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1 CITY COUNCIL CITY OF NEW YORK ------------------------ X TRANSCRIPT OF THE MINUTES Of the COMMITTEE ON FIRE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES JOINTLY WITH COMMITTEE ON CONTRACTS AND COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S ISSUES ------------------------ X December 10, 2014 Start: 10:24 a.m. Recess: 03:14 p.m. HELD AT: Council Chambers – City Hall B E F O R E: ELIZABETH S. CROWLEY Chairperson HELEN K. ROSENTHAL Co-Chairperson LAURIE A. CUMBO Co-Chairperson COUNCIL MEMBERS: FERNANDO CABRERA MATHIEU EUGENE PAUL A. VALLONE RORY I. LANCMAN CHAIM M. DEUTSCH COREY D. JOHNSON COSTA G. CONSTANTINIDES I. DANEEK MILLER PETER A. KOO World Wide Dictation 545 Saw Mill River Road – Suite 2C, Ardsley, NY 10502 Phone: 914-964-8500 * 800-442-5993 * Fax: 914-964-8470 www.WorldWideDictation.com 2 COUNCIL MEMBERS: (CONTINUED) RUBEN WILLS BEN KALLOS DARLENE MEALY KAREN KOSLOWITZ 3 A P P E A R A N C E S (CONTINUED) COMMITTEE ON FIRE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES JOINTLY WITH 1 COMMITTEE ON CONTRACTS AND COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S ISSUES 4 2 [gavel] 3 CHAIRPERSON CROWLEY: Good morning. My 4 name is Elizabeth Crowley and I am the Chair of the 5 Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee. Today 6 the committee is conducting a follow-up hearing on 7 last year’s oversight hearing in our ongoing effort 8 to get to the root behind the troubling lack of 9 women firefighters in our city’s fire department. 10 The hearing is being conducted jointly with the 11 Committee on Contracts which is chaired by Council 12 Member, Council Member Helen Rosenthal and the 13 Committee on Women’s Issues which is chaired by 14 Council Member Laurie Cumbo. The Contracts 15 Committee has been included to inquire about a 16 contract that was procured by the law department to 17 analyze the physical testing requirements in the 18 probationary firefighters school also known as the 19 fire academy. The Women’s Issues Committee is 20 included for obvious reasons. Female firefighters 21 account for less than one percent of FDNY’s uniform 22 workforce. In New York City today there are only 44 23 female firefighters in the FDNY’s firefighting 24 workforce of over 10,500. Understanding the history 25 of this struggle is important if we are to COMMITTEE ON FIRE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES JOINTLY WITH 1 COMMITTEE ON CONTRACTS AND COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S ISSUES 5 2 implement solutions. The FDNY did not allow women 3 to join its ranks until the federal government 4 passed a law requiring it to do so. It wasn’t until 5 1977 that women were able to take the written FDNY 6 exam for the first time. But that same year the 7 department then implemented a physical test that 8 had never before been utilized, a physical test 9 that was ultimately found by a federal court to be 10 discriminatory against women and not at all job 11 related. It was because of the courage of one 12 woman, Brenda Berkman who is in the audience today, 13 that a lawsuit was filed in federal court leading 14 to a 1982 court decision compelling the fire 15 department to hire its first class of female 16 firefighters. That first year the department hired 17 41 women firefighters out of approximately 9,000 18 firefighters. Unfortunately over 30 years later 19 women currently make up an even smaller fraction of 20 the fire department totaling less than one percent 21 of the workforce. Furthermore there are still 22 concerns that excessive testing methods within the 23 fire academy are being used to keep women 24 probationary firefighters from graduating. This is 25 simply unacceptable. In the year 2014 when women COMMITTEE ON FIRE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES JOINTLY WITH 1 COMMITTEE ON CONTRACTS AND COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S ISSUES 6 2 serve on the front lines of combat in our armed 3 forces there is no reason for this lack of women in 4 the FDNY. City like, cities like Minneapolis and 5 San Francisco have up to 30 times a greater 6 percentage of women serving in their fire 7 department than we do. This is New York City. We 8 are supposed to be a national leader, the city that 9 other cities look to for guidance. And on this 10 issue we are failing. We understand that we are 11 still less than a year into the new administration 12 and it is my hope that we can move forward and work 13 together to make New York City a stronger and more 14 equitable city. However I am deeply disappointed 15 that in preparation