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Human
Relations Commission
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AUGUST 19, 2003
ATTENDANCE: Steve Papadakos, Chairman; Art Scialabba, Vice Chair; Joanne Romano, Michael Murray, Rahoul Dupervil, Mariusz Kossarski, Joshua Kammerman, Barbara Amodio
STAFF: Larry Patterson, Field Representative
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:51 p.m.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES JULY 17, 2003
Corrections
Page 3 – 3rd paragraph; 3rd line, where it reads Dr. Amodio especially when should read, Dr. Amodio said especially when
Page 4 – 2nd paragraph; 2nd sentence, where it reads, He said has a copy of the statistics. should read, He said he has a copy of the statistics, including May, for distribution tonight.
Page 4 – 2nd paragraph; 3rd sentence, where it reads, He said unfortunately Irene has not uploaded June’s numbers. should read, He said unfortunately, Irene has not been able to upload June’s numbers.
Page 4 – 2nd paragraph; 4th line, where it reads, he has a firm belief that the position should read, he has a firm belief that the director’s position
Page 4 – 2nd paragraph; 8th line, where it reads, as of July 1st there were two vacancies and four expired positions vacant. should read, as of July 1st there were two vacancies and four expired positions vacant on the Fair Rent Commission.
Page 4 – 2nd paragraph; last sentence, where it reads, He said that he hopes he addresses it shortly. should read, Mr. Patterson said the Mayor hoped he addressed it shortly.
Page 4 – 3rd paragraph; 4th line, where it reads, looks very flawed because it is a machine doing it. should read, looks very flawed because it is a machine translating.
Page 4 – 3rd paragraph; 5th line, where it reads, Mr. Patterson said that he would to have Irene’s copy should read, Mr. Patterson said that he would like to have Irene’s copy
Page 4 – 3rd paragraph; 6th line, where it reads, update it to 2003 with Commission’s listings, etc. should read, update it to 2003 with the current Commissioner’s listings, etc.
Page 4 – 3rd paragraph; 7th line, where it reads, He said some other errors are data problems and links that are incorrect. should read, He said some other errors on the city’s web site are data problems and links that are incorrect.
Page 4 – 3rd paragraph; 9th line, where it reads, He stated that Data Processing, a City department maintains the web site. should read, He stated that Data Processing maintains the web site.
Page 4 – 3rd paragraph; 11th line, should read, Mr. Patterson said that while it does not necessarily pertain to this Commission, there is a higher percentage of complaints in which there are Spanish-speaking clients on the Fair Rent side.
Page 5 – under New Business; 1st sentence, where it reads John Mahtenson should read Jon Nathanson
Page 5 – under New Business; 2nd line, where it reads, getting married next week and he has a card for anyone who would like to sign it should read, getting married next week and Mr. Patterson had a card for anyone who would like to sign it.
** MS. ROMANO MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS CORRECTED
** MR. DUPERVIL SECONDED
** MOTION PASSED WITH SEVEN VOTES IN FAVOR AND ONE ABSTENTION (MR. SCIALABBA)
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Mr. Papadakos talked about a newspaper article that referred to anti-Semitic graffiti; he said he spoke to Chief Riling, who said that since there were no further incidences, and without any witnesses, there wouldn’t be any arrest, and therefore, the matter would be treated as an isolated incident.
Mr. Murray stated they decided to re-nominate Steve Papadakos as Chairman and he had accepted the nomination for Vice Chair; he noted that Art Scialabba and Rahoul Dupervil are on the committee.
Mr. Papadakos thanked all for the re-election and he thanked the committee for their time during the process.
Mr. Papadakos said there was also final approval for the Ad Hoc Replacement Committee for hiring a director as follows:
Mr. Murray said he understood the past practice of filling the position was to include someone from the Fair Rent Commission. Mr. Schialabba said there was no provision to specifically do that, but it could be done.
Mr. Murray said he thought they did in the past as a courtesy. Mr. Patterson agreed this was true.
