APRIL 22, 2002

ATTENDANCE: Nathaniel Shipp, Chairman; Steve Papadakos, Heather Rodin, Mary Corcoran,

STAFF: Margaret Suib, Fair Housing Officer

CALL TO ORDER

The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:46 p.m.

Ms. Suib stated that there was an oversight in adding the minutes to the agenda so she recommended a motion be made to add them for approval or corrections so:

Corrections as follows:

• Page 2; 2^nd paragraph under Fair Housing Officer’s Annual Report, 3^rd line where it reads Advisory Committee should read Advisory Commission.
• Page 3; 2^nd paragraph under 4^th bullet point should read Ms. Suib commented that condos relate to housing and being on a condo board is not her job but she does monitor them.

** MS. RODIN MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES AS CORRECTED

** MR. PAPADAKOS SECONDED

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Approval of Minutes of March 18, 2002

Corrections as follows:

• Page 3; 3^rd full paragraph from the top, 4^th line should read Ms. Rodin suggested that the Stamford people who created this documentation speak about their endeavors and that Norwalk’s Planning and Zoning and Redevelopment be invited to comment upon this subject.
• Page 3; last paragraph should read The Chairman said he would meet with the Mayor and explain what the Commission plans are for having a forum on affordable housing.
• Page 4; 4^th paragraph, 6^th line should read Ms. Rodin said she did not agree with the term piggybacking.
• Page 5; 1^st paragraph, 2^nd line should read Ms. Rodin stated that the report should contain the activities, enforcement and requirements under the laws specified under the consent decree.
• Page 5; 2^nd paragraph, 1^st line should read Ms. Rodin raised the question of whether the bank did pay for it, would it contaminate a future study when that bank is one of the ones being evaluated.
• Page 5; 3^rd paragraph, 1^st line should read Ms. Torrano stated she did not see added value in the lending report regarding rejections.
• Page 5; 4^th paragraph, 1^st line should read Ms. Rodin inquired whether Ms. Suib was committed to publishing a lending study.
• Page 5; 5^th paragraph, 1^st line should read The program should be a door-to-door campaign using flyers and there should be a press release on it.
• Page 5; 6^th paragraph, 1^st line should read Mr. Papadakos said that he works for a credit union

• She stated that the longest running Fair Housing case that was heard fifteen to sixteen months ago went on appeal and was settled one week ago; the parties agreed on the language and the complainants have a check in their possession.

• She said they requested in the language that the respondent distribute information to tenants regarding Fair Housing but a particular respondent said no, so she offered to go door-to-door and this was agreed to, their admissions committee would come to a Fair Housing training session as well, so a lot was accomplished.

• The Housing Authority meeting went well and two cases were resolved; an exception was granted to a disabled woman who needed a larger apartment. The Fair Housing Officer also settled a case on March 7, 2002 and a check was issued for $2,500.00

• She said she was involved in a Department of Justice Weed & Seed meeting with Sonia Devitt and it was decided they would cover the Lexington Avenue Weed & Seed target area to help train the community police on fair housing issues, landlord/tenant disputes etc.

• She said she was invited and spoke at a NEON staff meeting on March 22, 2002, it was a good interactive meeting with a lot of engaging communication; Joe Mann and Bobby Burgess were present, as well as twelve other people.

• Training with Norwalk Housing Section 8 recipients will be scheduled and they are working with tenants.

• There will be a Fair Housing/Fair Rent training session on Wednesday, 9:00 p.m. in the Community Room; the next training would be in May for pure Fair Housing training.

• She will attend the annual Fair Housing Conference at the end of the week in Cromwell, CT.

• She met with Nate Shipp on the housing forum planning; she stated that Mr. Shipp would give further details.

Ms. Tatem entered the meeting at 8:00 p.m.

BUSINESS

1. COMMISSIONER’S REPORTS FROM REPRESENTATIVE AGENCIES AND PLANNING FHAC HOUSING FORUM

the report was not available. He stated he has the name of the person to contact in Stamford and he would follow-up this week and also schedule an appointment with the Mayor for input.

He stated the Community Room is booking up quickly so they need to decide on a date for the forum. Ms. Suib said that per the Mayor’s office the best available time was 7:30 p.m. with a possible date of May 28, June 6, June 12 or June 18; days need to be confirmed but they would probably have better luck in the evening, at any rate they need to book as soon as possible.

Ms. Tatem asked about having the forum in the afternoon. Mr. Shipp replied that if they have it in the afternoon luncheon food would be required and cost is involved to do this and there is the question of who would pay for it.

Ms. Rodin asked about budgeted money for a possible luncheon forum. Ms. Suib said the money was budgeted but it is not available because all funding requests were not approved. She said she put it in the budget request at an amount of $600.00 but again they were not fully funded.

Ms. Rodin stated she was disturbed when Al mentioned banks paying for the luncheon.

Ms. Suib replied that she did request the funding for the luncheon in the budget.

