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Q&A
Impact of increased staff attorneys on CCHR's performance
0:24:21
ยท
3 min
Council Member Williams inquires about how the increase in CCHR staff attorneys from 12 to 21 has improved the commission's ability to fulfill its mandates. CCHR staff provide details on performance improvements.
- Increase in inquiries received (up by approximately 1,500)
- Rise in matters initiated (up by over 100)
- Increase in pre-complaint resolutions (up by 34)
- Growth in complaints filed (up by 25)
- Significant decrease in wait time for initial intake appointments (from over 6 months to 3 weeks)
Nantasha Williams
0:24:21
advocate for more resources for our agency, but that will not stop the work that has to continue on our mandate.
0:24:30
Okay.
0:24:30
Turning my questions to the mayor's management report.
0:24:33
In the PMMMR, it is stated that CCHR currently has 21 staff attorneys compared to 12 during the same time period in fiscal twenty twenty four.
0:24:44
How was this increase improve the commission's ability to fulfill its mandates?
Katherine Carroll
0:24:51
Thank you for that question madam chair.
0:24:53
I'm happy to report that for all of our metrics in reaching New Yorkers from law enforcement, we've increased access.
0:25:00
So our number of inquiries received has gone up approximately 1,500, our matters initiated has gone up over a hundred, our pre complaint resolutions has gone up by 34, and our complaints filed has gone up by 25.
0:25:15
In addition to that, we've significantly decreased the wait time from the time someone initially contacts the agency to when they get a first formal intake appointment from at one point it was over six months and we're currently at three weeks from initial contact to intake appointment.
0:25:32
We've repeatedly heard from advocates that that wait time at the forefront creates a barrier to New Yorkers getting access and so we're really proud that we've been able to cut that down to a mere three weeks.
0:25:43
Compared to what was it before?
0:25:45
Over six months.
Nantasha Williams
0:25:51
Okay.
0:25:53
In the PMMR, it also stated that the number of complaints closed decreased by 19% due to the increase in staff attorneys increasing the number of intake appointments that can be scheduled each week.
0:26:06
So on average how long oh that's you just answered that.
0:26:09
How many cases on average does a staff attorney handle?
Katherine Carroll
0:26:14
When we bring on new staff, we start them with a caseload of between ten and fifteen and then over the first three months of their employment we get them up to between forty and fifty.
Nantasha Williams
0:26:26
How many additional staff attorneys would be needed to handle the increased caseload to ensure the number of cases that you can manage isn't impacted?
Katherine Carroll
0:26:38
I think as the commissioner mentioned, the you know we could always do more with more and there's never enough money for us to be able to combat all of the discrimination that's going on in New York.
0:26:48
However, we have really focused on turning to pre complaint resolutions as a way to get quick access and quick resolution for New Yorkers while also spending time building out the more complex cases like the housing settlement that Commissioner Palmer mentioned where we're able to get you know significant amount of set asides that means real housing for New Yorkers as well as significant amount of civil penalties that can operate as a deterrent bad actors.
0:27:14
So we try to balance both the front end of getting quick resolution where we can while also taking the time to build out the large cases that combat systemic discrimination.