Minutes
San Saba Domestic Violence Task Force
February 10, 2009
San Saba Domestic Violence Task Force
February 10, 2009
The monthly meeting of the task force was held at the Dove Project. Persons signing in were, as follows: Georgia Harris, Dove Project; Tonnie Robbins and Charles Carter, Legal Aid of Northwest Texas; Patricia Trichel; Survivors and Volunteers; Lindy Schulz, legal advocate/volunteer; Cathie Lehman, Universal Child Abuse Specialist, New Horizons; Danna Smith, DHHS- Children with special health-care needs; Brenna Troncoso, American Gateways; Tim Inman, San Saba County Attorney; and Dwayne Shaw, San Saba Police Department.
Introductions were followed by a reading of the minutes of the January 13, 2009 meeting by Brenna Troncoso. A motion to approve the minutes as read was made by Lindy and seconded by Danna.
Agency Updates:
Dove Project - The City Council did approve non-profit status and the task force helped with the food bank, which comes to town on the 4th Wednesday of every month.
Legal Aid - Has had a slow down in the amount of services they've been able to provide due to the holidays and an audit. They are also without a CEO. They are still coming to San Saba once a month, however, to provide free legal clinics. They have identified a need to improve pro bono representation in San Saba.
Tim Inman - The new County Attorney for San Saba, was welcomed and stated that either he or the Crime Victim Coordinator would be attending the task force meetings. He stated that his goal is to have a zero tolerance for domestic violence in San Saba County. If, for example, a 911 call is made and law enforcement responds and someone is arrested, that person is going through the court system. People need to know the consequences of their actions and also need to know that a second conviction is a felony. The notion of "call and cancel" is no longer viable. The objective is to go forward on all cases. Georgia asked that he consider the model that other communities have adopted in that persons wishing to drop charges or wanting to move forward with an affidavit of non-prosecution would have to go through a class or some counseling on domestic violence and then it would be up to the County Attorney as to whether he will dismiss the case. Lindy felt this would be something she as a legal advocate could certainly assist with. Mr. Inman said that we really need an updated resource list to which city and county offices could refer.
Danna suggested a community resource guide.
Mr. Inman also offered that we need to focus on the victims, including secondary victims and not just on the abuser. The task force then had a good discussion on this topic and the community resource guide, suggesting amongst other things that parents need to be informed and aware (and not in denial) of how family violence affects their children. The notion was explored, with regard to juveniles, of making the parent(s) more accountable as well. For all of these ideas, we all need a better idea of the resources available in and to the county.
Discussion was also had on the state of law enforcement's handing out of family violence materials at the scene of a family violence incident, as discussed at the San Saba Community Planning meeting. There needs to be follow-up and follow-through with law enforcement on this, both City and County.
Legal Aid asked about the procedure for protective orders in San Saba and whether an arrest was needed. Answer: yes.
Mr. Inman stated that with regard to family violence the city and county were working well together.
Grants:
Georgia reported that the Rural Domestic Violence Grant to the Office of Violence against Women was submitted on February 4 and that if it was successful it would provide San Saba, Mills, McCulloch and Llano county law enforcement with the ability to put victims in hotels until a DV case worker or victim assistant could develop a safety plan for them. It would also provide persons in rural areas with telephone counseling with a licensed counselor when transportation was not available. It would also provide officers with laptops for their vehicles to access information more quickly regarding protective orders, etc.
Brenna has been working on a grant that would provide up to $10,000 for the work of the task force. The grant would be used for developing a Victim Assistance Team, training, and outreach. She stated that she would include development of a resource guide into the request for monies.
Georgia said that she has a grant proposal on her desk for a supervised visitation grant through the OVW that is due February 19. Mr. Inman felt this grant would be helpful especially given the new focus on zero tolerance for DV, which might generate a greater need for supervised visitation. Georgia said that the Dove Project is providing services to four families right now, and there is need for assistance with the supervised visits.
Danna asked the County Attorney whether visitation could be conditioned upon payment of child support. Answer: No. One cannot condition visitation on child support.
Tonnie said she would get information to Georgia regarding the "Meet in the Middle" program in San Angelo.
Statistics:
The Sheriff's Office was unable to provide statistics.
The Dove Project passed out their recent 6 month report showing that 153 victims, both primary and secondary had been served. The goal for the year was 175, and Georgia feels that number will soon be surpassed.
2009 Calendar of Events:
Dates for future events were discussed. It was determined that we would try to do something for Crime Victims week. Mr. Inman said his office would provide resources to work on that. He would like Jennifer Flemming, the Crime Victims Coordinator in his office, to work on this per her grant.
Georgia stated that school starts on the last Monday in August and that she would like to see a Health and Safety fair held that would encourage public and private agencies to have a booth with information about resources available and that perhaps we could incorporate a free school supply at each booth after the family had received information. Several present felt July 25 would be a good date.
Brenna said the date for a conference/training could be sometime in October, if that's what the task force wanted to do. She also stated the task force needed to decide 1) if it wanted to move forward on this or wait until grant funds came in and 2) whether it wanted the training to be a traditional training or whether San Saba wanted to establish an annual conference and policy-making event for the region.
