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HomeMy WebLinkAbout20-351RESOLUTION NO. 20-351 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF DENTON AUTHORIZING AND APPROVING EXECUTION BY THE CITY MANAGER OF A MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH DENTON COUNTY FRIENDS OF THE FAMILY (DCFOF) TO COLLABORATE AND MAKE AN APPLICATION TO THE OFFICE ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN (OVW) FOR A GRANT FROM THE OVW IMPROVING CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESPONSES TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, DATING VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND STALKING GRANT PROGRAM (OVW GRANT); RATIFYING ALL PRIOR ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE CITY MANAGER IN FURTHERANCE OF THE FOREGOING APPLICATION; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, the City of Denton ("City") and Denton County Friends of the Family ("DCFOF") enjoy a collaborative relationship in providing services to families in Denton; and WHEREAS, the City and DCFOF (collectively, "Parties") desire to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU'') setting forth the services to be provided by the collaborative; and WHEREAS, the MOU prepared and approved by the collaborative through the Parties, attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference, needed to be submitted to the Office on Violence Against Women in furtherance of the OVW Grant application on or before January 27, 2020;and WHEREAS, the City and DCFOF agree and by the execution hereof are bound to the mutual obligations outlined in the MOU; and WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Denton hereby finds that the MOU between the City and DCFOF serves a municipal and public purpose, is in the public interest, and of a benefit to the citizens of the city ofDenton; NOW THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON HEREBY RESOLVES : SECTION 1: The findings and recitations contained in the preamble of this Ordinance are incorporated herein by reference. SECTION 2: That the City Manager is authorized to execute the Memorandum of Understanding with Denton County Friends of the Family to carry out the duties and responsibilities of the City under the MOU, which is attached hereto as Exhibit "A" and made a part hereof for all purposes. SECTION 3: That all prior actions taken by the City Manager in furtherance of the OVW Grant and MOU are hereby ratified. SECTION 4 : That this Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its passage and approval. The motion to approve this Resolution was made by hue $arzc7-.~ and seconded by i..T!Ji/111 :f._ YA-111 ; this Resolution was passed and approved by the following vote l1_-0 '1: Chris Watts, Mayor: Gerard Hudspeth, District 1 : Keely G. Briggs, District 2: Jesse Davis, District 3: John Ryan, District 4: Deb Armintor, At Large Place 5: Paul Meltzer, At Large Place 6: v' v v' ./ v' v Abstain Absent PASSED AND APPROVED this the _!itf!i. day of ~tl&f= , 2020. Cfffil Q~ ATTEST: ROSARIOS, CITY SECRETARY BY:e-~4 -~ APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM: AARON LEAL, CITY ATTORNEY BY ~ Denton County Friends of the Family A United Way Partner 2020 Board of Directors Susan Stout Chair Celisa Willson Past Chair Ashley Adebogun First VIce Chair Nancy Humphries Second VIce Chair Brandon Reed, CPA Treasurer Landon Ellison Board Development Chair Kim Guertler Secretary Pat Cheek Gene Cherrnay Deborah Coslmo , PhD . Suzanne Enck, PhD. Sandra Inman Jared Julian Rodney Neimuth Larry Schneider Patricia Rodriguez Usa Stanley, PhD . Dale Yeatts Rhonda Love ToniJohnson-Smnpson Executive Director EXHIBIT A Memorandum of Understanding WHEREAS, Denton County Friends of the Family and the City of Denton have come together to collaborate and to make an application for OVW Improving Criminal Justice Responses to Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Sexual Assault, and Stalking Grant Program grant; and WHEREAS, the partners listed below have agreed to enter into a collab orativ e agreement in which Denton County Friends of the Family will be the lead agency and named applicant and the other agencies will be partners in this application; and WHEREAS, the partners herein desire to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding setting forth the services to be provided by the collaborative; and WHEREAS, the application prepared and approved by the collaborative through its partners is to be submitted to the Office on Violence Against Women on or before January 27, 2020; 1) Description of Partner Agencies Denton County Friends of the Family (DCFOF) has been providing services to those impacted by domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and/or stalking since opening its doors in Denton County in 1980. Services provided include emergency shelter and crisis services, victim advocacy, legal services, adult and child counseling, prevention and community education, Batterer Intervention and Prevention Program (BIPP) services and transitional housing assistance. The City of Denton, through its Police Department, responds to calls for service from residents within the cit y. While the bulk of calls for service in 2019 to the Denton Police Department are traffic stops, burglar alarms and other non-violent calls, Denton Police Department did respond to 3,054 domestic disturbances and 201 sexual