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Human
Relations Commission
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JULY 19TH, 2007
ATTENDANCE: Commissioners: Lucy M. Romeo, Chair; Daisy Franklin; Bea Brown, Vice-Chair; Rahoul Dupervil; Charles Stabinsky; Michael Murray; Vicky Su
STAFF: Adam D. Bovilsky, Director
OTHER: Carvin Hilliard
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:33 p.m. by Ms. Romeo.
2. APPROVAL OF MIUTES OF APRIL MEETING
Ms. Romeo said that Ms. Franklin, Dr. Stabinsky and Ms. Brown were the only attendees at the April meeting and so there was not a quorum to approve those minutes since anyone not at the April meeting would have to abstain.
Mr. Hilliard said that this was not so and all Commissioners could discuss and vote on the minutes.
** MS. BROWN MOVED TO ACCEPT THE MINUTES FROM THE APRIL MEETING WITH NECESSARY
CORRECTIONS, IF ANY.
** MS. FRANKLIN SECONDED.
The following corrections were made:
First page, second paragraph under “Mayor Moccia” on the fifth line, the word “sometimes” was added before “have a difference of opinion”.
Page three, first paragraph under “Staff Reports”, “asked Ms. Brown to appoint members of the Committee” was changed to “recommended that the Chairperson appoint a Diversity Committee”
The spelling of “Stabinsky” was corrected on page one, on page three on the last line and on page four on the third line, last word.
“Peterson” was corrected to “Patterson” on page three in the first and second paragraphs under “Staff Reports” and on page four in the last sentence under “New Business”.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.
3. CHAIRPERSON’S REPORT
Ms. Romeo introduced Mr. Bovilsky to the Commissioners who’d not yet met him and asked if he’d like to tell the Commission about his background.
Mr. Bovilsky spoke about his experience with community organizing, and various non-profits including the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston which did a variety of advocacy on urban issues and concerns including housing rights, poverty and education. He went on to say that he’d also worked with the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights under Law in Boston where he did direct Civil Rights legal work including many of the things that this Commission deals with. His resume was also included in his Director’s Report
Ms. Romeo reported that she and Mr. Bovilsky had attended the Investigative Panel’s final meeting the previous Tuesday night at which each panel member gave a report and there were several objectives that will be made public that the Panel feels the Fire Department needs to meet. These objectives include increasing the diversity of the department and changing the test that one must pass to qualify to be a member of the Fire Department. Ms. Romeo said that she spoke at that meeting on behalf of the Human Relations Commission and told the panel that they were willing to help in any way they could. She said that during that meeting, Councilman Hilliard suggested that Rev. Bolden look into an organization called Study Circles and said that Mr. Bovilsky would distribute some information on that organization to the Commissioners.
Mr. Bovilsky distributed information printed from the organization’s website, www.studycircles.org and said that he spoke with the Executive Director’s assistant who was very knowledgeable about the functions of Study Circles and wanted to hear back from the Commission regarding what exactly the Commission wants from them, who they want them to work with, and in what capacity.
Dr. Stabinsky said that those Commissioners who were on the Diversity Day committee would recall that Study Circles was one of the groups that were considered to help with Diversity Day and it turned out they were not among the finalists for that project. He referred to a letter Ms. Romeo wrote to 43 organizations involved in Diversity Day and said that that seemed to him to be the start of what Study Circles does. He said that the letter suggested that each of the 43 organizations form their own Diversity Committee, discuss goals among themselves and then hopefully have representatives of each of those organizations join and discuss among other groups.
Ms. Brown asked if Study Circles was recommended by Rev. Bolden.
Ms. Romeo said that it was.
Mr. Hilliard said that he’d met with Gloria Mangual a Program Director at Study Circles and she informed him of a Study Circles session held in Stratford, which Mr. Hilliard attended and found to be very inclusive, organized and helpful. He added that Study Circles is able to operate at no charge.
Mr. Dupervil said that if Study Circles could in fact operate at no cost, then it is worthwhile at least to speak with them. He said that he thought 3D Seminars had a good presentation and that they’ve already started and wondered if Study Circles could pick up where 3D left off or if they would start the process from the beginning.
