FEBRUARY 22, 2007

ATTENDANCE: Lucy Romeo, Chairman; Dr. Charles Stabinsky, Carol
Frank, Bea Brown, Daisy Franklin, Dr. Barbara Amodio,
Vicky Su.

STAFF: Larry Patterson, Field Representative

OTHERS: Council Member Carvin Hilliard, John Nickerson, The Advocate;
Patrick Linsey, The Hour

1. CALL TO ORDER

Ms. Romeo called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER AND JANUARY MEETING

Ms. Romeo stated that there was a meeting in January but that a quorum was not present.

December 2006 Minutes

** MS. BROWN MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER 2006 MEETING WITH THE PREVIOUSLY NOTED CORRECTIONS.
** MS. FRANKLIN SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED WITH FIVE IN FAVOR (ROMEO, FRANK, BROWN, FRANKLIN, SU) AND TWO ABSTENTIONS (STABINSKY AND AMODIO).

January 2007 Minutes

** DR. AMODIO MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 2007 MEETING.
** MS. BROWN SECONDED.
** THE MOTION PASSED WITH 5 (FRANK AND SU ABSTAINED)

Chairman Romeo said that if it would be agreeable to the Commission, she would like to proceed directly to the election of a vice-chairman. This was agreeable to all.

6. NEW BUSINESS

Election of Vice-Chairman

Chairman Romeo stated that she knew she would not be present for the April meeting. Dr. Stabinsky pointed out that there was nothing in the by-laws or the ordinance that provides for a special election of a vice-chairman. He stated that he previously contacted Chairman Romeo about this and was concerned that if the elected vice chairman runs a meeting, that someone could say that the meeting would be invalid. Dr. Stabinsky went on to say that the Chair has the authority to appoint someone to substitute for the Chair, but that there was nothing in the by-laws to provide for a special election for a vice chairman. Ms. Su suggested that if it was not already in the by-laws, then it should be put into the by-laws in order to provide for the fact that if an officer is absent or someone moves away. Ms. Su asked if the Chairman could appoint a vice-chairman. Ms. Romeo stated that Section 6 stated that if an office becomes vacant, the Commission shall elect its successor at its next scheduled meeting. A discussion about this issue followed.

** MS. FRANKLIN MOVED TO NOMINATE MS. BROWN AS VICE CHAIR.

Ms. Romeo asked Ms. Brown if she accepted the nomination. Ms. Brown indicated that she did.

** DR. AMODIO SECONDED THE NOMINATION.

Ms. Romeo closed the nomination and announced that Ms. Brown would be the vice chair.
3. CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT

Ms. Romeo presented her report. She stated that there had been a meeting with the Democratic Caucus regarding a new field representative. Ms. Romeo stated that it was a promising meeting, but that the matter needs to be handled through Personnel.

Ms. Romeo stated that she had copied all the members of the Committee regarding the emails that she had exchanged with the Mayor. A few concerns have surfaced, one of which is the McCarthy investigation. Ms. Romeo stated that she had researched how other municipalities hire their Director of Human Relations.

Ms. Brown reported that in reading the Charter, it was evident that the Mayor may appoint a person, but the Council must approve the appointment. Ms. Brown stated that she was sorry that Mayor Moccia had gone along with the previous Mayor regarding the manner that the appointment of the Human Relations Director was handled. Ms. Brown stated that the Council never approved the former Director. She then read the appropriate section from the Charter. Ms. Brown said that she had asked Council Member Grant to attend the meeting because he is the head of the Personnel Commission. She also said that the Chairman should ask the Personnel Director to allow the Commission to hire an outside attorney. Ms. Brown stated that what the previous Mayor had done was illegal and that the current Mayor was continuing the illegal situation.

Ms. Romeo stated that if the Commission does decide to hire a lawyer regarding this matter this should be the first priority. Ms. Su asked if this has been formally communicated to the Mayor. Ms. Romeo said that it had been communicated to the Mayor and that the Mayor had asked Corporation Counsel Nolin to draft an opinion. Atty. Nolin’s opinion indicated that the Human Relations Commission had no authority to hire, recommend or approve the Director of the Human Relations. Atty. Nolin believes that the authority rests with the Mayor. Ms. Romeo added that Atty. Nolin cites the previous Corporation Counsel’s opinion on the matter.

