to eliminate language barriers In the Beloit Housing Authority and other Community Development offices by providing bi-lingual staff and materials and ongoing staff training.

Homelessness

 The LWV of Beloit recommends that Stateline area governmental units and community organizations:

• seek and secure available funds to be directed to administering and funding housing for people experiencing homelessness including government and private funding.  
• support programs which provide housing for people experiencing homelessness. Such programs would include: transitional housing focusing on those with special needs such as single women, teenagers, and families with children, transitional or group homes for mentally ill people, released prisoners, recovering addicts, or others who are unable to manage on their own, and emergency housing for newly homeless families and individuals.
• actively participate in regional efforts to serve the needs of people experiencing homelessness through active and accessible case management, through direct financial assistance, transitional housing, employment/ career education, money management education, navigating social service systems, and advocacy for newly homeless residents. Governmental units, community organizations and interested individuals are encouraged to participate and coordinate with the Homeless Intervention Task Force of Rock and Walworth Counties.   

Housing Code Enforcement

 The LWV of Beloit supports:

• systematic and timely inspection of private, commercial, and rental property.
• diligent and timely follow-up inspections on ordered repairs.
• systematic scheduled interior inspection of rental property.

The LWV of Beloit supports:

• interior inspection of owner-occupied housing upon complaint.
• code inspector initiated interior or exterior inspections of rental or owner-occupied properties based on suspected health or safety violations.
• equitable and timely resolution of all code violations.
• review of all code inspection responsibilities to ensure that lesser responsibilities do not prohibit the progress of major code enforcement activities. The LWV of Beloit recommends:
• cooperative efforts between city departments and local service organizations to educate the public on city ordinances and on departmental procedures concerning code violations.

Proposed Casino

The League of Women Voters of Beloit opposes a casino for the Beloit area. (Incoming to this position, the Beloit LWV examined the following research: National Gambling Impact Study Commission, National Opinion Research Center \at the Univ. of Chicago, National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute Reports: Apr. ‘95, July ‘96, Nov. ‘96, Sept. ‘97; GVA Marquette Advisors, Crowe Chizek LLP, and William N. Thompson)

 The League of Women Voters of Beloit supports planned development of the I-90 Wisconsin Stateline area. (The Beloit LWV recommends that each development proposal be evaluated for and meet specific criteria related to factors such as economic viability, zoning concerns, infrastructure costs, and economic, social and environmental impacts.)

 (2001 - revised) (1999)

Casino Negotiations

 Should a casino negotiation process begin in the Beloit area, the League of Women Voters of Beloit recommends incorporating the following points into the agreement process and compact with the tribe and developer:

1. establish the willingness of all participants to take time to come to a decision;
2. require the tribe /developer to bear the costs of an attorney well versed in Indian law chosen by the city to represent /advise the city;
3. invite representatives from the town of Turtle, surrounding municipalities, Rock County, and local school districts to participate and provide input regarding the casino development;
4. enact a limited year renegotiable contract;
5. guarantee waiver of sovereign immunity to allow non-tribal court processes;
6. guarantee that the city may withdraw from negotiations at any point without penalty;
7. include a penalty clause in case of lack of quality development according to the agreed upon plan;
8. include specific agreement as to use of the land in trust if the casino were to fail;
9. earmark the annual casino payment to the city for specific enhancement opportunities in order not to become dependent on it for operating costs;
10. maintain city control of the types of retail sales and promotional incentives permitted at the casino in order to protect local businesses;
11. maintain city control in regulating the site, including zoning, site development, code enforcement, and the right to enter at any time, as well as regulating the development of the surrounding area;
12. require the tribe/developer to bear the costs of infrastructure and maintenance of the surrounding area (i.e. roads, bridges, sewer extension, etc.) as well as costs of increased police and fire protection;
13. require hiring of local citizens and minorities and the implementation of state and federal fair labor practices;
14. require funding from the tribe/developer for research, prevention, and treatment of problem gambling, and education of the community regarding \gambling risks, etc. Estimates of adequate funding for these increased social costs should be obtained through consultation with local social service providers.
15. set up a reserve fund for long-term social costs such as criminal activity, poverty, homelessness, family abuse, suicide, and the associated addictive behaviors (drugs /alcohol) etc.;
16. plan and implement use of a casino for promoting cultural events and related Native American heritage; and
17. specify amount of tribal donations to non-profits, charities, and schools.

(2001 - revised) (1999)