APRIL 21, 2005

ATTENDANCE: Dr. Barbara Amodio, Chair; Bea Brown; Dr. Sally Grose; Sarah Mann; Rev. Douglas Nissing; Dr. Charles Stabinsky; Vicky Su;

Rahoul Dupervil (7:53)

STAFF: Larry Patterson, Field Representative

CALL TO ORDER

Dr. Amodio called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m.

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

** DR. GROSS MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES OF MARCH 17, 2005

The following corrections were made to the minutes:

Correct spelling from Sui to Su throughout.

Page 2; third paragraph – delete rest of paragraph beginning with “Dr. Stabinsky said the Commission…”

Page 3; second paragraph add LeTourneau following Sara.

** REV. NISSING SECONDED

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

OLD BUSINESS

The following motion was re-done from the last meeting, because at that time Ms. Su had not been sworn in as a Commissioner.

** MS. SU MOVED THE COMMISSION TO ACCEPT THE RECOMMENDED CHOICE FOR A TREE PLAQUE MADE BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE

** MR. ROSS SECONDED THE MOTION

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

Dr. Stabinsky asked if anyone had discussed payment for the plaque. Ms. Mann said that she will discuss this with Mr. Hamilton, the City’s Finance Director.

Mr. Dupervil arrived at 7:53 p.m.

Dr. Amodio thanked the members of the Tree Plaque Subcommittee.

NEW BUSINESS

Director and Bi-lingual Secretary Searches

Dr. Amodio said that she spoke with Mr. John Schlosser in the Personnel Office. She asked about the status of hiring a bi-lingual secretary and he told her that they stopped the search. Dr. Amodio said that she expressed concern and asked why she was not told about that. During the conversation, it surfaced that they discontinued the search because they felt that since there was no supervisor in the office, it was better to leave the position open until the Director’s position was filled.

Dr. Amodio said that she told Mr. Schlosser that that was not a good idea. It is imperative to have the secretary’s position filled immediately. She added that she told him that she was not pleased that she and the other commissioners were not told about that.

Dr. Amodio explained that she had severe problems with her computer last week and was unable to open her e-mails. She said that once she was able to look at her e-mails, she saw that she received one from Mayor Knopp who wrote that he was ready to meet with the Commission, but did not have a process in place to hire a new Executive Director until now. Dr. Amodio said that she replied and followed the e-mail with a telephone call. They are playing telephone tag and told him that she would be delighted to tell the Commissioners that he is willing to meet with them.

Ms. Brown said that since Mayor Knopp is willing to meet with them, everyone who can, should make the effort to attend that meeting.

Mr. Dupervil said that his question to Mayor Knopp would be “Is the Director important to the City, or to the Mayor?”

Dr. Stabinsky asked when the Mayor sent the e-mail to Dr. Amodio. Dr. Amodio said that she had nothing on her screen; her computer completely crashed, but when she found the e-mail yesterday morning, she believed it was sent about four days ago. Dr. Stabinsky commented that the Mayor did not respond to her urgent e-mail for three weeks.

Dr. Stabinsky wanted to know who “they” were in reference to stopping the search for the bi-lingual secretary. Dr. Amodio said that she did not know who “they” were and could not get an answer when she asked that question. She said that she was very disturbed by the whole thing. The bi-lingual secretary is key to having the office flow.

Dr. Gross asked Mr. Patterson if he knew anything about this. Mr. Patterson said that this was the first he has heard of it. Dr. Gross asked Dr. Amodio how the conversation ended with Mr. Schlosser. Dr. Amodio said that she registered her displeasure. Mr. Schlosser said that he would get back to her soon.

Dr. Amodio said that she asked Martha Polacik in the Mayor’s office to leave a voice mail with the best dates for the Mayor to meet with the Commission.

Dr. Gross said that she would like the Commission to express their dismay that the decision was made to not pursue filling the bi-lingual secretary’s position without their consent. Dr. Amodio added that she would also like to express dismay at not having input in the secretarial hiring process. Dr. Amodio said that she would write a letter to the Mayor expressing those points from the Commission.

Dr. Stabinsky felt that the commissioners should have a face-to-face meeting with Mayor Knopp, but that it took him three weeks to respond to Dr. Amodio’s email. Dr. Stabinsky offered to go to the Mayor’s office directly to request an appointment time.

Ms. Mann suggested writing a letter to the editor of the Norwalk Hour letting people know that this Commission exists and that they are trying. She said that she felt that this commission was getting alot of negative press. Dr. Stabinsky said that the Mayor needs to know that this is a Commission that is behind Human Relations.

