SEPTEMBER 18, 2003

ATTENDANCE: Steve Papadakos, Chairman; Michael Murray; Mariusz Kossarski; Barbara Amodio;Gerald Ross, Jr.;

OTHERS: Art Scialabba

The Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:55 p.m.

WELCOME NEW COMMISSIONERS

Mr. Papadakos welcomed new members Gerald Ross, Athena Jacobsen and Lesley Eisenberg. Ms. Jacobsen was not a registered voter so she was barred from participation until she becomes one. Ms. Eisenberg is a social worker and has two children; Ms. Jacobsen has lived in Norwalk for six years and has two sons, is a classic scholar and a journalist. Mr. Ross has lived in Norwalk for 24 years and is an investigator for Exxon Corporation. He was previously a homicide detective in Philadelphia and has been involved in a number of volunteer programs.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF AUGUST 19, 2003

Corrections

Page 2, "Chairman’s Report," 5^th par. "Ad Hoc Committee as follows:" - should read "Ad Hoc Replacement Committee for hiring a director as follows:" Mr. Garfunkel should read "Mr. Kammerman." 6^th par. – "discussion of the Fair Housing officer posting" should read "mention of HRD posting." 2^nd par. from bottom, 2^nd line – "and Ms. Romano being on the Commission since 1997, however, Ms. Romano . . ."should read "and served as Chairman and Ms. Romano being on the Commission since 1997 and has served as vice chairman . . ."

Page 3, 1^st par., line 2 – "Sara Oley" should read "Sara LeTourneau." 4^th par., line 1 "him" should read "he;" 5^th par. – "Ms. Romano" should read "Ms. Romano and Ms. Kossarski . . ."

** MR. PAPADAKOS MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF AUGUST

19, 2003.

** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

The Chairman gave members packets which contained information concerning the director’s position. It was noted that Sonja DeVitt took the position she was a fair housing officer. There is now a fair housing officer. Ms. LeTourneau does not think there should be any changes to the Fair Housing Commission.

FIELD REPRESENTATIVE’S REPORT

Mr. Larry Patterson was not present due to the inclement weather.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

Slate: Chairman – Steve Papadakos

Vice Chairman – Michael Murray

Mr. Murray is Chairman of this Committee and opened by asking for nominations from the floor. Mr. Scialabba said Mr. Murray’s role was to give recommendations that his Committee had made. The Committee nominated Steve Papadakos as Chairman and Mr. Murray as Vice Chairman. After asking three times for nominations from the floor, Mr. Murray closed the nominations for the position of Chairman.

** MR. MURRAY MOVED STEVE PAPADAKOS’ ELECTION AS

CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION.

** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Mr. Murray asked three times for nominations from the floor for the position of vice chairman. There were none. Mr. Murray closed the nominations for vice chairman.

** DR. AMODIO MOVED MR. MURRAY’S ELECTION AS VICE

CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMISSION.

** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

WORLD WIDE HUMAN RIGHTS DAY

December 10^th has been designated as Human Rights Day. On this day every year the Commission plants a tree at an elementary school. The tree is usually donated by a company or an individual. Ms. Romano has made ornaments for the past two years and if they get one ornament from each school, it would be enough. They need more grass root support and interest both for this tree and the one from City Hall. Mr. Papadakos said they needed to choose a school for this year. He said he had spoken to Bruce Morris and would give him a follow up call to see where he is with it. Mr. Papadakos said they would also have to decide which article they were going to address this year. He said it was simpler to get agendas out by e-mail rather than regular mail.

Dr. Stabinsky asked Dr. Amodio if she would be willing to be the chairman of the Human Rights Day project this year. Dr. Amodio agreed to be chairman and invited Ms. Romano to help. Mr. Papadakos appointed Dr. Amodio as chairman. He believes she will be perfect for the position as long as she can donate the time. Mr. Papadakos said if anyone else wanted to help, they should contact Dr. Amodio. He said in past years, they gave a prize to whoever donated the first ornament. Dr. Amodio said Wednesday was the actual day and that it would probably be a good idea to ask the Mayor’s office about the atrium kickoff. She said they always do a proclamation for Human Rights Day. Mr. Papadakos said he believed both events should be held on the same day. Dr. Amodio said organizations representing children wanted to know if there was some kind of a workshop they could go to. Mr. Papadakos said he would call Bruce Morris and ask if he had given any thought to it. Dr. Amodio said she would bee happy to call Mr. Morris and the Superintendent of Schools regarding this year’s Human Rights Day event. Mr. Papadakos said he believed they should preview the American Red Cross video. Dr. Amodio agreed to show the video at the next meeting on October 16. Mr. Papadakos said he would probably be coming back from vacation the night before. Dr. Amodio said every year, there was something targeted. Mr. Papadakos said Dr. Amodio would be contacting Mr. Morris to see if he had any ideas. She did not want the Board of Education to choose the school for the tree. Dr. Amodio said some Commissioners, at the last meeting, suggested that it be a school in South Norwalk. She believes it is better to do one school at a time. Mr. Papadakos said there were 12 elementary schools in Norwalk. He also said as long as he had been on the Commission, the Commission had chosen the school. Ms. Romano said they had to have the permission of the school. Dr. Amodio said Mr. Morris had input on the schools also. She said everyone believed one school is enough because there is a lot of work involved. Mr. Murray asked if Mr. Morris could preview the video and get his opinion before the meeting.

