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JULY 17, 2003

ATTENDANCE: Steve Papadakos, Chairman; Dr. Charles Stabinsky;

Mariusz Kossarski; Joshua Kammerman (7:40 p.m.);

STAFF: Lawrence Patterson, Field Representative (7:45 p.m.)

The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m.

I. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF JUNE 26, 2003

In the approval of the minutes of May 15, 2003 there was an omission that was left out to reflect each time Dr. Stabinsky’s name was mentioned it was typed Mr. Stabinsky. It should be Dr. Stabinsky.

The following corrections were made to the minutes of June 26, 2003:

Page 1, Paragraph 2, and throughout the minutes "Mr. Stabinsky" should read "Dr. Stabinsky".

Page 1, Paragraph 2, and throughout the minutes "Papadokos" should be "Papadakos".

Page 1, Paragraph 3, "…Chairman of Fair Rent…" should read "…Chairman of the Fair Rent Commission…"

Page 1, Second Line from bottom of Page "…Dick Booth, Chairman of Fair Rent…" should read "…Dick Booth, Chairman of the Fair Rent Commission…"

Page 1, Last Paragraph, Dick Booth is not "Chairman of Fair Rent" He is "Chairman of the Fair Rent Commission".

Page 1, Last Paragraph, Last Line, "…of Director of Human Relations"… should be "…of the Director of Human Relations…"

Page 2, Paragraph 2, Sentence 2, "…1000 plus concert…" should be "…1000 plus attendance expected at the concert…"

Page 2, Last Paragraph, "…Human Rights Commission…" should be "…Human Relations Commission…"

Dr. Amodio said that she would like the minutes to reflect that she would have been at the June

26, 2003 meeting had she been told about it.

** DR. STABINSKY MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS CORRECTED.

** MR. KOSSARSKI SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION CARRED UNANIMOUSLY.

II. CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Mr. Papadakos said that as he reported last month, he had sent letters to the Mayor inquiring as to when he would be posting Sonja’s position. He said he sent 3 letters and had no response. He stated that he carbon copied corporation counsel on the last letter and there has been no reply as of yet. Mr. Papadakos said there was an article in the Norwalk Hour about the Mayor not posting the position. He said the article did say the Mayor would post the position as soon as possible but as of today it has not been posted and it has been over 10 days. Mr. Papadakos said that Bill Grumman, from the Department of Public Works, retired the same time Sonja did and had basically the same tenure and his position was posted the week before July 4, 2003. Mr. Dupervil asked why the Mayor’s office is not posting the job. Mr. Papadakos said no one has said. He said that he has not gotten any response. Mr. Papadakos said that Sonja’s position is very unique because she took care of the ADA compliance, acted as Affirmative Action Officer and as Director of Fair Rent. He said right now there is no Director of Fair Rent. He said it is not an easy position to fill and he was hoping that it would have been posted in May because it will take two to three months to find the right person to fit that office. Mr. Dupervil asked if the Commission knows the criteria needed to fill the position. Mr. Papadakos said that Sonja was asked to do an update on her job description. He said that Mr. Patterson should have a copy and passed it on to Ms. LeTourneau, Personnel Director.

Dr. Amodio said that it seems to be long standing procedure with the City of Norwalk not to post jobs immediately. She said that as a taxpayer she appreciates the procedure. Mr. Papadakos said that in this case it might mean not filling the position probably until Christmas if it is posted at all. He said there would be more to follow up on her position early next week. He said he has been getting calls from the newspaper and there will be more follow up. Dr. Amodio said it is very important that this Commission not be used as any kind of pulpit and the Commission should work together with all groups of people. Dr. Amodio said even people that have political affiliation on the Commission, in her experience, have stepped over that so that the Commission can work with all groups in town. Mr. Papadakos said that this Commission is and will remain non-political.