Ms. Rodin asked if they ever reviewed what has been funded by line item and has the budget been looked at to see where the money should be spent. Mr. Shipp agreed this was a good idea to do.

Mr. Shipp continued to discuss the Fair Housing forum and said a June date is realistic and the authorities that need to be contacted would be done but they still need to agree on a date. He asked the Commission members to agree to plan the forum for June with the date to be decided at his discretion.

Ms. Corcoran asked who would be on the panel. Mr. Shipp said the City of Stamford allocated set-asides for affordable housing and they would be contacted on how they implemented the forum to make it a successful program.

Ms. Corcoran offered that Richard Tannenbaum from legal services has expressed interest in participating in the forum.

Ms. Rodin asked about written responses regarding letters from NEON. Mr. Shipp said he would submit them to Ms. Suib for mailing in next month’s packets.

Mr. Shipp again returned to the matter of agreeing upon a time for the forum and asked if all were agreeable to an evening forum. All the Commission members agreed.

Ms. Tatem commented the luncheon would have been nice but if there were no funds available for lunch then an evening forum would be okay.

Mr. Papadakos asked if the forum were in June, how would word be distributed again. Ms. Suib said they would issue invitations once the date and speaker is confirmed.

Ms. Rodin asked if there was an alternative to having the forum in the Community Room.

Mr. Papadakos asked the number of people that attended last time. Mr. Shipp said eighty (80) people.

*Open discussion ensued for a few minutes among the Commission concerning an alternate room/location to hold the forum.

Ms. Rodin asked if $600.00 is a realistic cost for the luncheon. Ms. Suib said yes, this was the cost last year.

Mr. Papadakos asked if a financial institution such as a credit union could be approached for a luncheon fund donation; he noted the credit union he is affiliated with is a non-for-profit organization with 20,000 members.

Ms. Rodin mentioned the possibility of requesting an opinion from Corporation Council.

Ms. Tatem stated that she would have a problem with asking a financial institution for a donation for the luncheon due to the nature of the forum that being a lending study.

Ms. Rodin said the discussion last month was the problem with approaching banks and there was a suggestion to write to Corporation Council with the understanding that Corporation Council be asked about approaching banks and this was okayed. Ms. Suib replied she did ask the new Corporation Council as requested.

Ms. Rodin asked if she requested this in writing. Ms. Suib said no, it was a verbal request. Mr. Papadakos agreed any request should be in writing.

Ms. Tatem restated requesting a donation from a bank or credit union may pose a conflict of interest. Mr. Shipp said he disagreed with this because "numbers are numbers".

Ms. Corcoran asked which corporations are eligible to approach for donations. Mr. Shipp named Perkin-Elmer and other area corporations.

Ms. Tatem asked about the possibility of asking Stew Leonard’s to donate food; Ms. Corcoran agreed maybe Stew Leonard Jr. could be approached.

Mr. Papadakos asked about adopting a policy that a portion of funds from recovery that the Fair Housing Office receives could possibly go to the Commission for an event such as a luncheon.

Ms. Rodin said some Commission’s have the right to raise money and perhaps there should be a provision to allow Fair Housing to do so. Ms. Suib stated this would be separate from any cases resolved.

Mr. Shipp mentioned he would like to see a Fair Housing Day event

Ms. Suib explained that under the Fair Housing Act they may recover "diversion of assets" that is showing time spent on a case and in upcoming cases she would ask for an award to the Fair Housing budget as a diversion of assets theory but so far this money goes into the city budget and it is credited to the Fair Housing Officer’s budget.

*Mr. Papadakos commented this would be good as long as they don’t give it and then take it away!

Mr. Shipp summarized there would be an evening forum unless another alternative for a luncheon works out; so it would be held in June, but if funds should become available within the next two weeks to have a luncheon forum the date would be switched to another date and time.

matter with Mr. Shipp regarding the bullet points. Mr. Shipp suggested putting this matter on next month’s agenda (he noted the importance of this due to fact that predatory lenders are most visible during summer months).

Ms. Rodin commented education is required concerning good credit procedures.

Ms. Tatem asked about people knowing how not to get ripped off. Mr. Shipp said this is covered under predatory lending as well as inappropriate mortgage practices and other unorthodox lending practices.

Ms. Rodin asked about involvement of the Fair Housing Commission in reference to the lending study and the Fair Housing annual report. Mr. Shipp said this would be on the next agenda.

Ms. Rodin once again returned to the discussion of the forum and said Al mentioned at the last meeting that according to his recollection there was no vote on getting banks to do it, and per the February 12, 2001 reference to a breakfast, she asked if this was the event the Commission was referring to and she stated there was nothing in the minutes concerning the cost of the lunch, she asked if correspondence was available on this matter. Ms. Suib said she wasn’t certain if there was correspondence but if so she would submit a copy to her, but she recalled, she thinks a check was just presented.

NEW BUSINESS

None for discussion.

ADJOURNMENT

Respectfully submitted,

Diane Graham

Telesco Secretarial Services

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