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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Services Board - Minutes - 5/28/2015BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 28, 2015 Board Members Present: Kent Seldal, Lona Schmidt John Bennett, Pat Carver, Rusty Williams, Deb Pyne, Kathy Wendling Board Members Excused: Fred Strand, Jim Crandall Others Present: Elizabeth Skulan, Nikki Revak, Carrie Linder, Jeanine Spuhler, Anita Haukaas, Jenna Casey and Tracie Bear with Workforce Development, Delores McFaggan with Northwest CEP Call to Order and Introductions Williams called the meeting to order at 4:02 p.m. Introductions were made. Review of the April 23, 2015 Meeting Minutes Motion by Carver, seconded by Schmidt, to approve the minutes as presented. Motioned passed unanimously. Public Comment – Limited to 3 minutes per person None Program Presentation – Economic Support Services Jenna Casey and Tracie Bear from Workforce Development along with Delores McFaggen from Northwest CEP gave an overview of the FSET Program. The FSET program stands for FoodShare – Employment and Training (FSET) program. FSET is not a requirement of the FoodShare program. But, if you are considered an ABAWD (Able Body Adult Without Dependents), your FoodShare benefits are limited to three months if you do not participate in the program. The program provides FoodShare recipients the opportunity and assistance to gain skills, training and experience to move into employment at no cost. The program consists of services intended to make it easier and faster for members to move into unsubsidized employment. Some services include: career counseling, job search assistance, work experience, short-term skills straining, transportation assistance, and child care assistance. Upon enrollment, an FSET case manager contacts the individual and speaks with then about job interests and needs. The participant identifies career goals and builds an employment plan to help achieve it. As long as FSET members are meeting expectations in their work plan and comply with program rules, they will continue to be served and eligible for FoodShare. When FSET members do not comply, they lose eligibility for FoodShare for three years. Monthly Section Reports Support Services – Nikki Revak Sarah Copp has been hired as the part-time limited term Northern Income Maintenance Consortium clerical call center worker. Sarah completed on-line training and is shadowing Britt BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 28, 2015 2 Sirrine. Sarah Traaholt has been training Britt Sirrine at reception and Kathy Wolfram has been training Sarah Traaholt how to process accounts payable. Other job duties have been reassigned to other support staff workers. The management team participated in the Department Head training today. Revak has been out of the office for a few days. Economic Support Services – Jeanine Spuhler Workforce Development is working with the Northern Income Maintenance Consortium on the FSET program. Workforce Development became the provider for the program in the northern region on April 1, 2015. Spuhler was happy to announce that limited term Economic Support workers Danielle Colby and Mark Wilson both applied for ongoing positions with the Northern Income Maintenance Consortium and were successful candidates. As of June 2, both will become full-time Bayfield County employees. The State has a planned summer fill program for Bayfield County residents eligible for the Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program (WHEAP). The State is working with eligible households who can access the pre-buy program for propane. This is a new program and will be automated state-wide. Staff is working with household disconnected for non-payment of electrical and/or heating costs. Family Services – Anita Haukaas Haukaas has been working on the annual report, evaluations and paperwork for reclassifications. Currently Family Services is recruiting for a social worker to fill the AODA coordinator position. Applications are due June 7th. This is the third posting for the position. Cheryl Hanson is performing AODA and MH duties. Other staff are assisting and filling the gaps. Hanson has currently been taken off the Access work schedule. The annual meeting with Family Services, the Court System, local School Districts and Law Enforcement was held on May 29, 2015. The meeting was well attended and Family Services staff did a fine job presenting issues. Support Staff Sarah Traaholt created two brochures that Family Services staff developed for school personnel on Child Protective Services (CPS). The CPS brochures provide guidance to school personnel on Child Abuse and Neglect reporting and what to expect once a report has been submitted. Ashland and Douglas County will distribute the brochure to schools in their counties who also serve Bayfield County children. Haukaas has been assisting with the Emergency Detentions for staff on vacation. Social Worker Rebecca Kruit is trained to make screening decisions for CPS cases to assist Haukaas with the work load. BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 28, 2015 3 Aging & Disability Services – Carrie Linder Megan Collins, the Youth Transition social worker, tendered her notice. Collins last day will be July 31, 2015. Collins has accepted work with NorthLakes Clinic as a licensed therapist. Linder would like to have a replacement hired and cross trained prior to August 1. Linder has completed her work on the 2014 annual report. Linder has begun to develop the Aging Program plan for 2016 – 2018. Linder is hoping to solicit feedback from the community and is currently speaking with groups throughout the community to gather input. Linder asked DHS Board Members if there were any groups that they were affiliated with that might want to participate. Linder is working with the State demographer to document Bayfield County’s aging statistics and trends. Dementia is increasing and