Other topics:
Georgia stated that on Feb. 20 the Dove Project was going to be hosting their annual survivor's seminar/training. The theme for this year is "Taking Control of Your Future".
Meeting adjourned, 1:30 PM.
Introductions were followed by a reading of the minutes of the January 13, 2009 meeting by Brenna Troncoso. A motion to approve the minutes as read was made by Lindy and seconded by Danna.
Agency Updates:
Dove Project - The City Council did approve non-profit status and the task force helped with the food bank, which comes to town on the 4th Wednesday of every month.
Legal Aid - Has had a slow down in the amount of services they've been able to provide due to the holidays and an audit. They are also without a CEO. They are still coming to San Saba once a month, however, to provide free legal clinics. They have identified a need to improve pro bono representation in San Saba.
Tim Inman - The new County Attorney for San Saba, was welcomed and stated that either he or the Crime Victim Coordinator would be attending the task force meetings. He stated that his goal is to have a zero tolerance for domestic violence in San Saba County. If, for example, a 911 call is made and law enforcement responds and someone is arrested, that person is going through the court system. People need to know the consequences of their actions and also need to know that a second conviction is a felony. The notion of "call and cancel" is no longer viable. The objective is to go forward on all cases. Georgia asked that he consider the model that other communities have adopted in that persons wishing to drop charges or wanting to move forward with an affidavit of non-prosecution would have to go through a class or some counseling on domestic violence and then it would be up to the County Attorney as to whether he will dismiss the case. Lindy felt this would be something she as a legal advocate could certainly assist with. Mr. Inman said that we really need an updated resource list to which city and county offices could refer.
Danna suggested a community resource guide.
Mr. Inman also offered that we need to focus on the victims, including secondary victims and not just on the abuser. The task force then had a good discussion on this topic and the community resource guide, suggesting amongst other things that parents need to be informed and aware (and not in denial) of how family violence affects their children. The notion was explored, with regard to juveniles, of making the parent(s) more accountable as well. For all of these ideas, we all need a better idea of the resources available in and to the county.
Discussion was also had on the state of law enforcement's handing out of family violence materials at the scene of a family violence incident, as discussed at the San Saba Community Planning meeting. There needs to be follow-up and follow-through with law enforcement on this, both City and County.
Legal Aid asked about the procedure for protective orders in San Saba and whether an arrest was needed. Answer: yes.
Mr. Inman stated that with regard to family violence the city and county were working well together.
Grants:
Georgia reported that the Rural Domestic Violence Grant to the Office of Violence against Women was submitted on February 4 and that if it was successful it would provide San Saba, Mills, McCulloch and Llano county law enforcement with the ability to put victims in hotels until a DV case worker or victim assistant could develop a safety plan for them. It would also provide persons in rural areas with telephone counseling with a licensed counselor when transportation was not available. It would also provide officers with laptops for their vehicles to access information more quickly regarding protective orders, etc.
Brenna has been working on a grant that would provide up to $10,000 for the work of the task force. The grant would be used for developing a Victim Assistance Team, training, and outreach. She stated that she would include development of a resource guide into the request for monies.
Georgia said that she has a grant proposal on her desk for a supervised visitation grant through the OVW that is due February 19. Mr. Inman felt this grant would be helpful especially given the new focus on zero tolerance for DV, which might generate a greater need for supervised visitation. Georgia said that the Dove Project is providing services to four families right now, and there is need for assistance with the supervised visits.
Danna asked the County Attorney whether visitation could be conditioned upon payment of child support. Answer: No. One cannot condition visitation on child support.
Tonnie said she would get information to Georgia regarding the "Meet in the Middle" program in San Angelo.
Statistics:
The Sheriff's Office was unable to provide statistics.
The Dove Project passed out their recent 6 month report showing that 153 victims, both primary and secondary had been served. The goal for the year was 175, and Georgia feels that number will soon be surpassed.
2009 Calendar of Events:
Dates for future events were discussed. It was determined that we would try to do something for Crime Victims week. Mr. Inman said his office would provide resources to work on that. He would like Jennifer Flemming, the Crime Victims Coordinator in his office, to work on this per her grant.
Georgia stated that school starts on the last Monday in August and that she would like to see a Health and Safety fair held that would encourage public and private agencies to have a booth with information about resources available and that perhaps we could incorporate a free school supply at each booth after the family had received information. Several present felt July 25 would be a good date.
Brenna said the date for a conference/training could be sometime in October, if that's what the task force wanted to do. She also stated the task force needed to decide 1) if it wanted to move forward on this or wait until grant funds came in and 2) whether it wanted the training to be a traditional training or whether San Saba wanted to establish an annual conference and policy-making event for the region.
Other topics:
Georgia stated that on Feb. 20 the Dove Project was going to be hosting their annual survivor's seminar/training. The theme for this year is "Taking Control of Your Future".
Meeting adjourned, 1:30 PM.
