Human Services Committee

DATE: May 7, 2007
TIME: 5:00 p.m.
PLACE:
County Board Gallery
Baraboo, WI

Members Present: Dippel, Bowers, Fordham, Stoeckmann, Vertein, Fabisiak, Endres, Horenberger

Members Excused: Alexander

Members Absent: None

Others Present: Orth, Brattset, Horkan

Vice-Chair Endres called the meeting to order and certified compliance with the Open Meeting Law.

Motion by Dippel, seconded by Fordham to adopt the agenda.
Motion Carried.

Motion by Stoeckmann, seconded by Vertein to approve minutes of the previous meeting.
Motion Carried.

Communications:

None

Business Items:

  1. Review and Approval of Monthly Vouchers: Horkan distributed the monthly voucher report. Endres summarized that salary and benefits were up in April due to double payment for health insurance and no payment for health insurance in March 2007. Contracted labor was up due to contracting with several new psychiatrists. Community Living Support Services was up with an increase in adaptive aids. Several new adult family home placements and foster care requests resulted in a slight increase this month. Community Treatment was up due to Wisconsin Energy Program submitting two months bills and a CESA-SCAN payment. Institutions were down this month due to no April billing. All other items were in line with budget in previous years. Motion by Endres, seconded by Stoeckmann to approve the monthly vouchers in the amount of $1,811,623.21.
    Motion Carried.
  2. 2006 Year End Carry Forward Request: Orth noted that an amount of $59,003.00 should go to the 2006 Carry Over Request for Personal Care and increase surplus. This was discovered as a result of a recent audit. This money is requested to be amended to the carry over to also go towards Long Term Care startup costs as part of the carry over in this amount (please see handout). Motion by Dippel, seconded by Fabisiak to accept the carry over as listed in the attached handout.
    Motion Carried.

Department Updates:

  1. Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program Presentation: Orth introduced Alissa Ross Schaefer from CASA. Alissa presented the Columbia/Sauk CASA Program and handed out projected statistics for CASA (see attached). It was noted that CASA would like to receive some additional funds from Sauk County Department of Human Services to continue their service. If funds are not received in the near future there are some fears that this service could be discontinued. Currently, CASA is funded by local community United Ways, Columbia County, and a request will be forwarded to Circuit Courts for donations. There are also a number of grants being looked at for future funding options. Fordham stressed the importance of CASA and its valuable role. Alissa Ross-Schaefer will contact Orth in the near future to discuss potential funding in the short term while long term efforts will be made with Sauk County Circuit Court for potential budgeted funding amount.
  2. Long Term Care Redesign: Orth noted that the first community forum was one week ago. Many Sauk County Department of Human Services staff were there as well as local providers and community members. Overall, Orth noted it went very well. There will be another forum this summer. Orth noted that a decision is eminent with Long Term Care Redesign and briefly reviewed that the option of continuing in the Southwest Coalition for Family Care and offering partnership coalition as an option will likely be the suggestion Orth makes to the Human Services Board. This may come as early as next board meeting.
  3. Continuum of Care Committee: Orth noted that steps have been initiated in regards to a recommendation to further be discussed in the June 2007 meeting with the Continuum of Care Committee and the Oversight Committee for the Health Care Center. There will be a more lengthy update regarding these recommendations at the June board meeting.
  4. 2008 Budget Priorities - New Position Requests: Orth noted that there is a request for four additional positions for Sauk County Department of Human Services for the 2008 budget. These positions are for Registered Nurse position, which should be fully funded by the Long Term Care capitation rate. Orth noted that as a result of the ADRC and shift from current Human Services position that this social worker time can be used to work on long term care waiting list and social work duties. Also, Orth noted that we will need to move a lead worker into a position as part of the reorganization. Fordham asked if there would be an increase in some requests as a result of the wait list. Orth responded that yes, there will be, but this will be somewhat delayed as these additional requests once service is started will go to the end of the waiting list.
  5. Returning 17 Year-Olds to the Juvenile Justice System: Orth reported about the potential to return 17 year-olds to the Juvenile Justice System. There has been a suggestion to do this based on evidence based brain research. WCHSA has given a positive paper on returning 17 year-olds to the Juvenile Justice System, however, has stated clearly that the state should not do this without funding for these services. There is a current cost study being done at this time by the state and WCHSA. No current bill is proposed, but it is likely that there would be one in the near future and it is hoped that this will include funding in the return of 17 year-olds to the Juvenile Justice system.
  6. Community Support Program (CSP) Evaluation Report: Orth briefly reviewed a number of CSP statistics from the Community Support Program evaluation report (please refer to the CSP statistics in the packet). Orth highlighted several aspects of the comparison chart and noted how positive these trends were. In addition, Orth stated that this type of outcome evaluation is being looked at for other services and programs in the Department. Overall, Orth reported the very positive outcomes that CSP has obtained.
  7. Proposed Lakeview Multi-County Collaboration: Orth reviewed the question and answer sheet (please refer to the handout in packet) and summarized that Sauk County Department of Human Services currently has three clients in Lakeview. Orth noted that Lakeview will be attempting to find a multi-county collaboration organization and will attempt to charge back for clients from member counties. LaCrosse County would run and have oversight of this multi-county collaboration. Sauk County Department of Human Services will have to decide if they will join this collaboration otherwise, there may be a request to place clients elsewhere. Additionally, Orth noted that in time, a number of these clients could come back to Sauk County if the Health Care Center would be able to serve them. Orth will report back to the Human Services Board at a later date in regards to this collaborative initiative in LaCrosse County.
  8. Latino Culture Training: Brattset reported that the Sauk County Department of Human Services had a department wide training on Latino culture presented by Ms. Gladys Buenevidas. About 40 employees participated in this four hour training focused on increased understanding of Latino culture and discussions assuring culturally sensitive service delivery. Stoeckmann noted how important this type of training is to Human Services.

The next meeting of the Sauk County Human Services Board is scheduled for Monday, June 4, 2007.

Motion by Bowers, seconded by Fabisiak to adjourn.
Motion Carried.

Resepectfully Submitted: Judith Stoeckmann