Committee on Family, Health and Human Services Minutes
January 24, 2006
COMMITTEE MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Judy Myers, Chair, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, William Burton, Ursula LaMotte, Thomas Abinanti, James Maisano, Martin Rogowsky, Clinton Young and William Ryan, Chairman of the Board
GUEST LEGISLATORS: Vito J. Pinto, Lois Bronz
Items Discussed: Setting quorums, plans for the next meeting
Legislator Myers called the meeting to order at 1:04 p.m.
Quorum guidelines were established, requiring four members present to start a meeting, five members present to vote on an item, and a civil majority of the members present to have a motion pass. Legislator LaMotte moved this item, Legislator Burton seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
The next item on the agenda was to set a regular meeting time. After discussion, a tentative time of noon meetings on Tuesdays was moved by Legislator Burton and seconded by Legislator LaMotte. It passed unanimously.
Minutes were approved for prior meetings of Health and Families. Legislator Stewart-Cousins moved to approve the minutes for the May 16, 2005 meeting of Health, and Legislator Spreckman seconded. Legislator Stewart-Cousins moved to approve the minutes for the December 7, 2005 meeting of Families, and Legislator LaMotte seconded. Both passed unanimously.
A discussion followed about the plans for the next meeting, including Legislator Stewart-Cousins plan to present a committee report from last year’s Families Committee. The idea of sub-committees was introduced, and the suggestion made that it was important to review the structure of the Department of Social Services very carefully. A request was made to contact Dr. Lipsman, to make sure he could attend some meetings of this committee.
Legislator Rogowsky suggested that one of the roles of the committee was to foster intergovernmental relationships and bring the committee’s findings to the State so that they could act on a broader level.
Legislator Myers asked about the committee’s liaison with the County Executive’s office. Legislator Rogowsky suggested going through Andrew Neuman’s office.
Legislator LaMotte suggested one focus of the committee should be to go through the grand jury report on the DSS one suggestion at a time, to determine why recommendations had not yet been implemented and what could be done to insure that they were in the future.
The committee established that DSS has submitted their response to the Grand Jury report, and why they did not implement certain recommendations, particularly the recommendation for a high risk unit. DSS feels all CPS cases are a high risk, or can develop into a high risk case.
The committee agreed to read all of the reports, pick them apart, and figure out which recommendations are most important to the committee to be implemented by DSS.
Legislator Rogowsky recommended that the new chair, Judy Myers, develop a one on one relationship with Commissioner Mahon and Commissioner Lipsman as the committee will be working with them quite often.
On the motion of Legislator Spreckman, seconded by Legislator LaMotte, the committee adjourned at 2:02 p.m.
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