Ms. Su said that the Commission should find out for sure if Study Circles’ services are truly free of charge and then have a discussion with them.
Ms. Romeo asked Mr. Bovilsky if he’d discussed this with the representative he’d spoken with at Study Circles.
Mr. Bovilsky said that he could not answer with confidence.
Ms. Brown said that if Study Circles can do what 3D does for free, the Commission should give them a try and that 3D could always be re-hired if Study Circles doesn’t work out.
Mr. Hilliard said that Study Circles is definitely free.
Dr. Stabinsky said that Study Group and 3D offer very different services.
Mr. Bovilsky said that it was his understanding that Study Circles is based on the Industrial Areas Foundation Model of community organizing which is the idea that if small groups of people meet and come to conclusions as far as issues that they want to discuss and then larger and larger groups meet in the same fashion, they can create a snowball effect until a consensus is made then action can be taken based on that. They certainly wouldn’t do the same personnel consulting like 3D does because Study Circles is more of a community organizing tool and a different approach altogether.
Ms. Romeo asked what the first step should be.
Mr. Dupervil said that Study Circles should be contacted to see what they can offer.
Ms. Romeo asked Mr. Bovilsky if he thought someone from Study Circles would be willing to meet with the two of them to discuss their services.
Mr. Bovilsky said that he’d be happy to ask but said that they want to know more about what the Commission needs from them first.
Mr. Hilliard said that he would connect Mr. Bovilsky to Gloria Mangual.
Mr. Bovilsky asked if the Commission wanted to use Study Circles for Diversity Day, as opposed to working with specific departments within the city government.
Ms. Romeo said that she was thinking of working with Study Circles in addition to Diversity Day as an ongoing thing throughout the year to facilitate dialog among the various factions of the city.
Mr. Bovilsky asked what groups they would be working with, if they’d be working with the general public, church groups, city department heads, etc. saying that we wanted to get a clearer idea to present to Study Circles.
Mr. Dupervil asked if the Commission could take some time to look over the materials and familiarize themselves with Study Circles and their services before saying what they wanted from them.
Ms. Romeo asked if the Commissioners could go home and look into Study Circles and think about how they could benefit them and suggested that they get more up to date material to review.
Mr. Bovilsky said that the material would come at a small cost but was well within the budget.
Mr. Murray asked if Study Circles would be willing to attend a Commission Meeting.
Mr. Bovilsky said that he would certainly ask.
Ms. Romeo noted that she would be away in August when the next meeting will be held but would like to be present for discussion on Study Circles and suggested a Special Meeting dedicated to that discussion when she comes back on or after August 24th.
Mr. Bovilsky suggested that those Commissioners who would like to work on Outreach and Education, and who would like to talk about this and the International Human Rights Day could meet as a subcommittee.
Ms. Romeo asked if the International Human Rights Day was what 3D Seminars did last year, saying that she was new to the Commission then.
Mr. Bovilsky said that International Human Rights Day will be in December.
Ms. Romeo asked who would like to be on the subcommittee to discuss Study Circles and International Human Rights Day.
Ms. Brown, Ms. Franklin, and Ms. Romeo all said that they would sit on that subcommittee.
Dr. Stabinsky said that Barbara Amodio would most likely want to sit on that subcommittee as she has run International Human Rights Day for the past 27 years.
4. DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Mr. Bovilsky submitted copies of his Director’s Report to the Commissioners, including his resume. He said that the end of June concluded the City Hall’s fiscal year and so he included his plan for the next year and some statistics from the past fiscal year in his report.
Statistics
Mr. Bovilsky said that he planned to gather information in the following months
about why the Commission does or does not receive complaints and does or does
not have public hearings and at what times. He said that he expected to see
that at times where there was no director, attorneys and other City Hall personnel
felt less confident sending discrimination claims to this Commission for hearings
and CHRO was publicly favored during those times. Mr. Bovilsky said that he
plans to do a questionnaire for attorneys, city personnel who might ordinarily
refer people to this Commission and perhaps for Connecticut Legal Services.
