HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Services Board - Minutes - 12/1/2015BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING
Bayfield County EOC
December 1, 2015
Board Members Present: Rusty Williams, Fred Strand, Patty Carver, Jim Crandall and Kathy Wendling. Deb
Pyne (remotely-on phone).
Board Members Excused: Lona Schmidt, John Bennett, and Kent Seldal.
Others Present: Elizabeth Skulan, Nikki Revak, Carrie Linder, Anita Haukaas, Nina Bucher (minute
recorder) and Mark Abeles-Allison (arrived at 4:07 p.m.)
Holiday potluck at 3:30pm
Call to Order and Introductions
Williams called the meeting to order at 3:59 p.m. and introductions were made.
Review of the October 22, 2015 Meeting Minutes
Motion by Strand, seconded by Carver, to approve the October 22, 2015 minutes as presented. Motioned
passed unanimously.
Public Comment – Limited to 3 minutes per person
None
Program Presentation – Weatherization Program Presentation
Spuhler presented a brief program overview due to the absence of the scheduled presenter, Neil Deering from
Ashland Housing Authority. The regional Weatherization Program is administered by the Ashland Housing
Authority and is available to high energy usage homeowners who have been found eligible for WHEAP (WI
Heating Energy Assistance Program) funds. The applicants must agree to a home energy audit to identify the
causes of high usage, and then may be found eligible for things like insulation, doors/window updating, a new
refrigerator, furnace repair or replacement, etc. Recently, Bayfield County was awarded an additional $4,000
in crisis funds for energy assistance.
Monthly Section Reports
Aging & Disability Services – Carrie Linder
Memory screens were performed by A&D staff throughout Bayfield County in early November. The project
was well attended and successful. During a recent review of his 60 cases, regional Disability Benefit Specialist
Jamie Mackin received a glowing report for his performance by his state legal supervisor. The Medicare Part D
open enrollment period ends on 12/7/15 and Sheila Mack has been busy assisting applicants. Due to the
previous lack of substitute drivers, we recently hired four substitute home delivered meal van drivers to
provide coverage for the vacations and other time off needed by regular van drivers.
Social Worker Kristin Opperman has been working on two program changes occurring Jan. 1, 2016: Intensive
Children’s Autism Waiver, which is becoming a Medicaid card service (fee for service) and the Family Support
Program (FSP) which will become the Children’s Community Options Program (CCOP). Currently there is only
one provider for intensive autism services in Bayfield County (IDS). Family outreach will become even more
important so that children needing services are identified. Information on the FSP/CCOP transition is not yet
BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING
Bayfield County EOC
December 1, 2015
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available from the State; however, we do know that that CCOP will require all children to be eligible for
Medicaid to receive services.
Dementia friendly business training of the trainers is being offered to Bayfield County Departments and then
will be offered to local businesses. Recently, Linder completed a “State of Aging” presentation to the Chamber
of Commerce in Iron River that was well received. Linder stated that in the next ten years there will be a large
population shift in Bayfield County as the over 60 population increases dramatically.
Family Services – Anita Haukaas
Family Services and Red Cliff Indian Child Welfare (RCICW) held their first staffing in a long time on November
19th. Communication attempts with Red Cliff regarding the AODA contract have been unsuccessful and
therefore the bills from March 2015 to present remain unpaid.
Program updates: Family Treatment Court is currently serving three families; CCS now serves 26 people but
few are children; CSP has 22 participants; Emergency Detentions (EDs) requirements will be changing in 2016
and require an assessment to be completed by a Mental Health professional; Department of Justice trainings
for the forensic interviewing of children will now be performed by the State of WI, the State will also pay for
the training, lodging, and meal costs for one to two Bayfield County employees; The case worker/client
contact benchmark was successfully met for the last period; the Safe and Stable Family’s 2016 plan is being
completed; Juvenile intake referrals are down for this calendar year.
Support Services – Nikki Revak
Although technically on Family Medical Leave until December 8, 2015, Revak attended the meeting and
provided a report. Support Staff is literally short-handed Heather Gilbertson has been hired as a Clerk I and
begins employment on December 7, 2015. Revak thanked the Administrator’s office for prioritizing and
quickly filling the vacancy.
Revak and Skulan attended a Northern Income Maintenance Consortium (NIMC) meeting focused on the
regionalization of child care and equity. The meeting was divided into the Directors group and the Financial
Managers group and then the groups met together in the afternoon. When the group got back together,
Revak was surprised that some financial managers presented information that, until presented to the group,
their directors did not know. Revak said that she was pleased that this is not the case in Bayfield County and
was a positive example of the good communication and knowledge sharing that occurs here.
