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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20040615APPROVED 9/21/2004 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION June 15, 2004 7:30 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Work Session on Tuesday, June 15, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. at the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners Margaret Brown, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice M. Gordon, and Stephen Halkiotis COUNTY ATTORNEY PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill, Sean Borhanian COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Jahn M. Link, Jr., Assistant County Managers Rod Visser and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below} NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE 1. Chair Review of Schedule and Topics Chair Jacobs pointed out an addition to the agenda {salmon sheet}, which is an appointment to the Hillsborough Planning Board. The Board has to make an appointment today, or someone will be automatically appointed. Commissioner Gordon asked staff about line item detail. She asked the staff to check and make sure everything is complete. She was not sure that all of the departments were there. She wants this in order for the next meeting. Hillsborough Planning Board Appointment A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiatis, seconded by Commissioner Carey to nominate David Remmington. A motion was made by Chair Jacobs to nominate Rachel Hawkins. There was no second. VOTE: David Remmington -Ayes, 4; Na, 1 {Chair Jacobs) 2. County 2004-05 Operating Budget Matters a. Manager's review of budget John Link said that he would not go over everything again. He said that he would introduce the new positions and ask department heads to came forward. b. Review recommended new staff resources Cooperative Extension Requests two Program Assistants (EFNEP) and 2 Community Health Aides {Breastfeeding Program}. Piedmont Health has offered to address one of the Community Health Aides through the WIC program. Cooperative Extension Director Fletcher Barber said that, regarding the Expanded Foods and Nutrition Program, the State has agreed to provide 50°~ of the funding for this position. They do not have funding for the breastfeeding program position, and he is glad to work with Piedmont Health on one of these positions. Commissioner Brown asked for any materials on the outcomes of the program. Alice Pettit pointed out two handouts. The duration rates of breastfeeding are much higher for mothers that have had home visits. The first few weeks after birth are important to have support. Commissioner Brawn asked how many women were participating in the program today. Alice Pettit said that 320 mothers have participated since October 15t. She said that Piedmont Health has also provided them with a list of pregnant women on WIC. Alice Pettit said that another advantage of this program is that it puts someone in the home that can observe if the baby is doing well or not. Alice Pettit made reference to the EFNEP sheet. This is a long-term program. These are families with limited resources. At the beginning of the program, 75% of the participants were running out of food before the end of the month, and after joining the program no one ran out of food. This is the only program in the County that addresses nutrition in the home. Commissioner Halkiotis made reference to a news program about the power of the formula industry, which are able to lobby effectively, and yet the breastfeeding proponents have a hard time lobbying. He thinks this is really sad and a party and class issue. Chair Jacobs asked about the reaction of UNC Hospitals. Alice Pettit said that they worked through Mary Rase Tully, who is a lactation nurse. She said that they do not have any additional funds. They have already put in over $100,000 worth of staff time up to this point and this program could not be done without UNC Hospitals. They provide a lot of materials, staff, and follow-up. Chair Jacobs said to write a letter to UNC Hospitals thanking them for all of the support given to this program. Alice Pettit thanked the Orange County Health Department for helping with this program also. EMS Request far an additional paramedic. The reason for this position is that the paramedics have to spend more time per case and cannot get back into the field. Kent McKenzie added that paramedic availability is key to provision of emergency medical services. They have seen over the years a chipping away of this availability and they have recognized a decrease in service to citizens. Commissioner Carey asked about the increased time at the hospital and Kent McKenzie said that in 1999 it took an average of 15 minutes from the time a unit arrived at the hospital and when the paramedics were cleared to leave the hospital. This past year, it was an average of 28 minutes. There is frequently no staff available from the Emergency Department ready to receive a report from the paramedic. He said that they have been working with the hospital to stage another ambulance stretcher at the hospital so that they can leave a stretcher at the hospital with a patient on it and take an empty one in order to free the ambulance. Chair Jacobs asked Kent McKenzie if he had talked with UNC Hospitals about why it is taking so much longer. Kent McKenzie said yes and that he also sits an the Disaster Committee and they have looked at disaster related issues and how that affects the hospital. The hospital has tried to create an "express lane" for EMS patients to make it practical far any nurse to take a report from a paramedic rather than just the charge nurse. UNC Healthcare is also looking at a major expansion ar replacement of the Emergency Department to address these concerns. Commissioner Halkiotis asked how many ambulances the County operates. Kent McKenzie said that they operate three or four an a typical day. Kent McKenzie answered several clarifying questions of the County Commissioners. HealthlDental Department Request for Bill/Accounting Technician I and Dental Assistant focusing on the Spanish speaking population. