Government Committee Update

Redistricting Reform Petition Drive Continues 

LWVCC continues with its commitment to assist in the gathering of petitions to place on the ballot in 2010 the constitutional amendment to increase the standards for drawing congressional and state districts following the upcoming national census.
 
Many of our members signed petitions at our March and April meetings or printed them off our website and mailed them to the Fair Districts Florida address. We also know that many members have duplicated petitions for family and friends to assist in this effort. 

• Presented to the East Naples Civic Association (ENCA) on April 16 and collected petitions from attendees.  This resulted in a presentation to their Board and the inclusion of an article and petitions in the July ENCA newsletter.
• Held a petition drive at the opening of the South Regional Library in East Naples on June 15.
• Spoke to the East Naples Kiwanis Club on July 10 and gathered signed petitions.

Justice Committee Update

Midsummer provides the perfect opportunity to share what's happening in the local justice arena.   At our April meeting on Delinquency Prevention, Sheriff Rambosk told us about Sheriff's Office (CCSO) youth programs planned for the summer that would be geared to entertain, educate and keep kids safe.  

• Hot Summer Nights is underway and has been especially popular at the water venues.  The program is for youth from 10-17 and is offered in cooperation with Collier County Parks and Recreation two nights a week through the end of July, with each week being at a different park. 
• The Teen Academy was conducted for select rising high school seniors.  According to the Collier Citizen (July 3 - click here), 24 students participated in the weeklong leadership pilot that was similar to Leadership Collier.  These students have agreed to serve as the Sheriff's Teen Advisory Board, and according to Commander Beth Jones, they are currently preparing PSAs on binge drinking, texting while driving, and other risk behaviors.  
• The Deputy Club provides a six-week program for elementary students with activities in a day-camp setting each Wednesday morning.  It began July 8. 
• Teen Driving Challenge is for licensed drivers ages 16-18.  The program, sponsored by the CCSO and Florida Sheriff's Association, pairs certified law enforcement trainers with the students.  The two-day training provides a half-day of classroom study and a full day of hands-on-driving experience and will run throughout the summer.  Students operate their own vehicles.
• The Sheriff's Office and Boys and Girls Club have been offering summer camps for school-aged children that will run through August 7 in Naples and Immokalee.
• Reach Out Everglades Summer Camp was a free summer program sponsored by Reach Out Everglades and C.O.P., Inc.  Deputies discussed crime prevention topics and interacted with students during the camp, which ended July 16.

• The Collier Citizen (June 26) reports:  "...Collier County Sheriff's Department officials hope to train law enforcement, correctional and probation officers to recognize a potentially explosive situation and diffuse it before it escalates."  As they are trained, they become part of the Sheriff's Crisis Intervention Team.  Collier County's National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is the lead agency in providing the crisis intervention training (CIT) in cooperation with several other organizations and volunteers.
• Governor Crist appointed Lee Sheriff Mike Scott to the newly formed 19-member Task Force on Human Trafficking for a term ending in July 2011.
• At the recent Juvenile Justice Council (JJC) meeting, Dr. Dee Whinnery, Executive Director for Student Services for the Collier County Public Schools and speaker at our April 20 meeting, reported that 183 students were seen in Truancy Court during the 2008-09 school year.  She said Truancy Court continues to yield positive results and will resume the second Wednesday of August with Judge Krier taking over for Judge Maņalich who is now serving in Lee County.  Though not directly a justice issue, she also indicated the current student homeless rate has gone over 800 with the spike in numbers being at the middle and high school levels.
• Also at the JJC meeting, Commander Jones (CCSO) reported that the third operation of a program developed in cooperation with Drug Free Collier cited 18 clerks for sale of alcohol to minors out of the 71 businesses that were visited this summer.  The clerks received notices to appear in court and invitations to attend a vendor-training seminar.
• At the same meeting, Officer Jennifer Lofy reported that the Marco Island Police Department is providing summer programs for youth in grades 5-8 on law enforcement and fire department services.

