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CSC Minutes 05/01/1992 Children ' s Services Council of Collier County Minutes/Transcript May 1 , 1992 The Children's Services Council Of Collier County Meeting of May 1, 1992 Council Members Present Council Members Absent Alma Cambridge Judge Cynthia Ellis Lavern Gaynor Bea Harper Dr . Thomas Richey Robert Ritz Burt Saunders Ron Webster Mary Ellen zum Felde A meeting of the Children's Services Council was held on Friday, May 1, 1992 , 9: 00 AM, Collier County School Board Room. The meeting was chaired by Bea Harper . The invocation was delivered by Dr . Thomas Richey, followed by the pledge of allegiance. The minutes were approved as presented. Motion made by Dr. Thomas Richey; seconded by Burt Saunders and passed unanimous . The treasurer' s report was presented by Mary Ellen zum Felde, treasurer; cash on hand as of 3/31/92 , $2 , 668 . 97 ; income, $2 , 766 . 49; expenses , $2 , 746 . 24; cash on hand 4/30/92 , $2 , 689 . 22 . Mrs . Harper welcomed Commissioner Burt Saunders and School Board Member Ron Webster as new members of the Council . Paul Pinson, executive director, reported Malcolm Davis, C. P. A. , has volunteered to assist the Council in setting up a computer bookkeeping program. Software for the program will be purchased when funds are more readily available . He continued that Meg Steinbeck, legal counsel , had been requested to research a legal opinion regarding the Council ' s obligation, as an unfunded, independent special district , to submit quarterly reports to the Collier County Board of Commissioners . Mrs . Steinbeck advised the Council should provide quarterly reports to the Commission even though it receives monies from private funds only. Staff has been instructed to proceed accordingly . Mr. Pinson then commented the six applications received for Council seats had been forwarded to the Governors Office by the Board of Commissioners and it is anticipated appointments will be made prior to the June Council meeting . He also advised, the Council is still sharing office space with the Naples Alliance For Children and there is flexibility for the next month or two in which to explore for new office space. Reference was then made to a letter addressed to Neil Dorrill , Collier County Manager , signed by Mrs . Frances Barsh and Mr . Egon Hill . The letter requested a hearing before the Board of Commission to express their "concern as to the use of county funds to subsidize the Children' s Services Council . " Mrs . Harper responded and reaffirmed the Council 's position not to seek county funds and questioned the reasoning of the request . Mr. Saunders commented he perceives the ultimate object of Mrs . Barsh and Mr. Egon is to have the ordinance establishing the Council abolished. Judge Cynthia Ellis , reported on the current status of the Sexual Abuse Treatment Program of Collier County which had been previously funded by the SATP of Lee County. She explained the only avenue presently open to sexual abuse victims for counselling since the SATP was cancelled is the David Lawrence Center, and that the Center recently received a HRS grant providing funds for a sexual abuse therapist . She continued by saying contact had been made with Kathy Hebert of HRS, Elizabeth Harrison, previously in charge of Collier County' s SATP program, Sandy Glover, executive director, Child Protection Team, and Rosa Hernandez White, Victim' s Advocacy, Collier County Sheriff 's Office. It was pointed out that once the Collier County SATP is established, interaction among the various agencies will be required. Reactivating the SATP is off to a good start and the committee will continue its efforts to expand the program. To emphasize the severity of sexual abuse in Collier County, Judge Ellis held up sheet after sheet of computer data, each line representing a child who was the victim of battery, sodomy, fondling, lewd and lascivious behaviour, the majority of which took place in the home . Rich Hallas , guardian ad litem, gave a brief outline on the Success By Six Plan of Minneapolis , Minnesota. The information was forwarded to Mr. Hallas by Virginia Rudolpha, former executive director of the Minneapolis guardian ad litem program. The Plan has an annual budget of $36,000 , 000 funded by the state legislature and the private sector and is staffed by approximately 200 volunteers . Success By Six is the umbrella; the United Way is holder of the umbrella. The Plan was launched in 1988 to address the barriers preventing young children, ages 0 to 6 , from developing to their full potential for mental , personal and academic achievement . It is a broad based intiative aimed at creating community support for children. Its goal is to have every child within the specified age group to have the necessary mental , physical , social and emotional development to successfully embrace the educational and social opportunities for growth and learning necessary in schools and the community . The Plan also addressed the problems of parents . The Plan' s goals were to: 1 . build community awareness and understanding; 2 . improve service access for all ; and 3 . to expand collaborations . Strategies were developed