Davenport commission enters closed session in contested housing-discrimination case

The Davenport Civil Rights Commission moved into a closed session to consider a contested housing-discrimination case, Case No. 8005080015-21, after attorneys for both parties presented arguments in a virtual meeting.

The commission said the closed session was convened under the meeting rules cited on the record (code references provided during the meeting) to deliberate a decision in a contested-case proceeding conducted under chapter 17A.

Why it matters: The hearing concerns allegations that a tenant, identified in filings as Miss Keane, was racially harassed by a neighbor, Susan Cunningham, and that the landlord, identified as Mr. Mayes, then terminated Keane’s month-to-month lease with a 30-day notice. The parties’ attorneys disputed whether the record supports a finding of racial discrimination and whether the landlord had knowledge of the harassment when he served the notice.

Attorney for the respondent, Mike Walker, told the commission that the administrative law judge(ALJ) findings in the proposed decision should be given…