Minutes 09/22/1953 - Laserfiche WebLink

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September 22nd, 1953 At a regular meeting of the City Council, held on September 22nd, 1953, there were pres-I ent: Frank N. Bilisoly,Jr., George L. Grimes, R.E. Hawks, C.C. Houghton,Jr., James N. Howard, Edgar W. Lawrence, R~ Irvine Smith,-C~E. Warren, PeStle J. Wilson, I.G. Vass, City ~anager, and B.C. Barclay, City Attorney. Vice President Pearle J. Wilson in the Chair. Minutes of re~ular meetin~'of September 8th~ t953 were r~ad and approved. Motion of Mr Howard to suspend the rules and have the hearing on the proposed electri- cal ordinance, was adopted. The following people spoke for the adoption of the ordinance: R. Winston Bain, representing the Portsmouth Electrical League, R.T. Trafton, Superin- tendent, Electrical Department, D.E. Clark, Electrical I~spector, ~ark L. Andrews, R.W. Faison and John A.Bender The following people spoke against the adoption: C.C. Boyce, L.A. McLemore and G.H.Creecy. by the following vote: Motion of ~ir Smith to place the Electrical Ordinance on its first reading, was Ayes: Houghton, Howard Smith Nays: Bilisoly, Grimes, Hawks, Lawrence, Warren~ Wilson lost and The following reports from the City Manager were read: tst - "The question of a Child Care Center was referred to me for.a report. I submit the attached." Attached - from Mrs. Fannie R Lee, Supt, Social Service Bureau. '"This is in re~ponse to your request for our reasons for feeling~h~t an additional Child Care Center is desirable. The writer has been charged with the responsibility, of supervisionof the ChildCare Center ever since she assumed duties of the Superintendency of this Bureau in I944. Except for a short period after World War II. the facility has never been large enough to accommodate applicants for the service. On numer- ous occasions we have carried s list of children seeking admission longer than the enrollment. At the moment,this list is not long as the news has spread that we have not been able to accept new children for the past two or three years. One difficult fact in gauging need by a waiting list is that the list really means nothing since the parents make other, and inadequate, even dangerous, arrangements for their children's cat, when they can not accommocated by the Child C~re Center~ As'you know, this Burea~ works closely with the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. We must accept any child the Court commits to us. We have been carrying approximately l$0-Child Welfare cases each month and nearly all of these, except for about 351independent adoptions, arise through Court commitment. Nearly all of these develop because of neglect. In these cases we have found incident after incident of chil~ dren left with improper care while the mother worked. In many cases it was necessary that the mother work or be dependent on public assistance. Yet no more forhunate is the neglected child of a woman who elects to work for the sake of luxuries or dislike of staying at home. Lack of adequate facilities for child care has caused an extensive violation of the stat, law requ~ing the licensing of any home that cares for a child who is not a blood relative or a personal friend. You have probably noticed advertisements~in the papers of people offering to care for children, without reference to license. We believe you can understand our concern over the peril to children of makeshift care. Recently, by court action, we removed from such a home a little girl who cr~sged at a motion and trembled if she dro~ped any- thing. Fortunately neighbors had reported that the child was mistreated, but more often than r~Z,no neighbor will intercede for a child. The writer and the Board of Directors of the Child Care Center have been endeavmring to locate a suitable house in the downtown area, to use as a Child Care Center ever since we were requested to do soI after the last professional survey of Portsmouth pointed up such a need. This survey was made.during Mr. Ancell's$ term of office. We were not given a copy of the result of the survey, but we were shown the recommendations. We have been interested in following the progress of the children who enter schoel after having received preschool care ad the Child Care Center. Even though many of these are ,from ~mpoverished homes ~ and many live in high delinquency areas, every report has been to the effect that the Children made an easy ad - justment in school and presented no behavior problems. We have been repeatedly told that the schools were always delighted to enroll a child who had benefited by pre-training .at ~he Child Car, e Center. Children of parents zn the low income brackets are given priority when a vacancy occurs. On many occasions the Welfare Departmen~ has worked with a mother toward self-support by placing her children in the Child Care Center. One mother of three children and another of fount, readily come ~o mind, who have withdrawn from relief rdls and become self-supportin through aid of the Child Care Center. The Child Care Center charges fees based on a set sliding scale d~pending on the resources of the family and the number of persons dependent thereon. At the present time, parentsl of the children enrolled at the Child Care Center have incomes as per attached sheet." and Mrs. Center. On motion, the rules were suspended to hear Nfs. Tkurlow Etheridge, ~rs. ~artha Wood Nary N. Hope, who spoke requesting the City zo purchase the property a~ 105 London St., for aChild Care Motion of Mr. Smith that a committee be appointed to make a recommendation to the Council on the purchase of this proper~y, was adopted. The Chair ~ppoihted Messrs. Hawks, Howard and Bilisoly. 2nd - "I submit the attached standard easemen~ forms from the Virginia Electric & Power Company for easements over and across certain municipal o~ned properties as shown by the sketches attached thereto and made a part of the agreement.