Agenda - 09-04-2014 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 1 meant to be a picture of current status and the ways they can integrate women's issues into 2 their current groups. 3 4 Commissioner Dorosin proposed that the Board provide a list of the issues of interest to 5 the HRC, with a request that they come back in May with a 6 -12 month plan to do outreach 6 around those issues. He suggested the focus should be: 1) Issues facing low income and 7 impoverished women (a. childcare, b. job training, and c. general impediments identified in the 8 County); 2) Issues of pay equity; and 3) Women owned businesses. He said this would be his 9 suggestion for a 12 month agenda, and the HRC could decide where this should go. He said a 10 specific focused direction is the key. He said the report that comes back could also detail the 11 partnerships involved. He would like to get feedback from the community to define the issues. 12 Commissioner Gordon suggested that HRC should go ahead and do the report, and she 13 suggested the Board should not decide on a list of issues tonight. She said she and 14 Commissioner Price could come up with some issues that the Board of County Commissioners 15 can review. She does not perceive that the HRC has the time to work on the issues that are 16 being proposed tonight, since they are under staffed and time is short. 17 Commissioner Pelissier said the Board needs to have a clear direction. She is hearing 18 that Commissioner Price and Commissioner Gordon are in favor of a commission, but the rest 19 of the Board is not. She asked if Commissioner Price and Commissioner Gordon are going to 20 work on a new commission. She supports Commissioner Dorosin's priorities, but they are big 21 priorities, and she questions whether a public forum will really provide the hard data needed to 22 know what is going on in the County. She does not want to hand out a task that is too large for 23 an advisory board to take on. 24 Chair Jacobs summarized that HRC will provide a status report on May 20th. He said the 25 Board recognizes that the department is short staffed and that an advisory board is what is 26 being requested. He said there are several proposals for what the Commissioners would like to 27 see, and some of them overlap and some don't. He noted that some of Commissioner 28 Dorosin's priorities would involve other departments, such as DSS. He said if the Board is 29 going to lay out priorities for issues related to women, it may be too complex than even the 30 HRC can do in a report. 31 He said the goal on May 20th should be to identify the issues that are important to the 32 Board of County Commissioners moving forward. He said once these are identified, staff can 33 determine where these issues can be addressed and accomplished in the County government. 34 He said the Board wants to give specific direction, and will take the next opportunity to do that. 35 He said a decision can then be made on whether to have Commissioners partner with HRC to 36 do this, or whether a new organization should be developed. 37 Commissioner Price said it is important to realize that they have spoken to women in the 38 community who were upset that the Commission for Women had been abolished. She said 39 times have changed, and it is important to look at what is affecting the lives of women now. 40 She said there has been concern that the proposal was too broad, so she came back with a 41 narrower focus in her resolution regarding economic development, jobs and pay equity. She 42 said now there is discussion of broadening this to include other issues, but the department is 43 small, which is why the issues were initially kept narrow. She said the narrow focus was based 44 on what the people in the community said, which she feels is as important as what the 45 Commissioners think. She said the hope was to generate data, create awareness, and address 46 the issue. 47 Chair Jacobs said Commissioner Price did a great job in stating her case, but the other 48 Commissioners have different ideas. He said if this is going to be brought before the whole 49 Board, then it is open to everyone's ideas. He said if this is going to go forward there needs to 50 be consensus on what the group wants to do. He said this was a great start, and there is