Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuman Services Board - Minutes - 12/1/2020BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING EOC December 1, 2020 1 Board Members Present: Jim Crandall, Larry Fickbohm, Susan Rosa, Jeremy Oswald, Lona Schmidt by phone, Marty Milanowski, Mark Ludeking, David Zepczyk, Stephanie Defoe Haskins (at 5:00 p.m.) Board Members Not Present: None Others Present: Elizabeth Skulan, Jeanine Spuhler, Cheryl Hanson, Carrie Linder, Nikki Revak, Sarah Traaholt, Thomas Croteau, Valerie Levno, Jeff Silbert Call to Order and Introductions Crandall called the meeting to order at 4:02 p.m. Mark Ludeking introduced himself to the group. Discussion and Possible Action – Review of the October 22, 2020, Meeting Minutes Motion by Milanowski, seconded by Schmidt to approve the October 2020 minutes as presented. Motion passed. Opportunity for Public Comment (Limited to 3 minutes per person) none Program Presentation – Comprehensive Community Services (CCS), CCS Regional Director Valerie Levno Levno provided an overview of the Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) program. CCS is a voluntary community-based recovery-focused program that helps Medicaid eligible individuals of all ages thrive by providing supports that address needs related to mental health and substance abuse. It is intended to provide coverage to individuals who need assistance in an outpatient setting to make progress towards their goals. The CCS program fills a gap between Community Service program (CSP) and outpatient therapy. Prior to CCS, this population that was not served. To date, sixty-nine counties and three tribes have implemented the CCS program. Levno states Federal Medical Assistance funds pay for approximately 60% of the program. Governor Walker approached counties to implement regional CCS programs. If they did so, state Medical Assistance funds would provide the local match. While Ashland and Bayfield have individual CCS services, staff, certifications and coordination committees; they also shard services, such as limited staff, training, and a regional coordination committee. While, federal and state Medicaid dollars do not pay 100% of the program costs, individuals are served at a portion of county levy that would be needed otherwis . Levno commended Bayfield County on hiring Croteau. Croteau was a previous CCS provider at Northlakes Community Clinic as a therapist. Service facilitators Natali Fellows and Chris Beirl have proven to be wonderful additions to the Bayfield CCS team. Bi-annual recertification for the Bayfield County CCS will take place in a couple of weeks. Levno and Croteau will develop a plan to make the program more widely in 2021. Approved at the 1/28/21 BCDHS Board meeting BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING EOC December 1, 2020 2 Monthly Section Reports Support Services – Nikki Revak This was Revak’s last board meeting. A new Financial Manager has been hired. Stephanie Eder’s first day in DHS will be December 14, 2020. Revak is cleaning out her office prior to Eder’s first day. Revak will relocate to another office to train Eder for a month before retiring. Revak regretfully accepted Sarah Traaholt’s resignation as Clerk III in DHS. Revak reported Traaholt accepted a as Deputy Treasurer. Treasurer Elect, Jenna Galligan, graciously agreed to allow Traaholt assist DHS with payables through the end of December. Traaholt’s official last day with DHS is December 14, 2020. DHS Management is sad to see Traaholt leave the Department but are happy that Traaholt will be promoted and will continue to work for Bayfield county. We wish her only the best of luck. Revak completed the GWAAR 2021 Budget Report. Linder must approve the budget and it will be submitted to the state. Revak completed the 2019 ADRC-N Annual Report. Revak had to wait for documentation from the other four counties regarding Indirect Cost Allocations and Agency Management and Support Overhead (AMSO) costs prior to submitting to the state. Revak is working on annual staff evaluations. Revak thanked the board members for their respect and guidance. Revak asked the board to acknowledge Eder and make her feel welcome when they see her at meetings. Economic Support – Jeanine Spuhler Spuhler states there are delays in requests for crisis assistance due to the moratorium on disconnections. The state mailed outreach cards to clients to remind them to apply for energy assistance. Spuhler is working on a targeted outreach to previous applicants who have not applied for assistance this program year. The state directive is to reach out to accounts that are sixty or more days past due to offer proactive payments. Spuhler has requested more crisis funding. Spuhler reported Audra Austin completed the first part of energy assistance training in November. Austin will complete the final training the first week of December. Economic Support has been impacted by COVID employee situations. Exposure, quarantine and isolation instances have all impacted staff. Spuhler stated health care and FoodShare programs are still steady. Clients eligible for health care in March remain eligible through the end of the year. Emergency FoodShare continue and the maximums household allowances continue to be issued through December. BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING EOC December 1, 2020 3 Aging & Disability Services – Carrie Linder Linder reported Aging and Disability Services staff approached area businesses with a request to display purple lights and an information flyer in honor of Alzheimer's and caregiver month. Purple lights were purchased with grant funds. There was overwhelming support from local vendors. Thirty-five to forty downtown businesses participated. Linder also purchased color ads from the Bottom Line and the Connection with the grant funds. The purpose of the ads was to increase awareness of dementia and to educate caregivers about services provided by the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC). Linder met with Jane Mahoney from GWAAR who reviewed the 2019-2021 three-year Bayfield County Plan on Aging. The Pandemic required staff to be creative to accomplish the 2020 goals listed in the plan. Linder reported most goals were achieved. Linder reported more virtual services are being offered in 2020 due to the pandemic. An early childhood educator from Price county may be interested in providing services to Bayfield County Birth to Three families. CESA-10 may be able to offer speech and language pathology (SPL) and occupational therapy (OT) virtually. Bayfield County had not had a SPL for about three years. Linder reports that she is working on annual staff evaluations, contracts, and applications for 2021. Family Services – Cheryl Hanson Hanson reports that Child Protective Services (CPS) Social Worker, Melissa Huempfner, gave birth to a baby boy on November 1, 2020 Melissa and Connor are doing well. Family Services staff attended “Risk Assessment, Management, and Mitigation: Treating Children and Adolescents” presented by Dr. Tony Thrasher. Training included: legal and clinical rationale in assessing risk in youth; differences between risk assessment and violence prediction; suicidality in its varied presentations and myths surrounding risk assessment. Family Services currently has one vacancy and two staff on extended Family Medical Leave. As a result, Social Worker Richard Kamm has been tasked with performing Child Protection Services (CPS) investigations and ongoing case management. Kamm took Initial Assessment training via Zoom in mid- November and has begun instrumental in performing investigations of child abuse recently. Hanson reported Social Worker Sue Miller submitted her resignation as Mental Health Coordinator. Miller has accepted a CPS position in Ashland County. Miller is excited about the change and new opportunity. Hanson noted the cameras, sound equipment and viewing area are being updated in the Forensic Interviewing room in the Sherriff’s office. Some Child Protective Services interviews are held there. Chief Deputy, Andy Runice, is considering moving the waiting area for families from the lobby of the Sheriff’s Office to the door outside of the EOC near the soda machines. Hanson is hopeful the juvenile crisis bed in Ashland will be open by the end of the month. Northland Counseling is in the process of licensing the facility. The facility is a great local resource for juveniles struggling with mental health issues. BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING EOC December 1, 2020 4 Comprehensive Community Services – Tom Croteau Croteau reported the current enrollment is twenty-one participants. There are also three intakes pending for potential participants. The intakes will be completed in the next two weeks. CCS is receiving recommendations from Red Cliff, MMC, and other community partners. After a failed plan of correction, the part-time CCS Service Facilitator was released from service. Other CCS staff absorbed the caseload of five clients. Reviews for participants are conducted every six months. November and May are the busiest months. Due to the reduced program census, the vacancy will not be filled at this time. Croteau reported the CCS program is due for rectification by the end of the year. The state will virtually review the program on December 15, 2020. Croteau reported Medicaid now allows services provided by texting and email to be billed if the program and has a strong policy regarding providing service using these media. The Management Team discussed email and texting protocols and security. Skulan procured several other counties' policies and procedures. Croteau will review them to develop a local policy. Once drafted, the policy will be submitted to Corporation Counsel for review. Croteau received and reviewed the Gallup strengths assessments for the CCS team. Croteau noted being able to execute tasks was shown as a common strength for all three employees on the CCS team. Croteau attributes this leadership skill to the goals the team has been able to accomplish in the last four months. Croteau is happy with the team, what they have accomplished, and what they continue to get done. Monthly Reports Monthly Financial and Training reports were reviewed and placed on file. Schmidt requested virtual trainings be included each month on the report. COVID19 Updates Skulan provided an update regarding staffing and Department operations. Staff are minimizing face-to-face visits. There are mandated services which require staff to go into