Princeton Council passed an ordinance Monday night to re-establish a Civil Rights Commission. The proposal to form the Commission, which previously existed from 1968 to 1998, was officially introduced last month.

Before the vote was taken, there was considerable discussion among Council and members of a subcommittee of the town’s Human Services department about the intake process for those registering complaints of discrimination, and the setting up of outside mediation should an issue not be internally resolved. The subcommittee has worked on the issue for the past two years.

Mayor Liz Lempert and Council President Lance Liverman met with the subcommittee earlier in the day. Before opening up the discussion at the Council meeting, Ms. Lempert stressed the fact that the complaint process isn’t the only focus of the proposed Commission. Other duties have to do with public outreach and how to improve internal operations, she said.

After municipal administrator Marc Dashield delivered a summary of the proposed civil rights complaint process, some members of the committee voiced concerns. John Heilner addressed what he called “a whole new twist” to the proceedings, specifically about the duties of an Affirmative Action Officer.

“Our subcommittee never considered that the Affirmative Action officer would handle complaints from the public,” he said. “Our entire two-year-plus discussions have assumed that the Affirmative Action officer is only to handle complaints from municipal employees.”

Leticia Fraga, who chaired the subcommittee, said she was not comfortable with some aspects of the complaint process. “I want to see this ordinance passed sooner rather than later, but I want to see it done right,” she said. Tom Parker, another subcommittee member, echoed Ms. Fraga’s concerns.

Linda Oppenheim, co-chair of the anti-discriminatory organization Not In Our Town, told Council she supports the creation of the commission, but some aspects need strengthening. Daniel Harris asked the governing body to table the ordinance until language of its guidelines is properly incorporated.

Council members expressed some reservations about certain features. Jo Butler was unhappy that she and her colleagues did not receive copies of the refined ordinance until just before the meeting, and wanted to put it on the agenda for the next Council meeting on November 14. But Ms. Lempert said that agenda is already too crowded. Ms. Butler and Patrick Simon ultimately voted against passing the ordinance, but were outvoted by Lance Liverman, Heather Howard, and Jenny Crumiller.

“Doing rather than not doing it is preferable,” said Ms. Crumiller. “Let’s get it on the books and work out the policies later.”

“Most people have no problems with the ordinance. It’s the policies and procedures” that are a problem, said Mr. Liverman, suggesting it be passed but with a timeline for working out those problems.

The purpose of the commission is to provide informal conflict resolution and mediation.

Mr. Heilner thanked Council for devoting time to the issue. “We can all agree that we want Princeton to be in the forefront of civil rights, and have a process that is proactive and accessible to all,” he said, “especially during this time of national tension over civil rights matters.”