County CAO Susan Thompson said that the current gang task force
will more than likely have a role with the prospective addition of
this position.
HOLLISTER
At last week’s Hollister City Council meeting, Mayor Doug Emerson spoke about the area Intergovernmental Board’s efforts to potentially implement a gang resource position for the city, county and schools.
County Administrative Officer Susan Thompson followed up by saying that the creation of this position is not a done deal but there is a lot of discussion on what would be a “multi-funded gang resource person.”
Emerson said that the city’s current gang task force hasn’t been too successful. While Hollister’s task force meets at 4:30 p.m., which is after work for most involved, Emerson said that San Jose’s task force meets at 8:30 a.m. and is not viewed as a second job for them.
“No one plans – everyone does it as another thing,” said Emerson.
Thompson said that the current gang task force will more than likely have a role with the prospective addition of this position.
The Intergovernmental Board consists of two members of the San Benito County Board of Supervisors, Pat Loe and Don Marcus, and two members of the Hollister City Council, Monica Johnson and Emerson. Also involved are Thompson and City Manager Clint Quilter. The board meets to discuss issues that are of mutual concern to both the city and the county. The issues range from animal control to mosquito abatement to emergency dispatch. A major topic of interest lately has been gangs.
While the group has been meeting privately, Emerson hopes to include individuals from the city, county, probation office, schools and the faith-based community. There already has been a meeting that included superintendents of area schools – city and county leaders met Monday with Stan Rose of San Benito High School, Ron Crates from the Hollister School District and county schools chief Tim Foley to discuss the subject.
A big obstacle for this position is funding. Funding will have to come from each party involved for it to be successful, Thompson said. Once a “memorandum of understanding” is formed between the city, county and schools, the search for funding will begin. Thompson added that currently no one has the ability to buy in financially.
Foley said he was “very excited and very encouraged” by the meeting. The meeting mapped out strategy and funding for the position. His hopes are that once this position is implemented, it will become “institutionalized and sustained.” He also spoke highly of Thompson’s bringing of these groups together and called her vision “self-sustaining.”
“Everyone has a stake in this,” said Foley.
City Councilwoman Monica Johnson said that all levels of this group would need to work together and that each agency would have an equal responsibility in reporting to one another.
And county Supervisor Pat Loe called it a “great resource for the community.”