Commission Members and Departmental Staff
Mr. Bovilsky reported that there was one vacancy on the Commission and that was Sarah Mann who resigned in December of 2006 and that the terms of Commissioners Brown, Murray and Stabinsky will be up in September of this year. He reminded the Commissioners that even when a Commissioner’s term has expired, and unless they resign, they are obligated to continue to serve that term until their term is renewed or they are replaced. He said that he and Ms. Romeo have notified the Mayor about the current vacancy and are encouraging him to fill it.
Activities and Short Term Goals
Mr. Bovilsky said that one of his short-term goals was to start work on International Human Rights Day and welcomed any input from the Commissioners.
Outreach
Mr. Bovilsky said that he’d like to start meeting with community and religious leaders and anyone who works with members of the community who may need his Department’s services.
ADA Issues and Compliance
Mr. Bovilsky said that he is the ADA Title II coordinator for the City of Norwalk and that it was his understanding that his predecessor, Ms. Youngerman worked with the city on an evaluation of ADA and hopes to take on the completion of that.
Affirmative Action Plan
Mr. Bovilsky said that he is also the Affirmative Action Officer for the City of Norwalk and as such he feels that the city’s Affirmative Action Plan is outdated and would like to update it.
Year-End Budget
Mr. Bovilsky said that the budget for the past year was just over $200,000 and that the fiscal year ended with over $37,000 or 19% which at first seems like a lot but when it is taken into account that almost $32,000 of that would have gone to the salary for a director, had there been one, only $6,000 or 3% of the budget went unused for the year.
Mr. Bovilsky said that there were two things he wanted to say which were not on his official report. The first was that when he received his booklet for the Human Relations Commission, the Norwalk Code section was missing a few pages and the booklets that the Commissioners had likely had the same pages missing and so he’d brought complete copies of the Human Relations section of the Norwalk Code and he distributed these. The second item he wanted to discuss had to do with press that may relate to the Human Relations Commission. He said that it was tradition for staff to collect such articles and that there was quite a hefty packet of those articles since it had been three months since the Commission had met at a regular meeting. He said that there’d been some interesting articles just in the past few days, both on the Norwalk Fire Department and on a meeting of the Planning Committee in which there was some discussion on the intersection of planning and development and issues of race and discrimination. He said that there were some claims in that meeting that planning could sometimes be based on a racial motive.
Ms. Brown said that it was her understanding that when there is a vacancy on a commission, the President of the Common Council should be notified. The President of the Common Council would then speak with the Mayor and they would decide whether the item is added to the Council’s agenda and the Council would vote on any appointees.
Mr. Hilliard said that if the appointee is a Republican, their resume would be submitted to the Mayor, but if that appointee is a Democrat, their resume would go to either Mike Coffey or himself. He said that it was decided between himself, Mike Coffey and Mayor Moccia that this would be how committee appointments would be held because of a unique situation in Norwalk in that there is a Republican mayor and the majority of the Council is Democrat to keep a fair and balanced system running.
Ms. Su asked what the procedure would be if the potential appointee were Independent.
Ms. Romeo answered that it would depend on who was recommending the person and if an Independent appointee was recommended by a Democrat, they would go through the process as if they were a Democrat.
5. OLD BUSINESS
a. Revive Diversity Program
It was decided that this was the same as item 6.c. and so the meeting was continued.
6. NEW BUSINESS
a. Proposal to Amend Norwalk Codes as it Relates to number of HRC Commissioners and Quorum
Ms. Romeo said that an email was sent to all Commissioners on the subject of the proposed amendment and that she’d been in discussion with Mr. Bovilsky lately about recent issues with getting a quorum and noticed that other Commissions such as Fair Rent have Alternates. She said that Alternates could take the place of absent Commissioners to ensure a quorum is met. Ms. Romeo said that because the Commission has ten members and one vacancy, there were six members needed to make a quorum and this was a difficult amount of people to get.
Ms. Brown said that she looked at the email when it arrived and said that most Commissions that she knew of did not have Alternates and didn’t think there’d been very many of this Commission’s meetings cancelled for lack of quorum. She said that this amendment would be a disturbance to the Commission. It would have to go to the Common Council and there would have to be several hearings on it and the whole Human Relations Charter would have to be changed. Ms. Brown felt that this should be left as is.
