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Commissioner Carey said that educating the public is so important. Increasing awareness <br />will result in more reports, which does not mean there is more child abuse and neglect but that more is <br />being reported. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that she supports this goal. <br />Jahn Link said that he applauds the DSS Board and staff for pursuing this goal. He thinks it <br />needs to be clear that everyone is involved in prevention. He is a little bothered by the grading process. <br />He would rather separate out what it means to try to be preventive from trying to correct existing <br />occasions of abuse. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis thanked Dee Gamble and the Board of Social Services for <br />addressing this issue. He was also upset about the grading because he knows the commitment the <br />County has made over the years to Social Services. <br />Commissioner Brown made reference to the rating system that the State uses and said that <br />the system did not mean that the services were bad and that the employees were ineffective. The <br />grading was to raise the consciousness of the community that child abuse is happening. However, she <br />thinks the rating system could be changed. <br />Chair Jacobs made reference to the Work First program and said that he understands that <br />Congress will be looking at the Welfare Reform bill and asked if the DSS Board would like to have an <br />analysis of what has been done to forward to the congressmen. <br />Dee Gamble said that the board is tracking what is happening with Work First and can <br />provide a summary. They want to be sure that the support service money is not eroded or taken away, <br />which would be a problem. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he would welcome some data that the County Commissioners could <br />share with their Congress people that would be specific about haw Work First could better serve Orange <br />County residents. He would like to be able to provide anecdotes about real people. <br />f. Visitors Bureau Board <br />The Chair of this board was out of town. This board would like to come to the Board of <br />County Commissioners sometime in the near future. <br />9. NEW GOALS, GOALS BY EXCEPTION <br />A new goal was identified for Child Abuse Prevention and for Air Quality. <br />Commissioner Carey said that he feels that the Child Abuse Prevention goal is appropriate. <br />He would like for the Board of Social Services to consider adding Elder Abuse to this goal. The Board <br />will wait on comments from DSS and the Advisory Board on Aging before formally adding this goal. <br />With reference to Air Quality, Commissioner Gordon said that this was not formally adopted last <br />year <br />Commissioner Halkiatis feels this is a good opportunity to highlight air quality issues because <br />some people feel that burning has no bearing an air quality. This should be out in front all the time. <br />Commissioner Carey asked if this goal was primarily targeted an analyzing the impact that <br />Orange County has on air quality and dealing with that. Although we all understand the importance of air <br />quality this does transcend county lines and something we cannot control. Maybe our taking leadership <br />on this issue will encourage same of our neighbors to take similar action. Air quality is really a huge <br />issue. <br />