Travis County Commissioners Court
April 17, 2007
Citizens communication
Citizens communication is next. And you're john webster, right?
>> yes, sir.
>> you're not also here on citizens communication, are you? You were here on number one?okay. Thank you. This item allows residents an opportunity to address the Commissioners court on any matter not on the agenda, and we've just lost mr. Webster. We have donald zafaona and cecelia burke, who come in tan dom. Morning.
>> good morning. Judge, Commissioners, I'm cecelia burke and I'm the director of the Travis County domestic relations office. And with me this morning is don zapone, who is the executive director of Austin child guidance. We just wanted to share with you a program that we have started in partnership and talk a little bit about how we've been able to leverage some county funds. In 2003 dro was awarded a capcog grant, and that was to provide a full-time guardian ad litem to the protective order docket. And there was an effort on behalf of judge shepherds and domestic relations because we wanted to address the issue of children and violence in the home. What we have found and other studies have found that the effects of being exposed to family violence for children is depression, poor school performance, health problems, including autoimmume diseases caused by the brain being continually bathed in court sol. Relationship issues, suicide ideaiations, behavior problems, and withdrawal from life. So you have been very gracious and have given us last year and this year an appropriation in order to provide a counseling contract with Austin schield guidance -- Austin child guidance. The contract provides counseling to children exposed to family violence and their parents when appropriate. We bring services to cases where there's currently or has been a protective order issued or there's an out cry by the child. Provide psychiatric assessment services for children and provide parenting groups for adults when appropriate. This of course is all in the context of either active protective order litigation or when we have been asked to act as the guardian ad litem in a custody evaluation where there are family violence issues. We're always mindful of the safety of victims of family violence, of course, but as the guardian ad litem we do represent the child's best interest and we believe that children in essence are the most vulnerable parties in cases where violence and abuse is present. From January of '06 to sent of '06 we served 40 families, and so far in 2007 we have served 27 families. In talking with the guardians in our office I just want to add that they talk about the services that Austin child guidance has been able to provide. They say it's really more than counseling service, it's the entire Austin child guidance experience that make this meaningful both for a guardian who is making reports to the court, but primarily for children and for their families. So at this time I'd like to turn it over to don.
>> thank you, cecelia. Good morning, judge Biscoe and county Commissioners. We were sort of joking earlier before I came that this is the one time that I'm coming here not asking for any additional money, but actually want to share with you what I think is an excellent relationship between the county, between Austin child guidance center, a local nonprofit organization to bring together additional fund to support this program. As cecelia mentioned, you have already contributed monies to support the program, but because of the overwhelming demand for the services, last year approximately after four to six months we really basically exhausted the funding from the county to serve these children, so we do on some of our own resources, but we also are able to write a grant and we were able to have that successfully funded to this support of cecelia and her advocacy for the program. So I wanted to report to you that in December we received an additional $21,000 from the rjk foundation. And again, I think we were successful in that we could show the need -- we said the county was putting inthiewn this and we could use the support of private resources. And they granted us that additional funding. So I just wanted tell you that as a result of that program it's going two fold. So the total amount now is a little over $31,000 and we're able to serve about -- we're projecting 45 families or 90 individuals through this particular program. We call it kids in the middle. Let me just briefly tell you the program works to do the following. It's to reduce the systematic behavior in children involved in high conflict family litigation or family violence. Secondly to help parents develop working relationships to co-parent their children after a divorce or custody dispute. Third, to reduce levels of conflict in the family and between parents. And then fourth, to increase respectful communication among family members. And then the specific services we offer include individual therapy that is tailored to the developmental stage of the child and encourage identification of personal strengths, community and social support and strengthening internal coping mechanisms to increase positive mental health. Secondly because change cannot occur in a vook couple, family all cop floodgate the counseling. Parent education classes are offered for parenting skill. The greatest I believe impacket of these classes is for parents to share common concerns and receive support from each other. And fourth we can offer psychological assessments for clients with more complicated symptoms or problems be and finally psychiatric services are available for identified children who present with numerous complicated symptoms and where medication may be clinically indicated. So once again, we would just like to thank you for your support and wanted to bring this good news to you all and let you know how you're money is being gus pena is next. Morning.