Thomas MacMillan Photo
Board prez Perez: Take another look.
City lawmakers are ready to let voters decide whether to make the Board of Ed partially elected — but they’re not so sure about the part of barring the mayor from sitting on it.
That was one outcome of a marathon four-and-a-half hour aldermanic meeting at City Hall Monday night. Several questions that were on their way to heading to the voters in November were held up for second looks.
The Board of Aldermen gathered as a “Committee of the Whole” to consider recommended revisions to the city’s charter, the foundational document that contains some of the most basic laws governing the city — the number of wards, the powers of the mayor, governmental departments, etc.
The revisions came from the Charter Revision Commission, a special 15-person committee created by the Board of Aldermen. The city is required to undergo a charter revision process at least every 10 years. The commission labored for months coming up with suggested changes.
Among 18 total changes, the commission recommended that the Board of Ed comprise five appointed members, two elected members, and two non-voting student members. All Board of Ed members are currently appointed by the mayor. The commission also recommended that the mayor not sit on the Board of Ed, as he currently does.
On Monday night, aldermen heard public testimony and then voted one by one to either accept the commission’s recommended changes, or send them back for re-consideration. Aldermen accepted only a few of the proposals, sending most back for minor tweaks or full overhauls. Among the ideas getting a second look rather than advancing to the November ballot: removing the mayor from the Board of Ed; giving a certain nomber of bonus points to New Haveners seeking New Haven government jobs; raising aldermen’s salaries; subjecting all mayorally appointed department heads to aldermanic approval.
The commission will now meet to respond to the aldermen’s notes, then send another round of recommendations back to aldermen, who will then take a final vote on what changes will appear on the November general election ballot as citywide referendum questions.
Mayor’s Seat
During the public testimony section of Monday’s hearing, Superintendent Reggie Mayo (pictured) spoke out against the commission’s recommended prohibition of a mayoral seat on the Board of Ed.
“We cannot risk rolling back the clock on progress,” Mayo said, referring to the city’s ongoing school-reform efforts. “The momentum is there. We cannot drop the ball.”
Mayo said student and elected members of the Board of Ed represent a “reasonable” and “constructive” compromise. But the mayor must remain on the board, so that he can work closely on school reform and be held accountable for its outcomes, Mayo said.
Tom Burns (pictured), vice-president of the teachers union, agreed, as did BOE member Alex Johnston.
“It seems strange that you’d want the mayor’s engagement to happen behind closed doors” rather than out in the public at school board meetings, Johnston said.
Four others spoke in favor of keeping the mayor on the Board of Ed, including Charter Revision Commission member Will Ginsberg (pictured) and former Deputy Corporation Counsel Martin Echter.
Later, during the voting session, Fair Haven Alderwoman Migdalia Castro said she had heard the message “loud and clear” — the mayor should stay on the board. She made a motion to accept the recommendation that the BOE become a partially elected body, but that the commission reconsider the elimination of the mayor’s seat on it.
Hill Alderwoman Dolores Colon agreed. She said having the mayor on the board makes him or her more accountable for public schools’ performance.
Board of Aldermen President Jorge Perez said the commission should consider having the mayor on the school board as a voting member or as a non-voting member.
East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker said that if the mayor is required to sit on the Board of Ed, it should be as one of the five appointed members, not as an additional member. Elicker, a mayoral candidate, has said that he would probably not sit on the school board if elected mayor, but the decision would depend in part on whether the city ends up with a hybrid Board of Ed.
Castro’s motion was approved unanimously by the committee.
The idea to bar the mayor came as part of a broader effort among some charter-revisers to limit the power of the mayor in New Haven.
The city has a strong-mayor system; the mayor appoints members of boards throughout the government and holds the upper hand in crafting policy over a legislative body (the Board of Aldermen) that has 30 members who get paid a token $2,000 a year. Some of the charter revisers have sought to rein in the mayor’s power after two decades of centralized power under Mayor John DeStefano.
