HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 0111992
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CORRECTED MINUTES - PLEASE DISCARD EARLIER VERSION.
HUIVIAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION
MINUTES
JANUARY 11, 1999
(THOSE PRESENT ARE BOLD AND UNDERLINED) Judy Cox, Co- Chair; Louise
Echols. Co- Chair; Christine Barfield, Karen Tavlor; Euqene (Geno) F. Pichette:
Donald David Thompson, Jr.; Beverly Foster, Dee Gamble, Marvin Block, Deborah
Kinert, Alice Gordon, Herschel Slater, Sue Russell, Lynette Jeffries, Hazel Lunsford,
Victoria Hain
STAFF: Albert Kittrell; Nancy Martin.
WELCOME AND MEMBER UPDATE: The members each introduced themselves, and
updated the others on their department's activities. The gave special welcome to our
new members, Geno Pichette, and Donald David Thompson.
MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 1999
A motion was made by Christine Barfield, seconded by Judy Cox, to approve the
minutes of the November 16, 1999 meeting with no changes. Vote: unanimous.
OLD BUSINESS:
1998 FORUM REPORT
The members who have been on the Commission for a longer time explained the
Annual Forum to the new members, Geno Pichette and David Thompson.
The members offered their comments to Mr. Kittrell for revisions of the Forum report:
27 Regarding the category called "Who Will Do This," Karen Taylor commented that it is a
28 little bit sparse, and she suggested that this column be combined with "What Should Be
29 Done ?" On those columns where there is listed an agency, person, etc., to work on the
30 issue, this information could be indicated with a little star. The name of the agency,
31 person, etc., could be included at the bottom of the column.
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33 After subsequent discussion, it was agreed upon by consensus to combine the two
34 columns, i.e.: "What Should Be Done and Who Will Do This ?" and that some of these
35 columns will have the "Who" and others will not.
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37 It was also suggested that when a speaker or a facilitator is mentioned in the Report ,
38 that consistency be used in their titles. For instance, Ms. Taylor said she has seen
39 reports where all the men are referred to as "Doctor" but the women are not, when, in
40 fact, if some of the women do hold phd. degrees, they get offended by that oversight.
41 Ms. Taylor suggested giving everyone a generic form of address, or else, not using any
42 form of address, but just first and last names. It was the consensus of the Commission
43 to employ the latter method in the 1998 Forum Report.
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HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION 2
MINUTES
JANUARY 111 1999
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3 Judy Cox brought up the point that in the Report the facilitators of the discussion groups
4 were not named in every instance, and that she thought there should be consistency
5 here as well. Mr. Kittrell said this could be excluded.
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7 It was decided by consensus to exclude the category entitled, "Facilitators."
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9 The Commission reviewed the Forum Report and November's meeting in order to
10 decide on a goal or recommendation to give to the Board of County Commissioners.
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12 There was discussion of some of the ideas put forth at November's meeting, including
13 an Information and Referral System for the County and the reciprocity of dentists.
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15 Mr. Kittrell explained the current status of the Information and Referral System. He said
16 that the system developed by the Triangle United Way did not work well, and that the
17 County decided not to participate in that project. The County is in the process of
18 developing its own Information and Referral System, he added.
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20 Ms. Taylor found a common theme in the Forum Report and in the Forum to be a need
21 for information and referral about local resources, and access to those resources. She
22 said another theme of the Forum Report is provision of services.
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24 Ms. Beverly Foster reminded us that Sue Russell at the November 16, 1998 meeting
25 thought that our recommendation should be looking at new sources for funding our
26 social services programs.
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28 She also reminded us about what Mr. Hamrick said at the Forum that the mental health
29 system does not appear to be top of the line.
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31 The recommendation of the November 16, 1998 meeting of the Commission on page
32 3, line 28, was discussed. The recommendation was to "hire a consultant to look at new
33 and creative funding strategies to address our contractible human services problems,
34 specifically the needs of housing, childcare, and transportation."
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36 Ms: for said that she had not been able to attend the November meeting, and so had
37 not given her input on the recommendation decided upon at that meeting. She added
38 that she thought the theme of the 1998 Forum was our information and referral system
39 really needs support. Ms. Taylor thinks that the Human Services Advisory Commission
40 should lend its voice to the budgeting process of the County, and say that we think that
41 the Information and Referral System is a very good idea and recommend to the Board of
42 County Commissioners that it not be dropped or allowed to fall through the cracks. She
43 thinks that the biggest problem in human services in the County is not lack of them, but
44 lack of information about them and accessibility to them, not only for the citizenry but for
45 the health and human service professionals.
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HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION
MINUTES
JANUARY 11, 1999
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3 Mr. David Thompson asked if there was some sense of any particular segment of the
4 population who tend to under - utilize services, and could this group be targeted in some
5 way? Who would be most likely to benefit from Information and Referral? he asked.
