The Livingston County Commissioners will vote Monday night to approve or renew five applicants to the County's Human Services Collaborative Body.
The HSCB has 26 volunteer members made up from representatives of public and non-profit organizations, businesses and residents. The body coordinates health and human services across Livingston County and addresses multiple issues including hunger, transportation, substance abuse, and homelessness. The members must be approved by the commissioners.
Four of the five appointees are up for renewal, and one would be a new member.
But a December 5 email asked applicants as part of the approval process three questions that some officials familiar with the process called politically charged and irrelevant.
Commissioner Nick Fiani sent the email to applicants for their thoughts in the following areas:
"Would you support the organizational framework of diversity, equity, and inclusion (typically referred to as DEI)? Would you support a person under 18 years of age to receive gender altering services without the consent of his or her parent or legal guardian? Would you support a woman under 18 years of age to receive elective abortion services without the consent of her parent or legal guardian?"
He copied four of the other eight commissioners on his email.
Fiani did not respond to interview requests made by email, phone and social media. But fellow Commissioner Wes Nakagiri said those questions are not political.
"Are the people we are appointing going to approach problems from, I'll say, a center-right perspective, or are they going to approach problems from the opposite direction. I guess you could call that political, I call it policy," Nakagiri said.
Nakagiri disagreed with those who called the questions irrelevant.
"I think there is relevance," he said. "I'm interested in understanding the candidates' world view. We are appointing people to represent the county. I think it's important to understand as much as we can before we vote."
Those members up for renewal include John Furey, with Livingston County Catholic Charities, Buffy Kahl with LETS Transportation, Angela Parth with Livingston Family Center, and Brooke Rains with the Child Care Network. A new appointee would be Katharine Choate with Gleaners.
