Town to pick up bill on Corsi’s separate disciplinary training
The Town of Bethlehem will pay an estimated $3,000 for an independent trainer to conduct a number of one-on-one sessions with Police Chief Louis Corsi as part of a disciplinary action handed down by the town in September.
The program with diversity trainer Roger Johnson, who has a background in law enforcement, started about a month ago, and will involve a to-be-determined number of sessions. The exact cost is dependent on how much work is ultimately needed to meet the program’s goals.
The Town Board served Corsi a 10-day suspension, a written reprimand and an order to take a cultural diversity program after he was found uttering a racial slur on a recorded department phone call. The suspension was taken out of Corsi’s existing vacation time.
Supervisor Sam Messinaat that time a Town Board membercast the sole dissenting vote in that decision, but said he wholeheartedly agrees with the training portion of the action.
`I’m very comfortable that it’s exactly what is needed,` Messina said.
He characterized the cost of the program as an `investment` on the part of the town.
`I think it’s an investment when you do diversity training anywhere in the government and private sector,` Messina said. `All people, regardless of their level, need to be sensitive to diversity issues, whether it’s in recruitment, or communication, or just interacting with people.`
Town Board member Kyle Kotary said that it would not be legally possible to compel Corsi to foot the bill for the training. The town pays the cost of all mandated and non-mandated training for employees.
`The entire board supported this, Chief Corsi agreed to it voluntarily, and I think the chief deserves credit for voluntarily agreeing to the town’s demands,` he said.
Director of Human Resources Mary Tremblay-Glassman said the program had been specifically tailored for Corsi and the town will receive updates from Johnson.
A call to Corsi’s office was not returned.
It is not just Chief Corsi who is revisiting the issue of diversity. All full time town employees and Town Board members will attend a two-hour diversity training session in coming days. The first session will take place on Thursday, Jan. 28, and there will be five additional sessions between then and Feb. 12.
The cost of the entire program is estimated at $2,500.
The program`Valuing Differences and Appreciating Others`will be run by Capital Employee Assistance Program, which is contracted by the town for employee training.
Tremblay-Glassman said that the upcoming training is not the result of any particular event, but is rather one of the town’s training components that are outside of courses mandated by the state.
`All of our training is scheduled periodically,` she said. `I’ve been working on putting this training together since the fall.`
Planning Board member Kate Powers raised the issue of diversity in town offices during the public comment period of the Jan. 13 meeting of the Town Board. She did not allege any instances of discrimination, but wondered whether more could be done to provide a wider range of experience in town government.
`I’ve noticed that I’ve seen very few women and very few minorities` in town positions, she said. `The overwhelming majority of the high-paid staff in town tends to be non-minority men.`
She made it clear before making her comments that she was expressing her individual opinion as a citizen.
In a later interview, Powers said she was concerned there might exist gender and geographical disparities in some town entities.
`I think everybody is doing a good jobbut I’m just kind of consistently hearing just one viewpoint,` she said. `I just think that hearing other viewpoints would make our town stronger.`
The Town Board is in the process of deciding who will fill two open seats on the Planning Board, or if they will be eliminated altogether. All 15 applications the town received for open seats on the Planning and Zoning boards were from men, according to town officials.
Messina said he has not yet taken a hard look at how demographics break down in the town payroll, but acknowledged that furthering diversity is a goal the town should strive for in the future.
`Generally, I think the decision should be made to include diversitywhenever you have the opportunity to do so,` he said.
Kotary said that sometimes the town is left with a uniform pool of candidates to choose from when filling jobs.
`We need to fight for and ensure diversity on the board,` he said. `At the same time, on civil service positions there are some limited options, however. You can only take a certain number of people of a certain ranking off a civil service exam.`
He cited the hiring of police officers as a common example of this conundrum. When the town was last looking to hire, the results of the most recent civil service exam did not produce any minority candidates, he said.
`How can we legally, given civil service and other town law, how can we make it easier, and should we make it easier, to intentionally diversify the town? That is a legitimate and important question,` Kotary said.
Messina said he does not have plans to institute hard guidelines or quotas for town hiring, but indicated it should play a role in the future.
`Sometimes you just have to wait a little longer, look a little harder,` he said of the hiring process. `We just need to do a good, balanced management job.`
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