Mr. Dupervil asked what the criteria were based on for selecting the commission. Mr. Papadakos said it was based on Mr. Schialabba having been on the commission since 1998 and served as Chairman and Ms. Romano being on the Commission since 1997 and has served as vice chairman.
Mr. Papadakos continued and said they were not able to involve too many people because…Ms. Romano interjected to explain that the committee’s responsibility was to oversee the process of hiring a Director and then report back to the commission.
Ms. Amodio asked the total body of the interviewing committee. Mr. Papadakos said it was unclear. Ms. Romano said it consisted of Sara LeTourneau, the Mayor and a Fair Rent representative. Ms. Amodio said that from her experience, there were only two members from the commission and then after, the entire commission was convened for their input. Mr. Papadakos expressed that it was important for the committee to first see and interview the selected persons first. Ms. Amodio further spoke about how the process was done in the past.
Mr. Dupervil asked if it would be a term position. Mr. Papadakos said it would be a regular city job with a 90-day probation.
Mr. Papadakos thanked the three commissioners whose terms were up and this being their last meeting.
Mr. Patterson said Irene and he got the names and addresses of the new commissioners and sent out the meeting packets, by-laws and ordinances; he noted the three new commissioners had not been sworn in yet as far as he knew, but he expected they would be by next month’s meeting. He said he would have an update then and he noted they would be sworn in after September 1, 2003.
Mr. Patterson added that he met two of the people that are from the Fair Rent Commission.
Mr. Papadakos thanked Mr. Scialabba, Ms. Romano and Mr. Kossarski for their years of service and dedication.
OLD BUSINESS
Mr. Papadakos said there was nothing to report for the Fair Housing report, due to no quorum last month.
Mr. Papadakos spoke about hiring a director and how he realized that it’s the Mayor’s responsibility to look into fiscal matters of costs savings, but he felt hiring a director was crucial and should be addressed as soon as possible. He referred to the three letters he distributed and he read the letter dated December 17, 2002 into the record; he explained that he read it because there was some confusion at the last meeting in reference to why he inundated the Mayor with letters, he said the letters were friendly even though there was no response from the June 2, 2003 letter nor the June 20, 2003 letter that was sent where a response was requested by July 2, 2003, but none was received. Mr. Papadakos further referred to the minutes of January and May that he requested be distributed to the commissioner’s that didn’t attend those meetings, for the purpose of them reading them to better clarify why the letters were sent. He noted the letters were not meant to be of a political nature and they were only to ask the Mayor for timeline on a director replacement.
Mr. Papadakos said he spoke to the Assistant City Clerk’s office who said the letters were being devised for the Mayor to sign, but to date, there has been no change in the procedure at all, also, he called personnel to ask who was the acting ADA officer, but he didn’t get a reply.
Mr. Murray asked if there was a closing date on the job posting. Mr. Papadakos said no. Mr. Kossarski said they would accept resumes until they have enough.
Mr. Patterson noted it was typical to not adhere to a timeline due to the specialized field they may be trying to fill. Mr. Papadakos said Irene is left to hold down the fort and it’s not fair to the commission or the City of Norwalk, in that complaints are not being bought forth and residents are not being serviced.
Mr. Patterson said the caseload let up and there is some amount of activity that is still pending, but they were fortunate for the slow up for them to be able to maintain the day-to-day activities, he noted they were still short staffed with only two people.
Ms. Romano said she wrote to the ADA and she found out they were not in compliance, however, they said the person that is the ADA officer, does not have to be certified. A commissioner mentioned that maybe it was possible for Mr. Patterson to fill the role of the Acting ADA officer. Mr. Patterson noted he has handled an ADA issue two months ago as the acting ADA representative position.
Mr. Kammerman questioned why they don’t request an injunctive relief; because he felt the municipality was required to have the position filled and he said this would be going a step further and would bring the issue to another level to nudge the city to move forward.
Mr. Papadakos thanked Mr. Scialabba for establishing the web site. He also thanked Ms. Romano for organizing the Human Rights Day and ornaments. He thanked Mr. Kossarski for his contribution in attending all the late night meetings. Mr. Patterson thanked all the commissioners for their time dedicated to the City of Norwalk in their acknowledgement and help in combating problems that exist.
