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FAIR HOUSING AND HUMAN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
MINUTES
9116198
Present: Ralph Clifford, Chair, Bensen Chiou; Kathryn Davis; Mary Haskell; Steve
Baran, staff and recorder;
Absent: Florence Baturin, Michelle Ekanem, Dan Fenn, Beverly Goodridge, Tom
Montanari.
Affirmative Action
1 Dan Fenn had earlier suggested a preliminary report to be filed with the
Selectmen before they became involved in the school capital budget and other
issues.
2. Town Manager considered key in implementing affirmative action, should be
committed.
3. Cronyism in hiring alleged; use of old boy network (sometimes not consciously
applied)
4. Serious lack of diverse work force in town as opposed to school.
5. Affirmative Action officer needs to be installed (need not involve new hire) with
implementation criteria reflected in performance evaluation.
6. Changes needed in composition of hiring committees.
7 Concern expressed about Linda Vine stating in an interview with her that she
didn't know how to attract minorities (even though Town had experienced
marked success in hiring women; need to clarify reasons for this discrepancy
8. Peter Enrich had questioned aspects of the preliminary report draft, thought it
was not ready to bring to the Selectmen whereas Dan Fenn had supported it.
9. Pros and cons discussed of using an adversarial approach. History of how
affirmative action was brought about in the schools — involved pressure from
such people as Peter Enrich.
10. Committee is not seeking quotas but proper process.
11 Wording of preliminary report further revised.
12. Agreement to proceed in presenting the report to the Selectmen pending final
review by Dan Fenn.
Membership
It was agreed to recommend Bensen Chiou and Margaret Cole to be new members of
the Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee.
Fhmin.doc