to achieve these goals; it dealt with immediate barriers -- unrecognized crisis , poverty, inacessible information, limited cultural understanding and system fragmentation. Example: Goal #1 . Community awareness and understanding was accomplished on all levels . Everyone in Minneapolis understands the Plan. A comprehensive legislative package and an employer participation programs were each developed. Mr . Hallas commented on one effective community awareness program ie. , the Activity Parent Card which assures parents they will receive assistance with any problem in the 0 to 6 age group. At present , there are 26,000 parent card holders . Mr. Hallas cited other programs and turned over the collected computer data to Mr . Pinson for in-depth study offering his services to assist in any manner. Mrs . Hallas made a brief comment on funding data and made reference to other Minneapolis programs for children beyond the 0 to 6 age group; this , too, was turned over to Mr. Pinson. Myra Shapiro, president , Naples Alliance For Children, and formerly of Minneapolis stated . Minnesota has always been child oriented, and validated the effectiveness of the Parent Card Program. Paul Pinson addressed the agenda's mission and funding item by presenting the draft of a 3-phase business plan based on the strong philosophy that the power behind the CSC, the real thrust , needs to be, and always has been, the capacity and ability to fund services . Phase 1 . First 6 months, a short term period of initiation, during which time the Council must be kept alive with the administrative office and staff functioning; an awareness and education program would begin utilizing media partnership; an issue (to be determined) to serve as a key, central theme through phase 3 would be approved; needs assessments would continue; work on a Children and Family Information Center would begin; net- working with service providers and supportive community resources would be continued; a newsletter created; legal counsel to rework special legislation for CSC would be sought; funds for short term operation would be raised and plans for long term funding initiated. Phase 2 . Beginning of second 6 months, expand upon phase 1 with focus upon the Minneapolis Plan; implement an intermediate fund raising plan through phase 3 that will serve as the foundation for future activity; • Phase 3 . Beginning of next 12 to 18 months . Continue to build on phases 1 and 2 , and consider the wisdom of going to referendum. Burt Saunders questioned the wisdom of waiting two years to get the Council back before the voters and suggested that a quicker method of obtaining funds would be to seek monies from the Board of Commision. He doubted if an attempt to seek funds from the Florida Legislature similar to the Minneapolis Plan would be successful . He also suggested the Phase 3 Plan be tightened. Bob Ritz reported on the recent reorganization of HRS by the Florida legislature and focused his comments on the newly legislated Health and Human Service Boards, which he believes will greatly effect all the Children' s Services Councils around the state. He explained fifteen people will serve on the District 8 H&HS District Board, with the Collier County Commissioners selecting two members for the District 8 H&HS Board, the governor appointing three persons, Sarasota 3 , Lee 3 , and Hendry, DeSoto, Glades and Charlotte selecting one person. The Boards will be important in planning HRS Services; ie. , District 8 alone, has an annual budget of approximately $200 ,000 ,000 with much of its budget contracted out directly to non-profit entities in the private sector . The Boards will each have considerable influence. In my view, the Children' s Services Councils around the state could be the perfect standing committee within a county for children' s services that can feed into the Board. These Boards , over time, will probably be the focal point for all health and human services that the state administers . Mr. Ritz continued by saying other changes had emerged from the legislature, including flexibility in budgets and personnel , and a concept called innovative zones -- a program in which HRS can take a percentage of monies that normally reverts to the state and use them for innovative projects in the community. He then said, the Council needs to become involved with these Boards when they are established. The CSC should do needs assessments and be the focal point of a central information and referral program, and suggested all of this be addressed at some point in the near future . . Dr. Thomas Richey, superintendent of schools, stated he was aware of the H&HS Boards and remarked there were many possibilities for the Council to consider as reported by Mr . Ritz . He suggested Paul ' s 3-phase plan be reduced to writing; that it be a special topic with nothing else on the agenda; that the Council explore where it is going and focus on what the mission should be and how it will be funded. Bob Ritz commented further, that once the 15 member Boards are established they can increase themselves to 23 , which means the Council could be represented on the actual Board itself . He reiterated the Boards will direct monies , programs and services in Florida because very few counties fund human service programs in comparision to the state dollars , and concluded with the importance of the Council working in this direction. Mr . Ritz then made reference to the Minneapolis Plan working on issues of education and other barriers, and reported there are presently 15 grants for infants and toddlers working on these same issues for children ages 0 to 5 in Florida with a collaboration of people developing a state plan to be submitted to the Department of Education in October 1992 . Pat Abbott , Collier County Public Health Dept . , asked if Mr . Ritz was referring to the LICC, Local Inter-Agency Coordinating Council , and commended the state for its effort to integrate HRS' s Healthy Start Program and the Department of Education. She also reported Collier County has a strong, viable District Inter-Agency which met last week to integrate Healthy Start locally. She then observed Minneapolis is a long established city; whereas , Collier County is a rapidly growing community where traditions are lacking and stated that even though the Healthy Start Program, ages 0-1 and gradually up to school age, has begun, it has not gotten support in the Governor's Investment Budget . Alma Cambridge pointed out the importance of the information presented by Mr . Ritz and Mrs . Abbott and emphasized the necessity for the Council to have a thorough accounting of what is taking place on state and local levels before voting on issues . She then stated Collier County is very mobile and in a constant state of change. One of its biggest problems she cited is the numbers of old and young people who left their traditional backgrounds to come here to sleep, play and work with the young families being squeezed. Mrs . Cambridge then expressed concern for her race, saying there were only three black students graduating from Barron High and 19 black students from Lely High with the predominate number being Haitian. She reemphasized the seriousness of children's problems and the need of the Council to evaluate all aspects of service providers and the community. Dr. Richey stated Mrs . Cambridge' s concern for the cutural changes taking place was a valid one; that before dealing with these children and their problems -- to have access to them -- it is necessary to understand the cultural changes taking place . Bea Harper inquired "Will the school board appoint the two members to the H&HS Board?" Bob Ritz : No, it will be the Board of County Commission and further explained that two district groups are now being established; ie . , the Nominee Qualification Review Committee and the H&HS Boards . The Nominee Qualification Review Committee will receive and review all applicants for the health and human service District Board before submitting same to the Board of Commissions , who will select two persons . The Nominee Qualification Review Committee is comprised of a representative of the School Board, the Board of County Commission, the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court and the Governor . Dr . Richey inquired if the Board positions were salaried. Mr . Ritz stated they were not and Dr . Richey expressed his concern about this aspect of the Board function. A continued sharing of views on all the information presented concluded with a motion made by Burt Saunders requesting a definitive strategy dealing with direction and funding of the Council be placed on the next agenda; seconded by Ron Webster . Bea Harper proposed that since she had served as chairman for the past 18 months and Richard Shanahan, former vice-chairman, had been replaced by Mr . Saunders that election of chairman and vice-chairman be placed on the next agenda. Judge Cynthia Ellis asked: "What is the time plan when the H&HS Board will have money? Bob Ritz replied the Nominating Qualification Review Committee will be selecting applications on June 19 through July 1st . The Collier County Commission will have from August into September to make its selection from the applicants presented by the Nominating Qualification Review Committee . The H&HS Board, controlling not disbursing monies , will call its first meeting in November to establish By-Laws, etc . , and then in December will begin to work needs assessment , set goals and objectives and prepare the budget for the legislature. The Board must provide for mandated programs; ie. , Food Programs and Child Protection Services , etc . , but it may decide different priorities for optional services . Judge Cynthia Ellis , reemphasized the need to address short term funding in order to keep the office functioning . There was a general consensus efforts to continue with public awareness should be sustained, development of an information and referral program should begin, the Council should not approach the Board of Commission for funds, immediate short term funding would not be considered as competition by the service providers , and Mr . Pinson should continue to explore all possibilities including reaching out to the yes voters and exploring a 501 .C3 status through a separate body. There being no further business the meeting was adjourned. Sincerely, Mary Ellen zum Felde 5/8/92