COMMITTEE ON COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
MINUTES: July 19, 2004
IN ATTENDANCE:
COMMUNITY AFFAIRS COMMITTEE MEMBERS: Legislators José Alvarado, Chair; Rob Astorino, and Lois Bronz.
BOL: Legislator George Latimer, Barbara Dodds
CE’O: Bill Randolph, Andrew Neuman, Robert Gable
WESTCHESTER COUNTY HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION: Alison Greene, Executive Director; Shelly Klein, Board President, Lisa Copeland, Board Member, Legislation Committee.
ITEM DISCUSSED: AMENDMENT TO HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION LEGISLATION
With a quorum present, Chairman Alvarado called the meeting to order at 2:30 p.m.
Legislator Alvarado had those in attendance introduce themselves and invited Legislator George Latimer, who has proposed amendments to the current County Human Rights Commission legislation, and members of the Human Rights Commission to present their comments to the committee regarding the amendments. This discussion is a continuation of the subject from the May 24, 2004 meeting of the committee.
Leg. Latimer restated why he put his memo on the agenda: He represents two of the seven communities that have local Human Rights Commissions. The County Human Rights Commission, as it was constructed in 1999, limits the jurisdiction of the County Human Rights Commission to those communities that do not already have a Human Rights Commission in place.
The proposal language is set up to create changes to the law that would allow a local commission to refer up to five complaints a calendar year to the County Commission. This would give local small commissions that never have sufficient demand to justify a staff, a mechanism for handling cases that need adjudication. Limiting the number of cases referred would prevent the larger community from automatically shipping cases over to the County. At the last meeting, forming a sub-committee to discuss the issue in some detail was proposed.
Legislator Alvarado said that he wants this Sub-Committee to function and move towards the right decision always welcoming comments from others.
Legislator Bronz asked if the mission of the sub-committee would be to come up with a recommendation to the full board to resolve the jurisdiction problem--keeping in mind that Community Affairs is hosting this dialogue.
Lisa Copeland said that currently Mt. Vernon has legislation but not a functioning commission. Right now a person from Mount Vernon who has a complaint would have to go directly to the State whose backlog is part of the reason why this legislation was created. Perhaps it would be a good idea to have a one-year opportunity to allow all persons to file complaints with the County Human Rights Commission.
Legislator Astorino asked why the City of Mount Vernon or any other community either does not have their own commission or does not fund it. He also asked why the limit was set at five complaints per year for the County Commission. The argument is that it is an arbitrary number.
Chair Alvarado asked what effect changing this law would have on local governments. Lisa Copeland claimed that the amended law would increase the fairness of the system so that someone in one municipality in Westchester would have the same equality as someone in another municipality in Westchester. Currently, people have to go to the state, which is inconvenient.
Chair Alvarado asked Legislator Latimer why the proposed law was opposed. Latimer said that there were concerns in Yonkers and possibly other municipalities. Yonkers has its own HRC system and is complacent with it. Yonkers, White Plains and other municipalities with systems in place might fear the County would take over their functions. Some places, such as Rye City or Larchmont/Mamaroneck, would have no problem giving authority to the County, Legislator Bronz emphasized that costs and social class structure would be issues. Despite that, Bronz supported the proposed legislation. At the time the original law was passed, Legislator Latimer, then Board Chairman, wanted to revisit the law within six months. The Board of Legislators did that and made some changes. Legislator Bronz brought up some former issues that the Board discussed after the law was passed (housing, job status etc).
Bill Randolph supports giving jurisdiction to the County Commission, even though he understands the issue with Mount Vernon’s Human Rights Commission.
Legislator Latimer proposed that the County send letters to the chiefs/heads of the seven communities in question stating that Westchester County is considering opening up the County Human Rights Commission to any residents in Westchester County, regardless of jurisdiction and asking for comments. Also we should ask the HRC to study the expected demand of workload and estimate the cost increases to the County.
Chair Alvarado questioned the need for a sub-committee, believing that all the legislators should come to this committee. He is willing to have a one-year trial for Westchester County jurisdiction as well. It was noted that Westchester County is the only county with an HRC that has this kind of jurisdictional problem.
The next meeting will be August 23rd to discuss the community response as well as what the committee will present to Legislation. The meeting was adjourned.
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