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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDSS Board Minutes 121613MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES December 16, 2013 1 THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MET ON MONDAY: December 16, 2013 at the Hillsborough Commons, Hillsborough, North Carolina. BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS PRESENT: Pat Garavaglia, Chair; Claire Millar; Mark Dorosin; and Arthrell Sanders. GUEST: Sherry Bradsher, Deputy Secretary, NC DHHS, Jamika Ashley, and Earl Sanders. BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBER ABSENT: None. STAFF PRESENT: Nancy Coston, Director; Denise Shaffer, Assistant Director; Lindsey Shewmaker, Human Services Manager; and Sharron Hinton, Human Services Manager. I. Call to Order and Introductions DSS Chair, Pat Garavaglia, called the meeting to order at 4:12 pm. II. Board Comments Pat Garavaglia commented that the presentation at Mt. Bright Baptist Church was wonderful. III. Public Comments None. IV. Agenda Changes The presentation on NC FAST was moved to first on the agenda. V. Action Items On a motion by Claire Millar the Board approved the Minutes of November 18, 2013. Arthrell Sanders seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. VI. Items for Discussion and/or Decision 1. NC FAST Implementation Lindsey Shewmaker informed the Board that Orange County hard launched the next phase of NC FAST on December 9, 2013. The conversion went well and staff are currently learning how to process Medicaid reviews in the system. Since the certification periods for most Medicaid programs involving families with children were extended for a few months, staff have an opportunity to learn the processes with a much smaller number of cases. Sherry Bradsher thanked Orange County for volunteering to pilot this phase of NC FAST and commended staff on all their hard work. She also thanked the Board and county management for their support of the department as they took on this challenge. MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES December 16, 2013 2 2. County Crisis Funds Nancy Coston reminded the Board that the agency was running short of emergency funds. The Board of County Commissioners provided additional funds to assure urgent needs of Orange County residents will continue to be met. Working with flood victims has had some impact on these funds. Pat Garavaglia commented that she heard there were a number of people still being housed in motels. Nancy Coston commented that when an individual’s income is so low, it is very difficult to have adequate funds to pay rent in this county. Mark Dorosin asked staff to determine how many individuals and families have not been moved to permanent housing. 3. Budget Planning The County Manager will be starting the budget process earlier this year. The agency’s first meeting with him will be this Friday. State estimates will not be available until February 15th. Given the time frames, the initial budget estimates may need to be modified as the agency receives information needed for a finalized budget. Initial budget information will be presented at the January Board meeting which will be held 1-21-14. By the February Board meeting the budget should be close to completion. 4. Holiday Update Sharron Hinton informed the Board that 842 people were served at the Toy Chest on Saturday. An additional 412 people were served Sunday and over 300 people have received toys thus far today. Saturday was cold and rainy but the line had started to form at 7:00pm the night before. A neighborhood church provided hot chocolate and cider on Saturday. Animal Services also provided hot chocolate. A substantial number of volunteers were here on Saturday which helped to keep the line moving. We also had many bilingual volunteers which was an enormous help. A number of staff had to leave the Toy Chest around 2:30 to get to the Dean Smith Center before the basketball game. Staff covered seven entrances and collected over 1,200 toys prior to the game. The University had granted permission for us to accept cash donations this year. The Marines collected these funds. The agency did face challenges with the quantity of toys available and running out of funds. Denise Shaffer reported that early this afternoon an individual made a very generous donation which was used immediately to replenish the inventory. This assured that everyone who came to the Toy Chest was able to select nice toys for their children. Nancy Coston thanked the Board for its support as well as the support from the community. The program was short on sponsors this year and a number of people have stepped up to assist with this endeavor. Staff hope to have holiday efforts wrapped up by Friday. 5. Director’s Report Nancy Coston reported that Sherry Bradsher, Deputy Secretary, had asked the NC FAST pilot counties to step up and identify issues with implementation. Ms. Bradsher had requested that Ms. Coston and Lindsey Shewmaker attend a meeting with various department heads in Raleigh last week to clearly articulate what is working or not working well with the new system. The state is interested in knowing how the county is able to get issues addressed. Some IT staff from the state office will be visiting this agency to get a clear picture of how it is working at the local level and to identify if there are programmatic changes they can make which will improve the roll out for the rest of the state. The next few months will be critical. MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES December 16, 2013 3 VII. Announcements The next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 21, 2014 at the Hillsborough Commons, 113 Mayo Street, Hillsborough, North Carolina at 4:00 pm. Claire Millar moved to adjourn the meeting at 4:53 pm. Arthrell Sanders seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. Submitted by Nancy Coston Director Pat Garavaglia Chair