HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 021599HUMAN SERVICES ADVISORY COMMISSION
MINUTES
FEBRUARY 15, 1999
1 The regular meeting of the Human Services Advisory Commission was held on Monday,
2 February 15, 1998 at 5:30 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center, Homestead
3 Road, Chapel Hill, N.C.
4
5 (THOSE PRESENT ARE BOLD AND UNDERLINED) Judy Cox, Co- Chair; Louise
6 Echols, Co- chair, Christine Barfield, Marvin Block, Beverly Foster, Dee Gamble,
7 Victoria Hain, Barry Jacobs, Lynette Jeffries, Deborah Kinert, Hazel Lunsford,
8 Eugene (Geno) F. Pichette, Sue Russell, Herschel Slater, Karen Taylor, Donald
9 David Thompson, Jr.
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11 STAFF: Albert Kittrell; Nancy Martin.
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13 WELCOME AND MEMBER UPDATE: The members each introduced themselves, and
14 updated the others on their department's activities.
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16 Louise Echols reported that Mr. Herschal Slater would be absent tonight, but had sent
17 word concerning the United Way. He said that United Way will be changing the
18 allocation process for next year. He feels that in the future United Way will pay more
19 attention to northern Orange County. The application process will be simplified. This
20 has not been finalized yet, but he wanted to report it to the HSAC to keep this group
21 abreast of upcoming changes.
22
23 Beverly Foster of the Orange County Board of Health reported on some of the
24 current issues of the Health Board, including seeking increased resources for health
25 education. Increased funding is needed in such areas as community education and
26 intervention projects, including environmental health, water quality, homeowner
27 accountability, rabies prevention and control, and personal health services, and the
28 Healthy Carolinians of Orange County program.
29
30 There is also a unique project aimed at new families and new mothers which is
31 producing collaboration among many agencies that don't usually work closely together.
32 The goal is to provide preventive health care and early intervention through a referral
33 system to identify high -risk mothers and infants, without the usual duplication of
34 services, in the pre - natal, hospitalization, assessment, and the post -partum periods.
35
36 Another recent achievement of the Board of Health is the amiandimef s; of the Orange
37 County Smoking Control Regulations, providing both voluntary and enforced
38 compliance. Ms. Foster reported there is good compliance with the smoking
39 regulations in Orange Cour;ty. She added that the Health Board is proud of the fact that
40 Orange County has the best set of such regulations in the state of North Carolina.
41
42 Debbie Kinert, at -large member, who also serves _on_the Nursing Home
43 Community Advisory Committee (NHCAC), reported that group works closely with
44 Triangle J Ombudsm(sn Services. This has enabled IgHCAC to make good progress in.
45 moving ahead with improved quality of care and nursing care concerns in many nursing
46 home facilities. However, there are a couple of facilities that still have not improved in
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1 these areas. Therefore, the NHCAC is discussing the idea of submitting its quarterly
2 reviews of site visits and its semi - annual and annual summaries, which are public
3 record, to the Board of Commissioners. In addition, the NHCAC will propose to the
4 Board of Commissioners that these reports be posted on the World -Wide Web, where
5 these public records will be more accessible. In Durham County this is being done and
6 there have been significant improvements in nursing facilities.
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8 Mr. Marvin Block, representative of the Advisory Board on Aging, reported on
9 expansion of the senior centers in the near future. The attendance at the Galleria in
10 Chapel Hill has outgrown that facility. A temporary location is being sought until a new
11 senior center can be built. He also reported that there are renovations going on in some
12 of the other senior centers in Orange County.
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14 Mr. Block also stated that dental care for the elderly has been greatly neglected in our
15 community, as well as availability of long -term care facilities.
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17 Sue Russell of the Orange County Partnership for Young Children spoke about the
18 long waiting list for families who can't afford to pay for childcare. She described a recent
19 meeting of the Partnership for Young Children and elected officials, including a state
20 senator, a state representative, mayors and county commissioners. The Partnership
21 was able to show them that the need for childcare crosses over many different job
22 categories, including employees of the state, local municipalities, and employees of the
23 county. Ms. Russell stated that some families wait over a year to receive childcare
24 assistance. Often by the time assistance is offered to them they have relocated
25 because they cannot maintain their residence or job. The living situation becomes more
26 and more stressful as they try to juggle needs for work and childcare. Ms. Russell said
27 that paying for childcare is a good investment because it is more than returned in taxes.
28
29 Marvin Block commented on the Blue Ribbon Committee appointed by the Lieutenant
30 Governor to look into the effectiveness of the Medicaid Program, which is not as
31 successful as the Legislature thought.it would be. There are many patients who are
32 being refused medical services because of low fees and other problems.
33
34 Orange County Commissioner Barry Jacobs introduced himself and said that he will
35 be the liaison from the Board of County Commissioners this year on HSAC. He said
36 that he may not attend every meeting but will be available for consultation and input.
37
38 Commissioner Jacobs commented on the childcare issue, saying this issue is high on
39 the Commissioners' list of priorities and will be discussed this evening when they meet
40 to finalize their goals for the year. They will also discuss the senior centers issue, i.e.,
41 providing adequate and equal senior centers in both the northern and southern parts of
42 the county.
