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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 111901ROSETTA WASH, CO- CHAIR, INTERFAITH COUNCIL SHARRON HINTON, MANAGEMENT ANALYST, COUNTY MANAGERS OFFICE ORINTHIA BARBER, ADM. ASST. O THE ASST. COUNTY MGR. lOBIN BARNHILL, OCIM MARVIN BLOCK, ADVISORY BOARD ON AGING LOUISE ECHOLS, AT-LARGE MARY BOWS, SOCIAL SERVICES BOARD MELVIN HURSTON, BOARD OF HEALTH BARRYJACOBS, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS SUE RUSSELL, PARTNERSHIP FOR YOUNG CHILDREN D. DAVID THOMPSON, JR., AT-LARGE PAT VANDIVIERE, OPCAREA PROGRAMS REBECCA A. YOUNG, AT-LARGE DRAFT Approved on: January 14, 2002. ORANGE COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION P.O. Box 8181 200 SOUTH CAMERON STREET HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. 27278 Minutes November 19, 2001 Courtp of \ r + VI firth (�UCov, A regular meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission was held on November 19, 2001, at the Southern Human Services Center, 2501 Homestead Road, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. MEMBERS PRESENT: Marvin Block; Mary Bowe; Louise Echols; Melvin Hurston; David Thompson; Rebecca Young. MEMBERS ABSENT: Robin Barnhill; Barry Jacobs; Sue Russell; Rosetta Wash. STAFF PRESENT: Corinthia Barber; Sharron Hinton; Nancy Paciga. STAFF ABSENT: Albert Kittrell, Assistant County Manager. 1. Establishment of Quorum: Ms.Echols volunteered to act as Chair, in the absence of Ms. Wash. Acting Chair Echols announced that, with six out of eleven total members present, there was a quorum. ', Additions or Changes to the Agenda : Acting Chair Echols asked the membership if there were any additions or deletions to the agenda. Ms. Hinton wanted to add the retirement of Albert Kittrell, Assistant County Manager. Ms. Paciga asked that the resignation of Co -Chair Kinert be added. Mr. Hurston moved, Ms. Young seconded, to accept the revised agenda. VOTE: UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. 3. Member Comments: Mr. Block said he's delighted that the bonds passed; that gives us the green light for two senior centers. He added that he's glad that all the bonds went through including schools and housing. He said that the County would also move ahead with construction of, not only the two senior centers, but also day care centers. He also spoke about a new respite care committee which is a subcommittee of the Master Aging Plan Committee. Acting Chair Echols said that the Health Department is giving flu shots. She added that one needs to call for an appointment. That is recommended because this year we did not receive as much of the vaccine as usual. There is not a charge if one has Medicaid B, and it only costs $5.00 anyway for everyone else, Ms. Echols added. Ms. Echols also spoke about there being another date for car seat distribution. She is taking appointments for people to come get car seats and is looking for people of low income who need seats and cannot afford them. She asked the members to refer them to her office. The location of the next distribution will be in the parking lot behind the Health Department at Hillsborough. She added that National Safe Kids sent her 105 seats, which was good. She said that the main thing is safety. She wants to be sure that anyone who takes a car seat for a child is trained in its proper use, so that no child is injured from improper or ineffective use of a car seat. Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125 : Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga @co.orange.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission Minutes — November 19, 2001 Page 2 of 5 . Items for Discussion and /or Decision : A. Retirement of Albert Kittrell, Assistant County Manager : The retirement of Albert Kittrell, Assistant County Manager, was announced by Acting Chair Echols. She said that he will be missed greatly. Staff will bring a card to the January, 2002 meeting. B. Resignation of Debbie Kinert, Co-Chair: Acting Chair Echols also announced that Co -Chair Debbie Kinert had resigned. She said that Ms. Paciga had spoken to her on the telephone about it. Ms. Kinert said, "Regretfully I must resign from the Human Services Advisory Commission. I have enjoyed working with all of you very much. You are a wonderful group. However, my commitment to working with advocacy for the disabled has increased to the point where I cannot devote quality time to the HSAC at the present. Please do not hesitate to call on me, however, at any time for advice or if you have need an extra hand. I would love to help on an as- needed basis. Best wishes to all of you!" Acting Chair Echols also suggested a card be bought and signed by the members for Co -Chair Kinert. Staff will bring the card to the January, 2002 meeting. C. Minutes of October 15, 2001 : Mr. Hurston moved acceptance, seconded by Mr. Thompson, to approve the minutes as written. VOTE: UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. D. Adoption of 2002 Regular HSAC Meeting Calendar: This was presented by Ms. Paciga as follows: to have a regular meeting every third Monday of the month, except: a) in January to have the regular meeting on the second Monday, due to the Martin Luther King Holiday, which falls on the third Monday; b) to hold the annual Human Services Forum in September, 2002 on a date to be determined; c) to have no meeting in December, 2002 due to the holidays. Motion made by Mr. Hurston, seconded by, Mr. Thompson. VOTE: 'UNANIMOUS APPROVAL. E. Nomination Committee for the Election of Officers