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners, gus pena, not representing anybody else, just my own. And some people asked me to speak on the issues this morning. Commissioner Gomez, I would like to direct this to you, but also everybody and everybody that's listening, especially the ceo at capital metro. Please work together in a comprehensive, positive, professional manner in negotiations with the bus drivers union. In 2005 they had a practice strike that. Hurt the community. A lot of senior citizens, a lot of kids were late to school because of the buses were not there. And I am not going to blame anybody, but I want everybody to join in on the negotiations. In 2005 there was an impasse on the negotiations. I called mayor will wynn, who is a good friend of mine, and I said could you please intervene because the community is being hurt. Wynn intervened and thank the good lord, both sides reached an amicable if not comprehensive decision. But anyway, having said that, please support our bus drivers. We've been on the bus for a year or two years, and it's a good system. It just doesn't get you from point a to point b in five minutes the way a lot of people would want it to. But support our bus drivers. They're great. Property appraisals. I know there's a bill at the legislature right now regarding appraisal. Yuj and Commissioners, I just think that with you think that this system needs to be reevaluated here at the Travis County appraisal department because a lot of people are losing their homes, a lot of people stand to lose their homes. And this city and county has is not affordable. Is might be affordable to somebody else out of the Texas, but not for the poor and middle class. Funding for youth programs. I think cecelia did a very good job in reporting about family violence and the children that are affected and impacted by the lack of social service programs, money, whatever. All I'm asking is this. When you get the report from the auditor, look at the funding. And y'all have done a great job. This Commissioners court and prior in funding senior citizen and youth programs, funding for program. And it's just great. Just keep up the good work. Remember, summertime, we want to keep the kids active and not on the streets. Possibly getting involved in gang membership. The last thing I want to say is about the taxes. We've been working on the last five years, we have a good letter from the lieutenant governor, david david dewhurst, the speaker of the house and also from various senators and representatives and the governor stating that they are in support of eliminating the taks test. I know we have differences of opinion in the education nal realm, but education Austin is one of those that want this to be eliminated. Good job on that effort and I thank the lieutenant governor, governor and the speaker and all the representatives and senators that are in support of us and the nice letter to lucio and myself. I want him to get educated among other students also so they can compete in the workforce. That's all I have to say. Keep up the good work. Thank y'all because you are going into the budgetary process. God bless you. Keep up the good work.
>> thank you. Our final speaker will be carl joiner.
>> my name is carl joiner. I live in the northwestern section of Travis County and I want to make sure you are aware of something. I don't know if you are or not, but I know we may not be able to discuss this, but I want to bring this to your taxi. I'm here on behalf of many of the residents in western Travis County through the Jonestown rural center. It's for the m.a.p. Program where the people that need assistance, but there's a rural health center that needs some attention right now. I'm not sure if you're aware of this matter, but it has been made public to the health clinic in Jonestown that they will be closing very soon. This clinic provides services for the the elderly, disabled and even the indigent. In closing this clinic, these people will be sent to other clinics which will put a 25 percent more burden on them because there's four, unless this one closes and then there's only three. And it will put more strain on the worker at those clinics. Not only will that create more for the workers, but also will place a hardship on the patients who will have to find transportation to the clinics, which are much farther away. The way the system is set up now, physicians are only available two days a week. This will make the wait time for the doctor much longer than it already is. For those who will not be able to get to the other clinics, they will turn to the emergency rooms for medical attention. This in turn will put back on to the taxpayers, because we know hospitals cost more than a clinic does. Just seeing an emergency room doctor costs far more than it does to see a clinic doctor. The staff at the Jonestown clinic is very efficient from the receptionist, to the nurses to the doctor, they're able to see a large amount of patients very quickly without compromising the quality of care each person receives. Closing the clinic will be causing the people to be the one who suffer. I ask that a reconsideration is made that this facility remain open for those who need it the most. And I know that since I told some folks I'd like to come down and bring this to your attention, evidently one of the doctors and the nurses are no longer there. It was supposed to stay open until the end of the month, so I'm not sure what the rush. I'm not sure if y'all already knew about this, but -- of course, the care for the elderly and the people that are handicapped and even the indigent I think is very important. And I'm sure that y'all do too. I think closing this clinic would be a grave mistake for the taxpayers, even if you look at it as a financial side of it, because it's going to cost more money because they're not going to be able to handle the overflow. I went by there one day and that place was full, and there was a lot of people that I believe they walked down there.
>> [ buzzer sounds ] and they're going to have to get transportation. The closest one is Pflugerville. But I thank y'all for your time.
>> thank you for yours.
>> thank you, mr. Joiner.
>> judge, I would like to extend a prayer and condolences to those families in virginia, virginia tech who are going through a pretty traumatic situation today. And I think we need to recognize that and those families are going through some tough times. I wanted to recognize the fact that we send our prayers and condolences and speatsz to those -- similar peatsz to those families as we go through our court proceedings.
>> that's quite appropriate. We all join you.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified:
Tuesday, April 18, 2007, 8:34 AM