Thomas Breen photo
Monday night’s full Board of Alders meeting.
Alders unanimously approved a recommendation that the city’s community management teams use parliamentary procedure when running their meetings and that they develop standardized training — without giving any specific guidance on what that training should consist of.
Local legislators took that vote Monday night during the latest regular bimonthly meeting of the full Board of Alders. The in-person meeting took place in the Aldermanic Chamber on the second floor of City Hall.
The alders voted unanimously in support of an amended order “concerning the structure, responsibilities, and bylaws of Community Management Teams in the City of New Haven.”
Beaver Hills Alder and Public Safety Committee Vice Chair Brian Wingate.
The amended version, introduced by Beaver Hills Alder and Public Safety Committee Vice Chair Brian Wingate, recommends that the management teams “form a citywide steering committee consisting of at least one member of each CMT to arrange for structured training in such subject matter as the steering committee deems appropriate, that the steering committee develop uniform bylaws for all CMTs that provide for the election of officers, the taking of minutes of meetings and that the meeting be conducted pursuant to Roberts Rules of Order.”
The final vote comes roughly two months after the Public Safety Committee hosted a packed virtual three-hour-long hearing on management teams’ roles and procedures.
That hearing featured spirited debate about the operations of the city’s 12 community management teams — which started out as a 1990s-era community policing initiative and have morphed over the decades into neighborhood-based forums for residents to engage in conversations about all aspects of life in their part of the city.
Monday’s final aldermanic vote demonstrated that local legislators are not interested in taking too big of a step in telling how these separate, neighborhood-level experiments in democracy should function.
Downtown Alder Abby Roth.
Downtown Alder Abby Roth stressed during Monday’s floor debate that the order approved by the alders is just a recommendation, not a requirement.
CMTs won’t necessarily have to use Robert’s Rules of Order, she said. Those parliamentary rules provide a detailed, formal structure for how an organized group hosts debates, hears and votes on motions, and determines who can speak up when.
“I think Robert’s Rules of Order will stifle the community building conversations that happen and potentially reduce attendance” at community management team meetings, Roth said.
Westville Alder Adam Marchand.
Westville Alder Adam Marchand disagreed. “I believe that we should encourage our neighbors who run these CMTs to enact these recommendations, all of them,” he said. “I think they will improve the functioning of these bodies.”
Fair Haven Alder Jose Crespo sided with Marchand. “We have many, many CMTs,” Crespo said. “This will allow for an opportunity for all CMTs to come together” and hash out a standardized way for these disparate groups to operate.
"which started out as a 1990s-era community policing initiative and have morphed over the decades into neighborhood-based forums" ... is not quite accurate. The original 6 CMT's were mandated by the Feds along with the build-out/locating of the six community-based Police sub-stations. This was required in order to receive the "Empowerment Zone" funding for those 6 neighborhoods. The language mandated attendance at the monthly meeting by a police officer/lieutenant assigned to that district. They do/did not come just because they felt like it. Their monthly report on neighborhood crime stats was dictated as a necessary part mandated by the funding package. It also mandated that all CDBG and other federally sourced grants had to be presented and approved by a vote of the participating members of the CMTs. A formal letter from the Chair of the CMT stating that a vote had taken place and whatever had been proposed had indeed been supported/approved by the group and that letter needed to be submitted to the Board of Alders in order for any project located in that CMT area to receive the federal funds. So, the origin of the CMTs was not some voluntary feel-good nice thing to do. It was EMPOWERED by statute. Other neighborhoods years later recognized the benefit of having a monthly "forum" conveniently located nearby. They voluntarily created their respective CMTs. Lastly, the original model recommended the creation of a linked non-profit development entity for each of the original six CMTs. The idea was that the CMTs (the residents) identified what their respective neighborhoods needed and the 501c3 Development Corp. served as the CMTs executive arm that could carry out the identified tasks and goals, receive and manage grant funding and hire paid staff to do the related management work. The Alders need to research and review the original documents from about 1984 when all this was put into place. City staff needs to look at the archives.