Ms. Amodio added it was nice to work with Mr. Kossarski.
Mr. Dupervil shared that for the last couple of months working with Mr. Kossarski and Ms. Romano, it was a very good experience; he said they would be missed.
Mr. Papadakos said that even though Ms. Romano wouldn’t be serving on the commission any more, she had offered to help with Human Rights Day this year.
Ms. Romano expressed she would be more than happy to help and she said that she felt Human Relations was not a political issue, but more for the rights of city residents.
Mr. Papadakos said he spoke to Bruce Morris about picking a school this year, so they would get more input to hold Human Rights Day. Ms. Romano listed some of the schools that haven’t held the event yet and she noted that Silvermine School would be a good school to do it at.
Mr. Murray asked if it could be done on a warmer day this year. The commission agreed this could be done.
Ms. Amodio talked about a brochure and the information it contained; she mentioned the Assistant Emergency Management person that she said could be available to present a Red Cross film to get across information on measles immunization. Mr. Papadakos suggested her suggestion be presented at the September meeting. Mr. Patterson said the September meeting should be dedicated to elections and he recommended waiting until the October meeting.
Ms. Amodio continued to share some information and said they could show some videos that are bias-natured, cross-cultural material. Mr. Scialabba noted she should contact Bruce and Dr. Corda on doing this. Mr. Papadakos agreed Ms. Amodio contact Bruce with the information. Ms. Amodio further said that adding these materials was an easy and cost effective way to expose the information.
Ms. Romano mentioned that the group that spoke on Human Rights Day should be contacted to sit in on a meeting; she said the kids were from Brien McMahon.
Ms. Amodio talked about possibly setting up a World War II exhibit of uniforms and vintage posters; she noted there was a lot of humanitarian efforts that came out of the Geneva Convention, so she felt the exhibit would be educational as well, she suggested the exhibit be displayed at the chosen school for Human Rights Day.
Mr. Papadakos spoke about approval for the Human Rights Day plaques; he said they were budgeted five years ago to be put up at all the schools.
** MS. ROMANO MOVED TO APPROVE IMPLEMENTATION OF PUTTING UP PLAQUES AT ALL THE SCHOOLS TO BE DESIGNATED
** MR. MURRAY SECONDED
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
Mr. Patterson said he would try to work within the budget to get the plaques up, but he noted this might
require some moving of funds around. He asked the type of plaques they were considering. Ms. Amodio said they could check with Dick Booth on suggestions. Mr. Patterson shared that Bridgeport uses wooden blanks that are silk screened, but he said he would need more specifics to request the funds for them.
Mr. Schialabba said he looked into this previously with Sonya. Mr. Patterson clarified then they were looking at bronze plaques that would go by a tree; he said it should probably be a type that could go on granite and put by a tree. Ms. Amodio said that she having some familiarity with the art field; would explore options for the plaques and report back.
Mr. Schialabba said they would also need to look at how a particular school is set up in relation to how the trees are situated.
Ms. Romano felt they should investigate if the plaques could be donated. Mr. Papadakos noted this would be a good idea, but he said they want something that would last also. Ms. Amodio asked if they could solicit funds for this purpose. Mr. Schialabba replied yes.
There was some open discussion on some of the better companies that might be willing to contribute.
Mr. Patterson said the plaques were a wonderful idea and with that said, he asked someone to take the duty of researching information on plaque options. He noted the plaques in City Hall have held up for twenty plus years and he also noted that monument companies do this type of work.
Mr. Dupervil said that size, type and the number of letters for the wording would need to be known in order to get a price.
There was further open discussion on how the plaque should read etc. it was noted this information would be defined.
** MR. MURRAY MOVED TO ADJOURN
*Ms. Amodio had a final comment on an article concerning sexual orientation and gay rights; the information was given to Mr. Patterson for review.
** MS. ROMANO SECONDED MOTION TO ADJOURN
** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY
The meeting was adjourned at 8:56 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane Graham
Telesco Secretarial Services
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