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DRAFT MINUTES COMMITTEE ON MINORITY AFFAIRS MARCH 12, 1996 12 NOON
PRESENT: Chairman: Clinton I. Young, Jr. Members: Lois Bronz, Bob Darcy Secretary: Lynne Creighton
Napoleon Holmes, Westchester/Putnam Affirmative Action Jamie Hastings
The meeting was called to order at 12:20pm.
The minutes of February 27 were approved on motion of Mrs. Bronz, seconded by Mr. Darcy.
There was a discussion on the proposal from District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, regarding an anti-bias crime unit within the District Attorney’s office to investigate and prosecute bias crime.
Mrs. Bronz proposed support for the unit because of the fact that there is involvement in bias activity in the County and she feels the District Attorney’s office is the appropriate place for the unit. She also said that specific staff should be dedicated to this area and that all legislators should be asked to support and find funding for this unit, but not out of the legislative budget.
Mr. Darcy also supports the unit, but questioned how best to get it passed through Budget. He feels that the County police can do the investigatory work.
Mrs. Bronz said that the committee on Minority Affairs should go on record as supporting the concept and ask the District Attorney to meet with the committee.
Mr. Young said he wanted the District Attorney to know that the committee was supportive of the concept. DRAFT PAGE TWO MINUTES COMMITTEE ON MINORITY AFFAIRS
A motion was made by Mrs. Bronz to ask District Attorney Pirro to meet with the committee, seconded by Mr. Darcy.
There was a discussion on the scheduled showcase for Minority entrepreneurs. Mrs. Bronz suggested late Spring (May).
Lynne will look into whether the updated list of minority and women-owned businesses is completed and Mr. Young reported that he had spoken to Budget regarding the inclusion of contractual opportunities for women and minority-owned businesses.
Mr. Holmes gave a summary on the hiring of minorities for construction jobs, for the County, saying that the hiring practices were discriminatory and that statistics do not really represent the number of minorities actually hired and that some reports are actually fraudulent. He also said that the Department of Public Works has no Blacks or women on their construction projects, and that a contractor verified this information. All contractors have to submit a monthly Employee Utilization Report to the County, which goes to the Department of Public Works and the Division of Engineers.
After further discussion, Mr. Young said he wanted an opportunity to get information from Administration, and that he would request a copy of the DPW Construction Project Status Report. He thanked Mr. Holmes for his summary and said he would like him to come back in about a month.
Mr. Darcy suggested presenting these concerns to Commissioner Landi and invite him to meet with the committee.
Mrs. Hastings said that the County Executive has an Executive Order regarding minority participation in County projects and that all commissioners are asked to do the best they can to foster minority hiring.
The meeting was adjourned at 1:00pm on motion of Mr. Young, seconded by Mrs. Bronz.
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