Ms. Franklin agreed, saying that she’d not seen a problem getting a quorum since she’d been on the Commission.
Dr. Stabinsky said that he agreed with Ms. Brown and that the idea of having Alternates on the Commission who were not equal to the regular Commissioners was unfavorable for a Human Relations Commission and that in his six years on the Commission, he could count on a half of a hand how many times a meeting had been cancelled for lack of quorum.
Mr. Murray raised another possible con of Alternates, saying that when there is a contentious meeting and there are two alternates present and only one is needed to vote, it must be decided which should vote and that could create problems.
Ms. Romeo said that there would probably be some ranking system in place.
Mr. Bovilsky asked if it would help to just make them full members of the Commission and lowered the number of members required to make a quorum.
Mr. Dupervil said that he saw no reason to make this amendment at this time because he’d not seen a problem with making quorum either.
Dr. Stabinsky said that one thing that was suggested by a Commissioner several meetings prior to this one was that if a Commissioner didn’t attend for a certain number of meetings that there be some system in place to ask for that person’s resignation, or ask the Mayor’s assistance in getting that person’s resignation, saying that there was one member of this Commission that attended the first meeting but none since.
Ms. Romeo said that a Commissioner would have to be removed by the Mayor and
that she’d spoken to the Mayor about the Commissioner Dr. Stabinsky was referring
to and requested assistance but that the Mayor refused to remove the person
because they were appointed by the previous Mayor.
Dr. Stabinsky said that the person was appointed by the current mayor
Mr. Hilliard offered to contact the person if someone would give him the person’s contact information.
Ms. Romeo said that in any event, the Mayor refused to remove that Commissioner and that she wanted to hear from Mr. Murray on the topic since Mr. Murray had missed a lot of meetings and was asked to resign if he wasn’t interested and then started attending meetings again.
Mr. Murray said that he’d had other commitments on the third Thursday of every month but would rearrange his schedule so that he could attend Human Relations Commission meetings until his term expired but that he’d be unavailable after September.
Mr. Murray said that there would be problems if decisions were passed on too small a percentage of a Commission and that especially on major issues, it will be very difficult to hold an orderly meeting with 15 or so Commissioners.
Mr. Hilliard said that according to Robert’s Rules, a Commission couldn’t have a quorum of less than the majority of that Commission because decisions could then be made that the majority of that Commission was not in favor of.
Ms. Romeo read the following from a guide to Robert’s Rules:
A quorum is the official number of members required to conduct business. This number is established by the group’s bylaws.
She said that this Commission’s bylaws said that six members were required to make a quorum.
Mr. Bovilsky said that he understood why for policy reasons, it might not be favorable to have a minimum quorum amount less than the majority of a commission but that Robert’s Rules seems to indicate that it would be possible.
** MS. BROWN MOVED TO END DISCUSSION ON THE PROPOSAL TO AMEND NORWALK CODES
AS IT RELATES TO NUMBER OF HRC COMMISSIONERS AND QUORUM.
** MR. DUPERVIL SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED WITH ONE ABSTENTION BY DR. STABINSKY.
b. Affordable Housing
Ms. Brown said that she thought affordable housing would become a big issue in Norwalk and she felt people need to get away from the association of affordable housing to low income because the two are unrelated. She said that Mr. Bovilsky should talk to any board or panel concerned with affordable housing and report back to this Commission.
Ms. Su asked why this Commission should be involved in a matter of affordable housing,
Ms. Romeo clarified that as of late, “affordable housing” had been referred to as “low-income housing” which has racist undertones.
Mr. Hilliard said that a statement that “a certain kind of people” was unwanted was discriminatory.
** MS. BROWN MOVED TO HAVE MR. BOVILSKY ATTEND COMMON COUNCIL PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETINGS AND REPORT BACK TO THIS COMMISSION.
Ms. Romeo asked if there is a Fair Housing Board.
Mr. Bovilsky said that there is a Fair Housing Commission, which advises the Fair Housing Officer of the city, Margaret Suib but doesn’t have the authority to take action.
Dr. Stabinsky said that this Commission has a representative on that Commission, Ms. Carol Frank.
Ms. Brown said that this issue had nothing to do with Margaret Suib or Fair Housing.