6 iv Fa S1-cr .
7 Ms* aylor said that this was a good question. She said that the group that she
8 chaired at the Forum did not know the answer to that. Her group wanted the County to
9 convene a meeting with providers to go further into problem - solving, and the question
10 would be: What system would be helpful; who needs that information; and, where is it
11 most lacking? in substance abuse, in mental health, in child care, or health care?
12
13 There was discussion about the January 16, 1999 Board of County Commissioners
14 Goal- Setting Retreat. Ms. Sue Russell had agreed to take the recommendation of the
15 Human Services Advisory Commission of the November 16, 1998 meeting before the
16 Commissioners at that Retreat. However, Mr. Kittrell said that unless the Human
17 Services Advisory Commission had written a letter, to the Commissioners, it was too
18 late for them to be represented at the on the Retreat Agenda, because the Agenda was
19 all set. It was the consensus of the group that no letter had been drafted at the
20 November 16, 1998 meeting.
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22 Karen Taylor said that the Human Services Advisory Commission needed to reach a
23 conclusion on the Forum Report this evening and get it into the hands of the
24 Commissioners as soon as possible, or we will have done all this work for naught. Ms.
25 Taylor added that we need to be true to the voices who spoke at the 1998 Forum in our
26 recommendation or else we will have a credibility problem with those who attended.
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28 Albert Kittrell said that we need to also get this report and its recommendation into the
29 hands of the participants.
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31 Ms.� ylor said she thought that we should check on whether or not Sue Russell had
32 indeed reserved a time to speak to the Commissioners at the Goal- Setting Retreat.
33 Mr. Kittrell said he didn't think that she had done so.
34 s-
35 Ms. aylor suggested the following be done as an Executive Summary as one
36 paragraph with the following basic information: "The Policy Forum was held, 105 people
37 participated; these were the topics; the major conclusions were; the recommendations
38 are." Then, the longer report comes after that summary for people who want to read
39 through it.
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41 Beverly Foster summarized our discussion by saying, "The recommendation or
42 conclusion should be, `to continue efforts to establish an ongoing, current, viable
43 information and referral database for access by citizens and human service
44 professionals.' "
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46 It decided by consensus to adopt this as one of the recommendations to the Board of
47 County Commissioners.
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HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION 4
MINUTES
JANUARY 11, 1999
And, since it is unclear exactly "how our system is broke," or where are the "holes" in
our system, the Commission recommends, also, that the County Commissioners
commission a study group or a task force to look at the needs of the mentally ill
population in our county and to review the infrastructure of services provided to
them.
It was decided by consensus to include the above two recommendations in a cover
letter to be sent to the Board of County Commissioners. The participants should receive
the Finalized Forum Report but not the cover letter. The cover letter would say
something like, here is our Report from the 1998 Forum, and please note the two points,
and repeat them in the letter. The participants would get the executive summary but not
the letter.
The Commission also decided by consensus to remove all jargon from the Report, such
as the word, "fictive" on page 3.
Albert Kittrell requested that someone from the group proof read the Final Report.
MEMBERSHIP
Judy Cox related that Mr. Hersch Slater had called her regarding recruitment of a
person to serve in the OPC Mental Health slot, but he has not been successful in that
yet.
eeJe,rl� �osl�r
K- aren- Tayfor said that she mentioned to the Board of Health that her membership on
Human Services Advisory Commission will be ending in March of this year, and that she
will keep this issue before that Board. She will also recruit personally for this position.
�Yr✓v�`I a� f �� ✓
Beverly F-dster said that she had never gotten a final answer from Dee Gamble as to
whether she could continue on in the DSS representative, because Dee was filling out
Jan's slot.
Ms. Cox, Chair, would like us to send a copy of the report called "Members and Vacant
Positions" to those who were absent at this meeting, along with the minutes and ask for
an update of their addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, etc. Also, ask
everyone to bring this to the February 15, 1999 meeting.
Louise Echols will check with Hazel Lundsford to see if she would be willing to serve
another term since she is elibible for reappointment.
The Community In Schools (CIS) position was discussed. It is an active board, but they
work only with Orange County Schools, not with Chapel Hill or Carrboro Schools, Mr.
Kittrell said. Ms. Taylor explained that the reason we have this slot is because CIS
represented both north and south Orange County and they were active in the schools.
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HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION 5
MINUTES
JANUARY 11, 1999
Mr. Pichette moved that we give CIS one more chance to nominate someone, give them
a "by -when needed" date, and go onto another group if we have no response.
It was decided by consensus to proceed with this method to recruit for the CIS position.
Ms. Judy Cox urged the group to think seriously about maintaining someone from
"Friends of Department of Social Services," on the Human Services Advisory
Commission.
The meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy C. Martin, Assistant to the Clerk
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