- April 26, 2024
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The Flagler County Board of County Commissioners approved on Monday a proposed location for the Safe Haven Center.
The facility is meant to increase safety for victims and the children of victims of domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault and stalking by creating a visitation and exchange center for families in crisis to meet with one another.
The Safe Haven Center is funded by a $400,000 grant awarded in 2011 by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence against Women. It will be located in Bunnell, near the city’s library, court house and library.
Commission Chairwoman Barbara Revels said she was originally opposed to this location, but that as she compared other potential locations to the grant’s requirements, the rest of them fell away.
The grant mandates that the Safe Haven Center be located with separate parking and separate entrances for the parties meeting to ensure that only properly facilitated meetings occur. The grant also requires that the facility have the ability to separate custodial and non-custodial parents, that it be in close proximity of law enforcement and that operators are able to observe activity in and around the facility using video cameras.
Commissioner Alan Peterson said he opposed the location because it rendered expansion of the Bunnell Public Library impossible, but eventually conceded that either facility could be moved in the future if needed.
The board approved the facility’s location unanimously. Next, it needs to be approved by the Department of Justice’s Office of Violence against Women.
Commission decides against ceding senior programs to Volusia County
The County Commission discussed letting the Volusia Council on Aging take over operation of many of Flagler County’s senior services Monday at workshop, deciding it wasn't a prudent move.
In 2011, the Volusia COA estimated that it could save Flagler County up to $280,000 initially and up to $430,000 in upcoming years in a proposal that it take over Flagler’s senior services. However, the proposal was withdrawn in light of feedback it received.
Flagler County staff inquired with the COA several months ago to see if it would be interested in a similar agreement. However, the COA found that Flagler’s savings from such a partnership would amount to just $75,000 of initial savings, with no promise of any long-term savings.
The transfer would have given the COA control of the following Flagler County senior services: Meals-on-Wheels, home health care, Medicaid waiver services, adult day care management, congregate dining facilities, caregiver and respite care, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia initiatives and care, and senior services volunteer programs.
The board decided that the savings were not great enough to justify transferring the operation of these services to another county’s COA. Commissioner George Hanns said many Flagler County residents who utilize these services were worried they wouldn’t receive the attention they currently get if Volusia’s COA were to take over the services.
The board decided to discontinue its discussion of this potential transfer.
