AUGUST 18, 2005

ATTENDANCE: Dr. Barbara Amodio, Chair; Bea Brown; Dr. Charles Stabinsky; Sara Sikes, Sarah Mann; Dr. Sally Grose (arrived at 7:35 p.m.)

STAFF: Elisabeth Youngerman, Human Relations Director

CALL TO ORDER

Chair Amodio called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Ms. Brown suggested that once typed, the secretary should send a rough draft of the minutes to the Commission for their review. Dr. Stabinsky said he would like to receive the minutes well in advance of the meeting to give opportunity for review. Ms. Sikes said that in general, minutes should not be so lengthy.

The following corrections were made:

Throughout the minutes, change the spelling of “Gross” to “Grose,” correct the spelling of the word “commissioner(s),” correct the spelling of “Sonia” to “Sonja” and correct “Elizabeth” to “Elisabeth.”

Page 1, third paragraph under Welcome, delete the four sentences beginning “He summed up …” and ending with “ … administrative matters as well.” In the fourth paragraph, fourth line insert “Spanish as well as” after “speaking,” change the word “an” to “a” and insert “Central American” before “Indian language.”

On page 2, first sentence of the paragraph after the second bullet should be corrected to “Ms. Youngerman said she went to a northeastern law school university, where she worked for a prestigious law firm in Boston.” In the second to last line of typed text on the page, change “extend” to “extent”

On page 3, paragraph beginning Commissioner Ross, change “staring” to “starting.” In the second to last paragraph on the page, revise fifth line to “She wrote a grant application which was funded for youth to create comic books and cartoons, pointing out the stereotypes in them; that information was used as the bases for a program in diversity training.”

On page 4, seventh paragraph second line, change “planed” to “planned.” In the second line of the first motion, change “except” to “accept” and insert a comma after “relations” in the third line.

On page 5, in the second line of the first motion, change “except” to “accept” and delete the word “each” in the third line. In the next paragraph first line, delete “in abstentia” and insert “on the basis of an hour long telephone call prior to the meeting.” Under Acceptance of Minutes, delete the correction for the second paragraph on page 1.

On page 6, second paragraph, revise to “She noted there was a desire expressed by an attorney at the luncheon to set up an ADA committee of the Commission again.”

** MS. SIKES MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF JUNE 16, 2005 AS CORRECTED.

** MS. BROWN SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION PASSED WITH ONE ABSTENTION (MANN).

CHARILADY’S REPORT

Chair Amodio said she was pleased to finally have someone in the office to greet and welcome visitors. She referred to the news article in The Hour about the hire of Ms. Youngerman, who to this point only had an opportunity to meet with Commissioners Stabinsky and Grose. Chair Amodio said it was difficult not having a bi-lingual secretary yet, and expressed concern over the City’s policy on testing. Candidates are required to pass the typing test of 50 wpm, after which they are verbally interviewed by a firm from California. She said she was very concerned that the position was not posted in any news media read by the Hispanic population.

The commissioners discussed at length why a firm from California was being used rather than one locally. Ms. Brown suggested that perhaps this could be handled by the State University or the Department of Higher Education. Ms. Youngerman would pursue this with Personnel. Dr. Stabinsky said it could be a City Personnel issue and if so, the Commission should not get itself involved. Chair Amodio said she understood Dr. Stabinsky’s point but wanted to be sure testing was being handled appropriately.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Ms. Youngerman said there was a great deal to learn, and her days were extremely busy. Ms. Mann asked to receive statistics from Mr. Patterson in advance of the meeting.

On the issue of the bi-lingual secretary, Ms Youngerman said that she asked Mr. Patterson to join the interviews, but so far there was only one candidate and that candidate was not appropriate. There were eight other resumes to review.

Ms. Youngerman said there were many activities requiring her attention for the Fair Rent Commission, especially since Ms. Suib was on vacation. Lacking a bi-lingual secretary, Ms. Youngerman said she spent the better part of many days speaking Spanish, not English. Dr. Grose said the situation was complicated as it related to the Hispanic community because many adults, especially mothers, did not speak English at all. Ms. Youngerman said that many other City services were impacted by this, i.e., the Health Department. She said more material about the Commission should be made available to the community, and was hopeful that language would not be a barrier indefinitely. She said this would be discussed in greater detail at the annual meeting. Ms. Mann suggested that a brochure be placed in the office of where ESL classes could be taken free of charge. Chair Amodio asked Ms. Mann and Dr. Grose to pursue this. Dr. Stabinsky felt this was not a human relations issue, and said that many years ago this was addressed by the Blue Ribbon Commission. Chair Amodio said community outreach was very important.

Ms. Youngerman highlighted a few points in her written report. She said that grant money would be used to purchase four ADA beach chairs, and that Recreation and Parks asked her to research wheelchair parking. She said a brochure for people with disabilities would be prepared. Ms. Youngerman said her meeting with Ms. Suib went well and she felt they would have a good relationship. She said she looked forward to meeting and working with the commissioners.

OLD BUSINESS

Update on Search for Bi-Lingual Secretary

This was discussed earlier in the meeting.

NEW BUSINESS

Nominating Committee

Chair Amodio said she nominated the Committee to choose the slate of officers as follows, and received agreement from each: Bea Brown as Chair, Vicky Su, and Sarah Mann.

International Human Rights Day

Chair Amodio said that International Human Rights Day is usually December 10th, but the Mayor would proclaim the day; she would check his schedule. She said that Dr. Corda usually chose the school; Ms. Mann suggested that Brien McMahon would be a good choice because of the recent renovations. The commissioners agreed; Chair Amodio said she would discuss this with Dr. Corda. Regarding the tree dedication, Dr. Stabinsky felt the Commission should use its own funds to purchase the tree plaque. Ms. Mann would pursue this. Chair Amodio said she would coordinate dates and distribute the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the next meeting.

Annual Meeting

Dr. Stabinsky asked if the annual meeting could be postponed so that Ms. Youngerman would have more opportunity to familiarize herself with the commissioners and all her responsibilities. He said the by-laws would allow a postponement. Chair Amodio said the ordinance superseded the by-laws, and the ordinance required the meeting to take place on its scheduled date. The other commissioners agreed the annual meeting should remain on schedule.

FIELD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

Ms. Youngerman said that Mr. Patterson was not present, and there had been no report since September 2004. There were no intake forms and no record of filed complaints. She said Mr. Patterson was asked to recreate intake forms for July. This applied to the Fair Rent Commission as well. Dr. Stabinsky said that a computer-generated report would be more efficient than hand-made entries in chart form. Ms. Youngerman said there was a computerized program to handle this that should be looked at.

ADJOURNMENT

** MS. SIKES MOVED TO ADJOURN.

** MS. MANN SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Carol A. Graham for

Telesco Secretarial Services

Back to Previous Page	Back to Home Page