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The Veterans Affairs Commission (VAC) in collaboration with Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) will review draft versions of the Veterans Monument Criteria, receive and consider input from the veteran community and identify and compose a single version of draft criteria to recommend for approval by the County Board of Supervisors (BOS), as directed by the BOS on 01/14/2025.
Timalynn Jaynes, Assistant Director of Human Services at HHSA, expressed gratitude to Commissioners Reynolds and Mullens-Becker for organizing this Special Meeting and thanked the veterans who have provided their input on the Monument Criteria to date. She recounted that at the March 13, 2025 VAC meeting, Commissioner Smith raised significant concerns about the Monument Criteria verbiage in all drafts, citing contradictions and insufficient information distributed, and that he made a motion to pause recommendations, opting instead to seek further guidance from the BOS. This motion passed with a unanimous 5-0 vote.
Jaynes emphasized that the BOS provided clear instructions for the veteran community to collaborate and resolve differences regarding the Criteria. She reminded the Commission of their responsibility to provide timely recommendations and adhere to their advisory role.
Highlighting procedural expectations, Jaynes outlined the VAC’s standard practice of distributing Agendas and documents the Friday before meetings and stressed Commissioners’ responsibility to prepare in advance. She noted that over the past two years, the Criteria had been agendized five times, yet a lack of engagement by the Commission and late-stage criticism of HHSA’s work were deemed unacceptable.
Jaynes reinforced the expectations for public servants to act with integrity and accountability, upholding public trust as outlined in the Code of Ethics. She detailed the exhaustive efforts by her staff to review materials, collaborate with stakeholders, and meet with various County offices to meet the stan...
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