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20 '~~ <br />1 Commissioner Yuhasz asked if the departments could be integrated by July 1St and <br />2 Laura Blackmon said that she thought so. <br />3 A motion was made by Commissioner Yuhasz, seconded by Commissioner Jacobs to <br />4 approve the reorganization as presented. <br />5 VOTE: Ayes, 5; Nays, 2 (Commissioner Hemminger and Commissioner Gordon) <br />6 <br />7 Commissioner Nelson said that it will be imperative that the County Commissioners ask <br />8 questions of the Interim Manager about their reorganizational experience. <br />9 <br />10 <br />11 7. Resorts <br />12 a. Domestic Violence: A Background Report on Question of Need for a <br />13 Shelter in Oranae County <br />14 The Board received a background report on the incidence and alternatives to persons <br />15 experiencing domestic violence in Orange County along with a proposal for helping to facilitate <br />16 a community response. <br />17 Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said that it was a year ago that the Board was <br />18 approached by advocates who saw a need for a domestic violence shelter in Orange County. <br />19 The Board asked the staff to come back with some information about what the Board could do <br />20 regarding this. She made reference to the memo from Human Rights and Relations, which <br />21 provided an overview of what has been happening in Orange County about domestic violence. <br />22 There was a proposal embedded in the abstract from the Commission for Women. <br />23 Human Rights and Relations Director Shoshannah Sayers said that this is a growing <br />24 problem and most of her statistics came from the Family Violence Prevention Center. She <br />25 reviewed her memo. <br />26 <br />27 PUBLIC COMMENT: <br />28 Shannon Jackson read a prepared statement. <br />29 "Hello and good evening County Commissioners. On behalf of the Orange County <br />30 Commission for Women, I am speaking on the issue of obtaining a Domestic Violence Shelter <br />31 in Orange County. <br />32 Last year we came before the Board with the Family Violence Prevention Center to shed <br />33 light and awareness on the issue of domestic violence and the need for a shelter. Since that <br />34 time, the Commission for Women has met to discuss the issue with Representative Verla Insko <br />35 and Senator Ellie Kinnaird, both of whom have expressed their support for the establishment of <br />36 a Domestic Violence shelter in Orange County. <br />37 Additionally, at a recent Commission for Women retreat, the Commission set as one of its <br />38 goals, the development of a partnership with local organizations such as the Family Violence <br />39 Prevention Center, The Women's Center, The Orange County Rape Crisis Center, The Inter- <br />40 Faith Council, The Carolina Women's Center and other organizations that need to be involved <br />41 in the conversation about the Domestic Violence shelter. Our first step is educating ourselves <br />42 more about domestic violence. We are having Domestic Violence training conducted by the <br />43 Family Violence Prevention Center at our June 11 meeting, and we have invited members of <br />44 the Human Relations Commission to join us for that training and we would like to invite all of <br />45 you -members of the Board as well. From there, our next step is a face to face meeting with <br />46 all the stakeholders. <br />47 Building a Task Force with local organizations and existing resources will make it <br />48 possible to identify the gaps in more detail as well as identify the resources that each <br />49 organization provides so that there is no overlapping of resources in the community. We will <br />