Economic Support Services – Jeanine Spuhler
Spuhler reported: she is working on evaluations. She reported that the funding for Lisa Fox-Wold’s (a PPACA
LTE with excellent customer service skills) has been extended to March 31, 2016 and we hope to go notice
soon that funding will be available until December 31, 2016. Monday November 30, was the busiest in NIMC
call center history receiving approximately 1,000 calls. Call center workers continue to prepare for “on
demand” applications and will begin training soon. The first wave of WHEAP awards was distributed to
providers in November.
Monthly Reports
The budget, waiting list, and training reports were reviewed and placed on file.
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2015 Budget Resolution
Human Services Resolution #06-2015 was presented. It is required to increase the Department’s 2015
spending authority by $407,640 in excess of the original budget. The increases are due to additional
state/federal revenues and will not require any additional county levy.
Motion by Strand, seconded by Crandall, to approve the resolution that recommends the County Board
increase the 2015 Human Services spending authority by $407,640 and forward the resolution to the County
Board. Motioned passed unanimously.
2016-2018 Plan on Aging
Linder summarized the draft plan and outlined the focus and goals of services that will be provided to the
elderly funded through the Greater Wisconsin Area on Aging Resources funding for the next three years. The
draft was approved by the Aging and Disability Services Advisory Committee on 11/9/15 and is recommended
to the Human Services Board for approval.
Motion by Crandall, seconded by Carver, to approve the 2016-2018 Plan on Aging as presented. Motioned
passed unanimously.
2016 DOT 85.21 Application
Linder presented the annual application for 2016 DOT 85.21 transportation funds. The application was
approved by the Aging and Disability Services Advisory Committee on 11/9/15 and is recommended to the
Human Services Board for approval.
Motion by Carver, seconded by Wendling, to approve the 2016 DOT 85.21 Application as presented. Motioned
passed unanimously.
NIMC QA Review
In September, the staff of the 12 counties in the NIMC received the Quality Assurance Power Point
presentation included in the board packet celebrating their performance. NIMC was the only consortium
statewide to receive 100% accuracy and 100% timeliness as a result of the federal quality assurance review of
FoodsShare cases for the period of October 2013 to September 2016. As a result of the federal review,
Wisconsin received a FoodShare bonus. Additional Federal funds will be distributed in 2016. Unfortunately,
distribution to the consortia of the bonus will be based on the statewide caseloads rather than performance.
Mandated Changes in Emergency Detentions for 2016
Skulan further explained the mandated change for assessing individuals prior to an Emergency Detention that
Haukaas referred to in her section report. Individuals must be assessed by a mental health professional before
placement and certified social workers do not meet the State’s definition of a mental health professional.
Skulan and Haukaas have begun meeting with the director of Northland Counseling to provide this service.
Northland is considering a trial of one year at little or no cost, after which they will review the additional work
and expenses required to continue to provide the service. A protocol will be developed for this process in the
first quarter of 2016.
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Tuition Assistance
There are currently four new social workers who must take five social work classes prior to being eligible to
test to become a certified social worker in Wisconsin. Wausau is the closest location to us that the classes are
offered. The investment of time and money to attend classes is providing to be difficult for new workers and
may be a barrier for retention. Skulan approached the County Administrator to request that options of tuition
assistance through a loan/payroll deduction repayment plan for these employees be considered. The County
Administrator’s response indicates that he prefers that the employees set up a savings account at their bank
and start saving for tuition. He also said that a number of other efforts were underway to address the issue,
including: communications with the State to have the classes held closer, remotely, or online; research to
identify if Bayfield County can offer low or no costs loans; communications with local banks for low interest
employee student loans; outreach to other counties to see what they might be doing to address the issue.
Pyne and Bucher were excused from the meeting.
The Department of Human Services Board entertained a motion to move into 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 and
§19.85(1)(f) considering financial, medical, social or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific
persons, preliminary consideration of specific personnel problems or the investigation of charges against
specific persons except where par. (b) applies which, if discussed in public, would be likely to have a
substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data, or
involved in such problems or investigations and to allow staff Elizabeth Skulan, Nikki Revak, Jeanine
Spuhler, Anita Haukaas and Carrie Linder to attend the Executive Session.
Motion by Strand, second by Wendling at 4:55 p.m. to move into Executive Session. Motion passed
unanimously.
Motion by Carver at 5:46, second by Wendling, to move out of Executive Session. Motion passed
unanimously.
There was no action after the Executive Session.
Other (Informational Items)
The November 27, 2015 memo from the State Regional Office and an interoffice e-mail complimenting Social
Worker Rebecca Kruit were reviewed.
Future Meetings
Future meetings are scheduled for January 28, 2016, February 25, 2016, and March 24, 2016.
The meeting was adjourned.
Minutes submitted by Nina Bucher, Support Staff