Anti-Racism Task Force

ANTI-RACISM TASK FORCE Agenda REGULAR MEETING December 11, 2023 6:00 P.M. ARTF Minutes In Attendance  Sacha Armstrong-Crockett  Ahmad Daniels  Josh Cotton  Darnell Ford  Sam Rival  Pat Alston  Dr. Lee  Brian Absent-Revenue Anderson Guests  Faith Jackson  Director Justin Richardson  Brig Smith  Bobbye Peterson  There was someone from the public in room 208-did not identify themselves. Meeting Agenda Prior Meeting Minutes Approval  Minutes for August will be voted on when it is in written form. Public Comment  No Public Comment. 2021 ARTF Regular meeting Schedule  Co-Chair Ford made an amendment-He asked the Task Force members if they were interesting in having a post-holiday meet and greet in person- Room 208 - He also asked the members if they were willing to move the January 8th 2024 regular scheduled meeting to January 22nd 2024. Co-Chair Crockett said she is available to meet on January 22nd, 2024 at 5pm.  Ahmad Daniels said he may be late. The members voted yes to have a meet and greet and they voted yes to changing the regular meeting date from January 8th to January 22nd. An invitation will be sent out to all the members.  Second amendment to the Calendar will be in April 2024. There will be regular scheduled meeting from 6-9 which includes a workshop.  On April 30th there will be a Special meeting which will be from 6 pm-9pm for the second part of the workshop.  The Third amendment to the calendar. The removal for the July regular scheduled meeting due to lack of quorum. Members will take a break for the month of July. These changes were approved by the Task Force members. There was no further discussion on the calendar. City of Middletown Commissions.  Co-Chair Ford explained why he wanted the schedule for the other city Commissions. Co- Chair Ford said the other commissions may be able to help the Task Force with recommendations to the city and help the members with their themes. New Business. Review –Current NCCJ Themes Workforce analysis was discussed by Co-Chair Crockett. Pat Alston’s questions for Human Resources Director in regards to their hiring practices were answered by Director Justin Richardson and Faith Jackson. Labor Equity Faith Jackson, spoke on Affirmative Action questions. “Have the department Directors/Managers been trained as to why we have Affirmative Action goals and how they are established?” Yes, the department’s heads are trained and they are aware as to why the City has Affirmative action goals. They received an official training on Affirmative Action, EEOC and diversity were included. HR and the Office of Equal Opportunity is working on new training goals, and internal processes that will be implemented. The Mangers/Directors will be trained on. Ms. Jackson explained the second half of the question in steps. The department head completes a requisition. The Requisition is then sent to HR, (www.Neogov.com) system used. The requisition is sent to Office of Equal Opportunity and Ms. Jackson sets the hiring goals. The requisition then goes back to HR. HR sends the requisition back to the department head to make a copy for their reference and to confirm they are aware of the hiring goals. The department heads signs off that they are aware of the hiring goals. The requisition then goes back to HR to make sure there are funds to cover the position. The final step, the mayor’s for approval. Once the Mayor approves the requisition, the job is then posted (internally or external). There is a closing date on the posting which is created by HR. A Recruitment action sheet is now implemented for the posting. Ms. Jackson said that is the process HR follows in regards to all the tracking, which is reported to the Office of Equal Opportunity. The phases of the tracking are: Phase 1. How many people applied for the job and their ethnicity and the race makeup of the applicant. Phase 2. Applicants’ qualifications Phase 3. Who is left after written and oral test- The last phase of the process after the testing is all applicants who met the requirements and pass the written and oral exam are chosen. They are all qualified for the position. The applicants are sent to the department head, (Ms. Jackson noted-does not matter their race or ethnicity). HR then sends the department a list of the qualified candidates. An interview is then scheduled. HR and the office of Equal Opportunity is working on creating a new process to create a more efficient and consistent process. The office of Equal Opportunity questions any inconsistencies. CHRO has updated information and requirements, the Office of Equal Opportunity is working on the new process and formula. Pat Alston had questions for Ms. Jackson. Member Alston asked: if Ms. Jackson looked at the candidate pool before it goes to HR. Ms. Jackson responded that she is aware of the candidate pool. She received the recruitment action sheet of the applicants who will be interviewed for the position. Member