Deqa Dhalac, a Somali immigrant and social worker, said she filed the complaint because the council rejected her nomination to the city's Civil Service Commission.
BY KELLEY BOUCHARD
Thursday, September 01, 2016
South Portland's City Council will meet Sept. 7 to consider a discrimination complaint filed against the city by an African-American woman whose nomination to a municipal commission was rejected. Photo by Kelley Bouchard/Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard/Staff Photographer
The South Portland City Council will hold an executive session on Sept. 7 to discuss a human rights discrimination complaint that was filed against the city by an African-American woman whose nomination to a municipal commission was rejected in March.
The council will meet behind closed doors at 6 p.m. with Mark Franco, an attorney with Drummond Woodsum of Portland who specializes in civil rights litigation and municipal law, according to emails from interim City Manager Don Gerrish to city councilors.
Franco is representing the city on behalf of the Maine Municipal Association, which provides liability insurance for the city’s public officials, Gerrish said in the emails. The association is paying Franco’s fees related to the complaint.
The city was notified on June 13 that a complaint had been filed with the Maine Human Rights Commission, Gerrish said.
Deqa Dhalac, a Somali immigrant and social worker, later told the Portland Press Herald that she filed the complaint because the council rejected her nomination by Councilor Brad Fox to the city’s Civil Service Commission.