By Brandon T. Bisceglia
The Board of Selectmen in Orange voted down a proposal at its Sept. 9 meeting to include discussion of a possible ordinance recognizing racism as a public health crisis on its agenda for October.
The proposal was brought for the second time before the board by Democratic Town Chair Jody Dietch. She had first requested the item be added to the September agenda in August, but it was not.
“I don’t know why it’s a problem. I don’t know if somebody’s afraid of the topic,” she said, adding that others had sent emails to the board about it.
Selectwoman Margaret Novicki, a Democrat, said that she had likewise requested the agenda item, to no avail.
“I feel that we have a responsibility to our interested citizens to allow them to be heard on this important topic,” she said.
Fellow Democrat Mitch Goldblatt concurred, saying he had thought the topic was going to be on the agenda.
Other towns and cities around the state and the country have declared racism a public health crisis in recent months, including Windsor, Hartford and New Britain. Such a declaration requires municipalities to take measures to take actions to eliminate disparities causing health issues under guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Racial disparities in health are well-documented and span a wide array of issues, from differences in overall life expectancy to exposure to unsanitary living conditions. Rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths have been markedly higher among minority populations in the US.
First Selectman Jim Zeoli read two emails regarding the issue into the record as part of the public hearing portion of the meeting.
“Creating awareness, which many people do not have, about the increased physical stress, lack of quality care and increased chances of acquiring significant illness is something that we who are proposing and/or supporting this ordinance want to achieve,” town resident Rise Siegel wrote in one email.
Zeoli said that he responded to Siegel, saying that racism was a worldwide issue and beyond the scope of the Orange Board of Selectmen. He also told Siegel that he thought it appeared as “purposeful political racism” to only include the sitting Democrats on the email.
Zeoli said that he would be supportive of a discussion, but that it should be town-wide, not limited to the scope of the Board of Selectmen.
He also disputed that there was a lot of interest in the topic, noting that he had only received two emails, and only one person had come to speak about it.
“If we have it as a town forum,” Goldblatt countered, “what happens after the forum? We’re able to discuss it, but this board passes ordinances.” He agreed that input should be sought from other town departments, including the superintendent of schools and the police, but said it could all be done together as they do with other ordinances.
“Frankly I don’t see how it’s any different,” he said.
Novicki’s motion to include the topic on the agenda failed on a party-line vote, with the two Democrats in favor and the three Republicans against.