Agenda 04-26-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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3 1 in jails. She said the county wants to focus on this area as it develops the behavioral health 2 center. 3 Chair Price said there are diversion courts and programs for children. She said that 4 Caitlin Fenhagen has hired psychologists have been hired to work with children. 5 Commissioner Bedford said that the proposed mental health facility was original focused 6 on diversion from jail. She said that due to the pandemic, schools are struggling due to staff 7 vacancies. She said that they can't find the people to do the work, but that the needs of 8 children have been exacerbated by the pandemic. She said the behavioral health center is 9 being restructured to serve children ages four and up. She said everything is coming together 10 to create a very serious mental health crisis in the community. She said Orange County is 11 number one in the state for supplementing the schools, but is below the national average. She 12 said teachers need support as well. 13 Commissioner Hamilton said that there is a shortage of mental health professionals. 14 She said we have pay people more. She said social workers are the backbone of mental 15 health. She said we have to pay human service workers more in order to have the work force to 16 meet the needs of our community. 17 Commissioner Bedford said that even Murdoch Center, a mental health facility in Butner, 18 NC that takes people with an IDD diagnosis who are having a mental health breakdown, was 19 closed due to lack of staff. She said providers lost staff who are not coming back. She said that 20 state institutions and emergency departments are full and not taking more patients, and it is a 21 crisis. 22 Representative Meyer said that this problem is statewide and there is attention from 23 Republican leadership in both chambers of the General Assembly. He said that he's spoken 24 with legislative leaders to address the crisis statewide. He said the challenge is that our ability 25 to respond is too slow when the crisis is in front of us. 26 Representative Insko said she was interested in a goal under Justice and Public Safety 27 regarding Racial Equity in Criminal Justice — "Support the implementation of the 28 recommendations of the North Carolina Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice 29 (TREC)." She said she was hoping to have made some progress on the issue, but there is a 30 long way to go. 31 Chair Price said she felt it was still a priority. 32 Representative Insko said the state really needed to make abolishing the death penalty 33 a high priority. 34 Senator Foushee said she felt there had been some progress. She said that passing 35 Senate Bill 300 which several Democrats worked was an accomplishment. She said some 36 recommendations have been implemented. She said we can always do better, but getting 37 people together to move towards talking about it was a big step. She listed some police reform 38 practices that were agreed upon. She said that progress had been made through bipartisan 39 effort, which was notable. 40 Commissioner Greene said that was good news. 41 Commissioner Bedford said that in Orange County, the superior and district courts 42 worked on bail bond policies to improve the situation locally. 43 Chair Price said she was part of that workgroup and they were trying to make 44 improvements regarding the ability to pay and reducing cash bail amounts. 45 Commissioner Richards said that Orange County was fortunate to have had a few 46 initiatives regarding cash bail in addition to the work done by the towns. She said there is good 47 work being done locally, but there is still work to be done regarding the fees incarcerated 48 individuals must pay for necessities as well as health safety for inmates. She said one issue 49 they were watching was handgun permitting. She said there are associations watching the 50 issues around some of the subtleties of how policies are implemented. She said it was