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that the reimbursement specialist is a product partially of a change in the way reimbursement to health departments has been structured in the state. The change created a lot more room for error and there has been a discrepancy in things that are billed to Medicaid and the payments received. They would also like to offer assistance to patients with applying for low-cost pharmacy services. It takes a lot of applications for someone to qualify far these programs. Rosemary Summers said that at their clinic they serve Hispanic/Latino clients on Tuesdays. They have started offering another half day once a month to take care of the backlog. The interpreter is only there on Tuesdays because they use the interpreter for other services during the week. A bilingual dental assistant will help reduce the backlog and take care of part of the cast of this position. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the percentage of broken appointments and Rosemary Summers said that at the dental clinic it is 25°~. They keep full schedules because they double back their appointment slots. The interpreter calls clients now, but sometimes he cannot reach them the day before their appointment. Information Technology Request for Web Application Developer. This position will focus an improving tangible management tools far eGovernment. Todd Jones said that with the addition of the Business Analyst in January, they have made a lot of planning progress for the web redevelopment project. They engaged with the UNC School of Information and Library Sciences to conduct a course to better understand information needs. They have a good idea of how to architect the website and how the information will be much easier to find. They are also engaging with the state to see if there could be a partnership. They are still lacking in someone to implement the technology. Commissioner Halkiatis said that he has grown weary of the state providing the County any leadership in anything. He does not share the optimism. Commissioner Brown asked far an overview of how this position would work with the departments. Todd Jones said that now the departments have informally recognized webmasters that update their departmental websites pretty regularly. Each department is very different looking. They hope that this position will put tools in place to update the departmental websites conveniently. They also hope to have better search mechanisms within the site for the citizens. Commissioner Gordon said that one of the things to be noted about the County's website is that the content is hard to understand in some of the departments. Todd Jones said that they have done some analysis of the information to understand how it might be better organized. Chair Jacobs asked about visits to the website and Tadd Janes said that it was around 10,000 a month. Commissioner Brown asked Todd Jones to comment an the system we have now and what we want to do in the next two years. Todd Jones said that we are on the trailing edge for a county our size. He said that there is now an ad hoc set of departmental websites. There are very few mechanisms that cut across different departments. A lot of the medium to larger municipalities are using systems that manage content that allows centralization in the IT department and still allows the individual departments to own their content and make updates. Commissioner Brown asked about the timeline for the project and Todd Jones said that with the new position they would like to get the bulk of the departments on the web within the next year and then the following year the remainder would be added as well as transaction based services. Personnel Request for Human Resources Technician. John Link said that the last time Personnel added a position was ten years ago. The employee base has increased by 40°~ since that time. Personnel Director Elaine Holmes said that this request is about being able to respond to service needs. There are several tiers of services to employees. Commissioner Halkiotis asked how they interface with the mental health reform issues. Elaine Holmes said that she has been working with Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey and OPC Director Tom Maynard to look at how their benefits relate to the County's. It is only at the planning stage. Elaine Holmes said that in order to make this position affordable, she has set aside as offsetting revenue, money that is now in contract personnel services and in temporary personnel services. The net additional cost of the position is now $14,000. Chair Jacobs said that calling this a Human Resources Technician is a dehumanizing term, considering that they are working with people. Public Works Request for a custodian for increased square footage in County government buildings. Wayne Fenton said that they have a significant amount of increased square footage in which they are responsible and they have also been dealing with employee vacancies in their department. He said that they looked at providing custodial services through Orange Enterprises and they have had initial conversations about pricing, etc. They have discussed using Orange Enterprises for vacancies ar for when someone is out. He said that they have seen more meeting setups and custodial resources are used for that. Commissioner Halkiotis said that this is the first time that he has ever heard of a budget request from Public Works for a custodial position based on setting up and taking dawn for County Commissioners meetings. He is not sure he buys that argument. He could buy the argument about additional square footage. He has a problem with a report from the Institute of Government that it is easy to recommend a range of 13-18,000 square feet far cleaning, when the University's track record in dealing with their custodial staff is abysmal. He recommended getting a cost assessment an setting up and taking down for Caunty Cammissianers meetings to figure out if the cost should be addressed differently. Chair Jacobs said that he does not see a plan on the square footage with some benchmarks on when new custodial staff will need to be added. Wayne Fenton said that they could find other desirable benchmarks besides the University. The custodial needs change depending on the facility. Chair Jacobs said that he would like to see more "thinking through" of the time