EXECUTIVE SESSION FOR CASE REVIEW

There was no executive session held.

OLD BUSINESS

a. Fair Housing Representative’s Report – Steve Papadakos

Mr. Papadakos said he was not able to be at the meeting that Monday, but that if any Commissioner needed anything, they should call the office.

NEW BUSINESS

Mr. Scialabba said they had been out of a director since Ms. Devitt left. He said the position had been posted and there were five qualified applicants whose resumes had been received. He said on reading sec. 60-5 was last amended on December 28, 1999. He said since it was in the ordinance to employ a director, he would like to suggest to the Commission that a letter be sent to corporation counsel asking for clarification of the Commission’s role in directing the personnel department to proceed with the process of hiring one. Mr. Papadakos said they should get an opinion from the corporation counsel. He said sec. 60-5, 6 said the director had to have a degree in sociology or law and that it also gave the Commission permission to hire a director. He said since the administration was unwilling to continue with the process until they had some further direction, it was the responsibility of Mr. Papadakos to direct the personnel department to fill this position.

Mr. Papadakos asked if they should copy the Common Council about this. Mr. Amodio said they should ask for clarification of the word "employ." Dr. Amodio agreed that it was a question for the law department. Dr. Stabinsky asked what authority Mr. Scialabba had to go to the personnel director about this. Mr. Scialabba said it was the Chairman’s discretion to appoint people to the subcommittee. Dr. Stabinsky said the Mayor appointed everyone who was on the Human Relations Commission. He said if Mr. Scialabba was on the Commission he could understand his being appointed chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee. Mr. Papadakos said Dr. Stabinsky had been present at the January 16, 2003 meeting. Dr. Stabinsky said the job had been posted. He said Mr. Scialabba said they were not going to fill it. He said if they were going to send that letter to the corporation counsel, he did not want to be a part of it. He said if the letter was sent to personnel, He did want to be a part of it. Ms. LeTourneau said she would not take action based on the direction of the administration.

Dr. Amodio said the position had been posted. Dr. Stabinsky reiterated that he did not want it to go to corporation counsel. He wanted it to go to personnel. Ms. Romano said the ad hoc committee was set up to review resumes. Mr. Murray said they should write to personnel director asking for resumes already received. Mr. Scialabba said everything suggested had already been done. He said he had written to Ms. LeTourneau asking her what was going on. He said he did not have a copy of that letter but that Mr. Patterson did. He said it had been on her desk for two weeks. Mr. Murray asked if the Commissioners could get a copy of the letter. Mr. Scialabba said they could. Mr. Papadakos said he would do the letter to Ms. LeTourneau of Personnel the next day. He thought two weeks was ample time for her to have responded. He said they were documenting everything they sent so they could have a paper trail. Dr. Stabinsky said he believed they should go with the full weight of the Commission. He said he knew they had resumes and that they should ask personnel for the resumes. Dr. Amodio asked how long they anticipated keeping this search open. Mr. Papadakos asked if they should make a recommendation for a time frame. Dr. Stabinsky said the ad hoc committee made a report to the Commission that there were resumes out there and no action had been taken. He said they needed a closing deadline. He said they should ask that all qualified resumes be sent to the Commission and that the Commission must be part of hiring a director.

Mr. Ross inquired if there were two separate bodies that could hire for the position. Dr. Amodio said there were now two, but there should be one integrated body. She also said it was understood that they were going to be working together but that the Commission would have a role in directing that individual down the line. Mr. Murray said if they were a Commission of charter, they department would review all of the applications but the Commission would be the one to make the decision as to who was hired. Mr. Ross said they needed to go to corporation counsel to get an opinion as to who could hire and who could not. Mr. Scialabba said he was told that personnel did the first cut. He said it was up to the Commission to complete the process of having the authority to tell the personnel department to get on with the hiring process. Dr. Stabinsky said it was his understanding that the ordinance gave the Commission power to employ but nothing was being done.

