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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04 SOCIAL SERVICES BOARD MINUTES 04-06-2022SOCIAL SERVICES BOARD MINUTES April 6th, 2022 The Grant County Department of Social Services Board meeting was held, with some board members appearing via zoom (z). The meeting was called to order by Chairperson John Beinborn at 9:00 AM. Roll Call was taken with Dale Hood, Don Splinter, Lester Jantzen, Robert Scallon, Greg Fry, Dwight Nelson present. Also present Fred Naatz, Director, Bob Keeney County Board Chairman, Joyce Roling, Personnel Director, LeaAnne Smith, Office & Financial Coordinator (z), Shane Drinkwater, Director of IT (z). The meeting was found to be in compliance with the open meeting laws. Don Splinter made a motion to approve the agenda without change. Greg Fry seconded, the motion carried. Minutes of March 2nd, 2022 meeting: Dwight Nelson made a motion to approve the March 2nd, minutes. Dale Hood seconded the motion, the motion carried. COMMUNITY SERVICES BUILDING MAINTENANCE UPDATE: Fred stated he has been talking with Garry in regards to removing the wall between the viewing room and office to open up the family room. They will be able to remove the wall without having to worry about the HVAC system or sprinklers; Brad from Epic gave an estimate of about $5,000; Garry is hoping himself and staff can do the changes themselves to cut the cost. John asked if there was funding for this, Fred stated there is grant money as Safe and Stable received COVID related money of $15,000. When the wall is removed they are going to put a bulkhead on so if down the line it is needed for something else a partition could be put in there. The conference room used to view the family room will be turned into an office/viewing room, so when the viewing room is not being used it could be used as an office. It was asked about the tiles that are cracked. Fred stated Garry wanted to wait until the summer when there is humidity and see the expansion. Greg Fry asked if there was any talk about putting a different tile in. Fred stated there has been some discussion about that, but would be very expensive. FINANCIAL REPORTS: Summary of Vouchers: Fred stated a lot was paid to workman’s comp, unemployment is done. It was asked if we are short personnel, Fred stated we have been fully staff, and have been fully staffed for quite a while. Donald Splinter made a motion to approve the Summary of Vouchers. Lester Jantzen seconded the motion, the motion carried. Administrative Report 2022: Fred stated it reflects the first two months, a little over 17%. Revenue is 28% and expenses are 19%. Expenses are a little bit over, but not much about 2%. The alternate care is a little over 16% for the first two months. Two cases are going to need some high level placement. Fred stated we found out that The Family First Legislation that the Federal Government passed years ago and Wisconsin needed to start implementing back in September. They have changed the category for those Residential Care Centers. They had to meet new qualifications to get licensed at that level. Downside for DSS is the cost of care went up significantly. John asked if the mileage had gone up. Fred stated the mileage has not gone up. The highest for March was around $285. The County Board passed the reimbursement rate going from the Federal rate to the State rate, which is a nickel less. Dwight made a motion to approve the Administrative Report. Bob S seconded, the motion carried. Training Costs: Fred explained there were some refresher trainings for the initial assessors. One employee attended the DCF 56 training. Lester made a motion to approve the Training Costs. Dale Hood seconded, the motion carried. CORRESPONDENCE: None ADMINISTRATION – GENERAL: CLTS and Adult Protective Services Memorandum of Understanding with Unified Community Services update: Fred stated the Social Services board and Unified board approved us to enter into a MOU with Unified. Social Services will do all the APS work for the county and Unified will do the Children Long Term Support; waiting to finalize a MOU and Unified to hire for someone to do Children Long Term Support. We are going to review after a year to see how it is working out. Adult Protective Services staff Vaccine Mandate Policy: Fred stated in the policy they are going to take out the “two phases”, which is referring to the first and second shot. How to request an exemption, DSS is going to create an exemption review committee consisting of someone from the Health Department, Joyce Roling, DSS staff person and Fred. Both Adult Protective Services workers are vaccinated. John asked how Fred saw this affecting the Department down the road. Fred stated if we get staff down the road who does not believe in the vaccine and refuse to get it we won’t be able to hire them unless they have the exemptions. Fred stated this is the Federal Government requirement that nursing home staff and people who come into the nursing homes have to be vaccinated. Greg made a motion to approve the policy changes. Dale seconded, the motion carried. Develop potential pool of applicants for social work positions: Fred stated he would like to develop a pool of applicants for the Social Worker position as there is potentially a couple social worker positions opening up soon and want to be proactive on this. Fred explained due to the policy of not being able to use sick time after a two week notice is given employees will not give a notice prior to two weeks. Fred asked if this policy could be looked at. Joyce will review the wording of this policy. Joyce explained the county will be hosting a Job Fair at the end of April for only the county positions that are available at the Community Service Building. Don made a motion to approve the creating a pool of applicants for social work position. Lester seconded, the motion carried. DSS Board member role/purpose for county board meeting/recognitions: Fred stated he wanted to get the DSS Board feedback. There are 4 board members not returning and two are up for re-election. Fred asked if anyone recommended guidelines to get on the DSS board. Fred recognized Lester Jantzen with a Certificate of Appreciation for being on the DSS board the last 2 years and the impact he has had. Director’s Report – Fred stated the Civil Rights portion for DSS is completed. Fred explained there may be a possibility as the population grows we may need to have a Spanish message when calling into the Agency, but it has to be at least 5% of the population to do this. Fred stated he talked with LeaAnne and she stated people that come in who only speak Spanish always have someone with them who speak English and it is very few who come in. Fred feels confident we are not under serving people who don’t speak English. Fred updated on the Safety of the building as staff has had concerns of the people being released from jail wondering around the back parking lot and coming in the DSS lobby and using the phone. The Supervisors met with Nate and Craig from the Sheriff’s Department. They did share their limitations as far as when someone leaves they cannot do a whole lot. The front desk and CeCe do have access to the cameras. Fred explained the agency would like to get a monitor at the back door employee entrance for staff to see outside before they leave the building. If someone is working late they can call dispatch to see if anyone is in the parking lot before leaving the building. Bob stated Nate is getting additional signs to put around the building, which will help as well. Fred read a touching email that Clark had received from a former child who was on services and is now 18. CITIZEN COMMENT- None ADJOURMENT- At 10:16 AM, Greg Fry made a motion to adjourn until May 4th, 2022, which was seconded by Lester Jantzen. The motion carried, the meeting was adjourned.