the data indicates that in 15 and 20 years dementia will continue to rise in Bayfield County at an alarming rate. There must be long-term plans in place to might meet the future needs of the most vulnerable elderly in our communities. Monthly Reports The monthly reports were reviewed and placed on file. 2016 Department Budget Memo and Input Skulan reviewed the 2016 Budget Preparations Memo issued by County Administrator, Mark Abeles-Allison. Included in Skulan’s response to Abeles-Allison: replace the Ford Escape (Compressed Natural Gas - CNG) with another vehicle that better meets the need of the senior home delivered meal program; update Audio/Visual equipment; replace carpeting in Administrative offices and Family Services Section; replace window treatments for Human Services Offices; improve air quality and ventilation; review wage scale and benefit package, etc. The committee directed Skulan to draft a memo to Abeles-Allison to request a replacement vehicle for the senior home delivered meal program. DHS Board members will review and sign the memo at the June 23, 2015 meeting. Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) Program Update Enrollments for CCS are increasing. There are 15 individual enrolled in the program including four youth. Some consumers are transferring from the Community Support Program (CSP) to CCS. Consumers must be MA eligible to be served in the CCS program. The CSP and CCS programs are both voluntary services. CCS program personnel are meeting with Memorial Medical Center in hopes of partnering to better serve consumers. MMC has declined contracting with CCS because they do not want to accept the MA rate. Skulan reported that the 2014 billing for the start-up costs on the CCS program is not yet final. DHS still has questions regarding the invoice. BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 28, 2015 4 Comprehensive Community Services Advisory Committee Appointment Skulan reported that Kari Williams has submitted an application to be appointed to the CCS Advisory Committee. Skulan is seeking approval from the DHS Board. Motion by Schmidt, second by Carver, to approve the appointment of Kari Williams to the Comprehensive Community Services Advisory Committee. Motion passed unanimously. Gemini Leasing Update Four agencies submitted proposals for services formerly contracted to Gemini Leasing which will close its doors on May 31, 2015. The majority services will be contracted through International Home Cares. Because consumers have some choice, one child will receive services from North Country Independent Living. In addition, two substitutes for staff who work in the elderly nutrition program were hired as casual employees of Bayfield County. Social Work On-Call Pay Status Report Skulan reported that she and Haukaas were invited to attend the Personnel Committee meeting on Thursday, May 7, to discuss the proposal for a change in on-call compensation. The DHS recommendation was to increase compensation to time and one-half for all on-call work. The Personnel Committee approved the following modification to the policy regarding On-Call Pay for Family Service Social Workers instead:  Employees call-out to work will be paid for a minimum of 30 minutes work time.  On-call pay will increase to $1.50 per hour. Although the DHS recommendation was not accepted, this was a positive outcome for social work staff. Americorp Grant – To Improve Senior Volunteer Driver Program Linder applied for and received an Americorp grant to fund an volunteer to assist in improving the Senior Volunteer Driver Program. This grant requires a $7,000 cash match, space and office equipment; the match will be paid from the DOT 85.21 trust funds. The position is posted at WITC, NWCEP, Northland College and Bayfield County Website. Aging and Disability Resource Center of the North – ADRC-N (ADRC-N) 2014 Financial Update Revak and Skulan reported that Bayfield County DHS is the fiscal agent for the ADRC-N. During the 2014 fiscal year, two counties expended more than their contract amount; however, the consortium as a whole did not spend the total contract amount. The data indicates that for the past four years the same two counties have spent more than their contract amount. At the April ADRC-N Management Team meeting, a decision was made by the County Directors not fund the overages in the two counties. They instead voted to retain the funds in a contingency fund to be used for regional expenditures. It was also decided that counties with regional staff would be reimbursed for their Agency Management Support and Overhead (AMSO) and BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING Bayfield County EOC May 28, 2015 5 Indirect costs incurred on behalf of the ADRC-N. In the past practice those costs were considered “in-kind” expenses. At the ADRC-N Advisory Committee meeting on April 20th, the committee’s decided to pay one half of the contractual overages and one half of the AMSO/Indirect costs for regional staff. The ADRC-N Coordinator spoke with the State DHS ADRC fiscal staff and was told that state and federal funds cannot be retained in a contingency fund. However, the funds can be paid to counties who incurred costs, then the counties could issue a check to the ADRC-N and those funds would then be considered county levy and can be retained in a contingency fund. This will be on the agenda for the next ADRC-N Advisory Committee meeting on June 20, 2015. Other (Informational Items) A. Aging Services Power Point Presentation Bayfield County Budget 2016 B. WNPR article – Lawmaker Proposes Photo ID Requirement to Stop Food Stamp Fraud C. Governing article – Why Photo IDs Won’t Stop Food Stamp Fraud D. Child Protective Services Brochures for School Personnel Future Meetings A. June 25, 2015 (EOC, Begin with Public Hearing on 2016 DHS Budget) B. July 23, 2015 C. August 27, 2015 Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 5:27 p.m. Submitted by Nikki Revak, Financial Manager