assault calls. Domestic disturbance ranked in the top 10 categories of calls for service last year. After receiving a call of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking, the scene is secured, safety is established, statements are taken and, if probable cause is found an arrest is made. If no arrests are made, the case is forwarded to the Family Services Division for investigation. Denton County holds offenders of domestic viole nce, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking accountable through the District Attorney's Office. Cases are filed from local law enforcement agencies, routed for intake with the District Attorney's Office and then set for prosecution once accepted or indicted by the Grand Jury. Outreach Oflice 940-387-5131 I Denton County Friends of the Fa_n:illy 124 Hour Crisis Line 940-382-7273 Fax940-383-18t6 P.O Box 640, Denton, Texas 76202 800-572-4031 II) History of Relationship Denton County Friends of the Family (DCFOF) and the City of Denton have enjoyed a robust partnership from the inception of Denton County Friends of the Family In 1980. The City of Denton served as the first and sole funding source of DCFOF for the purpose of providing critical emergency shelter services for victims of domestic violence, stalking, sexual assault and dating violence. DCFOF, for the past 39 years, has been the sole provider of free emergency services for victims of domestic violence, stalking , dating violence and sexual assault. That relationship continued to develop with the addition of non-residential services provided by DCFOF including: adult and child Individual and group counseling, advocacy, family and parenting services, and a Battering Intervention and Prevention Program (BIPP). In 1990, further partnership developed with the addition of the sexual assault response team when DCFOF began to provide specially trained sexual assault nurse examiners and volunteers to respond to sexual assault calls . These calls are requested by the City of Denton Police Department on behalf of a sexual assault victim. The relationship has maintained and flourished with increased financial support for the delivery of crucial victim safety services for the citizens of the City of Denton. In 2017, the agencies enhanced collaborative efforts to develop a monthly meeting to discuss the most high-risk domestic violence , dating violence and stalking cases . The Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) was developed, staffed and coordinated by Denton County Friends of the Family and includes key partners from the City of Denton Police Department's Family Violence unit, Denton County District Attorney's Office, Denton County Probation Department, Denton County Parole Department, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Children's Advocacy Center for Denton County , Medical City Denton and the University of North Texas. Additionally, various departmental representatives (emergency shelter, adult counseling, children's counseling, BIPP, legal services) from Denton County Friends of the Family attend. This model has been used as a proto-type by the Texas Council on Family Violence for domestic violence service providers across the state of Texas . Currently, DCFOF is pursuing funding to establish additional High- Risk Advocate positions to support and liaise with our next largest police department in the county. Further partnership evolved in 2017 with the award of an International Association of Chiefs of Police site grant to the City of Denton Police Department with Denton County Friends of the Family named as a partner and sub-grantee . It was with this opportunity that both partners were able to engage in O'WV approved training opportunities. Valuable training on best practices and collaborative work helped to develop and implement new protocol, practice and services to promote victim safety In collaboration with law enforcement. In 2018, The City of Denton Police Department invited senior leadership from DCFOF to attend a Family Justice Center Leadership Conference. It was there the concept of a Denton County Family Justice Center was born. Representatives from both organizations have visited additional family justice centers, conferences and leadership institutes. In 2019, the Board of Directors of DCFOF officially approved the agency moving forward with efforts to plan and develop a family justice center to serve the more than 850,000 citizens of Denton County. In September of 2019, OCFOF was gifted a parcel of 7 acres in the City of Denton to build a family justice center as the new DCFOF. Preliminary plans include co-locating all core victim services of DCFOF (emergency shelter, counseling, legal services, advocacy, transitional housing), law enforcement, staff from the District Attorney's Office, a supervised visitation center, medical and forensic exams for domestic violence and sexual assault victims, child protective services, and protective order court services. In November of 2019, DCFOF began to hold information and preliminary planning meetings with all 36 of the various law enforcement agencies in the county, district attorney's office, judges of the family courts and County Commissioners to discuss interest, need and commitment to this amazing opportunity. While much as been done, the next three years are crucial in order to achieve this monumental goal. The history and collaboration between