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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-28-2015 Minutes 09.28.2015 HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE MINUTES September 28, 2015 I. CALL TO ORDER The Human Services Committee Meeting was called to order at 4:05 pm on Monday, September 28, 2015 at 25 West Main Street, Auburn, WA. Committee Members present: Barbara Derda, Bette Van Gasken, Jason Berry, JoAnne Walters and Lela Brugger Committee Members absent: Maryelyn Scholz Staff Members present: Mayor Nancy Backus, Acting Director of Administration Dana Hinman and Neighborhood Programs Coordinator Erika Klyce Staff Members absent: Community Services Assistant Emily Pearson and Veterans & Human Services Coordinator Erica Azcueta II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES  Member Barbara Derda moved to accept the July 27, 2015 minutes; Member Bette Van Gasken seconded the motion. All Committee Members were in favor of adopting the minutes as submitted. The July 27, 2015 minutes were approved. III. AGENDA  Miscellaneous It was noted that the website still lists the Committee as having a quorum of 11 members. The information should be changed to reflect the correct number, which is 7. Bette asked if the agenda could be sent to her in a different format as she’s unable to open pdf fil es. Future agendas can be sent out as both pdfs and Word documents. Mayor Backus spoke to the group regarding Michael Hursh’s resignation. An internal investigation took place as was appropriate because of the concern regarding violation of city policy. WCIA provided an attorney to handle the investigation by conducting interviews with those involved. Mayor Backus and Human Resources requested no recommendations be made in that report, and that it be fact-based only. Members expressed their condolences. Mayor Backus assured the Committee that the process was handled the way it would have been with any city employee. She then introduced the Committee to Dana Hinman. Mayor said she has asked Dana to step in as Director of Administration and Dana has agreed. Dana will take over all the roles that Michael Hursh played previously and we will evaluate what those roles are and realign anything that we need to. Mayor Backus said she wants to make sure everyone knows they can suggest any changes to make to the Committee. It’s important to hear the ideas that they have concerning how the money for Human Services is spent here. Member JoAnne Walters noted that Dana has a huge task in front of her to accomplish and Dana agreed. She plans to do exactly what we’ve always done: help people and make Auburn a wonderful place to live. She serves on various boards including The Auburn Food Bank and Auburn Youth Resources. She’s aware of the needs in Auburn as she grew up here too. Dana is excited to serve us and work through all of the issues that are happening regionally in South King County. Chair Jason Berry stated that we all care about Human Services and we’ll move forward and support a positive transition by continuing to do meaningful and long-lasting work in our community. Dana told the Committee she wants them to work directly with the Mayor’s Homeless Task Force, and to be ready to get to work soon as Mayor is determining who will be on that now. Members Maryelyn Scholz and Lela Brugger want to be involved. Mayor Backus noted her participation in the One Night Count and how it shows the need for more resources. Barbara commented that the more we do for the homeless, the more homeless people we get; we shouldn’t do everything but the City should do their part. The issue is that we don’t want to attract more but we do still want to help people. Erica Azcueta is back next week and will be working on the Task Force and the direction it’s going. Lela again mentioned the carpentry program at Green River College and the small houses they’re building; she asked if we can somehow get them involved with the Task Force. Lela would like to look into this and see what the options would be. JoAnne stated that she’d like our Human Services Committee to be larger and more diverse, with 11 members again instead of just 7 and possible involvement from the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. Jason said we've often talked about how to address diversity and that this isn't an issue unique to us. Mayor Backus said we have City-Muckleshoot partnership meetings every quarter and she will bring up the issue of them serving on the Committee and/or Task Force at the next one. Jason stated that if anyone hears feedback about how to make sure we are welcoming to new potential members to please share the information with the group. JoAnne expressed concern over the lack of public participation at Committee meetings, and Jason said that is typically the case with many public meetings. Committee members asked about the Housing Repair program. Plans have bee n approved by King County so our HUD funding should be coming soon and the program can continue in the near future. Dana reminded the group that the 2017-2018 funding cycle is coming up so we’ll make the applications available early on and information regarding funding, budgets and reporting of agencies in front of you sooner. Barbara asked about agency visits and suggested we have someone from Valley Cities speak about the Phoenix Rising project; Mayor said a representative will be presenting to the City Council soon so we’ll look into having them present to the Committee as well. JoAnne said she wants to start touring agencies more often as that task has stalled a bit recently. Mayor agreed that it’s important to get the members out there. Jason said that Emily Pearson should have a list of agencies to visit. At this time it’s the most valuable thing for the Committee to be doing and we need to push forward on to the next set of visits. IV. ANNOUNCEMENTS The next Human Services Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 26, 2015. V. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m. APPROVED THE _____ day of ________________, 2015 _______________________________ ______________________________ Jason Berry, Human Services Committee Chair Dana Hinman, Director of Administration