Dear Members of the Sullivan County Legislature,
My Name is Margaret Gans, I am Co-Chair of the Human Rights Commission along with Bill Liblick who unfortunately could not be here today. With me today are other Commissioners of The Human Rights Commission.
Commission Member Amanda Ward knows we are appearing here today, but we did not include her in this statement because we did not want to put her in a conflicting position as she is also a legislator.
As Human Rights Commissioners we take our role very seriously in fostering better relations amongst our diverse population.
The present board of the Human Rights Commission consists of nine dedicated people striving to protect the Human Rights of all Sullivan County residents.
In the past, The Human Rights Commission consisted of two active committees, one servicing people with confidential personal issues and complaints, and the other an Outreach Committee.
Under the Human Rights Commission’s current structure, the Executive Director manages all complaints and is solely responsible for investigating and resolving them.
Because of the large number of complaints filed, the Executive Director has requested investigative assistance from the legislature. This assistance does not involve criminal investigations, which fall under the authority of the District Attorney and law enforcement.
We would like to take exception to the derogatory and uncalled for remarks that two legislators made against the Human Rights Commission and our Executive Director at a recent meeting.
One claim that the Human Rights Office has been used in an inappropriate way, that there have been leaks, people are being targeted, and that the Commission is being weaponized in a “misogynistic” way against woman is not only outrageous, inaccurate, but a complete lie.
We wish the legislator had contacted and reached out to us before making such offensive remarks.
We want to make it clear that Human Rights Commissioners do not see complaints filed or have any information or access to them. We only learn information about possible reported complaints filed during public comment sessions when someone addresses us.
The only person who has access to and handles complaints is the Executive Director of The Human Rights Commission.
The Executive Director decides if complaints filed fall within Human Rights guidelines and then seeks resolution from them through mediation or other avenues. If that fails, complaints are sent to the New York State Human Rights Commission, or the person is advised to take their matter to court.
Another legislator’s claims that the legislature created a monster and a monstrosity that wants to get bigger when they reinstated the Human Rights Commission. This could be further than the truth.
The Human Rights Commission mission is to foster relations within our community. With all the hate and discourse out there, everyone should be supporting the goals of an active Human Rights Commission.
The Human Rights Commission is planning forums and to participate in events throughout our County with the goal to better understand and respect one another.
We want to tackle issues such as community relations with law enforcement, cyber bullying, bullying, driving within Sullivan County, create a mutual dialog between year-round and summer residents, and tackle tense issues we see daily in the news.
Our goal is to have guest speakers at our regularly scheduled monthly meetings on various topics to inform the public about issues facing them and our community.
Consumer affairs along with consumer rights and protection is another area where we plan to become active.
We want to work with everyone to continue to build the Sullivan County Human Rights Commission into agency we can all be proud of protecting the rights of everyone.
Respectfully,
Margaret Gans
Bill Liblick
Ricardo Nieves
Ari Mir-Pontier
Joel Santiago
Miranda Behan
Charles Wade