Ms. Romeo stated that Dr. Amodio had written a letter to Atty. Nolin which request that Corporation Counsel hire Atty. Jennings for the purpose of independently researching and advising the Commission regarding its ordinance, bylaws, rules, responsibilities and other personnel matters. Ms. Romeo read the letter to the Commissioners and then requested that the Commissioners sign it. A lengthy discussion about this matter followed.

Council Member Hilliard joined the meeting at 8:20 p.m.

Ms. Romeo asked Council Member Hilliard where it would indicate in the ordinances that the Commission has the authority to hire outside counsel. Mr. Hilliard replied that he did not say that, but had suggested that the Commission could request one. Ms. Frank asked the other members of the Commission if they had presented this issue to the full Council before taking the drastic step of hiring an outside attorney. Ms. Frank also pointed out that Ms. Brown had been appointed to be part of the interview process. Ms. Brown replied that she had not said whether she would be participating. Ms. Brown then suggested that the Commission go to the courts and get an injunction to stop the process.

Ms. Romeo then asked the Commission members if they had read the numerous emails between herself and the Mayor regarding the McCarthy investigation and whether the other Commissioners had noticed that the Mayor was very concerned about this one item on the agenda. She stated that the Mayor had indicated in his emails that he did not know why the Commission was investigating and had also stated that the Commission had no authority to investigate Chief McCarthy. Ms. Romeo also said that the Mayor had left her a voice mail stating that if the Commission pursued this, they were leaving the City open to liability. Ms. Romeo said that she had included the item on the agenda because it was about discrimination. A discussion about this followed.

** MS. BROWN MOVED THAT THE CORPORATION COUNSEL BE ASKED TO ALLOW THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION TO HIRE AN OUTSIDE COUNSEL AND IF THE CORPORATION COUNSEL REFUSES, THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION WILL HIRE OUTSIDE COUNSEL WITH THE FUNDS THAT ARE NOT BEING USED FOR THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR.
** DR. AMODIO SECONDED.

Ms. Romeo repeated the proposed motion and suggested adding “to review the process of the hiring of the Human Relations Director.” Discussion followed how to word motion.

** MS. BROWN MOVED THAT THE COMMISISON REQUEST IN WRITING TO CORPORATION COUNSEL ASKING THAT THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION HIRE ATTORNEY CYNTHIA JENNINGS FOR THE PURPOSE OF INDEPENDENTLY RESEARCHING AND ADVISING THE COMMISSION REGARDING ITS ORDINANCE, BYLAWS, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES WITH EMPHASIS ON THE PROCESS OF HIRING THE NEW DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RELATIONS.

Ms. Frank stated that she would like one additional change to this motion depending on the outcome of the vote, that it be noted that this request comes from some of the Commissioners, not all of the Commissioners. Ms. Romeo stated that the Commission did not need a unanimous vote for the Commission to take action. Ms. Frank stated that she would still like the wording of the letter to include the phrase “some Commissioners”. Ms. Frank stated that a similar type of issue had arisen in Fair Housing where the majority of the Commissioners wanted to accept a report as presented, but others felt there were problems with the report. Ms. Frank went on to say it was included in the report that some of the Commissioners agreed or opposed the report. Ms. Frank stated that she did not want her name on the motion, would not be signing the letter and would be voting against the proposed motion. She stated that she did not want the final decision to be presented as if it was unanimous. Ms. Romeo stated that the Commission needed a majority vote to approve the motion. Ms. Frank stated that Ms. Romeo had requested that everyone sign the letter. Ms. Romeo stated instead of having everyone sign the letter, she would sign it on behalf of everyone on the Commission.

Mr. Patterson then requested that Ms. Romeo repeat the motion. Ms. Romeo then repeated the motion as follows:

** MS. BROWN MOVED THAT THE COMMISISON REQUEST IN WRITING TO CORPORATION COUNSEL ASKING THAT THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION HIRE ATTORNEY CYNTHIA JENNINGS FOR THE PURPOSE OF INDEPENDENTLY RESEARCHING AND ADVISING THE COMMISSION REGARDING ITS ORDINANCE, BYLAWS, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES WITH EMPHASIS ON THE PROCESS OF HIRING THE NEW DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RELATIONS. THE REQUEST WILL BE SIGNED BY THE CHAIRPERSON AS REPRESENTATIVE AND ON BEHALF OF HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION.