for 2002 : A Nominating Committee was chosen by consensus to consist of Melvin Hurston and Acting Chair Echols. The Nominating Committee will present a slate of officers at the January 2002 meeting. F. Participant Evaluations from the 2001 Forum : Ms. Barber provided these at the meeting. There was discussion about some of the comments, such as the temperature of the room, the need for more poverty— income level persons to be on the panel, etc. Acting Chair Echols commented that time has a tendency to get away with us at the Forum. She also commented that she thinks that whoever our guest speakers are should be the leaders of the breakout sessions, because then you would have some continuity, and the participants would be able to ask many of their questions in the breakout sessions. Mr. Hurston said it is challenging to keep our energy level up that high all day long. G. The Reporting Methods of the HSAC to and from the Board of County Commissioners and to the Community : Discussion ensued about how to report the issues that the HSAC has identified via the annual Forums to the Board of County Commissioners, and; that the HSAC would like to receive periodic reports on decisions made by Board of County Commissioners to address these issues, and; that the HSAC would like to receive information on any progress being made toward solutions of the identified ;sues. Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125 : Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga @ co. orange.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission Minutes — November 19, 2001 Page 3 of 5 Mr. Hurston asked what do we do with the participants' comments? He added that we need to summarize `"gem and comment on them in some way. Ms. Young said she thinks we should be more action - oriented in the Forum. She added that she doesn't think that the small groups went very well. Mr. Block asked what it is that she means. Ms. Young said that instead of the way we do this now, we should set out what the problem is and, in the groups, have them bring up the solutions. She thinks that we are missing the opportunity to come up with solutions to the problem. Mr. Hurston says, in that model, we, as a body, would have to do a lot of homework before the Forum. Ms. Young thinks we could streamline things by a couple of years by having all these team players work on solving them at the forum. Mr. Hurston said we would have to take some action ahead of time to identity the issues before the forum. He said that we haven't lost any time because we could do a follow up round table on the issues that were raised and identified at the forum. Mr. Hurston added that we get more participation when people identify their own issues that they are working on. Mr. Hurston asked how much work can we do without the sanctioning of the Board of County Commissioners? Mr. Hurston suggested that we have a second meeting. We can say to the Board of County Commissioners that we have worked with a host of people but we have also gotten a host of suggestions to solve these problems. He added that the way we give information to the Board of County Commissioners today is that they are fighting with a host of other problems so the one we bring to them is put on the back burner. He asked •thy did the 1989 forum have to be done again? The answer is that there were not enough minds to address .ie problems. Ms. Young says the forums are all very interesting but they are really just info - gathering meetings. She asked wouldn't it be stronger if it wasn't just the HSAC making these recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners, but, instead all these people at the forum? Mr. Hurston said we could make this a two or three year process. Mr. Hurston said that what we have done is to acquire and identify issues and to present them to the decision makers. It is better for them to know about them than not to know about them. He thinks that it is not very practical to present the issues and the solution at the same time. He wanted to know whose responsibility is it to make these recommendations, and whose is it to follow up? Mr. Hurston suggested that there be progress reports to the participants so that we can show that there is progress being made. Ms. Hinton said she was thinking about making a strategic plan for how we address issues. That may be part of the recommendations from this forum to have a strategic plan to work on issues that are most important, and to come up with a menu of issues to present to the Board of County Commissioners. Since we are talking about so many issues and things that are going on in so many directions, a strategic plan shows where we are going. She said we could invite other members of the community to come help tease out this recommendation. Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125: Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga @co.orange.