ATTENDANCE: Martin Bernard, Vice Chairman; Norman Roberts; Wendell

Sims; Patricia Genuario

STAFF: Larry Patterson, Field Representative

The Vice Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:45 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 4, 2003.

Page 1 - "Bloom" should be "Booth" throughout document.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT - "Committee" should be "Commission."

FIELD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT – "to the written report" should be "of

the written request, "also" should be deleted.

Page 2 – 1506-03 – "a Writ" should be "rescinding of the notice"

1499-02 – "65" should be "62."

1505-03 – "six month lease" should be "month to month tenancy for six

months."

Page 3 – 1467-01, second sentence – delete "the attorney as well as"

Line 4 – "verbal opinion" should be "verbal legal opinion."

Line 5 – "37" should be "32"

5^th par., line 1 – "there" should be "this."

5^th par., line 6 – "their requests" should be "Its job."

5^th par., line 7 – "but the office keep" should be "but allow the office to keep"

6^th par., 3^rd line – "into his name" should be "into Mr. Maleh’s name," "has

been" should be "there has been," add "increase" after "cost," "He" should be

"Mr. Maleh"

Page 4, 3rd par., line 2 – "November" should be "October," line 5 – "gas" should be

"electric", 9^th par., lines 4 & 5 – "vendor" should be "contractor," "him" should

be "the contractor," last par., 3^rd line – "independent" should be "energy."

** MS. GENUARIO MOVED TO APPROVE JUNE 4, 2003 MINUTES AS

CORRECTED.

** MR. ROBERTS SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Mr. Bernard said he had received a call from Mr. Booth advising him that he was going away. They were going to discuss package for corporation counsel but Mr. Roberts suggested that they hold off until they received the report.

FIELD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

Mr. Patterson said he wanted, as part of the record, to have each of the four members present to sign a card for Jon Nathanson who will be getting married on July27th. All of the Commissioners wished him well.

Mr. Patterson reported that complaints were down significantly and he was very happy to see that. He said, unfortunately, phone activity was way up. He said Sonja Devitt had come in that day and prepared the attachment to the letter she sent to corporation counsel last month. The letter was dated May 14^th. He said she had drafted a note on case law for Fair Rent but he did not have the attachments last month. Ms. Devitt redrafted the letter and made copies. Mr. Patterson said he had the attachments of the court cases she was citing in her letter rebutting corporation counsel. He said he would be going through all of the decisions over the summer, beginning with September 1972. He said he had found the first case that had a health department report regarding required repairs. Mr. Patterson said he had a problem with Mr. Bernard because he found that Mr. Bernard took part in the decision for case no. 107 which dated from October 25, 1972. Mr. Bernard said he was not on the Commission at the beginning. He said he was appointed to the Commission because someone resigned. He said, over the years, the Commission had called the Health Department and the Fire Department where necessary and had always gotten their reports and brought them in as part of their decision. Mr. Patterson said it was decided that they would bring in the Health Department and have a report for every case that went through the Commission. He said six of the 14 Commissioners’ terms had expired and that he had drafted a letter to the Mayor (which he read to the Commission) advising him of the expirations. He said with six vacancies and vacations coming up, they may have a problem because they might not have a quorum.

Mr. Patterson said the Bridgeport Fire Commission had been notified that two female firefighters were suing them for sexual harassment.

COMMISSIONER’S POTPOURRI

None.

REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF EACH OPEN CASE

Mr. Patterson said 1495-02, 1496-02, and 1497-02 were no action cases. He said there had been a hearing on them and he proceeded to bring the Commissioners up to date.

a. Motion and Vote on Open Cases, as Necessary

There are six open cases and all were no action cases.

1506-03- Mr. Patterson apprised the Commission of recent developments with Vega and Flood. He said he was continuing a discussion with the landlord regarding HVAC estimates. He said if the case was closed and Mr. Maleh brought in a contractor and it was still substandard, the tenants could file another complaint with Fair Rent and the Health Department. He said there was a third floor tenant. A second floor tenant had vacated. Mr. Simms noted that Mr. Maleh had always cried hardship. Mr. Roberts said he wanted to resolve it in a manner that was favorable to both the tenant and the landlord. Mr. Patterson said if repairs were done, he would like to see it done correctly and at a reasonable price. Mr. Roberts said they had talked in terms of repairs being restricted to the complainants, but that truly adequate repairs should address the whole building. He said on that basis, $3,100 might not be an unfair price. Mr. Roberts asked about the thermostats in each apartment. Mr. Patterson said only three thermostats could be installed because of the way the heat was zoned.

PRESENTATION OF NEW CASES

a. Decision to Hear or Recommendations to Staff

b. Motion and vote on each case present.

There were no new cases.

NEW BUSINESS

Mr. Bernard said he had received a call from Sonja Devitt who told him she would be coming into the office to get materials, and also said she would be willing to serve as a pro bono representative if they needed one. Mr. Patterson said her research started with old decisions. She would also be looking at case law. Mr. Roberts said to deal with Corporation Counsel’s opinion that night would be an exercise in futility. Mr. Patterson read an e-mail he sent to Katherine Lasberg on June 23^{rd and} in which he thanked her for her time in looking at the ordinance, and said for the most part, Katherine Lasberg looked at the ordinance while Sonja Devitt thought her research was to narrow. Ms. Genuario asked if they had had this exercise once before with Sam Briggs. Mr. Patterson said they had -- with Dreamy Hollow. Mr. Bernard said they had always gone to other departments and had all of their reports. Mr. Patterson said most of the time, if it was bad enough to go to a hearing where the health department would be involved but said there were some cases that the health department did not address because it was not cold enough. Mr. Roberts said they would learn from what had been there and would adjust accordingly. Mr. Patterson believes they will be turning the tide.

** MR. SIMMS MOVED TO ADJOURN.

** MR. ROBERTS SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Maddox

Telesco Secretarial Services

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