Human Services Board

Human Services Board Minutes February 12, 2024 (109 KB)

MINUTES
SAUK COUNTY BOARD OF HUMAN SERVICES

Meeting:     February 12, 2024, 4 p.m., County Board Room 326A, West Square Building, Baraboo, WI

Chair, Patricia Rego called the meeting to order and certified compliance with the Open Meeting Law at 4 p.m.

PRESENT:  Patricia Rego, James Bowers, Joan Fordham, Cliff Thompson, Delmar Scanlon, Valerie McAuliffe; BY ZOOM:  Joel Chrisler; EXCUSED:  Jake Roxen; ABSENT:  None.

Others Present:  Jessica Mijal, Stephanie Box, Jeana Funk, Lori Dee, Nancy Thome

Motion by Joan Fordham, seconded by James Bowers, to adopt agenda.  Motion carried.

Motion by Valerie McAuliffe, seconded by Cliff Thompson, to approve the minutes for the previous Human Services Board meeting held on January 8, 2024.  Motion carried.

Public Comment:

Nancy Thome introduced herself; she is running for Sauk County Circuit Judge.

Communications/Director’s Report: 

a. Board Materials:  Distributed electronically.  Jessica Mijal stated annual reports are due the end of March to Administration and will present them at the April meeting.  The Youth Assessment Screening Instrument (YASI) is used by Youth Justice.  The State mental health audit is conducted onsite every other year; they will be onsite February 20, 2024.  Treatment Court staff will be doing some roles training.

Business Items:

a. Discussion and Action to Approve Monthly Vouchers:  Distributed electronically.  Stephanie Box reviewed the Monthly Voucher Report.  Motion by Valerie McAuliffe, seconded by James Bowers, to approve monthly vouchers for $1,450,293.54 and $892,726.68 for a total of $2,343,020.22.  Motion carried.  

b. Accounts Receivable Report:  Distributed electronically.  Stephanie Box reviewed the Accounts Receivable Report for December 2023.  Have sent 97 accounts to Credit Management for $142,355.89 and 73 accounts to State Debt Collections for $85,512.35.  Revenues received to date from:  Credit Management $5,863.54; State Debt Collections $19,752.72, and TRIP $20,058.40.  No hardships were authorized in 2023. 

c. Discussion and Action to Approve Collection Requests:  No requests this month.

d. Monthly Reports:  Distributed electronically.  Stephanie Box reviewed the December 2023 Volatile Line report, still showing to be unfavorable just in our Volatile Line.  Next month will have the estimated year end which.  We continue to see high placements in child alternate care, specifically in foster care and child caring institutions.  Adult Family Home (AFH) placements are over budget but are the lower cost type of placement.  Inpatient is over budget but we did increase this in the 2024 budget.  We had for years trended hardly having any inpatient until 2023, but with the crisis change in January, we may not have as many placements this year.

Department Updates:

a. Presentation – Jeana Funk, Economic Support (ES) Supervisor:  Jeana introduced herself and gave a PowerPoint presentation.  Jeana described the ES unit as handling FoodShare, BadgerCare+, Medicaid, Family Planning Services, Elderly Blind or Disabled Medical Assistance, Caretaker Supplement, Wisconsin Shared Child Care Assistance, and Emergency Health Care – Refugees, Immigrants, and the undocumented.  These programs are Federally and State funded and counties are mandated to administer the programs.  Sauk County is part of the Capital Consortium which is made up of eight local counties including:  Adams, Columbia, Juneau, Dodge, Richland, Sheboygan, and Dane with Dane being the lead county and houses the shared call center.  The call center is answered by local case workers.  Jeana described the ways to apply for benefits.  Jeana reviewed the 2022-2023 statistics for calls answered, documents and applications received, and renewals completed.  Benefit renewals were required again starting in June 2023 which means the workload has increased.  Comparing 2019 to 2023, health care increased 32.1% and FoodShare increased 23%.  In 2023, the State issued over $15 million in FoodShare benefits; 75 new applicants in January 2024 with an average allotment of $288 per month.  Child Care provides subsidies to providers but not all providers pursue certification for subsidies.  All Child Care cases are administered in Sauk County.  Other ES programs are shared within the consortia.  With the health emergency ending, more people reached out to food pantries.  Jeana reported that consumers have saved some of their FoodShare money received during the health emergency in preparation for the health emergency ending.

Next Meeting: 

The next meeting of the Sauk County Human Services Board will be March 11, 2024, at 4 p.m. in the County Board Room 326A.   

Motion by Valerie McAuliffe, seconded by Joan Fordham, to adjourn at 4:29 p.m.  Motion carried.