community. DHS is trying to keep staff and clients safe by issuing protective equipment including N95 masks or KN95 masks for those with facial hair, gloves, gowns, and masks to offer clients. Skulan reported previously up to 50% of each team could work from home. Currently, due to increased cases, DHS is required to have two staff members per section physically in the office. Most staff who can work from home can if they are interested. Family Services is the least staffed section right now due to extended family medical leaves and vacancies. Oswald expressed his appreciation to the DHS staff. Other committee members echoed this sentiment. Discussion and Possible Action, Audit Error 2019 Fiscal staff confirmed the auditors excluded an audit adjustment of $170,793.94 from the 2019 Bayfield County audit. DHS has worked with the County Administrator and the auditors to determine the error will be corrected in the 2020 audit. DHS is still waiting for the final 2019 financial reconciliation of the Comprehensive Community Services (CCS) program. Once complete, it is anticipated that the BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING EOC December 1, 2020 5 reconciliation will result in an overpayment of funds that will need to be returned to the State of Wisconsin. Revak reported this was the first remote audit Bayfield County has ever had. Providing and sharing information remotely was difficult but should go more smoothly in the future. The auditors also decided to perform the 2020 audit later in the year. No action was taken. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Ashland County Ashland and Bayfield County have been working with the State Department of Children and Families (DCF) to establish an approved MOU. The MOU is established to provide mutual support should all staff in one of the counties who perform Child Protective Services be unable to perform their duties. This will allow mandates services to continue to be provided as required. Correspondence with DCF and a copy of the MOU were included in the board packet. The initial request was made in August. Counties received final approval in late November. Intention is not to execute the MOU unless necessary. When the federal and state emergencies due to the pandemic end, so will the MOU. The MOU has now been signed by both counties. COVID19 Enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentage Take Back Reviewed letter regarding additional federal revenues the state inadvertently passed-thru to counties in 2020 that the state of Wisconsin plans to recoup. After a meeting with counties, who vocally objected to the takeback, the State reconsidered the position and counties will be allowed keep the money. Aging and Disability Resource Center of the North Governing Board (ADRC-N) Currently recruiting citizen member who falls into the ADRC target population interested in serving on the governing board. This vacancy must be filled by a Bayfield County citizen who meets one of the target populations of the ADRC: an individual aged 60 or older; an adult with an intellectual or developmental disability; their parent or guardian; or an adult with physical disabilities. Rosa knows of citizen member that may be interested. She will contact them. Senior Nutrition Program Updates Linder provided an update on the Elderly Nutrition Programs. Hyde’s on Buskey Bay provided the last Grab and Go meal on Thursday, November 18, 2020. Grab and go program will suspended through the winter months. Directing focus to Home Delivered Meals. Anyone 60+ who is self-isolating to avoid COVID19 qualifies for the program during the pandemic. Linder discussed issues and concerns with the current home delivered (HDM) meal routes. Currently, the two van drivers drive approximately 200 miles a day. Linder partnered with UW-Extension staff to distribute a survey to find out what is most important to HDM participants. The goal will be to identify options that would both reduce the routes and increase the quality of the food delivered. Linder issued a letter to local food vendor and implemented an online survey to identify new providers for HDM meals. Surveys were completed by the White River Salon in Mason, Coco’s in Washburn, and a Coffee Shop in Cornucopia. Transportation Coordination Council (TCC) Updates Linder provided an update on the progress of the TCC. Three meetings were held and the group BAYFIELD COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES BOARD MEETING EOC December 1, 2020 6 reviewed transportation survey results from 2018-2019. Because of the size and complexity of the issue and conflicts during the holiday, meetings have been suspended until 2021. Staff Recognition Skulan recognized Nikki Revak for her (almost) twelve years of service to the Department of Human Services and Bayfield County. Best wishes for Revak in her retirement. Other (Informational Items) Rosa will present on the caregiver taskforce for the program presentation in January. Thank you from Jeff Silbert to the incredible, quiet heroes of the Department of Human Services (DHS). Fickbohm thanked Revak for her years of service to Bayfield County. Future Meetings A. January 28, 2021 B. February 25, 2021 C. March 25, 2021 Adjournment at 5:37 p.m. Submitted by Sarah Traaholt, Clerk III