Tree Plaque Subcommittee Report

This item was not discussed.

Call for Volunteers for Brochure Subcommittee

Rev. Nissing volunteered to work on the subcommittee. He said that he would do the layout. Ms. Brown suggested using bright paper. Mr. Dupervil and Dr. Amodio also agreed to serve on the subcommittee.

International Human Rights Day Advance Planning Subcommittee

Dr. Amodio said that they will discuss this further during May and June. The Commissioners agreed that they would not have a booth at this year’s Oyster Festival.

Personnel Subcommittee Report

Ms. Brown said that she did not have a report. They are waiting to hear from the union so they can set up a meeting.

Dr. Stabinsky said that he thought Dr. Amodio was in error regarding supervision of the Field Representative by the Chair. He said that there is nowhere in the job description stating that he is responsible to the Human Relations Commission. For the Commission to meet with the Field Representative with or without union representation to discuss requests of the Commission for employment activity is totally out of order.

Ms. Brown in referring to the Field Representative’s job description, said that she wanted to know the number of calls received, what type of inquiries are being made, and the number of complaints being filed. She added that she wanted to know how the Commission could help with the follow up.

Ms. Mann said that she was not being accusatory, but that she would like to know what type of Human Relations activity occurs in a typical day within the office.

Mr. Patterson said that he would provide the Commissioners with copies of the Personnel Rules and Regulations.

CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

Dr. Amodio had nothing to add to her earlier report.

FIELD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

Mr. Patterson distributed copies of the revised by-laws.

Mr. Patterson said that traditionally, he likes to go over what is done in the office on a daily basis each month with both commissions. However, with no other staffing, this task was very difficult to keep up-to-date on He said that the department had a statistical process that is very unique among city departments. He then proceeded to show the entire cumulative process that details and catalogs all phone calls, walk-in traffic, and inspections that occur within the office on a daily basis. Mr. Patterson apologized for not making the several new commissioners aware of this daily tracking system earlier. Often it is easy to forget who is new and who has been shown the many procedures and processes before. Mr. Patterson presented a sampling of the daily phone logs showing who called, when they called, the reason for the call, and the length of each call. Additionally, Mr. Patterson showed where the daily logs break down information further to show the nature of the call, type of problem and type of discrimination being claimed. Additionally, items such as inspections, meetings, research in other offices, etc. are also noted on the logs. Mr. Patterson stated that the first priority of the office has always been service to the public, and without a secretary the statistics sometimes takes a back seat. Mr. Patterson then showed how intake forms are written to record the particulars of each logged activity. At the end of the month, the secretary takes the three logs (Field Representative, Bi-lingual Secretary and Executive Director) and tabulates all of the information and files all of the intake forms. Mr. Patterson then described the system of checks and balances for tracking complaints, and the system of tracking intakes that don’t ever turn into formal complaints.

Rev. Nissing said that it may be more efficient to use a software system for this type of tracking. Mr. Patterson agreed but said that he didn’t know of any software program that that would be as involved and detailed as the system currently is. He added that it would probably be great at streamlining the process, but perhaps too expensive to warrant the cost. Dr. Amodio said that that may be something to explore. Mr. Patterson added that the current system was very labor intensive and created a large amount of additional paperwork, however he felt that it was very thorough.

Mr. Patterson said that he had a very old computer that was slowly dying. He was able to get a loaner from IT so that he could keep functioning. His computer finally died, but as of two weeks ago he was able to get two new computers for the office. One computer was for the Field Representative and one computer was for the vacant Bilingual Secretary’s position.

Dr. Amodio said that she was concerned about the possible misidentification or non identification of issues. Dr. Amodio questioned why none of the calls rose to the issue to be brought to the Commission.

Dr. Gross thanked Mr. Patterson for the extensive information that was presented. The commissioners agreed that it was helpful to see the logs and understand the day-to-day workings of the office. The commissioners thanked Mr. Patterson for showing all that goes into running the office.

CASE BRIEFINGS

There were no cases to discuss.

EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR CASES

Due to no cases, there was no Executive Session.

Rev. Nissing said that as an openly Gay member of this Commission, he wanted to express his appreciation to the Legislators for approving Civil Unions in the State of Connecticut. He said that was a step in the right direction.

Dr. Amodio said that she will send a letter to those responsible for initiating the bill.

ADJOURNMENT

There was no further business and the meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Rosemarie Lombardi

Telesco Secretarial Services

Back to Previous Page	Back to Home Page