Ms. Frank pointed out that this would still imply that all the members of the Human Relations Committee supported the motion. Mr. Patterson said that Ms. Romeo as Chair could write the letter, but that the motion that Ms. Brown originally proposed still needed to be voted upon. He also pointed out that the minutes would clearly reflect who voted for the measure, who did not and who abstained. Mr. Patterson said then everyone could review the details of how such a letter might be worded.

** MS. BROWN MOVED THAT THE COMMISISON REQUEST IN WRITING TO CORPORATION COUNSEL ASKING THAT THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION HIRE ATTORNEY CYNTHIA JENNINGS FOR THE PURPOSE OF INDEPENDENTLY RESEARCHING AND ADVISING THE COMMISSION REGARDING ITS ORDINANCE, BYLAWS, ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES WITH EMPHASIS ON THE PROCESS OF HIRING THE NEW DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RELATIONS. THE REQUEST WILL BE SIGNED BY THE CHAIRPERON AS REPRESENTATIVE AND ON BEHALF OF HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION.

** DR AMODIO SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED WITH THREE IN FAVOR (FRANKLIN, AMODIO, AND BROWN) AND TWO OPPOSED (STABINSKY AND FRANK) AND ONE ABSTENTION (SU).

A question arose regarding if Corporation Counsel deny the Commission, what would the next step be in securing funds.

** MS. BROWN THEN MOVED TO INCLUDE IN THE SAME LETTER A REQUEST THAT THE CORPORATION COUNSEL USE ANY UNSPENT FUNDS THAT WERE NOT BEING UTILIZED FROM THE FORMER DIRECTOR’S POSITION TOWARDS LEGAL COUNSEL FOR THE COMMISSION.

A discussion about this motion ensued, the wording of the letter and who should received the letter followed. Ms. Brown then requested that Ms. Romeo re-read the second motion. Mr. Patterson said that the second motion should just request that appropriate funds that were unused from the Director’s position be used for the hiring of this party.
He then pointed out that if the first motion fails, the Commission does not have to present both together, by saying that the Chair is authorized to write a letter regarding this.

** MS. BROWN WITHDREW HER MOTION TO INCLUDE IN THE SAME LETTER A REQUEST THAT THE CORPORATION COUNSEL USE ANY UNSPENT FUNDS THAT WERE NOT BEING UTILIZED FOR THE FORMER DIRECTOR’S POSITION TOWARDS LEGAL COUNSEL FOR THE COMMISSION.

** MS. BROWN THEN MADE A MOTION THAT IF THE REQUEST FOR THE HIRING OF AN OUTSIDE ATTORNEY FAILS, THE CHAIR IS EMPOWERED TO WRITE A LETTER TO MR. HAMILTON REQUESTING THAT THE UNSPENT FUNDS BE APPROPRIATED.
** DR. AMODIO SECONDED.

** THE MOTION PASSED WITH THREE IN FAVOR (FRANKLIN, AMODIO, AND BROWN) AND TWO OPPOSED (STABINSKY AND FRANK) AND ONE ABSTENTION (SU).

DIVERSITY DAY FOLLOW UP

Dr. Stabinsky stated that he was in favor of Diversity Day only if it would be a continuous process. Forty-three agencies and/or groups attended the Community Education Diversity Day program. He suggested that the Human Relations Committee write a letter to each of the groups suggesting that each one form a diversity committee within its own group and use the format that the follow up meeting used regarding their current position, their ultimate goal and how to achieve this goal. In approximately six months, Dr. Stabinsky suggested that they invite the various groups to come and report their progress. The Commission should consider awarding a prize to the group who has made the most progress.

Mr. Patterson reviewed what occurred at the Diversity Day follow up luncheon. Dr. Stabinsky stated that once the luncheon was over, nothing else happened. A discussion about how to implement this followed. Ms. Romeo asked Dr. Stabinsky to draft a letter.

Mr. Patterson added that the position of the Director was posted on January 4th and advertised in several newspapers and also on the Internet.

ADJOURNMENT

** MS. FRANKLIN MOVED TO ADJOURN.
CAROL FRANK SECONDED.

** THE MOTION TO ADJOURN PASSED UNANINIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Services

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