MAY 18, 2006

ATTENDANCE: Dr. Barbara Amodio, Chair; Carol Frank; Bea Brown; Sara Sikes; Sally Grose; Rahoul Dupervil; Vicki Su; Sarah Mann; Dr. Charles Stabinsky.

STAFF: Elisabeth Youngerman, Director.

CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m. by the Chair.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MARCH 2006 MEETING, APRIL 2006 MEETING

MARCH 16, 2006

** DR. GROSE MOVED TO APPROVE AS DISTRIBUTED.
** MS. FRANK SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

APRIL 20, 2006

The following corrections were made: On page 1, 4th paragraph from bottom, 1st sentence, “for the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Francophone Affairs” was added after “Consul” to the March minutes. In the 2nd paragraph from the bottom, “as did Ms. Sikes” was added to the end of the sentence. On page 4, 2nd paragraph, the spelling of Mr. Fryar’s name was corrected throughout. In the 6th paragraph, 3rd sentence, the spelling of “commissioners” was corrected. On page 5, 4th paragraph, last sentence, “it” was changed to “the program and services part”. On page 7, last paragraph, 5th sentence, “Booth” was corrected to “Brown”.

** MS. GROSE MOVED TO APPROVE AS CORRECTED.
** MS. SIKES SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MS. SIKES MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF APRIL 10TH.

The Chair said that Corporation Counsel and Mayor Moccia’s office had advised her to seek a legal opinion and receive it before they accept these minutes. Ms. Sikes said there had still been a meeting and minutes should be accepted. Ms. Grose agreed; the Chair restated what she had been told. Ms. Sikes asked for a copy of a written clarification; the Chair said anyone was welcome to contact Corporation Counsel.

Extensive discussion took place on the legality of this meeting and of the actions taken.

** DR. STABINSKY SECONDED.

Dr. Stabinsky asked if the Chair had the authority to disregard a legal motion. The Chair said she would abstain from the process. Mrs. Brown said if they feel that the meeting was legal and wanted to vote on the minutes, she would not vote. Ms. Mann said it would be poor judgment to put the minutes on the web site. Anyone with problems with the Chair should call her up and discuss it. She thought that the Salem Witch Trials were long over, and everyone should be ashamed of themselves.

Mr. Dupervil said that they had gone by the bylaws to call a special meeting. This was not political and there was no back-stabbing. Ms. Grose said that the question should be “what was the situation that made you think it could not be discussed directly”? Mr. Dupervil said they need to meet as a team. The purpose of the meeting was to have an open discussion. Ms. Grose said they wanted to speak openly and frankly. Mrs. Brown said that meeting was a lynch mob. Ms. Frank said nothing would be accomplished this evening. The Mayor will meet with them next week; they should move on. The Chair agreed, noting that this was fruitless without an opinion from Corporation Counsel.

** DR. STABINSKY CALLED THE QUESTION.

** MOTION PASSED WITH FOUR IN FAVOR (SIKES, STABINSKY, DUPERVIL AND GROSE; TWO OPPOSED (BROWN, AMODIO) AND THREE ABSTENTIONS (FRANK, SU & MANN).

CHAIRLADY’S REPORT

The Chair said that one of the Hungarian churches in Norwalk had a freedom fighter speaking about a movie regarding the Hungarian uprising. She invited them to participate more in International Human Rights Day. Also, she tried to follow through with the Mayor’s Office and Corporation Counsel’s Office.

DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Ms. Youngerman reviewed her written report. Dr. Stabinsky asked if any of the cases referred to by CHRO had come to this office and if this office did not hear them because there had not been a director in place. Ms. Youngerman responded that she had no way to ascertain if that was the case. Ms. Sikes commended Ms. Youngerman, saying that this was what (hearings) this commission should be doing.

The Chair asked if the Commission was ready to enter into these hearings, noting that they have to prepare themselves for that. Everyone was in favor of having hearings and engaging the full powers of the ordinance. Ms. Youngerman will send a letter tomorrow morning.

Mrs. Brown said she might want to attend the training for affirmative action officials in June in New Britain; Ms. Youngerman will follow up.

STATISTICS

Ms. Youngerman reviewed this report.

OLD BUSINESS

DIVERSITY PROGRAM RFP

Ms. Youngerman reviewed the memo on human relations diversity and the RFP. There were four responses to the RFP, which were narrowed down to two by the committee members. Success by Design came out on top. With Commission approval, she will work with Mr. Foley and the contract will be signed next week. The amount would be $5,975.

** DR. STABINSKY MOVED THAT THE COMMISSION APPROVE THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PLAN FOR THE COMMUNITY DIVERSITY PROGRAM AS OUTLINED IN THE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE CONSULTANT CONTRACT.
** MRS. BROWN SECONDED.

The Chair thanked the committee for their work. Dr. Stabinsky commended Ms. Youngerman for guiding this committee, stating that this was done totally above board.

Ms. Youngerman said that this RFP was sent to everyone on the State-approved list and they also advertised through the Purchasing Department.

Ms. Grose said that the two finalists were of extremely high caliber. Either one would have been satisfactory. The evaluations were very close.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Ms. Youngerman said that they had asked for two planning sessions in June. They will be working with Mr. Foley to sign the contract.

Dr. Stabinsky said that the plan by the committee was for there to be a training session for all of the commissioners, not just the committee, and select community leaders. The training session will either be a mini one-day affair or a training session for these people so that they can be assistants for the main program. They hope all of the commissioners can attend.

NEW BUSINESS

SPECIAL MEETING WITH MAYOR MOCCIA, TUESDAY, MAY 23, 2006 AT 7:15 P.M.

The Chair asked how many people would be able to attend this meeting and asked that anyone who can come, please do.

FINANCIAL REPORT

Ms. Youngerman reviewed her document.

** DR. STABINSKY MOVED TO ACCEPT FUND TRANSFERS FROM THE BUDGET TO FUND THE DIVERSITY TRAINING RFP.
** MS. FRANK SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

Ms. Youngerman will work with Management & Budgets to choose which fund these monies will come from.

CASE HISTORY AND PROCESS: SAMPLE CASE(S)

The Chair distributed Ms. Youngerman’s memo. Ms. Youngerman reviewed the procedures and sample case. Discussion took place.

It was clarified that investigations would be undertaken by Ms. Youngerman, not Mr. Patterson. The Chair said that is in Mr. Patterson’s job description. Ms. Youngerman said he undertakes the investigations for Fair Rent, which he is trained to do.

Ms. Youngerman reviewed the ADA grievance procedure.

The Chair asked Ms. Youngerman to keep them in the loop. Ms. Grose thanked Ms. Youngerman for making a complicated procedure very clear.

Ms. Youngerman next reviewed the budget.

FIELD REPRESENTATIVE REPORT

There was no report.

Issues related to a bilingual secretary: Ms. Youngerman said she had discussed this with Corporation Counsel. This is technical work. It is not in this position’s job description to do technical translating. The Health Department will procure a consultant to do translation of the Resource Directory. The Chair said there is a huge difference between interpretation and translation. Dr. Grose said the more collaborative relationships they can establish, the better it is.

Ms. Mann requested a breakdown on benefits, which Ms. Youngerman distributed. Mrs. Brown said money for Human Relations should be separate from Fair Rent.

ADJOURNMENT

** MS. MANN MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MS. FRANK SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Cheryl Telesco
Telesco Secretarial Services

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