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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDSS Board minutes 022012MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES February 20, 2012 1 THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MET ON MONDAY: February 20, 2012 at the Hillsborough Commons, Hillsborough, North Carolina. BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS PRESENT: Pat Garavaglia, Chair; Valerie Foushee; Claire Millar; Albert Williams; and Arthrell Sanders. GUEST: None. BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBER ABSENT: None. STAFF PRESENT: Nancy Coston, Director; Denise Shaffer, Assistant Director; Lindsey Shewmaker, Human Services Manager; Joyce Lee, Business Officer; and Sharron Hinton, Community Services Manager. I. Call to Order and Introductions DSS Chair, Pat Garavaglia, called the meeting to order at 4:11 P.M. II. Board Comments None. III. Public Comments None. IV. Agenda Changes None. V. Action Items On a motion by Claire Millar the Board approved the Minutes of January 17, 2012. Arthrell Sanders seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. VI. Items for Discussion and/or Decision 1. Budget Nancy Coston told the Board that state estimates have come. In the federal government’s Continuing Resolution, the TANF Supplemental Grant was not included resulting in a $40 million cut to North Carolina. This equals a $400,000 cut in TANF block grant funding for Orange County. Another several hundred thousand dollars could come out of the budget through reinterpretation of IV-E regulations. The three largest recipients of these federal dollars are cash payments to clients, child care, and block grant funding. Some of this money is currently used for child welfare in addition to Work First services. This could result in a significant cut to child welfare funding. The state is currently making changes to the estimates and will send those out when altered. The estimates that include these cuts will then go to the Board of County Commissioners, the County Manager, County Finance Officer, and Chair of the Social Services Board. The TANF Supplemental Grant is currently back in the next federal budget which could provide some relief. MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES February 20, 2012 2 Ms. Coston noted that the budget that will be presented next month will look different with these cuts. There is no longer much room to cut the budget without taking it directly out of child welfare. The NCACDSS and NCCCA are aligned in requesting that the state take part of the cut out of child care instead of child welfare only. Valerie Foushee expressed concern about when employees will be notified that cuts are coming to child welfare. She recommends that the agency craft a message allaying staff fears about layoffs. The nonprofit funding applications are now available. Sharron Hinton has the applications printed and available for Claire Millar and Pat Garavaglia. Ms. Coston read the list of eleven organizations that will need to be reviewed. Pat Garavaglia asked when the outside agency feedback was needed. Ms. Coston responded that the next Board meeting will give enough time. 2. Medicaid Transportation Nancy Coston informed the Board that there have been changes to the Medicaid transportation program. A federal audit in 2007 found issues with transportation services for Medicaid clients. The state did not address the issues and now is in jeopardy of losing funding. Since the state is now in corrective action, changes to policy have created many more checks and balances in the program. What was once a part-time job in Orange County will now require a significant amount of time. The new policy states verification will be required prior to scheduling transportation services as well as after receipt of services. There are more than twenty fields of verification information that will need to be completed for each trip as well as a monthly audit of 3% of all trips. The state will be auditing the program and paybacks will be required for any trips found in violation of policy. Many counties are adding additional positions to comply with the new regulations. Serena McPherson is currently trying to manage this program. One meeting has been held with OPT and additional meetings are likely. Albert Williams asked what the client impact is likely to be. Ms. Coston replied that a larger part of the burden to verify services will fall to clients. Depending on the final outcome of all this, clients could struggle to get to their medical appointments. 3. Work Force Development Board Sharron Hinton updated the Board on the status of work with the Work Force Development Board. There have been ongoing efforts to determine whether anything can be done differently in the alignment of the Work Force Development Board. Currently Orange County is aligned with a group that includes Randolph, Moore, Montgomery, and Alamance counties. Orange County does not typically align with these counties on economic development efforts for demographic reasons. Nancy Coston, Gwen Harvey and Ms. Hinton met with Durham County to determine whether there were other options in alignment. This region has a similar demographic to Orange County. At the last Work Force Development Board meeting, the Executive Director had talked with Durham County and proposed that the two regions work collaboratively as Work Force Development Boards. Frank Clifton suggested Ms. Coston and Ms. Hinton meet with the Economic Development Director to discuss job efforts with Durham County. Pam Hemminger is the Orange County MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES February 20, 2012 3 Commissioner on the Work Force Development Board and is being apprised of the issues. One of the Board Members is the recipient of the Work Force Development Board funds which makes the situation more political. Ms. Coston added this will be an item on the joint meeting agenda. 4. Smart Start Proposal Denise Shaffer informed the Board that the agency is submitting a proposal to administer Smart Start funds. She noted she was unsure whether Child Care Services Association would apply for the funds. There has been some discussion about Social Services’ spending level at this point in the year. Spending for child care is difficult because funds come and go quickly and Social Services does not want to remove children from child care once they beginning receiving subsidy. Statewide, 40% of counties are spending at less than 90% at this point in the year. Most of these counties exhaust all child care funding annually. However, the social services’ waiting list will be cleared shortly. Nancy Coston added that Social Services did not start spending Smart Start funds until the Smart Start Board decided on the criteria for subsidy assistance. 5. Joint BOCC Meeting The Joint Meeting with the Board of County Commissioners is scheduled for March 15th at 5:00 PM at the Government Services Center in Hillsborough. There are several items about which the Commissioners have asked for information. Some of the items for potential discussion at the meeting include poverty statistics, workload data, Work Support Strategies, NC FAST, success stories, and other hot topics. Albert Williams asked what happens to information that citizens provide to determine eligibility. Lindsey Shewmaker responded that information is shared with the state but is kept confidential. One of the hot topics is the letter to the County Commissioners Association on SB 433. Pat Garavaglia asked what the Board should do about the legislation and suggested writing a letter opposing the bill to Representative Hackney. Ms. Coston noted that the agenda for the joint meeting is extensive so much of the information will be contained in handouts. Claire Millar asked whether there will be less money available for nonprofits. Valerie Foushee responded that most funding for this year is likely to hold steady based on initial remarks from the County Manager. Ms. Coston added that staff morale is really low based on a lack of raises, decreased health insurance benefits, and new policies that seem more punitive like the new timekeeping system. 6. Director’s Report Orange County was selected as a pilot for Phase 2 of NC FAST. Guardianships can no longer be done by mental health after the merger. Mental health guardianships will going to social services between now and April 1, 2012. MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES February 20, 2012 4 VII. Announcements The next regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 19, 2012 at the Hillsborough Commons, Mayo Street, Hillsborough, North Carolina at 4pm. On a motion by Claire Millar and seconded by Valerie Foushee, the Board adjourned their regular meeting at 5:38 P.M. Submitted by Nancy Coston Director Pat Garavaglia Chair