We are very fortunate to have so many agencies cooperating to provide services to youth and to maintain a safe community.

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LWVCC Joins Facebook

LWVCC is now using Facebook to share events, view links, and engage in discussions about local, state, and federal issues online. Facebook offers a unique ability to get the word out fast as well as an interactive forum to collect input from our members.

• Click this link: www.facebook.com.
• Enter your real name, e-mail, gender, and birth date to sign up. Facebook requires your date of birth as a safety precaution and to preserve the site's integrity. You can always hide this information from your profile if you wish.
• Complete your profile, set a password, choose a security question, add a photo (optional), and edit your privacy settings.

Your settings can always be modified once you become more familiar with using Facebook, just  select the "settings" button on the menu bar and choose your options.

The LWV of Florida Convention was held May 15 -17, 2009, in Jacksonville, FL.  Chris Straton, Joyce Fletcher and I were among the 51 delegates who attended, representing 19 local Leagues.  It was a great time and fun was had by all!  Click here to view the photos I took on the Convention's last day. 
 
I'm pleased to report that LWVCC won FIRST PLACE for our VOTER and tied for SECOND PLACE with Orange County for our website in the Communication Contest!
 

In addition, here are the top "business" highlights:
 
Elections - Congratulations to Collier League's past president Chris Straton, who was elected second vice president of the Florida League.  Other officers are Deirdre Macnab, Orange County - president, Nancy Ryan, Volusia County - first vice president, Katie Ross, Jacksonville First Coast - Secretary, Sandra Colyer, Miami-Dade - Treasurer.  Kathleen Slebodnik, LWVCC secretary, continues as LWVF off-board chair for the Everglades, and LWVCC social policy chair Ann Campbell has accepted a new off-board position monitoring health care.  Read about the Florida League officers, directors and off-board chairs at http://www.lwvfla.org/board.htm. 
 
Bylaws - The state League bylaws and Ed Fund bylaws were amended to provide for electronic meetings (telephonic, video conferencing, email) of the board of directors, similar to the change approved to our own bylaws in April.  During the discussion preceding the vote, I asked how the League would make it possible for all members to attend meetings held electronically, a question that was raised at our own annual meeting.  I learned that, unlike our local bylaws, state bylaws do not require notice to members of board meetings, so the addition of electronic meetings didn't require a change.  (A bylaw change to require notice of state board meetings would have to be proposed for consideration at the next biennial convention.)

Budget - Delegates approved a General Fund budget of $84,000, up 11% over the prior year's actual spending, to be paid for primarily by increased voluntary contributions from local leagues. (PMP is not being raised.)  We also approved an Ed Fund budget of $63,000, down 15%, primarily due to the absence of a Special Election Edition Voter.

Program - The 2009-2010 LWVF Program includes the following "issues for action:"  

• Government in Florida - support a citizen statutory initiative process; support an independent reapportionment process; promote amendment language that is understandable at the fifth grade reading level; promote equitable tax policy reform that provides adequate funding for state services; support repeal of tax exemptions that do not fulfill a public purpose; promote election audits based on statistically significant sample size that are completed prior to certification of election results; support expansion of early voting and greater flexibility in the selection of voting sites.
• Education in Florida - support review of funding sources to provide adequate, equitable and quality education.
• Justice in Florida - promote reform of the juvenile justice system.
• Social Policy in Florida - promote the creation of jobs that provide a living wage in industries that sustain an acceptable quality of life in Florida; support equal pay for equal work; promote a health care system that provides access to basic level of quality care for all Florida residents and controls health care costs.     
• Sustainability - support public transportation.
• Natural Resources in Florida - promote preservation of Florida's natural lands; support expansion of renewable energy sources; promote strengthening state and local energy conservation policies and regulations; support protection and management of freshwater resources.

Lots of good areas of focus.  I'm looking forward to working with our members on many of these in the coming season.  If you have any questions or would like to know more about Convention, please get in touch!