Pinellas County Juvenile Justice Council
Council Meeting of October 22, 2009
Seminole Community Library
9200 -113 Street North
Seminole, FL 33772

Minutes  Approved as submitted 11/19/09

Call to order—Chair Corry called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.

Call of the roll—Membership Registrar Pitts called the roll and announced a quorum. 

Public comment.—There was no comment.

Approve minutes of Council meetings—The minutes of the 07/23/09 and 09/24/09 Council meetings were taken up for consideration. Chair addressed each set of minutes in chronological order and announced that all Council members were sent a set of the minutes by e-mail and presented with a printed set at this meeting. For each set of minutes, the Chair stated that if there was no objection, the reading of the minutes would be waived. There was no objection. The reading of each set of minutes was waived. For each set of the minutes, the Chair asked for corrections and comments. There were none. For each set, the Chair announced that, if there was no objection, the minutes would be accepted as submitted.  For each set, there was no objection. The minutes of the 07/23/09 and 09/24/09 Council meetings were approved as submitted.

Reports—

(1) Chair’s report
(a) Introduction—Chair Corry explained that her term expired at the end of the September 24, 2009 meeting and, as there was no quorum at that meeting, a new Chair was not elected. Therefore, Chair Corry assumed the role of Acting Chair for this meeting.
(b) Meetings—
1. Circuit 6 Juvenile Justice Board meeting to be held October 26, 2009.
2. Pinellas County Juvenile Justice Council meeting to be held November 19, 2009.
3. Department of Juvenile Justice meeting to train Circuit Juvenile Justice Board leadership to be held December 9, 2009. Contact Yvonne Woodard at yvonne.woodard@djj.state.fl.us for details.
(c) Other Council Matters—
1. Council Website—The future of the Council’s website pinellasjjc.org—currently funded and maintained by Member Plyer—depends on volunteers for funding and maintenance.
2. Parent Requesting Council Help—The Council received an email on October 19, 2009, from a mother seeking help for her daughter regarding probation issues. Acting Chair Corry, a DJJ volunteer, screened for youth contact, offered assistance to the family. Acting Chair brought the issue to the attention of DJJ for their review and assistance.
(d) Copy of the Chair’s report was submitted for the record.

(2) Secretary’s report—Secretary Plyer provided a brief report on Pinellas County public school-related charges for the 1^st school quarter in the 2009-10 school year. The report notes that counts (the number of times charges are levied) are about the same (114) as for the first quarter of last year (111). This maintains the drop from the 1^st quarter of the 2004-5 school year (198) when the Council brought this issue to the attention of the school board. Counts had declined to a low of 80 in the 1^st quarter of the 2006-7 school year. The report also noted that counts from ESE school-related charges continue to account for about 10% of all counts in Pinellas County public schools. A copy of the Secretary’s report was submitted for the record.

(3) Nomination Committee’s report—Chair of the Nomination Committee, Council Vice-Chair Sullivan, reported that Member Brian Pitts was the sole nominee for the office of Council Chair and had accepted. There were no nominations for the offices of Vice-Chair, Secretary and Membership Registrar. The Committee also reported that Member Matt Sullivan had been nominated for a second 2-year term to the Circuit 6 Juvenile Justice Board and had accepted. There were no other nominees for that seat on the Board.

(4) Membership Registrar’s report---Registrar Pitts spoke of upcoming DJJ meetings, their cost to attend and questioned their usefulness in solving problems.

Old business—

(1) Elect Council Officers—
(a) Chair—Acting Chair stated that Member Pitts was the sole nominee for the office. Acting Chair called for floor nominations. There were none. Member Plyer moved that, there being no other nominees, Brian Pitts be elected Chair by acclamation. The motion was seconded . There was no debate. Acting Chair called for a vote and Brian Pitts was elected Chair by voice vote of the members present.
(b) Vice-Chair—Acting Chair stated there were no nominees for the office and asked for floor nominations. Member Pound was nominated from the floor. After discussion, Member Pound accepted the nomination. There were no other nominations. Member Plyer moved that, there being no other nominees, Greg Pound be elected Vice-Chair by acclamation. The motion was seconded by Member Sullivan. There was no debate. At this point there was clapping and side talk and the Council moved on to the election of the Secretary.
(c) Secretary—Acting Chair stated there were no nominees for the office and asked for floor nominations. Member Estes was nominated from the floor. After discussion, Member Estes accepted the nomination. There were no other nominations. Member Plyer moved that, there being no other nominees, Keith Estes be elected Secretary by acclamation. The motion was seconded  by Member Sullivan. There was no debate. Acting Chair called for a vote and Keith Estes was elected Secretary by voice vote of the members present. Acting Chair questioned if the Council had completed the vote for Vice Chair. Member Sullivan recalled that it had. No one disputed Sullivan’s statement and there was no further comment.
(d) Membership Registrar—Acting Chair stated there were no nominees for the office and asked for nominations from the floor. There were no nominations from the floor. The office is vacant pending further action by the Council. In the interim, Chair-elect Pitts agreed to provisionally assume the duties of Membership Registrar.

(2) Elect member of the Circuit 6 Juvenile Justice Board—
(a) Acting Chair stated the name of Matt Sullivan as the sole nominee for a seat on the Board. Acting Chair called for floor nominations. There were none. Member Plyer moved that, there being no other nominees, Matt Sullivan be appointed to the Board by acclamation. Member Pound seconded the motion. There was no debate. Acting Chair called for a vote and Matt Sullivan was appointed to his second two-year term as a member of the Board by voice vote of the members present.
(b) Acting Chair noted that, according to the Council’s by-laws, Chair-elect Pitts becomes a member of the Board for the duration of his term of office. The Chair-elect is currently a member of the Board by previous Council appointment. As a result, Member Pitts must vacate his appointed seat. With this new vacancy, Member Corry was nominated from the floor. After discussion, Member Corry accepted. There were no other nominations. Member Estes moved that, there being no other nominees, Cathy Corry be appointed to the Board by acclamation. Member Pound seconded the motion. There was no debate. Acting Chair called for a vote and Cathy Corry was appointed to a two-year term as a member of the Board by voice vote of the members present.

New business—Develop draft Calendar for 2010 Council Meetings. Acting Chair asked the Council to develop a draft calendar for the Council’s public meetings in 2010. After discussion, the Council tentatively agreed to meet quarterly on these dates in 2010: January 14, April 8, July 8, and October 14. These dates are the second Thursday of the month. The Council also agreed that meetings of the Executive Committee be announced, as needed, by the Chair via public notice. Acting Chair also brought up the issue of location. The current Seminole venue has been used for its central position in the county. A motion to adopt this calendar will be presented at the next meeting of the Council. At that meeting, the location(s) for the meetings will be identified and acted upon.

Council member announcements—Member Pitts raised concerns about the Florida Legislature’s conduct of business without sufficient public notice.

Public comment—Speaker hoped the Council would stay focused on the children. Speaker asked for sources of state organizations focused on other issues associated with children.

Adjourn—Acting Chair announced that there were no further items on the agenda and, if there was no objection, the meeting would be adjourned. There was no objection. Acting Chair declared the meeting adjourned at 8:54 P.M.

Minutes prepared by Dave Plyer, Secretary (out-going), 11/03/09.

top | print version

This site is maintained by the Pinellas County Juvenile Justice Council. Last updated 04/07/2010.