Alston asked: Do you look at the applicants, in case HR missed/overlooked an applicant? Ms. Jackson said no she does not. She said if any applicant feels they were not considered or missed they are free to come to Ms. Jackson’s office and file a complaint and she will then investigate. The city has their own internal processes of investigate. Co-Chair Crockett asked Ms. Jackson to provide all recruitment process and documents to the Task Force. Director Richardson said he will provide the Task Force with the necessary recruitment documents. Co-Chair Crockett followed up with a second question-does Ms. Jackson set up the training for the Directors in regards to Affirmative Action. Faith Jackson answered yes. Ms. Jackson explained that there is not an Affirmative Action training, the training is the employment requisition and the tools provided to them when choosing a candidate. The Affirmative Action materials and an understanding by the Directors is discussed quarterly. Director Richardson said he has materials to share with the Task Force to help clarify any misunderstanding. Requisitions come in online. He presented an approval form which was created by a department. The Department head creates the Requisition. There is an Approval Timeline. HR Approves Faith Jackson Approves-(Office of Equal Opportunity) creates the hiring goals for the position referenced in the requisition. (Based on EEO Job Category) Requisition goes back to the Department head for approval and understand of the hiring goals. The Requisition is sent back to HR- HR approves Final Step Mayor’s approval. A Recruitment Action sheet is created which is then sent to The Office of Equal Opportunity. The purposed of the Recruitment Action sheet is to track the applicants as per race, gender. Member Daniels asked how people outside City Hall would have an opportunity to apply for the open jobs if the city hires from internally first. Director Richardson explained that those are union jobs and those jobs belong to the union first. He explained that HR now does a lot of diverse recruitment. Member Daniels said he know that the City is known for their nepotism, Director Richardson said they are working on changing that. Member Daniels asked if the Union get training as well in the hiring process. Director Richardson explained that the Union does not have a say in the hiring of an employee. Co-Chair Fords asked if the Board of Education has any involvement in the hiring of any of the City’s positions. Director Richardson said no. He explained the only tie in with the Board of Education is the lateral transfer that was written in the contract during the separation. Co-Chair Fords asked, what was the percent of minority employees lost when the Board of Education separated from the City of Middletown? Faith Jackson said it is about 3%. She also explained that because the City workforce is very young, you will see less job opportunities being available. Director Richardson will share the materials with the Task Force. Co-Chair Crockett explained that she wanted to know if there was any specific Affirmative Action Training for the Managers and Directors. She explained that there need to be some reconciliation between HR and the City. She said there are some mistrust that the Middletown citizens have towards the City’s HR department. Member Pat Alston asked if HR had anti-basis training for the managers. Director Richardson said he personally or HR does not have any anti-basis training. He is aware that Managers have went out to anti-basis training outside of City Hall. Director Richardson explain to member Alston that the tracking sheet is completed by the HR office. He explained that the manager/Directors will have to explain specifically why a candidate failed. Co-Chair Ford asked if we have an Affirmative Action Committee. Director Richardson and Faith Jackson both said yes, he then followed up by asking what role the Affirmative Action community play in the hiring process. Faith Jackson explained that their role is advisory and recommendations in regards to the internal process. Co-Chair Ford asked when the Affirmative Action Committee meets. Faith Jackson said they meet quarterly. She also explained that the calendar is on the City of Middletown website. Co-Chair Ford asked about the vacancies on the Affirmative Action Committee, Faith Jackson said they are looking for two more candidates. Talking Point Card  Cards are completed. Assign Leads for Themes Themes Assigned Theme: Labor Equity Pat Alston/Sacha Armstrong-Crockett Theme: Criminal Justice System Equity Kirk Hart  Theme: Information Equity Kirk Hart Theme: Housing Segregation Kirk Hart/Sacha Armstrong-Crockett Theme: Education Equity Dr. Morgan Lee/Josh Cotton/Ahmad Daniels/Sacha Armstrong-C Theme: Community Building Josh Cotton Theme: Overall Racial Climate New Membership On Thursday two new members will be added to the Task Force. Member Daniels asked a question