Ms. Romeo asked if it was the Planning Committee of the Council that was handling this.
Mr. Hilliard answered that it was and the meetings are open to the public and meetings are being held nearly every week lately.
Mr. Murray asked if the Common Council Planning Committee is working with the Fair Housing Commission.
Mr. Hilliard answered that it was not.
Mr. Murray asked if Fair Housing should be involved which this Commission is a part of and if so, would this Commission be duplicating efforts by having someone on Fair Housing.
Mr. Hilliard said yes, but that it would not be duplicating efforts.
Mr. Dupervil said that Margaret Suib is fully aware of this situation and that information could be obtained from her.
** MOTION DIED FOR WANT OF A SECOND.
Ms. Romeo asked Mr. Bovilsky if he’d be willing to meet with Ms. Suib to get information on this item.
Mr. Bovilsky said that he’d meet with her when she returned from vacation.
Ms. Romeo asked Mr. Hilliard to let her know when the next Planning Committee meeting would be held so that she could attend as a member of the public.
Mr. Hilliard said that he would email her and reminded that she could always request the minutes of any meeting.
c. Formation of Diversity Committee
Mr. Dupervil said that there was a Diversity Committee that was formed in the past and could be formed again.
Ms. Franklin asked if that subcommittee was for Human Rights Day.
Ms. Romeo said that the subcommittee was formed to work on Study Circles and Human Rights Day in December and asked Dr. Stabinsky to explain what exactly the Diversity Committee is.
Dr. Stabinsky read a letter approved and signed by Ms. Romeo aloud which said:
The Norwalk Human Relations commission is committed to continue the efforts
of those 43 organizations, which participated in the Community Diversity Education
Day on December 2, 2006. At this time, we invite you to form a Diversity Committee
within each of your own organizations to meet and discuss the particular issues
of diversity which affect your own group using the model of “Where are we now’?
– “Where do we want to be?” – “What do we have to do to get there?”
Within each group we would hope that all protected classes defined in the HRC Charter are considered, including race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, religion, color, creed, marital status, etc.
In the fall the HRC anticipates a gathering of representatives of the diversity committees of the organizations to report on their activity and share their efforts with each other. It is expected that from this gathering Norwalk will move forward in its efforts to diminish hateful discrimination and increase understanding of our neighbors.
Dr. Stabinsky asked Ms. Romeo to form a Diversity Committee within the Human Relations Commission according to the model outlined in the letter, part of the function of which would be following up with the 43 organizations mentioned in the letter.
Ms. Romeo asked if Community Diversity Education Day is different from Human Rights Day.
Dr. Stabinsky said that it is very different.
Ms. Romeo said that she didn’t believe she’d attended a Human Rights Day.
Dr. Stabinsky said that she hadn’t because there hadn’t been one the previous year. He said that the original plan was to spend $5,000 on Diversity Day and he said from the beginning that didn’t want it to be just a one-day program.
Ms. Romeo said that she agreed with Dr. Stabinsky that it is difficult after a large event like Diversity Day to keep the momentum throughout the year and there should be a concerted effort to do so. She said that there should be an ongoing monthly dialog with a representative from each of the previously mentioned 43 organizations.
Dr. Stabinsky again suggested Ms. Romeo form a Diversity Committee who could talk about what is needed.
Ms. Romeo asked who would like to be on the Diversity Committee.
Dr. Stabinsky, Mr. Dupervil and Ms. Su said that they would sit on that committee.
Dr. Stabinsky said that he would only be on the committee for two months as he was leaving in September and did not intend to renew his term.
Mr. Murray asked Dr. Stabinsky if he intended this to be a permanent or short-term subcommittee.
Dr. Stabinsky answered that it was intended to be a short-term subcommittee that would have one meeting, maybe two.
The subcommittee agreed to organize amongst themselves when they’d meet and it was decided that Dr. Stabinsky would be the Chair.
Ms. Romeo volunteered to be Chair for the International Human Rights Day Subcommittee.
7. ADJOURNMENT
** MR. DUPERVIL MOVED TO ADJOURN.
** MS. SU SECONDED.
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
The meeting was adjourned at 9:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Schroder
Telesco Secretarial Services
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