Following the ordinance committee meeting of last April, the committee is still struggling with how to standardize the reporting and management of the summer youth program. Common Council member Joanne Romano is working on a draft of guidelines for all city employees who work with children. The ordinance committee debated whether background checks should be required of participants in the summer youth program. Matt Miklave and Carvin Hillaird are against background checks, however Miklave concedes that more supervision through more resources be assigned to the program.
The Ordinance Committee began its investigation in April amid allegations that the probe was politically motivated. Many also were concerned that it would hurt the program and questioned whether the committee was the appropriate body to do the probe.
Coffey has denied he initiated the probe for political reasons, saying he wanted to determine what happened, how it was handled by the city and whether a new policy or ordinance was needed.
As part of its investigation, the Ordinance Committee sought information from the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities about measures that other cities take to protect children in similar jobs programs.
The material from CCM involved mandatory background checks for various positions, city Corporation Counsel Peter Nolin said this week. None of the information was directly related to Norwalk’s summer job program, Nolin said yesterday.
Discussion at an Ordinance Committee meeting Tuesday night centered on whether to require background checks for regular employees at businesses participating in the program, which matches youths with private- and public-sector jobs.
Some committee members expressed concern that the checks would be too burdensome for businesses and discourage them from participating.
“I think it would actually hurt the program, and I’m not in favor of that,” Carvin Hilliard, a committee member and the council’s Democratic majority leader, said in an interview Wednesday.
Coffey said Wednesday he supported requiring some form of background-check requirement.
Children’s safety must be the city’s top concern, he said.
However, based on Tuesday night’s discussion, Coffey said: “At this time it would seem that . . . there’s no clear majority on the Ordinance Committee to pass regulations mandating background checks, so I guess there will be no legislation (stemming from the investigation) that I can think of at this time.”
Republican council member Joanne Romano, who is not on the Ordinance Committee, said Wednesday she is working on a draft of guidelines for working with children; she also is studying policies in cities with similar demographics.
Romano said she wants to establish new protocols for the summer jobs offering and other programs involving children.
Regarding fellow council members’ concerns about background checks, Romano said she doesn’t want to hurt the program.
However, she said: “If you’ve got kids, you want to make sure your kids are in the right hands.”
When Romano’s proposal is ready, Coffey said he will place it on the Ordinance Committee’s agenda.
Hilliard said he doesn’t think background checks are necessary for the summer jobs program. Its current administrator - Assistant City Clerk Darlene Young, who was not in charge in 2005 - does a good job supervising the children who participate, he said.
“I completely understand the . . . justifiable desire to make sure our programs are safe,” Matthew Miklave, a Democrat on the Ordinance Committee, said at Tuesday’s meeting.
However, Miklave, a labor attorney, described the shortcomings of background checks.
He said a more effective step might be to ensure the city devotes enough resources to the summer jobs program, so there is adequate supervision and ample opportunity for problems to become known.
“I’m satisfied that that part is being done,” Hilliard said in response.
Although, Matt “Mad Max” Breslow’s article did not touch on it, Director of Human Resources james Haselkamp mentioned the fact that none of Norwalk’s city departments are required to report to human resources any incident involving employees. Centralized reporting of any type of incident might be a good thing. In addition to formalizing the guidelines for dealing with children, it might have avoided the mystery of who knew what when. Or other mysteries as to whether an employee is following job directives. Or whether an employee is working another job in Hartford instead of city hall. Following a formal documented process. Just a thought.
source: Norwalk Advocate, Summer job probe worth the effort, councilman says, by Matt Breslow, June 23, 2007
I have my critics