in regards to code of ethics. Once someone is appointed it is difficult for them to be removed. There is provision for attendance the chairs can move to have them expel. Under the new committee, to expulsion of members will have to go before the Chamber. The checks and balances is the mayor recommends and the council approves. Bobbye said she can get member Daniels the documents regarding expelling a member it may have to be a felony. Member Daniel said it may be a good idea to have checks and balances. Bobbye said the current checks and balances are the 12 member body. Co-Chair Ford said everyone should have received the listing with the terms and the members who are on the Task Force. Old Business  Update on Community Building Black Lives Matter Crosswalk Co-Chair Crockett said she had to convince Enox to go all out with his artwork. She believes the work is powerful. She said the work is stunning. The Crosswalk project is schedule for some time in the spring. Co-Chair Ford said he thinks this is something that needs to be recognized. He recommends inviting Enox back to one of the ARTF meeting.  Update on CRB Bobbye responded to the CRB review board. (It was difficult to hear Bobbye as she was breaking up-the call was coming in and out) there will be meeting with the mayor. The mayor will talk to the members of the ARTF. There will be several meeting. Co-Chair Ford said the lead on the CRB will be member Hart. He said he does to believe this should be a meeting that needs to be publicized. Co-Chair Ford suggested the ARTF meet with the mayor in the January 22nd meeting and meet with the Chief of Police in the February meeting.  Update on Housing and Fair Rent Member Hart said they are close to getting the processes in place. He said they have already started taking complaints. He said the processes still needs to be worked out. Bobbye said we do have council that will be staffing this commission. (An attorney) Outside council have created some documents. They are very close to having a meeting. She believes by next month they should have their first meeting. Co-Chair Ford said he is concerned that this will affect the North End. He wanted to know how folks will know or have information. He believes the Housing and Fair Rent no one will know about it. Similar to the Task Force. He said as a council man he has received complaints form citizens regarding their housing issues. Bobbye, said currently the internal processes is being worked on. Bobbye said Roll out on information is very important. Co-Chair Ford said he feels like the bridge that needs to be in place when these entities are built. He said the Task Force should have built a process for when these entities (Housing and Rent Commission) but we do not have a clear way of getting this information out to the people. He said he feels like how to do get to the people that are impacted getting this information. Member Pat Alston asked how many members are on the Fair Rent Commission: Who are they, when do they meet? Bobbye, said members were appointed. They were recommended by advocates for Fair Rent committee. There are renters, home owners. There is a commission of 7 with 3 alternatives. Member Hart said he was swooned last August 2023. In terms of where the Commission is, most of the system is set up. They are hoping to schedule the first meeting, in January 2024. Co-Chair Ford said the Task Force will help member Hart in creating information equity that will get out to the public. Report on Public Safety commission  Co-Chair Ford had no comment on public Safety.  Discussion on the Liaison between the City and the Community  Bobbye did point out that sometimes the outreach is not as effective. The city does try different initiatives. For examples Save as you throw, thee were folks that did door knocking in the sanitation district tot let people know what was happening. We did social media and on the website and we did many people who said they still did no read it. In regards to community building. Bobbye said Social media, door knocking is not the answers as we will never get everybody. Reaching your audience is very difficult we need to utilize as many strategies as possible.  Member Daniels asked about the leaflet that was dropped, he wanted to know if Bobbye had a status update. Bobbye said she will see if she can find a status update for member Daniels. Co-Chair Ford, talked about the recommendation for the city on how do the ARTF respond or what message or how do we help the city send a message or be clear on what the ARTF  stance are on things like the leaflet on things like the appointment to safe spaces and folks who would not necessarily protect those space on racism. The ARTF response proactively is going to be towards anti-racism, white supremacy. All of the things inclusivity, diversity, equity. Other There was no other comments. Adjournment Motion to adjourn- Pat Alton first, Ahmad Daniels second-all in favor.