Minutes 02-16-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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going to meet on Friday to talk about boards and commissions and to have this just spring up out of the blue for people that have been dedicated is not the way that Orange County government should work or has worked. He agreed with Commissioner Pelissier that there needs to be a different name for Housing and Community Development to make it clear that this is the place where someone would go regarding concerns about social justice. Also, he is not clear that there is going to be a person or a place in that department that would deal with the social justice issue. He said that these two boards and commissions should be able to comment on these suggested changes before the Board takes action on this item. He said that what distinguishes Orange County's government is that sometimes the County Commissioners empower boards to challenge them. He does not want to take this out of the mix. Commissioner Gordon thanked the public for speaking and said that boards and commissions provide valuable services. She said that there are two issues — reorganization of County departments and what happens to these two boards. She said that since they are having a retreat on February 19th it is premature tonight to make decisions about any boards and commissions. She said that you cannot see the social justice and human rights function in the housing department reorganization chart. There are overlaps in the area of housing and human rights and relations, but there are other things that the HRR and CfW do that are not involved in housing. She would like to defer the discussion of the role of the CfW and the HRC to the retreat. She would also like to solicit advice from the boards and commissions. Commissioner Pelissier said that there is a feeling that she has heard from other members of boards that if a certain board might be integrated to another board, then it means that nobody cares about that function. She said that this is not the case. She said that she highly values what the boards and commissions have provided and she hopes that the input continues. Chair Foushee said that the County Commissioners are grateful that the boards and commissions members came out to speak on this issue and they have represented their colleagues. She said that it seems the County can move forward on the reorganization of the departments, but defer the discussion on boards and commissions until February 191h Commissioner Hemminger said that some of the by-laws could be changed with the exception of meeting dates. She also thanked the board members for the emails. Commissioner Nelson said that he does not want to completely walk away from the Manager continuing to investigate whether or not a non-profit would be a reasonable solution for managing the services. Frank Clifton said that Orange County works with many non-profits and many of the County departments have grant opportunities and contracts for services with a lot of non-profit agencies. He said that there are a lot of agencies that could probably be the advocate in certain areas. He said that the County has to be very careful in the roles that it takes in advocating various issues that may be better served by a spokesperson in the private and non- profit sector. Commissioner Nelson said that one of the projects the Commission for Women has set up is the Shelter Workgroup. He said that County government cannot start a shelter and it has to come from a non-profit. He said that figuring out a way to partner with a non-profit to deliver these services might be a smart way to meet this goal of shelter services for women. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Nelson and said that he appreciated the Manager's comments regarding the role of County government. He said that it is important to include in the conversation the boards and commissions that may be affected because they have experience and have researched these issues. Commissioner Gordon said that she would like to vote separately on authorizing the Manager to pursue negotiations.