Minutes 04-08-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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APPROVED 9/4/2014 MINUTES BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS WORK SESSION APRIL 8, 2014 7:00 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Work Session on Tuesday, April 8, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Jacobs and Commissioners Mark Dorosin, Alice M. Gordon, Earl McKee, Bernadette Pelissier, Renee Price and Penny Rich COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: John Roberts COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: Interim County Manager Michael Talbert, Assistant County Managers Clarence Grier and Cheryl Young and Clerk to the Board Donna Baker (All other staff inembers will be identified appropriately below) Commissioner McKee called the meeting to order at 7:04. He said Chair Jacobs will be a few minutes late. 1. Follow-up Discussion on Potential Establishment of a Women's Commission Cheryl Young said at the June 18, 2013 BOCC Meeting, Commissioner Price petitioned the Board regarding the establishment of a Women's Commission as an Orange County advisory board to be staffed by and receive technical support from the Orange County Economic Development Department. She said a draft resolution was presented. She said Commissioner Price noted that there currently was not an Orange County advisory board to address issues unique to women and to provide policy and program recommendations to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners since the former Commission for Women, established in 1978, was eliminated as an advisory board in 2010. She said the functions of the original Commission for Women (CfW) were made a responsibility of the Human Relations Commission (HRC) in 2011, and CfW as a separate entity was sunset in April 2011. Cheryl Young said the BOCC discussed the request at the October 8, 2013 work session and there were various opinions related to how to proceed and the advisability of establishing an independent group. She said there was consensus that the issue warranted further discussion. She said the possibility of having the Human Relations Commission establish a subcommittee was among the ideas discussed. She said the Human Relations Commission had discussed this matter and voted against creating a subcommittee whose sole focus is on issues of gender inequality. She said the HRC had created a subcommittee entitled Diversity Matters which will address a cornucopia of issues of inequality for different minority groups, i.e. women and persons with disabilities. She said this decision was based on the idea that if the HRC created a subcommittee that focused only on women's issues, then there would be a need to create additional subcommittees with a targeted focus on each different protected class. She said the HRC is currently working on a written report for the BOCC regarding the HRC's role in addressing women's issues.