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission Minutes — November 19, 2001 Page 4 of 5 The Charge of the Human Services Advisory Commission Ms. Hinton explained to the members that part of '�e HSAC charge is to look at community issues and to make recommendations to the Board of County r;ommissioners. For example, from the Latino Forum things have gotten done such as the Hispanic Center in Carrboro and increased Hispanic signage and brochures in County facilities. These happened in concert with the Forum. Mr. Thompson said that the Board of County Commissioners uses many resources to get the information that they use, not just the HSAC Forum. Ms. Young feels that if we in the HSAC don't know if our voice is being heard by the Board of County Commissioners, then how do the participants know? Ms. Bowe would like to see a mechanism to get a report back from the BOCC on what they have done on the issues the HSAC has identified. Acting Chair Echols said to take the example of teen pregnancy. She pointed out that one agency could not take credit to lower it. Many agencies contributed to this. So, in regard to other problems that have been solved or worked on in the community, we could say the HSAC is " working with other agencies." Mr. Thompson said maybe we could create a report with a bullet list and say these are things that we have had Forums on and the County has done umpteen things in the past, and then distribute this after the Forum or have it in the registration packet. Mr. Block agreed that there are other efforts being done on any particular subject. cting Chair Echols agrees that we don't say enough about what we are doing. She says that the HSAC .eeds to market the positive things that we are doing as a group to the Board of County Commissioners and as to the particulars of what we do. Mr. Block said you have to give people the opportunity to reflect on the fact that they spent some time. They would like to know that what was accomplished, if anything. And if you don't give them any feedback, they feel nothing was accomplished. Ms. Echols suggested that we include a report each year in the Forum Packet that describes what has been talked about in earlier Forums and what has been accomplished. Mr. Block said what he is concerned about is that the same people might not attend the Forums each year so wouldn't see a report included in the packet. Mr. Block added that he thinks if such a report was distributed, there would be even more interest and participation generated in the Forums, and there would be a greater audience. We are not tooting our horn at all he said. Ms. Young added that she agreed with Mr. Block, in that doing such a report would reward and encourage participation. Ms. Young doesn't think it is about what we have done or what we haven't done, but it is about facilitating more people being involved. It is also about us showing we appreciate what they have said and the time they have spent at the Forums. Mr. Hurston said that what he would like to recommend is that we take time out of future meetings to develop "iis structure, and to facilitate the process that we've been discussing. We have hit on something that is very Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125: Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga @co.orange.nc.us Human Services Advisory Commission Minutes — November 19, 2001 Page 5 of 5 important and there have been some very good ideas. He added that this topic is so important that at least half -f our meeting tonight has been devoted to it. However, he feels that we are not going to resolve it tonight. Ms. Young said that she thinks that this is a good idea. Ms. Hinton asked the Commission if it would be interested in having someone from the Dispute Settlement Center come help us facilitate this process, to help us get through it, to help us get our thoughts down. Mr. Hurston said this was a good idea, and he asked Ms. Hinton to obtain someone for the January meeting. Ms. Bowe agreed that this was a good idea. H. Draft 2001 Forum Report The members received this with their 11 -19 -2001 agenda packets. Ms. Hinton said we need to finalize some things on the 2001 Draft Forum Report. She added that the Board of County Commissioners Goal Setting Retreat has been rescheduled from December 2001 to January 2002, so we won't present the 1999 and 2000 Forum reports then. She added that in order for us to be able to present the 2001 Forum report to the Board of County Commissioners in early 2002, we need to finalize some things on the Draft Report. Ms. Hinton asked that the members share their comments with her about the Draft 2001 Forum Report. She said she would like to receive those comments and suggestions by December 14, 2001. Then, she will make those changes and email the Draft 2001 Forum Report back to the members so that they can adopt the Forum Report at the January, 2002 meeting. I. Prioritization of Breakout Group Recommendations Ms. Hinton said that at the January meeting we can ,Iso prioritize the Breakout Group Session Recommendations. However, several members said that the ,reakout group recommendations have already been prioritized. The only one not done was Housing. Mr. Hurston, as facilitator of the Housing Breakout Group, said that the points in order of importance should be 1) to provide information to the public on affordable housing; 2) to make it convenient to public transportation; 3) (this will be filled in later as staff could not determine what Mr. Hurston said from the audio tape or the typed notes); 4) housing for special populations, such as the handicapped and the elderly. 5. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m. The next regularly - scheduled meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission will be held on January 14, 2002 at 5:30 p.m. at the Government Services Center, in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Respectfully submitted, Nancy C. Paciga Assistant to the Clerk to the Orange County Board of Commissioners Protecting and Preserving People, Resources and Quality of Life Orange County, North Carolina - You Count! Area Code (919) 245 -2125 : Fax (919) 644 -0246: EMAIL: npaciga @co.orange.nc.us