HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05252004 - D.1 D.1
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA
Date: May 25, 2004- Public Comment
On this date, the Chair invited those who wished to address the Board during
public comment. The following persons presented testimony:
Rollie Katz, P.O.Box 222, Martinez, (PEU Local No.1);regarding
the State budget.
Al Coolidge, 3200 Clayton Road, Concord; thanked Board for
adopting the resolution announcing"Affordable Housing Week".
Lola M. Diamond, P.O. Box 395, Pinole, (Foster Family Network);
regarding discretionary funds available for child care for
special needs children in foster care.
Sandy Peterson, 1104 Alder Creek Way,Brentwood, (Foster Care-
Options for Recovery); regarding discretionary funds for the
Heritage Option for Recovery Program.
Lissa Weare, 34 Orinda Circle,Pittsburg,regarding layoff in the Contra Costa County
Retirement Office.
THIS IS A MATTER FOR RECORD PURPOSES ONLY
NO BOARD ACTION WAS TAKEN
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RICHMOND BRAN��C N 1:P
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L.......... Post Off ice Box 2402 --- Richmond, California 94802
NMCP 338 11 th Street — Richmond, California 94802 - Ph.- 510-236-1166- Fax.- 510-236-1183
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OFFICERS
Doris Denson-Belcher May 25, 2004
President
Matthew M.Barnes Dear Supervisors J. Gioia, G.B. Uilkema, M. Greenberg, M. DeSaulnier,
I st Vice President and F.D. Glover:
LaSonda G.Robinson
end Vice Robinson
President
Willie I stand before you today as an advocate for a group of citizens that are not
J.
Treasurer only disenfranchised but in most cases unable to speak for themselves.
The group that I'm advocating for are the developmentally challenged
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE cliental served at the George Miller Centers.
Mrytfe Braxton
Rev.Charles Belcher On Wednesday, May 19, 2004 1 attended a community meeting,, Dr.
Sarah Grant Wendell Brunner,, Director of Public Health was also in attendance.
Ray Muhammad
Stephanie Russell During one of his responses to questions from community members, he
Alfred Sims stated that it was time for the County to get out of the business of
Rev.Charles Stringer providing these services. Many of your constituents were appalled to hear
W.A.Williams that the County should not be providing services to our disabled
community. To quote Mr. Cheney, the parent of a young woman that is
developmentally challenged he stated, "I don't agree, I pay taxes in this
County and I do expect to have services provided by this County." I must
say that I agree, especially since Contra Costa County does not cover the
entire cost of these services. We know that the State of California, thru the
Department of Developmental Services has the legal responsibility to
provide services to the developmentally disabled in the state of California
but we believe that this County has a moral responsibility to provide
services to this segment of our community.
Maintaining Quality Services in Contra Costa County
Comparable services that are provided by the programs at the George
Miller Centers are not available elsewhere in this County. Existing
programs in West Contra Costa County are not providing the quality of
programs provided by the County and I do not believe they have the
capabilities to provide the same quality of programming. The other major
providers of services in West County are operating with minimum wage
employees, with no benefits for those employees and massive turnover of
frontline staff every few months. Many of these employees are on the
fringes of our society and do not have the skills to provide comprehensive
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services to this fragile population. The two major Community based
programs in West County do not have program sites, they only have office
space for their program managers and their enrollees ride around the
community in vans for the majority of the program day. On nice days
they spend much of their time in parks and on not so nice days, program is
in the mall or other inside public facilities.
As an advocate for the DD population of West County I respectfully ask
that you vote not to give notice to the Regional Center that the County
does not intend to renew its contract. Please afford the employees the
same opportunities that were provided to other departments, allow them to
provide the County Administrator with alternative methods that could be
implemented representing a reduction in the cost being provided by the
County to supplement the Miller Center Programs. Finally, 1.6 million is
not a great amount for Contra Costa County to spend on the
developmentally disabled, but there are numerous cost effective ways to
operate with much less of a supplement.
In closing, I repeat what I said to you in my first letter, with good
management and the use of innovative, creative fiscal planning the George
Miller Centers will thrive with much less support than in the past 13 years.
They will never be a source of income for the County but with the right
leadership they can be nearly self-supporting if you allow them to
continue as County operated programs.
Sincerely,
Doris Denson-Belcher, President
Richmond Branch NAACP