HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-04-28-FHHR-min.pdf FAIR HOUSING AND HUMAN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
MINUTES
4/28/99
Present: Cathy Abbott; Florence Baturin; Ralph Clifford, Chair; Tom Montanari;
Steve Baran, staff and recorder
Absent: Bensen Chiou; Margaret Cole; Kathryn Davis; Michelle Ekanem; Beverly
Goodridge
Minutes
The Minutes of 3/24/99 were approved with the exception that Mary Haskell should
have been noted as absent.
Greetings — Cathy Abbott
Cathy Abbott was welcomed as the liaison from the Board of Selectmen.
( Attendance
With respect to sparse attendance at Fair Housing Committee meetings:
Ralph Clifford agreed to: (a) approach Dan Fenn about becoming an Associate
Member; (b) call members who have been frequently absent; and (c) consult with Norm
Cohen, Town Attorney, re use of proxies.
It was recognized that absenteeism reflects on the group Frequent absentees (e.g.
missing three meetings in a row) could be given a choice between assuming an
associate status or resigning from the committee.
The possibility of requesting the Selectmen to require fewer members was suggested in
order to make it easier to form a quorum, but. It was noted that might make for too small
a number for making decisions.
Florence Baturin said she would be in touch with Kamela Raj.
The importance of having different cultural groups in the membership was affirmed.
Those present agreed to make networking efforts to attract new members.
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Affirmative Action Working Group
Tom Montanan', now representing the Fair Housing and Human Relations Committee
as their representative on the Affirmative Action Working Group, commented as
follows:
1 Frank conversations were going forward in the Working Group.
2. There needs to be a vision of how to build a legitimate bridge to a more diverse
work force.
3. It was not known how much money was available to advertise for recruiting
purposes. Network access was considered too expensive.
4. There was no posting procedure; recruiting procedures were not consistent.
5. Data was unavailable about how many openings there were in a given year
6. There needs to be a pooling of funding for recruitment with the School
Department. School and Town sides are not in touch with each other The Town
side is not learning from the School side.
7 All resumes are handled in a uniform manner without any effort made to
distinguish and reach out to minorities.
8. The procedure is too open to fast tracking.
9 There is no appreciation by the Town that people can easily travel to Lexington
from Boston, that there is good bus transportation.
10. There is no commitment in the upper echelons to carry out a policy
11 At the next meeting there will be a review of a draft of a working plan.