component and the square footage component. Chair Jacobs asked if Public Works had funds already budgeted to work with Orange Enterprises and Wayne Fenton said that they could use some of the contract services funds for periodic care. Along-term contract on a daily basis does not have funding. Commissioner Halkiotis said that Orange Enterprises has wanted to coordinate up with a public agency to develop a custodial intern program. He asked if they were actively looking at this. Wayne Fenton said that they talked about using Orange Enterprises as a contracting agency. Commissioner Halkiotis would like to see the possibility of using Orange Enterprises balanced against this position. Wayne Fenton made reference to achieving efficiency and said that they are trying to have their employees report to their first building instead of going to Public Works first. Chair Jacobs asked John Link about a target date for when the Northern Human Services Center will be fully operational and John Link said that it is based on addressing the septic system. Chair Jacobs said that this building would move it into another realm. If we know that in a year from now this facility will be fully operational, it might seem to be a mare organized way to look at janitorial services. Commissioner Carey asked for the reasoning behind the huge jump in overtime from 2001- 2002. Wayne Fenton said that there was additional time with the Whitted building renovations and there was also some extended illnesses with employees. Recreation and Parks Request for two Parks Conservation Technicians {Little River Park and other parks). Recreation and Parks Director Lori Taft said that the first position is an Orange County park position and the other is the Little River park position, because of the 50% matching funding received from Durham County. At this time, there is only one staff member that is able to manage work outside in the parks that is required on a day-to-day basis. She said that she finally filled the Parks Services Director position, which was vacant for some months. This requested position would work with Efland-Cheeks Park, Fairview Park, and Northern Human Services or Cedar Grove Park. There are also some safety issues, and it is her goal to address these issues. The second position is the Little River Park position, and she envisions this being the final request for this park. They have completed the 15-mile trail network, although it is rough. They have had a tremendous amount of volunteers working on these trails. She said that this position would help in getting the park ready for opening in the fall. She envisions this position teaming up with the current position and working to continuing to improve the trails and build additional structures in the woods {picnic platforms, etc.). Commissioner Brown is unclear as to how many positions there are now and the joint funding with Durham. She also asked about the renovation of the house that is located on site. Lori Taft said that they have one fulltime-funded position for this park. Durham County is not assigned to the park. There could possibly be some temporary employees during peak seasons. The caretaker residence is not ready yet. They are working on a caretaker resident program where they will recruit someone who will provide some minor assistance {gate keeping, overnight management of group campers, etc.}. Pete and Robin Hendricks, who have done some deconstruction work in the County, have expressed interest in this. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he hopes that Recreation and Parks will start to focus on Fairview Park because they have been in limbo for 15-20 years. He said that in order to convince the citizens of this community that they are sincere, there needs to be tangible efforts made at this site. He made reference to the Efland Cheeks Park and said that he finds the corrective measures interesting because some of the things go back to the original construction of the facility. He said that it should have been improved a long time ago. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he hopes he lives to see the development of a pottery and ceramic studio at Northern Human Services Center. He said that he would like an update on the Southern Human Services Center and what they plan to do with this, especially the little house. Commissioner Carey said that he shares Commissioner Halkiotis' views on some of the commitments already made to people in the County. He asked about the rationale behind starting one position in October and the other in July. Lori Taft said that the Little River position was recommended far July because there was revenue associated with it. John Link said that most positions will start October 1St because of cost savings and because recruitment usually takes three months. Commissioner Brown made reference to the Efland-Cheeks Park and soccer fields and said that she has heard that this has not been very well used. Lori Taft said that it is used everyday in the fall for soccer, with the exception of Sundays. It cannot be used simultaneously with baseball because of the position of the field. It is primarily the Orange County league that uses it. Chair Jacobs asked about the trails at the Southern Human Services Center and he remembers hearing that the Master Gardeners were interested in working on this. Lori Taft said that she has worked with Royce Hardin on this. Commissioner Brown said that they need to continue funding to make the Southern Human Services Center house usable and John Link said that there is money in the capital budget. Chair Jacobs made reference to the notion of having a strategic plan for parks and developing a vision for what to do with all the facilities the County is acquiring. He asked about the vision because there is no sense of context. Lori Taft said that this is an issue to ask for the assistance of the Recreation and Parks Advisory Council. She said that they discussed with the Manager, Personnel, and Budget staff about presenting to the Board a view of what they envision with the parks currently on the books. Chair Jacobs asked John Link about looking at fees and John Link said that these would be discussed Thursday night. Commissioner Brown spoke about having afive-year plan for each park, which would involve personnel costs. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the caretaker and said that she envisioned a known set of duties that this person would undertake. She would like to see an outline for these duties. Lori Taft said that they would work on a contractual arrangement. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he is interested in this because the County spent a lot of money to recycle this house. He wants to see the contract before anything is done. He would also like to go out 10-15 years with planning for parks. Department of Social Services Request for two Income Maintenance Caseworkers (time-limited far two years) and one Social Worker. DSS Director Nancy Coston said that the Income Maintenance positions are far the increased caseloads in food stamps and Medicaid. They have an obligation to see these families as soon as possible. The Social Worker position is to address the child protective cases that are increasing. They would like to provide services for prevention. There is some federal and state money for both of these positions. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he was fully supportive of these positions. Commissioner Carey asked if DSS would help implement the Medicare drug card. Nancy Coston said that they do not have an official role yet. Commissioner Carey said that he heard that DSS would be responsible for qualifying seniors for the drug cards. Commissioner Brown suggested keeping track of all of the unfunded mandates and categorizing them. The budget is becoming non-sustainable. Chair Jacobs asked how they coordinate with schools for social work. Nancy Coston said that before they added this position, children had to fall into the child protective services or foster care caseloads, or be a Work First family. These are the only programs serving children. There are very few preventive services. Commissioner Halkiotis said that there was a model a long time ago where the schools would have social workers and nurses. He thinks that schools want to have their own nurses, social workers, and psychologists. He thinks there might be some duplication of services. Commissioner Brown asked about the definition of a social worker. Nancy Calton said that the preferred degree is MSW, but they will hire someone with a BSW. John Link said that this concludes the new positions requested from department heads. There are some positions that will be discussed on Thursday -Staff Attorney, Animal Services Director, and the final transition of Emergency Medical Technicians from rescue squad. There are four existing positions -Elder Care Manager {changed from one in OPT to addressing the frail and elderly population); Finance Director Ken Chavious wants to increase one of his positions from 3/4 time to full time; a Social Worker I II in the Health Department to go from half to full-time; and a Nurse Practitioner going from half to full-time to address the primary care initiatives in the Health Department. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he heard last night on the news that they are delaying the shutting down of certain services at Dorothea Dix because the private sector has not came to provide the services. He asked the Manager to convene a group to discuss the decentralization of mental health. He is worried about this. Commissioner Brown said that it is difficult to know now what the County will be facing. She thinks the County will have to come up with a lot more money to maintain the current services Chair Jacobs made reference to the total changes to existing positions of $34,6Q0 {p. 23}. He asked what was meant by "position costs after this fiscal year." Paul Laughton said that this would be the costs for next fiscal year, less the startup costs. Chair Jacobs asked several other clarifying questions, which were answered by the staff. Commissioner Carey made reference to the pink sheet and the vacant positions for EMT that were closed for recruiting and asked what this meant. Rod Visser said that there are some prospects for these positions to fill four of the EMT positions and one of the paramedics. There were some disagreements between Personnel and EMS regarding information needed on the applicants. They are extending the recruitment for another couple of weeks. Commissioner Carey asked about the Family Nurse Practitioner I position for the jail and John Link said that this position would not be filled this year. It is currently being contracted out. Commissioner Carey said that in cases like this, the positions should be cleared off the books if they are not needed. He said that the same is true for the Health Educator position, due to the decline in syphilis cases. He said that his concern is that if you reduce prevention, you will get a bump in cases. If the position is not needed, it should be cleared from the books. Commissioner Halkiotis asked about the total amount of money that was not spent on these positions on the multi-colored sheets. Donna Dean said that they do not have numbers. The dark green sheet outlines lapsed salaries. Commissioner Halkiotis agreed with Commissioner Carey on clearing the positions not needed from the books. John Link said that they would come back with a recommendation on how to address the positions. Chair Jacobs said he would like information an those that have not been filled far one or two years. Jahn Link made same recommendations far Thursday's meeting. Commissioner Halkiotis asked if they could have a simple printout on overtime, travel, conference money, etc. and how it has increased in the context of a year. c. Review employee pay and benefits Deferred Review "by exception" County departmental budgets This timeframe assumes fhat the BOCC wi1J discuss departments! budgets only to the extent thaf the Board has questions about specific departments. !t does not allow sufficient time to address all departmental budgets. Deferred e. Fire District Funding If fire districts are needed to respond to Board questions, representatives would be asked to attend the beginning of the June 21 work session. Deferred A motion was made by Commissioner Halkiotis the meeting at 10:15 p.m. VOTE: UNANIMOUS seconded by Commissioner Gordon to adjourn Barry Jacobs, Chair Donna S. Baker Clerk to the Board