Brockton diversity board on hold amid finger-pointing

BROCKTON — For the last three years, Brockton's Diversity Commission has been on hold amid finger-pointing about the volunteer board's future.

It's a strange state of affairs for one of the state's most diverse cities. The City Council may scrap the commission in its current form, remaking it as a Commission on Human Rights, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

On paper, the Diversity Commission's job is to "advocate and advise" on issues like discrimination based on race, gender, veteran's status and other categories. In practice, the group last met in December 2021. It hardly met at all during the pandemic.

Councilor-at-large Winthrop Farwell sponsored the makeover, saying the board needs a fresh start.

"For heaven's sake let's do the work," Farwell said in an October interview.

He blamed the commission's original chairman, Tony Branch, for not calling meetings. It isn't clear whether Branch still chairs the commission.

"In a petulant, childish manner, in my opinion, he decided not to have a meeting," Farwell said.

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Branch tells a different story.

"When we had work, we met," Branch said Monday, Nov. 28.

The Brockton civil rights advocate said he wasn't holding meetings because members' terms ended in 2019 and the mayor had not made re-appointments. That's not true, however. Mayor Robert Sullivan has appointed four new members and reappointed one member (Janet Trask) since he took office in 2019.

Members whose terms have expired are still technically members of the commission as "holdovers," Sullivan said.

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The mayor said Wednesday that he's awaiting the City Council's recommendations for changes on the commission. More broadly, he said his administration uses a process to fill every board and commission that includes candidates writing letters of interest, sending a resume and having an interview.

"I really am making a pledge and humble request, anyone who wants to serve, we're really finding it difficult to find members to serve on all boards," said the mayor, who is in his second term. "We need to continue to showcase the talents of Brocktonians."

Sullivan said it's up to individual boards to pick their chairpersons.

"Is he still the chair? That's a question for the commission," the mayor said.

Branch called the pushback about inactivity by the commission "political." Branch traced the beef to a March 2018 incident in which a now former city councilor said she wouldn't vote for a nominee to the Cable Advisory Board because he was a man.

Councilors debated the makeover in October and are scheduled to take it up again at Thursday's Ordinance Committee meeting.

In October, councilors kicked the issue down the road after strong objections from several councilors. Farwell looked at similar commissions in cities like Newton, Lynn, Chelsea and Framingham. His draft proposal was closely modeled on Newton's Human Rights Commission.

Ward 1's Tom Minichiello objected to possible abuse of authority by the new commission.

He gave the hypothetical of a car dealer who turned down a Brockton resident for a loan. Even if the reason was the person had bad credit instead of racial prejudice on the part of the car dealer, Minichiello feared the consequences.

"How is this board going to give people their reputation back?" he said. "If we have some people who are overly sensitive, (small-business owners) are going to be dragged through the mud."

Ward 5's Jeff Thompson voiced similar worries.

"There's the fear of this becoming a kangaroo court," Thompson said.

Farwell defended the proposal as creating a valuable place for residents to go as a first stop if they believe they've been discriminated against.

"What about people who don't have access to an attorney?" Farwell said.

Branch said he shares some of the concerns voiced by Minichiello and Thompson. Branch said he would like to see a commission modeled on Boston's, with an executive director and professional investigator. Complaints would only be made public if the investigator found merit.

Branch further defended his leadership by citing inactivity by other city advisory boards. The Women's Commission last met on March 6, 2019, according to city records. City archives list exactly one set of minutes for that board since June 2018.

Branch's role as chair of the Southeastern Vocational Tech school board came under the microscope when a Worcester blogger dug out allegations of underage sex between Branch and his now-former wife when she would have been 15 years old and he was approximately 35 years old. A superior court judge ruled in April the allegations appear to be "substantially true." Despite the uproar, Branch handily won re-election to the school committee.

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This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton Diversity Commission may be replaced with Human Rights board