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1 MINUTES OF JANUARY 11, 1999
2 By consensus, the minutes of January 11, 1999, were approved as corrected.
3
4 OLD BUSINESS
5 Membership Ms. Echols reported that Ms. Hazel Lunsford said that she will fulfil her
6 responsibility through the end of her term which ends March 31 st of this year.
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8 CIS Position
9 Ms. Echols talked with Karen Wallace, Community -in- Schools director, who felt that CIS
10 needs to have a representative on the Human Services Advisory Commission. Ms.
11 Wallace is leaving the program and requested another month to recommend an
12 appointee.
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14 By consensus, it was decided to give Community -in- Schools another month to designate
15 a potential appointee to the Human Services Advisory Commission.
16
17 Ms. Echols said that she would stay in contact with CIS and speak to the new director
18 about this matter.
19
20 Board of Health Position
21 Ms. Beverly Foster, the Board of Health representative whose term expires March 31,
22 1999, said that her position on HSAC was discussed at the Health Board's last meeting.
23 The Board of Health is in the process of making committee assignments, including
24 HSAC. A recommendation will be coming forth for someone to take Ms. Foster's place
25 since she is not eligible for reappointment.
26
27 1998 FORUM Louise Echols said that she has received calls from several people
28 thanking the Human Services Advisory Commission for a job well done on the final
29 report from the 1998 Forum. Albert Kittrell said that in the past the reports weren't quite
30 as graphic as the 1998 Forum Report, but that he cannot take all of the credit, and will
31 pass on these comments to his staff.
32
33 Ms. Beverly Foster suggested that we start thinking of ideas for the 1999 Forum to be
34 held in August, and that we have these ready for the April meeting.
35
36 APPLICATIONS FOR FUNDING FROM NON - GOVERNMENTAL, NON - PROFIT
37 AGENCIES
38
39 Albert Kittrell talked about the funding application that was sent in the packet for this
40 meeting. He distributed another list entitled "HSAC List," which included all
41 of the non - profit, non - governmental agencies that received the funding application. He
42 also handed out an "Evaluation Form, " which presented eight questions which outlines
43 the criteria used by the county to determine funding given to each non - profit, non -
44 governmental agency.
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1 Mr. Kittrell further explained the funding process saying that Orange County provides
2 funding to these non - profit, non - governmental groups because we consider them to be
3 an extension of our governmental services. He said that an important issue is that a
4 group serve the entire county, even though most of the agencies are located in Chapel
5 Hill.
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7 The funding applications have already been distributed. The deadline for return of the
8 completed applications to Mr. Kittrell's office is March 12, 1999.
9
10 He explained that Orange County funds not only human service agencies but also those
11 that are not directly related to human services. He said that the towns of Chapel Hill,
12 Carrboro, and Orange County have jointly developed the application and that they take
13 turns mailing the form.
14
15 He said that our application was the same as that of the United Way in previous years,
16 but this year it is different because United Way, as Mr. Slater stated in his letter to
17 HSAC, has changed its allocation process. However, Orange County is still using the
18 same process and the same application as in previous years.
19
20 The applications will be reviewed at the next meeting of the Human Services Advisory
21 Commission.
22
23 By consensus it was decided that HSAC members will pick up the applications at a local
24 library of their choice, which they indicated to Mr. Kittrell on a list he passed around.
25 The applications will be left with the reference librarian. His office will notify each
26 member when the applications are ready to be picked up.
27
28 At that meeting, we will be divided into groups for this review. During the group
29 meeting, discussion of each application will occur, at which time one group evaluation
30 will be developed for each application. This provides everyone the opportunity to make
31 individual comments, followed by a group comment. It is not necessary to reach
32 consensus in each group, but the goal is to make the "Evaluation Form" reflective of the
33 group discussion.
34
35 Mr. Kittrell further explained that the applications are not only reviewed by the Human
36 Services Advisory Commission but also by the Orange County Human Services
37 Department heads. They review them in relation to the agencies they coordinate with
38 on a regular basis. For example, the Department on Aging will review Charles House
39 Association, an adult day -care facility. Department of Social Services would review Day
40 Care Services Association and the Joint Orange- Chatham Community Action, Inc.,
41 Meals -On- Wheels, and Interfaith Council. The Health Department would review
42 Planned Parenthood.
43
44 He continued by saying that none of the reviewers recommends funding. The comments
45 go to the County Manager. He uses the HSAC's comments, and those of the Human
46 Services Department heads, as well as information from the Budget Department, which
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reviews the financial components of the applications in making a recommendation to the
Board of Commissioners, which approves or disapproves his recommendations.
Mr. Kittrell asked the HSAC members which groups each is affiliated with so that they
will not be given those applications for review.
Mr. Kittrell said that the applications are due on March 12, which does not provide
adequate time for his staff to ready them for distribution to HSAC members by the
regularly - scheduled meeting on March 15, 1999. He recommended that the meeting be
changed to the fourth Monday, March 22, 1999. This was agreed to by consensus.
The membership roster with addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and fax
numbers was passed around for the members to update. The staff will use this to
update the database, and will send out the updated list to the members.
The meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy C. Martin
Assistant to the Clerk to the Board of Commissioners
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