In a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz proposed the creation of an Office of Civil Rights to oversee the Equal Opportunities Commission and Affirmative Action Department.

This larger department is part of the 2005 executive operating budget and will be introduced Oct. 5 to the city council.

“This department will deal with EOC and affirmative-action issues, like how we can take care of communities and protect the classes,” mayoral spokeswoman Melanie Conklin said.

Conklin said the mayor is backing the department’s creation because of some unsettling results from community polls. Last spring, Madison residents completed a survey about transportation, community life, economic development and the quality of life. Madison’s quality of life numbers were “extremely high” but those pertaining to race showed a different story.

According to Conklin, 80-90 percent of Caucasian Madisonians said the quality of life was high, while only 20 percent of African-American city residents agreed.

“The mayor found those numbers extremely troubling,” Conklin said.

A director equivalent to a cabinet-level post will oversee the combined EOC and AA departments and will work with the mayor.

“Functions will still be kept in these divisions. They’re being merged to keep their missions and qualities under one director,” Conklin said.

By having one director instead of two, the mayor will be able to use $87,000 to address the pressing needs of ground-level services, according to Conklin.

But other numbers are troubling for the city, which is operating on what Conklin called a “maintenance budget.”

The little amount of available money is troublesome and short-term spending will increase with the creation of the Department of Civil Rights, she said.

The focus of this new department is to look outward into the communal, class and race qualities of life and also inward to diversify city employees and the percentages of minorities and women in city jobs, Conklin added.

To begin, the city will hire a recruitment specialist to incorporate a more diverse pool of employees into local jobs. This includes women and minorities.

Next the city will put more money into document translation, specifically in Spanish and Hmong. The city also will implement fair housing testing to determine if renters are experiencing discrimination or being properly provided for. Lastly, the Department of Civil Rights will help enforce the minimum-wage ordinance.

Ald. Brian Benford, District 12, said he is pleased with the proposal for a Department of Civil Rights.

“I am pleased for many reasons, the most important being that it will enhance the quality of service that our citizens need,” said Benford, who also spoke during the press conference Wednesday afternoon.

If citizens wish to file a complaint based upon discrimination in the workplace, they will easily be able to find the specific facility and location of the department, Benford said.

“This department is vital for people of color,” Benford said. “To add recruitment specialists and to provide fair housing testing — that is phenomenal.”

Housing is an important part of citizen life, and if discrimination is directed toward renters, there will be a better chance fair housing testing will catch it, Benford said. The Department of Civil Rights also will create a more user-friendly and connected environment for Madison residents, he added.