Dr. Stabinsky asked whose responsibility it is to post the jobs. Mr. Papadakos said it is the Personnel Director’s responsibility at the direction of the Mayor. Dr. Stabinsky said that Mr. Papadakos is representing him when he goes to the newspaper as Chairman of the Human Relations Commission. He said that when Mr. Papadakos goes to the Mayor and the Corporation Council saying that they have not done it and then demand that they do it when he has not contacted the right person he objects to that. Mr. Papadakos said in December before

Sonja retired he did send a letter to Personnel and Sara Le Tourneau did respond and said that she would post it as soon as possible but it was at the will of the administration. He said that means that the Mayor needs to tell her when to post it. Mr. Patterson confirmed that that is the procedure. Dr. Amodio said that perhaps they have not made a decision yet. Mr. Papadakos said he thinks it is unacceptable to send three letters and get no response or a phone call. He said there should be communication and there is none.

Mr. Dupervil said that although Mr. Papadakos is the Chairman, he agrees with Dr. Stabinsky in that when a letter goes out on behalf of the Human Relations Commission, the Commission should have an opportunity to approve it before he does it. Mr. Kossarski said this was discussed at a previous meeting. Mr. Papadakos said that all of the letters were polite. He said that whatever you tell a reporter, the reporter can phrase it anyway he wants. Mr. Papadakos said he did not mention anything about his wife to the reporter yet it got in the ewspaper. He said he did not say all of the things that were in the newspaper. Dr. Stabinsky said the Commission would have much more trouble finding a replacement for Sonja’s position by having bad publicity. Mr. Papadakos said the citizens need a director. He said the Fair Rent and Human Relations Commission is burdened right now. Dr. Amodio said it is important that the Commission not even have the appearance of impropriety or to show any partiality in any way. Dr. Amodio said that this is the last standing Human Relations Commission in Fairfield County. She said what the Commission should really be focusing on is the education mission and Human Rights law. Mr. Papadakos said that there are employees at City Hall that used to go to Sonja and now there is nowhere for them to go with their problems, for them to vent. Dr. Stabinsky asked how Mr. Papadakos knew this. Mr. Papadakos said he had been contacted by a few of the employees. Dr. Stabinsky said it should be documented. Mr. Papadakos said the employees feel that with the shaky economy and the fear of jeopardizing their jobs they do not want to bring anything out.

Mr. Dupervil said that before anything goes out on behalf of the Commission everyone should know about it and not just one person in charge. Mr. Papadakos said that on this Commission the Chairman could make statements on behalf of the Commission. Dr. Amodio said especially when statements go out to one commissioner that there is no quorum. Mr. Patterson said that last month there was a postponement because of the concert. Mr. Patterson said that this Commission has built a very fine reputation on its ability to make bipartisan decisions and maintain a stance away from political affiliation in order to have a clear insight on matters brought forth to this Commission. He said in defense of Mr. Papadakos, that Mr. Papadakos felt he was being snubbed because all he was asking for was if the administration had a timeline for a replacement. He said it is unfortunate that things can sometimes be misconstrued and blown out of proportion. Mr. Patterson said in a nutshell that is the case at hand.

III. FIELD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

Mr. Patterson said that he would like to apologize to the Commissioner for his delay tonight because of being backlogged. He said there had been a news story in the Connecticut Post and also on the radio on Monday. He said it was the top news story on WICC regarding a racial bias crime that was committed in Norwalk. Mr. Patterson said for an incident that happened in Norwalk he was surprised it did not get coverage in Norwalk. He said the Chairman had asked him to get the article and bring it to the Commission but he could not locate it. Mr. Patterson said that he also wanted to point out that the City of Norwalk and City Hall are now the proud owners of two beautifully restored 1930’s paintings that are gracing the first floor walls that are the courtesy of Dr. Stabinsky. He said the paintings are commemorating basketball and football. Mr. Patterson said there was an article in yesterday’s newspaper that mentioned briefly the NAACP members having a problem with 3 Democratic presidential candidates that did not elect to go to their annual meeting to discuss their stances on various issues. He said this particular article was in the Advocate.

