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FAIR HOUSING
ADVISORY COMMISSION MINUTES
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CITY OF NORWALK
FAIR HOUSING ADVISORY COMMISSION
JUNE 18, 2007
ATTENDANCE: Rev. Jeffrey Ingraham, Chairman; Barbara Hudgins,
Carol Frank, Nancy Burke
STAFF: Attorney Margaret Suib, Fair Housing Office
CALL TO ORDER
Rev. Ingraham called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.
APPROVAL OF THE MAY 21, 2007 MINUTES
Page 2, paragraph 3, line 1: please change the following: “ had refused to tenant” to “had refused a tenant”
** MS. HUDGINS MOVED TO APPROVE THE MAY 21, 2007 MINUTES AS CORRECTED.
**MS. FRANK SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED WITH TWO IN FAVOR (INGRAHAM & HUDGINS) AND TWO ABSTENTIONS
(FRANK & BURKE).
FAIR HOUSING OFFICER’S REPORT
Atty. Suib reported that the Redevelopment Agency was now having a quarterly insert about the various projects such as the West Avenue Redevelopment, and Reed Putnam in The Hour newspaper. As part of this insert, she had written a general article titled “Fair Housing – Don’t Discriminate”. Atty. Suib reminded the Commission that they had spoken of having regular articles in the newspaper and that this opportunity had presented itself via the Redevelopment Agency.
Atty. Suib also reported that the four cases she had reported on at last month’s meeting were basically settled. One case, involving the installation of a wheelchair ramp, had not quite reached a full settlement, but the ramp was installed for the resident’s use.
A new case had come up since the last meeting. This one regarded a tenant who had reached the stage where he needed a live-in aide. The landlord stated that the live-in aide must move out or the tenant’s rental subsidy would be taken away. This would result in the rent being more than the tenant’s monthly income. The landlord has since agreed not to interfere with the tenant’s living situation.
Atty. Suib also informed the Commission that she had been working on the affordable housing that was being offered in Maritime Yards. The units are located at 55/77 Water Street and Atty. Suib has worked on the Affirmative Marketing Plan, the Rental Application and the leases for these affordable housing apartments. There are 139 apartments in the development and 14 (10% of the total) of them are designated as affordable housing. She also inspected the various units in the building, both affordable units and the full market price units. Atty. Suib had a few comments about the design of the units, which she shared with the Commission
She then reviewed the proposed tenant selection process with Commission. The Commission members requested that they receive copies of the income guidelines.
Ms. Hudgins then asked if all of the future articles that Atty. Suib writes for the quarterly insert for The Hour would be on Fair Housing practices. Atty. Suib said that they would.
Ms. Burke commented that she liked the use of the word “settlement” in reference to the cases that had been concluded.
Ms. Suib said that she expected an article the wheelchair ramp, which was installed by a group to help the elderly with this type of project. A reporter has scheduled a meeting with the tenant on June 19th.
Rev. Ingraham said that the NAACP has a referral form that is used when a case is originally presented. He then asked Atty. Suib if she used this type of form. Atty. Suib said that she did not because she takes her own notes.
Rev. Ingraham then expressed concern about how Atty. Suib signed the article in The Hour in reference to the Second Amended Consent Decree. He also said that he was not sure that dealing with affordable housing would be included in the scope of Fair Housing, according to the decree. Atty. Suib stated that the signature and biographical information on the news article had been added by the newspaper.
She also said that the Commission had discussed affordable housing numerous times in the past and that without affordable housing available in Norwalk, the elderly, the minorities and the low income populations would be pushed out of Norwalk.
Rev. Ingraham said that certain individuals object to Atty. Suib moving beyond the strict limits of the Second Amended Consent Decree. Ms. Frank commented that she did not agree with this as she felt affordable housing was part of the scope of the job.
NEW BUSINESS
Discussion of the Fair Housing Officer Review
Atty. Suib informed the Commission that she had included a copy of the evaluation form that the Redevelopment Agency uses for the Commission’s consideration. She said that this was the only form that she had access to at this time. When Rev. Ingraham asked where the previous form the Commission had used was, Atty. Suib said that any document more than a year old is sent into storage because she does not have the office space to store them. She said that it could be retrieved, if the Commission wished to use it.
Ms. Frank asked how the Commission would go about implementing the review. Rev. Ingraham said that copies would be sent to the Mayor, Personnel and Redevelopment. Atty. Suib said that Personnel would return their copy because she is not employed by the City of Norwalk. Ms. Frank repeated her request regarding how the review would be done. Rev. Ingraham informed her that the Commission would come up with a collective document. Atty. Suib then gave a quick overview of how the process had been handled previously and how it is handled in the Redevelopment Agency. She was then asked about the source of her compensation and whether the review would have an impact on that. Atty. Suib reviewed the various sources for her compensation and said that any increases would be as a result of her review by the Redevelopment Agency. She also informed the Commission that the last time the review had been done the Commission had scheduled a special meeting.
Ms. Hudgins stated that she had been on the committee developing the new form, which is the one that the Redevelopment Agency was using, and that it was cutting edge in terms of being a management tool to help both the management and the staff. Ms. Burke commented that she felt it was general enough to be used. Ms. Hudgins said that the process usually starts with a memo from the staff member highlighting the previous year’s goals and accomplishments. Rev. Ingraham then asked Atty. Suib to submit such a memo to the Commission members. A discussion about Atty. Suib’s memo and the details of the form then followed. Atty. Suib agreed to make some adjustments to the review form and distribute it to the Commission members.
A discussion about the date for the next meeting then ensued after which the Commission tentatively scheduled the next meeting for August 7, 2007
ADJOURNMENT
** MS. FRANK MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MS. BURKE SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Service
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