Denton County Friends of the Family and The City of Denton is rich and productive to support a project of this magnitude. Ill) Development of Application This application was brought to the attention of Denton County Friends of the Family by Denton City Councilmember Keely Briggs who was familiar with the agency's desire to establish a new location in order to create greater access to services for those in the community impacted by domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. The Executive Director of DCFOF reached out to City Councilmember Briggs and an initial meeting was scheduled with Police Chief Dixon, City Manager Hileman and Danielle Shaw from the Community Development Department with the City of Denton. Development of the application will be led by DCFOF with contributions on goals, participation and budget from the City of Denton. IV) Roles and Responsibilities NOW, THEREFORE, it is hereby agreed by and between the partners as follows: • DCFOF will host strategic planning meetings with key partners to discuss essential components regarding co-location of services. • DCFOF will provide partners with information in a timely manner for OVW approved trainings relevant to family justice center processes, creation and collaboration and improving criminal justice responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. • Representatives from partners will attend strategic planning meetings and make clear their needs and expectations in relation to creating and continuing to work within the family justice center. • Representatives from partners will attend OVW approved training with funds available through the grant. • Representatives from partners will convey their needs regarding logistics, space and equipment needed for their respective agency in the co-location. • Representatives from each partner will participate in the development of technology and data collection needs in order to allow victims to have one intake and access to true collaborative intervention services. • Project partners will utilize the funds from this grant to further the objective of establishing a family justice center. Funds will be used to provide for staff time, location, equipment, travel to related family justice centers and OVW approved training. • Project partners will utilize the funds from this grant to offset the costs of equipment, planning and training related to a Family Justice Center. Denton County Friends of the Family and the project partners are committed to the construction and utilization of a family justice center. Together, we recognize the development of a family justice center will create the highest level of support and service provision for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. We come together to sign this MOU, standing in faith on our collaborative history, committed to providing the best support and service provision from today and into perpetuity. 1) Denton County Friends of the Family will provide victim services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking including: residential and crisis services, advocacy, adult and child/adolescent counseling, legal services, prevention including Batterer Intervention and Prevention Program services and transitional housing. 2) The City of Denton will provide law enforcement services and victim services to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking including: call response, investigations and system based advocacy. 3) Denton County Friends of the Family and the City of Denton will collaborate in the following manner. 1} discuss the needs of each partner, how they are contingent upon each other and ways the development of the family justice center enhances the work they do and 2) work together in strategic planning meetings to ensure the family justice center will meet their needs. 4) Denton County Friends of the Family and the City of Denton will collaborate in the following manner: 1) work together in strategic planning meetings to fully address the needs of Denton Police Department's utilization of and co-location in the family justice center, 2) the purchase of equipment needed to enhance the investigation of cases included in the budget request for the OVW grant and 3) join together in conversations and meetings in the community to create buy in and support for the family justice center. V) Timellne The roles and responsibilities described above are contingent on Denton County Friends of the Family receiving funds requested for the project described in the OVW grant application. Responsibilities under this Memorandum of Understanding would coincide with the grant period, anticipated to be 10/01/2020 through 09/30/2022. VI) Commitment to Partnership 1) The family justice center service area includes Denton County. The City of Denton will provide services within the jurisdiction of the City of Denton Police Department. 2) The partners agree to collaborate and provide collaborative and co-located specialized services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and dating violence pursuant to the program narrative of the grant application attached to this agreement. 3) Compensation for (non-lead] partners' contribution to this project will be provided as outlined in the attached OWJ budget detail worksheet. 4) We, the undersigned have read and agree with this MOU. Further, we have reviewed the proposed project and approve it.