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5 <br />It was decided that this would be a topic for the Board of County Comm issioners/Health <br />2 Board meeting scheduled for next month. <br />3 <br />4 Commissioner Brown asked for a report on the services the County provides in the whole <br />5 area of substance abuse - what is being done and who is doing it. <br />6 <br />7 Commissioner Jacobs made reference to a handout at the January 16 retreat on a strategic <br />8 Aging plan and said that he feels we need to address some of these issues. He feels we need to <br />9 have equal opportunities for seniors in the northern and southern parts of Orange County. <br />10 <br />11 Comm issioner.Brown feels that this is the time to develop a senior plan. The Board decided <br />12 that they need to discuss this further and make some decisions. <br />13 <br />14 ESL' <br />15 Chair Gordon said that she feels it is important to support ESL as much as possible. <br />16 <br />17 Commissioner Jacobs wants to make government more accessible to people who don't <br />.18 speak English. He supports training for employees in speaking Spanish. Also, Commissioner <br />19 Halkiotis supports having Spanish signs in all County buildings. <br />20 <br />21 Chair Gordon said that she would like to.see a heavy emphasis on the newcomers to our <br />22 area getting what they need to succeed, including learning English. That needs to be the message <br />23 and we need to support that with dollars and have classes readily available at different times during <br />24 the day and evening hours. <br />25 <br />26 Commissioner Carey feels we need to do both -- teach English to the Spanish speaking <br />27 residents and teach Spanish to those who interact with citizens. We also need to address the <br />28 literacy in this County.- We have residents here who cannot read. <br />29.. <br />30 It was clarified that Lucy Lewis, Orange County'Literacy Director, is trying to address many <br />31 -issues dealing with ESL along with issues dealing with literacy, and that allocating additional <br />32 funding to the Literacy Council may be the best thing to do to help this countywide effort. <br />33 <br />34 Commissioner Halkiotis feels it is important to get information out to the Spanish speaking <br />35 citizens in Spanish so that they can understand health issues%and issues affecting their children. <br />36 Some parents are working three or four jobs and do not have time to learn English. He feels we <br />37 need to. re-sign all our buildings which could probably be done for $1,000. <br />38 <br />39 Commissioner Brown feels that teaching employees Spanish is probably not too successful. <br />46 However, she feels that teaching employees to have a sensitivity to people who don't understand <br />41 what is going on is very important. She feels we should consider hiring people who speak Spanish <br />42 and also identify those we have hired who speak different languages. John Link said that this is <br />43 something they can work on. <br />44 <br />45 WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND MANAGEMENT PROGRAM <br />46 Commissioner Brown made reference to the proposal for the wastewater treatment and <br />47 management program. It was decided that this will be discussed at the BOCC/Health Board joint <br />48 meeting scheduled for March 9. <br />49 <br />