Dr. Amodio said it was not going anywhere until the contradiction was resolved and that this could be done by the corporation counsel. Dr. Stabinsky said he appreciated Ms. Romano’s and Mr. Scialabba’s experience. However, he does not believe they should be on the ad hoc committee as their terms on the Commission were completed. Mr. Papadakos said it was not in writing. Dr. Amodio said Steve Papadakos discussed having members at large in the whole community. She said they should ask new members if they wanted to be on the Committee. Mr. Papadakos said anyone who would like to be on it was okay with him. He believes Mr. Scialabba’s input was important. He said everyone could not always make it to the meetings and that they should be able to get together more than one day of the month. He also said everyone needed to be present to forge a sense of group but that they had to get in the habit of discussing things democratically.

Mr. Murray asked what the ad hoc Committee’s job was. Mr. Papadakos said its purpose was to pull the resumes from the personnel office and review them. Mr. Scialabba said it was all moot if the corporation counsel came back and said the Commission did not have the right to hire a director. The chairman asked why they could not have volunteers at the next meeting when they get the opinion back. Dr. Amodio said the outgoing chairman, when Sonja was hired, was a member of the Hiring Committee. Mr. Papadakos noted that some of the Commissioners were new and some had been on the Commission for a very long time. Dr. Amodio also said that everyone should be a part of the hiring process and Steve Papadakos agreed that they should first have the Committee bring the resumes to the Commission. He said they should first have the Committee bring the resumes to the Commission. Dr. Stabinsky said he believed they would help a lot more if they were part of this. Dr. Amodio said personnel wanted to make sure they were giving people’s background to the proper agency. She said it was a change to mater.

Mr. Ross asked why they could not be used as a resource if there was no reason not to. Mr. Papadakos asked if anyone wanted to be a part of the ad hoc Committee. He said if people wanted to be a part of it, they should just jump in. Mr. Scialabba said, depending on the results of corporation counsel, the issue of the Committee might be moot. Mr. Papadakos said he would ask for an opinion letter from corporation counsel.

** MS. ROMANO SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MR. MURRAY MOVED THAT A LETTER BE SENT TO THE

DIRECTOR OF PERSONNEL REQUESTING INFORMATION AND

CLARIFICATION BASED ON THE REPORT RECEIVED FROM ART

SCIALABBA, CHAIRMAN OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE.

** DR. AMODIO SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

Mr. Papadakos said they could discuss what they wanted in this writing. Mr. Murray said they understood that there were at least five qualified applicants. He said the Commission would like them forwarded and would also like to know when the director of personnel planned to close the job search for the position. Ms. Eisenberg said they wanted to know something about a time frame for their responses. It was requested that this be done seven days prior to the next meeting. Mr. Papadakos asked if they should be given three weeks. He thought they should give a date of October 8. Mr. Ross said they should allow enough time to notify Commissioners prior to the next meeting. Ms. Romano said it should appear on their agenda for the next meeting. Dr. Amodio reminded them that it had to be posted in the newspaper.

Dr. Stabinsky said Human Relations had received a report from the Chairman that the personnel department had posted the position for Human Relations and had received resumes. The Human Relations Commission wanted to know when the process would be closed, how they would be utilized in the search and how soon they could expect a posting of the position.

Dr. Stabinsky said the Mayor of Norwalk, in 1992, formed a blue ribbon commission to study race relations. The Commission did a lot of work and Sonja and the Human Relations Commission thought it would be a good idea to update the file of that Commission and see what still had not been done in the past 10-12 years. He said they had been trying to get this done in the past two years and a month ago the chairman of the Human Relations Commission asked him to try to put it together. He said Commissioners who had e-mail addresses had gotten the report but that the new Commissioners did not receive it.

Dr. Stabinsky said he would see to it that the new Commissioners got e-mails of it. Ms. DeVitt had asked him to contact the Superintendent of schools’ office so they could get his input. He believes that if the report was publicized without his input, he would be angry.

Ms. Romano said she had completed her report and had given it to Mr. Patterson and Ms. DeVitt. Mr. Papadakos said they could see the 1992 report. Dr. Stabinsky wanted this as an agenda item for the next month.

ADJOURNMENT

** DR. AMODIO MOVED TO ADJOURN.

** MR. PAPADAKOS SECONDED THE MOTION.

** MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 10:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Maddox

Telesco Secretarial Services

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