Human Rights Commission To Host Roundtable About Housing and Discrimination

The Sullivan County Human Rights Commission will be hosting a Roundtable on Human Rights at SUNY Sullivan on December 3rd from 11 AM – 2 PM.

The event will be open to the community to voice their concerns about issues they have faced and to create conversation about the most productive ways to move forward. Board members of the newly revived commission will be present, as well as Sullivan County Court Judge Danielle Jose-Decker, Civil Rights Lawyer Matthew A. Peluso, and Local Attorney Maria Zeno who are able to give legal insights to attendees.

According to Ramone E. Wilson, Executive Director of the Human Rights and Consumer Affairs, the event is for the community to exercise their civil liberties and help generate solutions about the biggest problem facing Sullivan County, namely housing rights and discrimination in the workforce.

”That’s the whole purpose of government in my opinion,” said Wilson. “That communities should know what’s going on and we should be held accountable and held to a higher standard.”

Wilson was appointed to his role in April 2025, but this roundtable will be one of the first major public appearances for the newly-appointed Human Rights Commission. After the resignation of its previous Executive Director Adrienne Jensen in 2023, the commission remained dormant for two years until a new board was appointed by the Sullivan County Legislature in 2025.

In a statement to Radio Catskill, Jensen said she is still “happy to help in any way I can” with the current HRC board, although she is no longer directly involved. However, many in the community expressed concern about the appointment of local media personality Bill Liblick, who is posting advertisements for the event in the Sullivan County Post Facebook Group he moderates, and District 9 Legislator Amanda Ward.

The commission has spent most of its renaissance year collecting data and research on evictions and reported cases of workforce discrimination, but Wilson also assures that the board is also working effectively together while addressing their professional affiliations.

“ We do address issues of how we represent ourselves outside of the office that we hold here in Sullivan County and making sure that the residents know that we take this work very seriously,” said Wilson. “ And I think going into the new year, we’ll be able to lay out a plan where we are proactive with each representative of each community.”

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