In an Independent readers’ “True Vote” poll, 39.2 percent of respondents said the mayor should sit on the Board of Ed; 41.6 percent said he or she shouldn’t; and 19.2 percent advocated making the mayor a non-voting member.
Bonus Points
Aldermen also spent a considerable amount of time Monday night on a proposal to give New Haven residents an extra 10 points on civil service exams. This would be an increase from the five they now receive.
Most aldermen were in favor of the plan in principal, but wanted some clarification on how it would affect military veterans, who also receive bonus points on the exam.
City Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden (pictured) cautioned aldermen that upping the bonus points could leave the city open to lawsuits. The city is bound by state and federal laws including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Bolden said. Since there are different racial demographics between New Haven and surrounding towns, someone might be able to argue that giving residents more points leads to “disparate impact” when it comes to municipal hiring, Bolden said.
Bolden said that other cities in Connecticut give 10 points to residents, but they don’t have the history of litigation that New Haven has on the issue of race and city employment.
“Litigation breeds litigation,” Bolden warned. “I have to say that there is a risk.”
“We need to take care of our own,” said Hill Alderwoman Jackie James.
Later, during the voting session, East Rock Alderwoman Jessica Holmes made a motion to have the commission reconsider the 10-point proposal, in light of Bolden’s warning. Elicker supported Holmes’ proposal
Beaver Hills Alderman Brian Wingate and others spoke up for accepting the 10-point plan. “We have to take some risks sometimes,” Wingate said.
“Anybody can be sued,” said Beaver Hill Alderwoman Claudette Robinson-Thorpe. “I think we should go ahead and take the chance.”
Holmes withdrew her motion, changing it to a request that the commission reconsider only whether to put a cap on the total points residents who are veterans could receive. That motion passed unanimously.
The Rest
In other developments, the committee voted to:
The PAC’s Kenneth Reveiz.
• Ask the commission to reconsider a proposal that all mayorally appointments to boards and commissions be approved by the Board of Aldermen. Perez said the commission should look specifically at the size and composition of boards dealing with zoning and development. This was in response to a number of people who testified that they felt shut out of the approval process for new construction and development in town. Many of these were affiliated with the People’s Arts Collective (PAC), which occupies a retail space that will be torn down as a result of a recent Board of Zoning Appeals decision.
• Accept a recommendation that the number of wards be changed only through the charter revision process, not through a redistricting process. Alderwoman Dolores Colon, who chaired the most redistricting committee, spoke up in favor of this plan. She said the question of possibly eliminating aldermanic wards should be taken out of the hands of aldermen. “It just wasn’t a good feeling to be in that position.
• Ask the commission to reconsider a proposal that all department head appointments should be approved by the Board of Aldermen. Perez suggested instead that the city should do as the state and federal government do and have the legislative branch only approve the highest level executive appointments. In New Haven, that would be the chief administrative officer, head of economic development, head of community services, and the budget director.
• Ask the commission to reconsider a proposal to increase aldermanic salary from $2,000 per year to $3,000. Alderman Holmes said being an alderman is a “public service position” and it’s irresponsible to increase the pay when the city is in financial peril. Newhallville Alderwoman Delphine Clyburn (pictured) agreed. Advocates argue that aldermen get paid a fraction of the minimum wage for the time they put in and that paying them more would help elevate the position, increasing the authority and quality of the legislative branch. Read more about that here.
• Accept a recommendation to enshrine the Civilian Review Board in the charter. A number of people testified in support of this.
• Ask the commission to reconsider a proposal to change the fire chief job qualifications requirements to include possession of a bachelor’s degree, the same qualification required of the chief of police. Fire Chief Michael Grant (at left in photo) and former fire Chief Marty O’Connor (at right) both testified against this change. Grant said the change would restrict the pool of candidates, cutting out many fine firefighters who “haven’t had the opportunity to obtain a BA.”