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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1-21-2025 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES January 21,2025 THE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MET ON MONDAY: January 21, at the Orange County Department of Social Services at 113 Mayo Street, Hillsborough, NC 27278. BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS PRESENT: Jane Garrett, Ann Wilkerson, Chris Barnes, and Oscar Fleming GUEST: None BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES MEMBERS ABSENT: Earl McKee STAFF PRESENT: Lindsey Shewmaker, Social Services Director; Sharron Hinton, Human Services Manager; Crystal Mitchell, Human Services Manager; and Rebekah Rapoza, Fiscal Operations Manager I. Call to Order and Introductions DSS Chair, Jane Garrett, called the meeting to order at 4:08 pm. II. Board Comments None. III. Public Comments Students from the UNC MSW program came to observe the meeting and introduced themselves. IV. Agenda Changes None. V. Action Items On a motion by Chris Barnes, the Board approved all previous minutes of December 16, 2024. Oscar Fleming seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. VI. Items for Discussion and/or Decision 1. Medicaid Expansion Update Lindsey Shewmaker will be presenting this same information to the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) at a meeting in February. DSS hired staff to manage the new program and began taking applications on December 1, 2023. By the end of December 2024, staff had taken applications on 86% of the estimated eligible residents within the first year. Director Shewmaker provided a brief overview of demographic information on new beneficiaries. Initially, there was a steep curve in enrollments and then leveled off. Staff attended numerous outreach events throughout the entire county and this work is still ongoing. Most of the earliest applications received were online through EPass and we are now focusing on outreach to reach those who may not have access to the internet or have technology skills. Even through expansion, staff passed timeliness and Recipient Eligibility Determination Audit (REDA) every month. 2. Budget Overview and Calendar Director Shewmaker provided copies of the budget calendar and information on the timeline was shared. The FY 26 budget cycle has kicked off and it is the responsibility of the County Manager to 1 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES January 21,2025 present a balanced budget to the BOCC. The Budget Office has shared their parameters for budget development and the expectations remain unchanged from last year. If a department is requesting an expansion or something new, it is expected they will either reduce expenses in other areas and/or bring in additional revenue. Child care is already on the BOCC radar and is part of the larger considerations for the Budget Office and County Manager. The Outside Agency (OA) review process has been changed this year and will no longer be divided up and reviewed by advisory boards, but will instead be reviewed by a set panel consisting of staff from the County Manager's office and department directors as appropriate; we haven't seen any additional information about the new process this year. Director Shewmaker suggested the board consider moving the February meeting from the 171h to the 24th because the state estimates will not be released until the 14th. Oscar Fleming moved to change the February meeting from the 17th to the 24th. Chris Barnes seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. Oscar Fleming asked for more information about why the OA funding process was changed. Director Shewmaker explained that the County has a new strategic plan, and they are trying to align funding with the plan. One of the members of the new panel is the county's strategic planning manager. During last year's budget process, the BOCC had questions and concerns about how the applications were weighted across the board, not necessarily within each area. The department heads do get to weigh in and the County is also trying to better align with the towns. 3. Child Care Subsidy Update The BOCC gave us significant funding ($726,000) to prevent a child care waiting list in Orange County. The caveat was that we end paying parent fees and the savings from that, combined with the additional funds should eliminate a waiting list. Since it has been several years since we had a waitlist, we had forgotten how long it takes to move from a waiting list to enrollment, and at this point it looks like we are not going to spend all the funds. The Budget Office has asked for an enhanced monthly report, particularly on the background, to explain why the cost has increased so much but the number of children being served has declined. We are seeing a huge increase in the cost of care per child as compared to pre-Covid. We should be able to serve all the children without a wait list and right now we are able to serve everyone who walks through the door. Our estimate right now is that we will get through the end of the fiscal year without a wait list and without spending all the additional funds. By next month we will need to have a more solid estimate for budget office. 4. Annual Staff Meeting DSS annual all-staff meeting is this Friday, January 24, and begins at 10am. The meeting will include about an hour of agenda items and will then transition to the fun and end with lunch. Board members should have received an email from Serena McPherson asking about a lunch order if you will be attending. 5. The Drakeford Library Complex Opening Sharron Hinton provided an update on the status of the Drakeford Complex. After several months of construction issues, staff have officially moved out of Europa. The library, guardian ad litem office, and Skills Development/NCWorks center are now in and getting kinks worked out. Soft opening is February 3rd and grand opening is February 21 st. In the interim, we are still serving job seekers and clients virtually and by appointment until they can access the new facility on February 3rd. As we receive details about the grand opening they will be shared with the board. 2 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF SOCIAL SERVICES January 21,2025 6. Director's Report Two years ago, the county started a cold weather cot program run by the Housing Department that opens on nights when the temperature drops below 32 degrees. Currently, it is located at University Baptist Church (UBC) and is staffed by temporary staff of the Housing Department. This is an overnight shelter only and closes every morning. So far this winter, there have been 29 cold weather cot activation nights, and the church has been struggling to manage folks in a safe manner. As a result, the County made the decision to open an overflow location, and they are looking for support to manage and triage folks going to the shelter. Additionally, they are looking for staffing assistance to add warming centers for daytime because temperatures are not expected to rise above freezing during the day. We have around 25 staff members supporting the effort and were primarily focused on the cold weather cot shelter at UBC last week. Our staff are at UBC from 6p-9p and are asking folks if they'd like to meet with a social worker for an assessment and resource connection and taking public assistance applications. This week a temporary overflow shelter was opened at Seymour and our staff provided support there, too. We have had one staff member volunteer to staff the UBC shelter overnight. The warming centers opened yesterday and we were unsure what to expect there. Based on turnout yesterday, it was determined that most of the centers only needed staffing on-call except Seymour which saw a large volume of folks and will keep staff there. The Town of Chapel Hill is working on identifying an overflow site they can at least use for the rest of the season and will also be re-evaluating the plan for next year. We were also working on a staffing plan for mass care shelter if conditions were met. Ten percent power outage countywide is criteria to open a disaster shelter where DSS is the primary. Because the cold weather hasn't met disaster criteria, we are providing support to the Housing Department through staffing, social work support, and in-home aide services through use of our contracts. We have moved to an on-call posture for assisting in Northern Orange. VII. Announcements Chris Barnes moved to adjourn the meeting at 5:06 pm. Ann Wilkerson seconded the motion. The motion was carried without dissent. Submitted by: Lindsey Shewmaker, DSS Director Jane Garrett, Chair 3