SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COMMISSION

MINUTES

Santa Cruz Police Department Community Room

155 Center Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Wednesday, August 14, 2002, 5:30 p.m.

Commissioners Present:

Others Present:

Jennifer Rose

1. Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 5:39 p.m. by Chair McGuire.

2. Introductions

Commissioners and guests introduced themselves.

3. Additions and Deletions to the Agenda

A discussion about the issue of a non-Commission member chairing a committee was added to the agenda as item 6d.

A report on Raphael's visit to the Monterey County Domestic Violence Council was added to the agenda as item 6e.

4. Approval of Minutes of June 12, 2002

On the motion of McWhorter and second by Raphael the minutes of June 12, 2002 were approved as submitted. O'Brien and Organista abstained.

5. Oral Communication from the Community

There were no oral communications from the community.

6a. Report from the Agenda Review Committee.

1. Due to the unavailability of Jeanne Rodriguez, administrative change to support the Commission will occur. Nancy Neilsen Campeau will provide staff support to the Commission through December 2002 and Commissioner Hiromura will take the minutes at the meetings.

2. McGuire and Hiromura provided District Attorney Elect, Bob Lee, a status report on the activities of the Commission and invited him to attend Commission meetings.

3. Since new officers will be elected at the November meeting, McGuire requested Commissioners contact her with nominations for the four positions: Chair, Vice Chair and two Commissioners at-large to serve on the Agenda Review Committee.

4. McGuire announced that Kuechle and Gifford have resigned from the Commission.

5. There was a discussion about the financing of the Commission for next year. The initial agreement between the District Attorney Office and the Probation Department was that the Probation Department would provide $5,000 to support the Commission in FY 01/02 and that the District Attorney Office would provide $5,000 support to the Commission in FY 02/03. However, the Commission was reminded that Stevens indicated that the Courts would not participate in the DVC if District Attorney funds supported Commission activities, since this could be construed as a conflict of interest. Some members of the Commission challenged this interpretation but after discussion, the Probation Department decided to provide $5,000 in funds for the DVC in FY 02/03.

6b. Report from the Evaluation of Domestic Violence Services Committee.

The Committee is having difficulty developing a work plan. They will meet after today's meeting to schedule a series of meetings to accomplish their goals.

6c. Report from the Research and Development /Annual Report Committee.

The R&D/AR Committee has met three times and has reviewed the work of San Diego and Santa Clara Counties; surveyed appropriate agencies in Santa Cruz County to discover the domestic violence data that is being collected currently; developed a first draft of a data collection tool which includes the goal for the data collection and screening criteria for each of the questions to be included in the data collection instrument; and a time line for completion of the data collection instrument and the implementation of the data collection process.

The final draft of the data collection tool will be presented to the Commission at the October, 2002 meeting. Each Commission member is expected to review and provide comment about the document and if appropriate, meet with staff to ensure that data is relevant and accessible. Commissioners' comments are due to the committee by November 1, 2002. Based upon the Commissioners' comments, the committee will make the appropriate changes to the data collection tool and prepare it for final approval at the Commission's November meeting.

Data collection will commence January 1, 2003 and the first yearly report will be published in 2004.

6d. Discussion about whether a non-Commission member can chair a committee of the Commission

There was a discussion about whether it is appropriate for a non-commission member to Chair a committee. Our bylaws are silent on this issue but County Counsel recommended that if we decide that we want to have non-commissioners chair a committee, that we should propose an amendment to our bylaws to explicitly approve this practice because the general presumption is that committee chairs are commissioners. In order to prepare this as an action item for our next meeting agenda, the Commission asked that the ARC provide a written opinion from County Counsel.

6e. Report on Field Visit to the Monterey County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (MCDVCC)

Raphael reported on her visit to the MCDVCC and noted the differences and similarities in our composition, organization and issues. She advised Commissioners of the "Secondary Victims of D.V." conference that is sponsored by the Monterey County D.V. Coordinating Council that will be held on October 18, 2002 at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Monterey. An invitation to attend the November meeting in Watsonville will be extended to the MCDVCC.

7. Retirement of Commissioner Rhoads.

Rhoads was thanked for his unflagging support to the Domestic Violence Commission and his efforts to reduce domestic violence in our community.

8. Annual Awards Dinner.

The annual awards dinner will be held on October 9, 2002 at the Posse House at 5:30 p.m. and will be catered for a small fee by the Sheriff. John Laird will serve as the master of ceremonies. Commissioners were reminded that they should submit their recommendations for award recipients to McGuire as soon as possible. County Supervisors will be invited to the dinner.

9. Announcements

There were no announcements.

10. Next Meeting

The September meeting is on September 11.

11. Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 6:52 p.m.

Approved by Commission on:

Submitted by:

Alan Hiromura

Domestic Violence Commission

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