[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, along with members of the community, weighed the benefits of the possible creation of a Department of Civil Rights (DCR) at a public forum Thursday night.

The meeting was the first of three to discuss the effectiveness of merging the Affirmative Action Department (AAD) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) into one body, the Department of Civil Rights.

Cieslewicz appointed the Department of Civil Rights Ad Hoc Committee to take public testimony about the proposed DCR and report back with recommendations to various groups, such as the City Council, according to city attorney Michael May.

The mayor said although the issue is controversial, it has been a positive debate for the community and will increase the quality of life for everyone.

“I think it’s always better to confront an issue and try to do something about it,” Cieslewicz said. “I would much rather be accused of overreaching than seeing a problem and not doing anything about it.”

Three different proposals were discussed concerning the departments.

One option would utilize the separate departments as they currently exist. The second option, as proposed by Cieslewicz, would move the two departments, the AAD and the EOC, under the umbrella of a civil-rights director.

The third option, the Markle Proposal, would create a combination of a human resources and an affirmative-action department, with a separate civil-rights department. The civil-rights department would include a director of equal opportunities.

Cieslewicz said he believes uniting the two departments under the Department of Civil Rights will make them stronger.

A concerned citizen, Eyvonne Crawford, said uniting the AAD and the EOC under the title of the Department of Civil Rights would be too complicated for the average person on the street.

The ‘civil-rights’ label does not necessarily include the issues surrounding affirmative action or equal opportunities, she added.

“When I think of civil rights, I think of education,” Crawford said. “People of the community will lose access and they won’t know where to go.”

Greg Rosenberg, another citizen at the forum, questioned how merging the two commissions would strengthen the city’s goals of attending to affirmative action and equal opportunities.

“In Madison, we tend to think we know more than everyone,” Rosenberg said, adding the city could work with other organizations who have previously dealt with these issues.

The idea to merge the two departments began over a year ago, when a scientific survey concerning the quality of life in Madison was distributed to the citizens, Cieslewicz said.

“What was disturbing was that there was a very large discrepency between white Madisonians and people of color,” Cieslewicz said.

Approximately 80 percent of all Madisonians believed in a high quality of life in Madison, but people of color felt they suffered from a low quality of life.

According to Cieslewicz, two major issues of concern for minorities in Madison are jobs and housing.

The City Council tentatively approved the creation of the Department of Civil Rights if the public is given the chance to express their concerns at the three public-input forums. The committee will report back to Cieslewicz March 1, and the City Council will have a chance to approve the department in the spring.