The Affirmative Action Commission, not only liked my resolutions, they expanded the scope of the information that they thought would be helpful to the City Council. On Tuesday night, among other things going on in City Hall, the Affirmative Action Commission took a look at the two gender resolutions (1, 2) that I introduced as a result of various issues regarding gender in city hall. Mostly, committee appointments and women in top management positions and their salaries.
The Affirmative Action Commission seemed excited that I was bringing this up. One member commented that they receive alot of information, but don’t get much of an opportunity to act on it and give recommendations for fixing various issues they see. However, they noted, that perhaps these ordinances were only addressing part of the problem. They were equally concerned about issues of race/ethnicity and disability. So, they added those two categories to the resolution. And then, to my surprise and delight, Ald. Joe Clausius signed on as a co-sponsor! (Yes, that Joe Clausius. Let me just say, since he got elected, I’ve gotten to know him and quite enjoy having coffee with him from time to time.)
These resolutions may have enough time to get back to the Common Council for Tuesday’s agenda, however, I won’t know until I see the agenda later today or tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I’m glad to see that they took my concerns seriously and that we have support for looking into these issues. Stay tuned.