Mr. Patterson said that as far as his office is concerned it has been very hectic. He said he has a copy of the statistics, including May, for distribution tonight. He said unfortunately, Irene has not been able to upload June’s numbers. He said this year things have been fairly constant. Mr. Patterson said that now that they are in a new fiscal year he has a firm belief that the director’s position will be posted as the Director of Public Works was posted last week. He said he hoped the administration would give due consideration for the need to have a Director for these Commissions as well as serve as the ADA Coordinator and Affirmative Action Officer. He said he also sent a note to the Mayor’s office to remind him that as of July 1^st there were two vacancies and four expired positions vacant on the Fair Rent Commission. He said the Mayor did tell him personally that he got his letter and is aware of it. Mr. Patterson said the Mayor hoped he addressed it shortly.

Mr. Patterson said he did have a Spanish language translation of the Human Relations brochure. He said he elected not to have an actual printing of it because it is online. He stated that in checking it, Irene found that when clicking on the Spanish version on the web site it comes up with a mechanical error and looks very flawed because it is a machine translating it. He said the copy is incorrect and they are working on it. Mr. Patterson said that he would to like to have Irene’s copy that she did several years ago retrieved if possible and then update it to 2003 with the current Commission’s listings, etc. He said some other errors on the city’s web site are data problems and links that are incorrect. Mr. Patterson said that when he comes back from vacation it will be one of his priorities to sit down and have some corrections done. He stated that Data Processing maintains the web site. He said that he would have to sit down with Data Processing and go over the corrections. 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. Dr. Stabinsky said it is better to have the version that is on the web deleted until a new version can be put on the site. Mr. Patterson said that this had already been done.

IV. EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR CASE REVIEW

None.

V. OLD BUSINESS

a) Fair Housing Representative’s Report

Mr. Papadakos said that as the Fair Housing Representative there is nothing to report. He said the meeting this Monday.

b) Blue Ribbon Commission Status Report

Dr. Stabinsky said he e-mailed a report to the Commissioners of a scanned article of a two-page introduction that Sonja wrote. He said Sonja is on vacation until the first of July and did not plan on bringing this to the Commission until he went over it with Sonja. Dr. Stabinsky said that this is the first draft. He said the next two pages he reviewed all of the six categories and came up with some recommendations. Dr. Stabinsky said he is looking for the Commission to review the recommendations he wrote, look at the categories they are responsible for and to see if they are in the report. Mr. Papadakos said that he would call Joanne tomorrow to see if she has it or if she has lost. Mr. Patterson said that he would make copies for everyone that needed one. Dr. Stabinsky said that he would like to hear from the Commission between now and the next meeting. Mr. Papadakos asked if Dr. Stabinsky noticed a lot of changes in the past couple of years. Dr. Stabinsky said there is no way of knowing but there are a lot of changes in the last ten years.

VI. NEW BUSINESS

Mr. Patterson said the only thing he wanted to bring up is that John Nathanson, a Commissioner on the Fair Rent side is getting married next week and Mr. Patterson had a card for anyone who would like to sign it.

Dr. Amodio said that the Red Cross would be getting more involved this year with some of the International Humanitarian Laws. Dr. Amodio handed out a brochure on International Humanitarian Law from the Geneva Convention. She said it might give the Commission some ideas of how it might involve the Fairfield Chapter. Mr. Patterson said one of the things lacking in not having a Director is the educational program. Dr. Amodio said the Red Cross has a couple of films that can be used at the elementary school level. She said the films are not very long, one version is just 7 minutes long. She said the Red Cross could help make them available to the schools. Mr. Patterson said the Human Relations side is building a small library and would appreciate having the films in their library. Dr. Amodio said that the Red Cross has many artifacts that are donated by Norwalk. She stated that among them are several Red Cross uniforms that were used in the first and second World War. She said that the Commission might be interested in having a road show and staging all of it and make a contribution to the community. Mr. Patterson asked if the Department of Homeland Security has touched on Human Relations. Dr. Amodio said that the purpose of the Red Cross is to remain neutral.

Mr. Papadakos said it is already the end of July and the Commission needs to start looking at Human Rights Day and what their theme is going to be. He said the Commission could never start early enough. Mr. Patterson said that Joanne did a great job last year and the Commission might want to check with her first.

VII. ADJOURNMENT

** MR. KOSSARSKI MOVED TO ADJOURN THE MEETING.

** DR. AMODIO SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Custis

Telesco Secretarial Services

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