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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES Family Advisory Board 2019-03-07Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado, March 7, 2019 Minutes of a regular meeting of the Family Advisory Board of the Town of Estes Park, Larimer County, Colorado. Meeting held in the Room 203 of the Estes Park Town Hall, on the 7th day of March, 2019. Present: Laurie Dale Marshall Carrie Brown Michael Moon Rachel Balduzzi Sue Strom Courtney Hill Nancy Almond Andrea Escorcia – Youth in Action Also Present: Ron Norris, Town Board Liaison Travis Machalek, Assistant Town Administrator Suzanna Simpson, Administration Executive Assistant Absent: Jodi Roman John Bryant Tyler Schmitt Karen Randinitis Guests: Grant Stump, United Way of Larimer County Katherine Chu, Larimer County Chair Marshall called the meeting to order at 3:32 p.m. PUBLIC COMMENTS None FAMILY CONNECTION OPPORTUNITIES Chair Marshall clarified that this agenda item is for members to share opportunities for outreach. Member Balduzzi: The National Park Service is hosting an Earth Day event next month. Member Hill: The Month of the Young Child. Grant Stump: Be Ready Fair takes place April 13, 9 a.m. to noon in the Estes Park Elementary School gym. There is also a Poverty Simulation on March 20. Family Advisory Board – March 7, 2019 – Page 2 Member Almond: Family Community Meeting with families at Lone Tree March 13 at the Community Center, with dinner provided. This is through a grant supporting two- generational work (whole family vs just children). The goal is to talk about what children need to thrive in Estes Park and what resources are available to help. The proclamation for the Month of the Young Child is April 9. TRUSTEE LIAISON REPORT: The Town Board has scheduled two strategic planning sessions in April, the existing plan will be updated late summer. Budget recommendations from staff come from the priorities set at these meetings. The Childcare and Housing Task Force has had a number of meetings with different organizations and individuals that have interest in these areas. The biggest surprise from these meetings was the news that the school district brought in 22 teachers and was able to secure housing for all of them. HB 19- 1052 addressing the Early Childhood Development District is in the Senate. Member Moon will go to speak on behalf of Estes Park. Trustee Norris asked Chair Marshall to send a status update to interested individuals and submit to Michael a list for support of the bill. Trustee Norris explained to the Family Advisory Board that Town Administrator Frank Lancaster learned that the Colorado Municipal League (CML) was intending to take a position against the bill, so he explained the importance of bill to areas such as Estes Park and they decided to be neutral, which helped move it forward. Trustee Norris passed around the guiding principles for the newly formed task force and asked the board to send any recommendations to Executive Assistant Simpson. A main focus is to work on building trust between groups, individuals and town government, to be transparent and listen in small and large groups, follow up on commitments and communicate them in a variety of ways. Travis will send a communication strategy to the Family Advisory Board along with a preliminary list of criteria related to specific recommendations. Important to ensure the action taken is consistent with the strategic plan. APPROVAL OF FEBRUARY MINUTES: It was moved and seconded (Moon/Hill) to approve the February meeting minutes and the motion passes unanimously. REVIEW OF CHILDCARE NEEDS ASSESSMENT Chair Marshall asked if there was a need for more conclusive and accurate waitlist data and is this an important issue for the Family Advisory Board to lead? Discussion took place on the difficulty of obtaining data and what such data would be used for if it were to be collected. Trustee Norris spoke with his daughter as promised at the last meeting Family Advisory Board – March 7, 2019 – Page 3 and she is looking into information on national, state, and other databases covering childcare needs, he expects to have an update by next month’s meeting. Assistant Town Administrator Machalek reiterated that the role of the Family Advisory Board is to make recommendations to the Town Board and cautioned against getting too caught up in the task of collecting data around childcare unless that research is toward the end of making a recommendation. Discussion continued about potential overlap with other groups that are working on childcare and how the Family Advisory Board should approach this topic. Chair Marshall expressed concern over childcare being an identified issue and focus area for the Family Advisory Board in 2018, and if the board is not collecting data, what role will they play in helping move childcare forward? Assistant Town Administrator Machalek stated that the Family Advisory Board should consider whether it achieved the goal of the focus area for 2018 with the recommendations made to the Town Board. 2019 FOCUS AREA Member Moon stated that he wants Estes Park to be a viable community and that means families. He feels it would be useful to create a map of what issues are for families coming here, living here, and leaving and how do we keep them from leaving? In addition, there is what he calls a “paradise gap” where a large number of retired residents do not have a grasp of the issues young families are facing. Chair Marshall mentioned that the upcoming Poverty Simulator is a great program to help bridge the economic and generational gap, and that Communities That Care has identified economic deprivation as a major issue to address. Katherine Chu added that Communities That Care is developing big picture goals around this topic, then will develop more targeted goals and an action plan. Childcare is also a focus area. The upcoming Shared Risk and Protective Factors Conference in May focuses on these issues in resort and rural towns, and this could be a great resource for the Family Advisory Board. Member Moon suggested that the board interviews 10 families in Estes Park to begin painting a picture of what it takes for a family to live here. Vice Chair Balduzzi suggested the creation of a standard set of questions that can be asked across a diverse group of families. It was moved and seconded (Balduzzi/Strom) to make the Family Advisory Board focus area for 2019 “Identifying barriers to family success in Estes Park” and the motion passes unanimously. BOARD RECOMMENDATIONS Family Advisory Board – March 7, 2019 – Page 4 Assistant Town Administrator Machalek advised that all of the 2018 recommendations are under consideration by the Town Board Ad Hoc Task Force on Workforce Housing and Childcare and will be worked into the 2019 strategic plan. MEMBERS: One application was received from the recent advertisement of openings. Assistant Town Administrator Machalek mentioned that the group may want to consider asking the Town Board to change the stated membership number of the Family Advisory Board if recruitment continues to be difficult. The current opening will be changed to April 1 with first review date at the end of April. Member Hill will work on the posting document for an upcoming Friday Folder. OTHER BUSINESS: Member Almond announced that the EVICS Monthly Family Night is March 20 at Community Center, and includes dinner and a parent education hour. This free event is a great place to have conversations with families. The Learning Place is restarting the Family Café which also includes dinner and an activity for families. The next event is March 18. April 2 is the Speak up for Kids Larimer County event. County Commissioners will be there, would be great for someone from the Family Advisory Board to attend. March 15 is a dinner for families in the Lone Tree complex at the Event Center, and Nancy will pass along the information about the Family Advisory Board and the current opening. Chair Marshall suggested having a kit for those attending events on behalf of the Family Advisory Board. This could include the list of questions and the banner. Executive Assistant Simpson can keep this in the Administration office. Seeing no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:56 p.m. NEXT MEETING The next meeting of the Family Advisory Board will take place Thursday, April 4 at 3:30 p.m. in room 203 at Town Hall. Suzanna Simpson, Recording Secretary Family Advisory Board – March 7, 2019 – Page 5