First: We're excited to announce the inaugural meeting of the board on Thursday, January 21 at 6 p.m. This will be an in-person meeting open to the public. The 5 positional members of the board will meet inside the Escambia County Commission chambers at 221 Palafox Place.
You can find additional details about the meeting on our blog, including a link to the full agenda: https://www.escambiachildrenstrust.org/news
Second: Applications are still open through January 30 for citizens to serve on the oversight board. If you are interested, or know someone who would be a good fit, please share this: link https://www.escambiachildrenstrust.org/post/wanted-citizens-to-apply-to-serve-on-first-children-s-services-council
Any present or past Board Members that you think would be good recruits to apply for this?
Following are the criteria:
Once members are appointed to the CSC, the newly formed government body is responsible for assessing the needs of the children in the county and developing a strategic plan for addressing unmet needs which must then be submitted to the Board. The CSC, like the county, must also go through the process of adopting a millage rate and budget in accordance with Florida’s Truth In Millage (TRIM) Act, and the CSC must submit an annual report to the Board as required by Florida law.
To be considered for the CSC, Florida Statute criteria include the requirement that nominees have been residents of Escambia County for the previous 24-month period and are willing to submit an annual Statement of Financial Interests Form.
Florida Statutes also require that gubernatorial appointments are representative of the demographic diversity of the county’s population.
After the application deadline of Jan. 30 has passed, the eligible applications will be compiled for the Board’s consideration during the Feb. 18 meeting. In order to narrow down the pool of applicants to the 15 nominations that will be submitted to the Governor, each Commissioner will nominate two applicants and the full Board nominates five additional applicants. Following the Board’s selection, the County Administrator will then send a letter to the Governor and the Governor’s Appointments Office with the list of 15 nominees to be considered for appointment to the CSC.
All of the candidates will be notified of their nomination. In accordance with Florida Statutes, the Governor then has 45 days to make a selection or request a new list of candidates. Per Florida Statutes, the length of the terms of the initial appointees must be adjusted to stagger the terms. To fulfill this requirement, the following term lengths are for each vacant seat on the CSC:
• Seat #1: Four-Year Term
• Seat #2: Two-Year Term
• Seat #3: Four-Year Term
• Seat #4: Two-Year Term
• Seat #5: Four-Year Term
Each of the five gubernatorial appointees will be randomly assigned a seat number and corresponding term length. It should be noted that there is no statutory limit to the number of terms an individual may serve on a CSC, so those assigned a two-year term will be eligible to apply for reappointment. As part of the Board’s annual Commissioner appointment agenda item, the Board will select a Commissioner to serve on the CSC. ... See more
