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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-11-06 TEEN COURT ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES MEETING OF NOVEMBER 6, 2014 STATE OF TEXAS § COUNTY OF TARRANT § CITY OF BEDFORD § The Teen Court Advisory Board of the cities of Hurst, Euless and Bedford, Texas met at 6:00 p.m. at Bedford City Hall on the 6th day of November, 2014,with the following members present: HURST: Phoebe Soward, Jennifer Tucker, Dawn Jordan Wells EULESS: Warren Wilson, Renu Sloan BEDFORD: Jeanne Owers, Kathleen Toms, Janet Key TEEN REPRESENTATIVES: Dakota Ridgway, Trinity High School Hurst Council Liaison —Anna Holzer Bedford Council Liaison-- Steve Farco Euless Council Liaison— HEB Teen Court Coordinator—Mindy Eichorst HEB Teen Court Assistant Coordinator— Also present: Hurst Deputy City Secretary— Euless Staff Liaison—Teresa Alexander Bedford Court Manager— Hurst Court Manager— Lisa Howard HEB Teen Court Clerk- Bedford Administrative Services Director- CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Phoebe Soward called the meeting to order at 6:02 p.m. with a quorum of eight Board Members present. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. Consider approval of the following Teen Court Advisory Board minutes: a)August 7, 2014 regular meeting. Minutes of the October 2, 2014 Regular Board Meeting were reviewed. Jeanne Owers made a motion to accept the minutes and Renu Sloan seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously. 2. Introductions One new City of Hurst Advisory Board Member was present and introduced: Dawn Jordan-Wells. OLD BUSINESS 3. Discuss ideas for fundraisers. Chairperson Phoebe Soward spoke with L.D. Bell High School Assistant Principal Donna Paul about having a Kona Ice Truck on the school property during extra-curricular activities and she said no. There is not enough available staff. Secretary Kathleen Toms mentioned at the October advisory board meeting that she would check with SpringCreek Barbeque located in Bedford. She checked with managers and they mentioned the organization had to be an elementary school. Renu Sloan mentioned the possibility of getting a piece of art donated from a local artist. 4. Discuss and possibly take action on a sponsorship/information flier for the Advisory Board Members. Teen Court Coordinator Mindy Eichorst mentioned that each advisory board member's name could be added to a letter to make it personal along with the information flier. 5. Discuss and possibly take action on items as they relate to the 2015 annual Teen Court Scholarship Banquet. Teen Court Coordinator Mindy Eichorst announced the 2015 annual Teen Court Scholarship Banquet will be held on Thursday, April 16, 2015 at the Hurst Conference Center. She mentioned she spoke with Judge Murphy about having speaker Associate Justice Debra Lehrmann and he was waiting to hear back. Ms. Eichorst mentioned to come up with other speakers in case something happens and she would not be able to be available. Janet Key mentioned Mark Gimenez, a local attorney turned murder/mystery author that she has heard speak before. Another suggestion was to have a teen that was a previous teen court volunteer come back and speak of where they are and what they are doing. Some of the details for the banquet were discussed and voted on. A unanimous vote was decided to have black and silver invitations or blue and silver invitations. The final decision was left up to Teen Court Coordinator Mindy Eichorst. The first choice for food was Italian food and this also was a unanimous decision. NEW BUSINESS 6. Discuss the 83"1 Regular Session of Texas Legislature and how it has impacted referrals to the HEB Teen Court Program. Teen Court Coordinator Mindy Eichorst explained that in January 2014, there was Texas House Bill 528 and Texas State Bill 393 that passed and went into effect and have had an impact on the HEB Teen Court Program. Ms. Eichorst handed out an information sheet explaining the two bills. The main impact of the bills is that citations are not being written at school or on school property by a School Resource Officer. There are not as many citations being written which in turn affects how many teens come through the program, how many teen/adult volunteers are needed, and affects the community service options and events open to the teens. Since the schools are writing referrals instead of the SRO's writing citations, there are not any reports that the teen volunteer attorneys can use if they are defending or prosecuting the teen defendants. Ms. Eichorst has explained this to both the teen volunteers and the adult volunteers since they are seeing the impact. 7. Set the date for the next Teen Court Advisory Board Meeting. The next HEB Teen Court Advisory Board meeting will be held on Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 6:00 p.m. at the Bedford City Hall upstairs conference room, 2000 Forest Ridge Drive. REPORTS Mindy Eichorst presented the Coordinator's Report and Financial Report for the month of October, 2014. ADJOURNMENT Janet Key entered a motion for the meeting to be adjourned. Warren Wilson seconded the motion and all voted in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 7:01 p.m. 01.Lt<_ ,s,,,,,,,,, c Phoebe Soward, Chairperson