Minutes - 20040608 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The Chair dispensed with the reading of the public charge. 2. Public Comments a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda Judge Buckner gave a packet of information to the Clerk. He said that sometimes in the court system they assume everyone knaves what they are doing. He submitted that the district courts are touching lives more than anyone else {traffic cases, divorces, child custody, child support, domestic violence, etc.). He said that they are not going to talk about programs that the court operations team is working on. He wants to talk about issues that need better community coordination. He said that judges are decision makers, but more importantly, problem solvers. With mental health reform coming, they are going to have to find a way to manage these populations in the community. The areas he is referring to are abused and neglected children, traditional crimes, hospital commitment hearings (substance abuse and mental health), child support cases, and community quality of life crimes. He and the other district court judges are committed to looking at this as a problem-solving model. He said that their opinion is that a full 80°~ of these areas of concern {high dollar and high danger issues) is substance abuse related. A component of this is people with mental illness. He said that he has learned that North Carolina is 1 of 29 states that has a mental health court. The substance abuse issues are multiple and he is convinced that there are multiple roads to dependency and addiction. They do not have the jail space or the prison terms to isolate. The mode is to problem solve, and he is asking the County Commissioners to make a commitment and to set up the court structure so that there is accountability. They are going to need treatment, either through OPC or other appropriate agencies. The programs they are looking at are holding people accountable and are providing follow-up. He and his colleagues are completely committed to attacking this problem. He will give the staff some different ideas. The Board expressed appreciation to Judge Buckner for coming to speak. Judge Buckner said that they would like to do multiple community outreach forums. The forums will probably be held in early fall. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he hopes that Commissioner Brawn and Tam Maynard can bring the University to the table because they have tried to bring them to the table before and the University has not participated yet. He hopes they will become a meaningful partner in this. He is really worried about what the State is doing. Judge Buckner said that there are two parts of the University issue -protection of the University and its property and the protection and behavior of students. He thinks there is an interest an the part of the University. He said that they probably cannot be dependent on Raleigh and Washington on this mode and they should go ahead and move forward. Elliot Cramer complimented John Link and the staff on the progress made for the animal shelter takeover. He has some continued concerns about animal neglect at APS. He made reference to a memo from Joe Pulcinella regarding Hope, the puppy who was seriously neglected and abused by APS. No one that was involved was contacted except for Peggy O'Neil, and she has written HSUS regarding this. He said that this is the first time in over two years that anyone at APS has publicly acknowledged that there has been improper care at the shelter. Not even the HSUS report is sufficient to elicit such a response from the prior management. He said that Joe Pulcinella's candor is long overdue. This incident took place before Joe arrived and it appears that no one at APS is being held accountable or has taken personal responsibility. He thinks that Suzy Cooke should be asked to come forward with an explanation of what she did in response to this disgraceful example of animal cruelty.