for this oversight hearing the 16 fire department did not provide my office with 17 basic information that was requested, such as the 18 number of probationary firefighters who enter a 19 particular class and the number that drop out. The 20 department had ample time to prepare for this 21 hearing and a number of weeks to respond to the 22 committee’s data requests. The, the resistance to 23 release this data makes me question whether the 24 department has something to hide. In addition to 25 the oversight role of today hearing we will be COMMITTEE ON FIRE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES JOINTLY WITH 1 COMMITTEE ON CONTRACTS AND COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S ISSUES 7 2 analyzing a bill, Introduction 579 sponsored by 3 Council Member Rosenthal which would require the 4 Fire Department to provide the council with 5 statistics on the firefighter applicant pool broken 6 down by race and gender for each step of the 7 process in becoming a firefighter from signing up 8 to take the written exam to entering and graduating 9 from the academy. The fire department’s failure to 10 produce this important data in a timely manner 11 highlights the urgent need for this legislation and 12 for greater transparency. The committees would like 13 to address a number of workplace issues that affect 14 women firefighters, namely the process by which 15 women are assigned to fire houses, the presence or 16 lack thereof of women’s bathrooms and changing 17 areas in fire houses and how the department handles 18 workplace sexual discrimination and harassment 19 claims. The committee and the council are also 20 interested in learning today about the steps, the 21 new FDNY administration has taken to address the 22 lack of women within its ranks. The commissioner 23 understands this problem and I would like to 24 discuss the steps the new FDNY administration has 25 taken to ensure that it’s probationary school at COMMITTEE ON FIRE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES JOINTLY WITH 1 COMMITTEE ON CONTRACTS AND COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S ISSUES 8 2 the fire academy is fair to women. We have learned 3 that the city has hired a consultant for them to 4 examine its physical testing and I’m interested in 5 learning more about this process. I’d like to thank 6 Commissioner Daniel Nigro and all the members of 7 the fire department who have come here today to 8 this hearing. Look forward to hearing from the 9 Commissioner and from the department’s new 10 diversity officer and inclusion officer and we look 11 forward to also hearing from the Department of 12 Citywide Administrative Services and from all the 13 groups and individuals, individuals who have signed 14 up to testify. But first I’d like to turn to my co- 15 chair Council Member Helen Rosenthal for her 16 opening remarks and then I’d like to recognize 17 Council Member Laurie Cumbo for hers. Thank you. 18 CO-CHAIRPERSON ROSENTHAL: Thank you 19 Councilwoman Crowley. Good afternoon. I’m Helen 20 Rosenthal the Chair of the Contracts Committee. And 21 I want to share my colleague’s concerns about the 22 lack of female firefighters in the, in the FDNY. As 23 she noted in most urban areas including san 24 Francisco and Minneapolis women comprise 10 to 15 25 percent of firefighters. I wonder why only point COMMITTEE ON FIRE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES JOINTLY WITH 1 COMMITTEE ON CONTRACTS AND COMMITTEE ON WOMEN’S ISSUES 9 2 four percent of firefighters in New York City are 3 women. What is it that is inherently different 4 about New York City that makes it so we cannot 5 achieve the greater percentages that other urban 6 areas have been able to achieve? Perhaps one reason 7 has to do with the physical exam administered by 8 the fire academy. While it is heartening that the 9 city would want to contract with a firm to validate 10 this exam I am concerned about the contractor who 11 is or who has already, I’m not sure, designed a 12 study to be conducted. By definition in order for 13 that study to be independent we would want a 14 contractor to design the study and to administer it 15 because we know that we’re looking for whether or 16 not there’s any unintended bias. We would also want 17 to know that the participants of the study are 18 truly representative of the population that we’re 19 trying to address. I’m looking forward to learning 20 more about that study, whether or not it’s already 21 completed, what were the criteria, and to 22 understand who was able to participate in the study 23 and whether or not you already have some findings.