Gwinnett Human Relations Board Member Quits

A member of a Gwinnett County panel formed to study race relations has resigned, calling the group ineffective.

Angel Hilley told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Gwinnett County Human Relations Commission’s frequently canceled meetings, and inability to get enough members for a quorum to show up at others, was too much.

“It just didn’t feel like we were effective at all,” Hilley told the paper. “The Human Relations Commission could be so much more effective than it is.”

The board’s mission is to study race relations in Gwinnett County and report to the county commission.

The human relations commission’s July and October meetings were canceled in advance. The February, May and August meetings were canceled when not enough members showed up.

Chairman Dan DeVore told the AJC that five new members were present at the 12-member commission’s December meeting. Two slots remain vacant, he said. Devore himself took over as chairman in March after the two previous chairs left the group in short order.

The commission’s responsibilities include investigating claims of discrimination in the county, training county employees and recommending new laws or programs that could better race relations. Members are appointed to four-year terms by the county commission.

Devore said he’s been encouraging inactive members to leave the commission.

“We still have a long way to go to accomplish what I’m interested in doing,” he told the AJC.