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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Services Board - Minutes - 5/22/2014BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 22, 2014 Board Members Present: Rusty Williams, Pat Carver, Bill Bussey, Fred Strand, Jim Crandall, John Bennett, Lona Schmidt, Deb Pyne Board Members Absent: Others Present: Elizabeth Skulan, Nikki Revak, Carrie Linder, Anita Haukaas, Jeanine Spuhler, Dennis Pocernich Call to Order and Introductions Williams called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. Introductions were made. Review of the April 24, 2014 Minutes Motion by Bussey, seconded by Crandall, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion passed unanimously. Opportunity for Public Comment None Program Presentation – ABAWD Temporary Waiver, Economic Support, Jeanine Spuhler ABAWD, (Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents) are FoodShare recipients who are subject to time-limited benefits if they fail to meet special criteria including work requirements. Spuhler reported that this may affect seasonal employees. ABAWD consumers that are over the age of 60 are not exempted from the work requirements. ABAWD’s must meet with an employment and training worker to set goals. They may qualify for short term training at WITC. Beginning January 1, 2015, the program will be operated on a regional basis. The state will be requesting RFP (Requests for Proposal) and will award contracts accordingly. Bayfield is not in a position to submit an RFP for this program. Monthly Section Reports Economic Support Services – Jeanine Spuhler The last day to file a non-emergency WHEAP (Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program) application was May 15th. Preliminary reports indicate that there was an overall increase of 5% in the number of households who applied for the program in 2013-2014 compared to the 2012- 2013 fiscal year. Due to the propane shortage, funding was expended at an unprecedented rate and Bayfield County is out of WHEAP crisis funds. Consumers with depleted heat resources are being referred to community partner agencies for assistance. On June 25th and 26th the State will conduct an on-site program compliance audit of the Bayfield County DHS WHEAP. Over 760 households in Bayfield County received assistance with WHEAP in the last heating season. Changes will be made to customize the Northern Income Maintenance Consortium call flow to better meet the needs of the public and to gain efficiencies as a consortium. Currently, Child Care questions are being referred to the county of residence. Over the next few months, Child Care questions will be answered by child care workers on the call center. BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 22, 2014 2 Aging & Disability Services – Carrie Linder The annual meeting to review the Birth-to-Three Interagency Transition Agreement was held last week. The agreement outlines the process to transition children from Birth to Three to local school districts, early childhood centers, or Head Start Programs prior to their third birthday. A Bayfield County family has requested a full due process hearing to appeal a parental cost share for the Birth-to –Three Program. Staff has been collecting data to prepare for the hearing. The hearing is scheduled for June 4th. Although mediation was also an option, the hearing will give the agency some insight on process improvements that might be needed. Children that have a 25% delay in one or more developmental area are functionally eligible for the program. Two Final Affairs workshop will be held June 10th and June 11th at the Northern Great Lakes Visitors Center. MTM (Medical Transportation Management) Inc. is the state’s non-emergency medical transportation broker. Bayfield County has not received as many consumer complaints as were received in the past with the former broker, Logisticare. Staff assists consumers file a formal complaint when needed. The State is asking the broker for a full audit of the program. Support Services – Nikki Revak One staff person is back from Family Medical Leave. The 942 Expenditure and HSRR Revenue report for 2013 has been completed and sent to the state. This report summarizes expenditures and revenues by target group and age. Skulan and Revak attended the CCS (Comprehensive Community Services) Program workshop in Wausau. Although no new information was presented, the workshop allowed brainstorming with local partners and New Horizons North staff was present at the workshop. New Horizons North is the contracted agency for the providing the CCS regional program in Ashland and Bayfield Counties. A Mexican Fiesta potluck was held today at noon. Staff and managers provided a variety of wonderful food. Family Services – Anita Haukaas Family Services staff met with District Attorney Bourg, Judge Anderson, and Clerk of Court Cedarburg to continue planning for the Family Treatment. In the past three years, 25 Child Protective Cases involved parents with AODA issues. Criminal charges must be filed against the parent(s) for them to be in the program. It is hoped that at least three families will benefit from the program in 2014. BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 22, 2014 3 Chally Topping-Thompson is the new Indian Child Welfare (ICW) Director for the Red Cliff Band of Superior Chippewa. Chris Hillert was reappointed to the position of ICW case worker. Brenda Spurlock and Terri Kramolis are contracting with Northland Counseling to have a satellite office in the Annex one day a week. They will work with consumers that have a duel diagnosis of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder. Due to a recent and significant fire at the Wisconsin’s Department of Children and Families building, the interstate compact training in Rhinelander has been cancelled. Statistics:  Juvenile Court Referrals for January to May are at 24 this year, compared to 31 in the same time frame as last year.  Emergency Detentions from January to May are at 24 this year, compared to 33 in the same time frame as last year. Monthly Reports The monthly reports were reviewed and placed on file. Skulan reported that expenses will not exceed revenues for fiscal 2013. Final numbers should be available at the end of June or the beginning of July when the final state reports are issued. 2015 DHS Budget Issues Skulan reviewed the 2015 budget. Skulan also reviewed the results of the Online County Budget Survey specific to DHS. Health Care Advisory Referendum Strand reported that Governor Walker rejected additional federal funds available to the State of Wisconsin under the Affordable Care Act to provide Medicaid for individuals between 101 and 133% of the Federal Poverty Level. As a result, those individuals are not eligible for BadgerCare nor is health care that is affordable for them. Strand is seeking approval to introduce a resolution at the next DHS meeting that will be recommended to the full County Board. If passed, the resolution will place the following referendum November 4, 2014 ballot: “Shall the next State Legislature accept available federal funds for BadgerCare to ensure that thousands of Wisconsin citizens have access to quality and affordable health coverage?”. Motion by Bussey, second by Strand, to direct Skulan to prepare the resolution for consideration at the next DHS meeting. Motion passed unanimously. Social Worker Recruitment and Retention Skulan reported that the current wage scale for social workers will likely be a deterrent to successful recruitment and retention in the future. Social workers make decisions and perform BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 22, 2014 4 tasks that may increase risk and liability to the county. Recruiting qualified candidates was difficult using the previous wage scale and the 2014 Wage Schedule is much lower. Bussey stated that due to ACT 10 the County hired Wipfli, LLP to complete a wage structure that was subsequently adopted by the Board. Bussey feels that there may be a number of issues that will need to be addressed as problems are identified. Bussey also reported that reviewing the social work wage is on the agenda for the next County Personnel Committee Meeting. Reclassification Procedures Skulan reported that there are still a number of questions regarding how the new reclassification process will work, particularly how it will be applied to those employees who were hired prior to January 1, 2014. This has been difficult for management because they are unable to respond to questions from employees or provide them with clear direction. The Department of Human Services Board entertained a motion to move in and out of Executive Session pursuant to S19.85(1)(c); considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. Motion by Bussey at 5:32 p.m., second by Carver, to move into Executive Session. Roll call vote. Motion passed unanimously. Haukaas, Linder, Revak, and Spuhler, excused. Motion by Bussey at 5:45 p.m., second by Carver, to move out of Executive Session. Roll Call Vote. Motion passed. Discussion and possible action(s) regarding Executive Session Other (Informational Items) None Future Meetings A. June 26, 2014 (Includes Public Hearing on 2015 Budget) B. July 24, 2014 C. August 28, 2014 Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 5:47 p.m. Submitted by Nikki Revak, Financial Manager