Opinion
Ivan E. Bodensteiner, Seymour Moskowitz, Project Justice & Equality, Valparaiso, Ind., for plaintiffs.
Nick Senak and Joseph Skozen, Munster, Ind., Lorenzo Arrendondo, East Chicago, Ind., for defendants.
CONSENT DECREE
ALLEN SHARP, District Judge.
Plaintiffs by counsel and defendants Martin Behnke, W. Atterson Spann and Stanley Oeszewski, Lake County Commissioners, Joseph Kotso, member of the Lake County Board of Voter Registration, Robert Gurnham, Director of the Lake County Plan Commission, Nick Krochta, Lake County Court Clerk, Jose Arredondo, Lake County Auditor, Peter Stecy, Lake County Health Commissioner, George Vlahos, Superintendent of the Lake County Home, Walter Hoshaw, Supervisor of the Lake County Highway Department, Nick Angel, Lake County Treasurer, and Steve W. Manich, Lake County Surveyor, by counsel, having agreed to the entry of this Decree, it is hereby ordered, adjudged and decreed:
1. This Court has jurisdiction of this matter.
2. This is a proper class action as determined by this Court in its Order of February 6, 1974 (62 F.R.D. 121, 122-23 (N.D.Ind.1974)).
3. Because of the racially discriminatory effect of the past employment practices of the defendant County Departments evidenced by the following statistics, plaintiffs and members of the class are entitled to affirmative relief.
4. The attached "pre-Determination Settlements" negotiated by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as they apply to the above-named persons and departments, are hereby incorporated as a permanent injunction of this Court and the said defendants, their agents, employees, and successors in office are hereby permanently enjoined from failing to comply with the terms of the attached "Pre-Determination Settlements." See Exhibit A covering defendants Behnke, Spahn, Oeszewski, Kotso, Gurnham, Krochta, Arredondo, Stecy, Vlahos and Hoshaw, Exhibit B covering defendant Angel, and Exhibit C covering defendant Manich.
As outlined in the attached Exhibit A, each of the defendants named therein shall hire qualified minorities, as vacancies exist, according to the following goals, time-tables and ratios:
Departments with:
5. In the event any defendant finds it impossible to hire minorities in accordance with the ratios set out in the preceding paragraph, they can apply to the court for a modification of this decree. Any such request for modification must be in writing, served on counsel for the plaintiffs and will not be ruled upon until the plaintiffs have an opportunity to respond.
6. Hiring at these ratios shall continue until the minority participation in the work force of each county department is proportional to the minority population of Lake County. Once this proportional equality is reached, hiring of qualified minorities shall continue in sufficient numbers so as to maintain the equality.
7. Copies of all reports required to be submitted to the EEOC by the terms of the attached "Pre-Determination Settlements" are hereby ordered to be made available to counsel for the plaintiffs upon written request served on the defendant official.
8. The County of Lake is hereby ordered to pay to the attorneys for the plaintiffs the sum of three thousand dollars ($3,000.00) in attorney fees.
9. The Court hereby retains jurisdiction of this matter for a period of eighteen (18) months.