*MINUTES
COMMITTEE ON COUNTY OFFICERS AND DEPARTMENTS
MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2000
4:00 P.M.
PRESENT: Chair: LaMotte. Members: Latimer, Oros, Spreckman, Stewart-Cousins, Swanson, and Young. Staff: Schecter.
ALSO PRESENT: Liddon Norman, County Executive Intern; Bill Randolph, County Executive's Office; Paul Redd and Dorothy Finger, candidates for Human Rights Commission and John Heimerdinger, candidate for Westchester Health Care Corp.
Mrs. LaMotte called the meeting to order at 4 p.m.
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
Paul Redd. The Commission has had two meetings to get organized and to get to know each other. A Chair and Vice-Chair have been elected. Mr. Redd doesn't think they will start hearing cases July 1. Ms. LaMotte mentioned that a member had been interviewed last week and was concerned about probable cause. Mr. Redd said they had not gotten to that yet. Ms. LaMotte wanted to know if the State's guidelines were being followed but Mr. Redd said they were following the guidelines that were passed by the County.
Chair Latimer said there was one question that the Legislature was looking at to determine if changes needed to be made to the law and that was the County's jurisdiction as an entity under the law. The way the law is written as it was passed, the County as a government, is exempted from the law. Mr. Latimer said the County Attorney mentioned there were some problems if we make ourselves as a County government subject to the provisions of the law. Chair Latimer wanted to know how Mr. Redd felt about this and if there was any dialogue yet about this. Mr. Redd said it had not yet been discussed, noting that the law should cover everyone, no one should be excluded. That is another form of discrimination.
Revised: 6/26/00;UGL
*APPROVED 6/26/00; GO/ASC; 5-0
Ms. Stewart Cousins clarified that an employee would begin with the County's Affirmative Action not start with the Human Rights Commission. Ms. LaMotte suggested that this be discussed at a later date, not when people are being interviewed.
Mr. Redd said there have been questions about the location of the commission. He thinks it should be in the County Office Building because it makes a statement that the County is fully behind the Human Rights Commission. Mr. Latimer pointed out that on the list of the members of the Human Rights Commission, two of the members are attorneys and Esq. does not appear after their names. They are Chevon Fuller and Joseph P. Armao. Also Gregory R. Smith is a Reverend.
On the motion of Chair Latimer, and seconded by Legislator Stewart-Cousins, the appointment of Paul Redd to the Human Rights Commission was approved by a 7-0 vote.
Chair Latimer had a discussion with Legislator Abinanti that he wished to share with the Committee. Mr. Abinanti raised a question with regards to the upcoming interview with John Heimerdinger and the reappointment of Betsy Stern to the Hospital Board. He wanted to know where the nominations came from and was told that Mark Tulis sent a letter of recommendation from the Hospital Board. Mr. Heimerdinger is the first person to replace one of the original members that was approved back when Legislator Oros was chair. The Board of Legislators makes the ultimate appointment to the Hospital Board. The recommendation of Mr. Heimerdinger does not have to be accepted and Betsy Stern does not have to be reappointed. Ms. LaMotte pointed out that she serves with Mr. Heimerdinger on another board that deals with health care. Within the last month he resolved a very difficult issue by reaching out through his networking. Chair Latimer has no problem with Mr. Heimerdinger but he wanted this Committee to be made aware that they do not have to accept the appointment of Mr. Heimerdinger and the reappointment of Ms. Stern.
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Legislator Swanson questioned the chart received from the Medical Center as to the various board members and their appointments. She pointed out that it was incorrect. Reed, Spicer and DelBello were reappointed and also Halpern, Brill and Capello when she was Chair. Ed Gibbs' term is up. Ms. LaMotte suggested this discussion be postponed until after Ms. Finger is interviewed.
Dorothy Finger: Ms. LaMotte asked how she saw the Human Rights Commission going forward and if there are any problems so far. Ms. Finger said she felt it would be going slowly at first; there are no rules in place, no physical space and no staff. The rules are what makes it happen and make the organization go forward with success in the community. The Director of the Commission now has a draft of the rules, which is impossible to start without that in place. There is a sub-committee that has not met yet, so the July1 deadline will not be met.
Chair Latimer asked the same question of Ms. Finger that he asked of Mr. Redd about the County itself not being subject to the rules of the Human Rights Commission. Should or should not the County be subject to the provisions of this law? Ms. Finger had not thought about that but her gut reaction is she does not have a problem taking it on. If there is a problem in the government or the private sector, a problem is a problem and has to be resolved. Legislator Oros said he was happy to have Ms. Finger on the Commission as she is experienced in working on tenant landlord matters and is usually on the landlord's side. One of the concerns was the Legislators did not want to see the commission loaded up with just one side of the equation on some of these issues.
On the motion of Legislator Stewart-Cousins, seconded by Chair Latimer, the appointment of Dorothy Finger to the Human Rights Commission was approved by a 7-0 vote.
Legislator Swanson questioned rather then re-appoint Betsy Stern and then Ed Gibbs at a later date, why not take all the members up for re-appointment and discuss them at one time. A discussion then ensued as to the various appointments.
John Heimerdinger: Mr. Heimerdinger has been an ex-officio member of the Board for a year and a half. He can speak but doesn't have a vote. He has been on numerous boards but this is the first board that he has served on that has been political. Mr. Heimerdinger is amazed at the competence and how hard everyone has worked on the board and the collegiality and the good feeling and the attention to what this Board had to do in the last 2 years - going from a County hospital to a public benefit corporation. The challenges over the next few years in the health care industry are tremendous. Ed Stolzenberg is an excellent leader, an extraordinary person, has an understanding of the health care environment, and has presented a viable vision to the Board, which will not be easy to achieve, but they will succeed. The competition from New York is extraordinary but Mr. Stolzenberg has defined the hospital's catchment area and it is a widespread area. More and more people will understand that you don't have to go to New York City for good health care. Mr. Heimerdinger was a trustee at Northern Westchester Hospital that is starting to complain about the power of the Medical Center. He doesn't think there is a problem with the competition. He believes the biggest competition to Northern Westchester Hospital is the Mt. Kisco Medical Group because radiology has been moved out of the hospital and they are probably going to start outpatient surgery. He believes the biggest competition is Sloan Kettering in Westchester because if you are afflicted with cancer, people feel Sloan Kettering is the place to be.
Ms. LaMotte questioned Mr. Heimerdinger about the children's hospital in Montefiore. He believes that there are a sufficient number of children in New York and in Westchester.
Legislator Young feels that there is no communication between the Hospital Board and the Board of Legislators and the only time the Legislators hear from the hospital is when they need something.
Mr. Heimerdinger would not like to see troubles develop between the County Board and the Hospital Board - he considers the Hospital a constituency of the County Board.
Legislator Young was disappointed how the Hospital negotiated with the food service workers. Another concern of his was the parking lot, but because it is being discussed in budget, Legislator Young did not elaborate.
Legislator Young requested that Mr. Heimerdinger's appointment and Betsy Stern re-appointment be held over until the meeting of the 19th.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 p.m. on the motion of Legislator Oros and seconded by Legislator Swanson.