Human Services Board

hsb1015_0.pdf (32 KB)

SAUK COUNTY BOARD OF HUMAN SERVICES

Meeting:                    October 5, 2015, 5:00 p.m., Room 213, West Square Building, Baraboo, WI

Members Present:      Scott Alexander, Andrea Lombard, Peter Vedro, John Miller, James Bowers, Julie Fleming, Thomas Kriegl

Members Excused:     Joan Fordham

Members Absent:       Beverly Vertein

Others Present:         Orth, Brattset, Box, Lori Dee, David Zeller, Cindy Jones, Bridgitte Bodette, Nicole Rachuj, Jill Ellinwood, Natasha Drury

Chair, Scott Alexander called the meeting to order and certified compliance with the Open Meeting Law.

Motion by Andrea Lombard, seconded by James Bowers to adopt agenda.  Motion Carried.

Motion by John Miller, seconded by Peter Vedro to approve the minutes for the previous Human Services Board meeting held on September 14, 2015, with the addition of “John Miller had requested to give $5,000 more to Hope House.  We are trying to avoid a duplication of services between Human Services and Hope House” and change James Bowers also advised…to read “John Miller” also advised Bill and Dan to encourage both CWCAC and Hope House to come back to the board and request additional funds with the backup as to what they were needing and to increase both dollar amounts in the future if they felt necessary.

Julie Fleming requested to change the word “disturbed” to distributed in letter g.  Motion Carried.

Public Comment

None.

Communication

1. Board Materials:  Distributed electronically.  Bill reminded the supervisors of the upcoming iPad training MIS will provide prior to the County Board meeting on October 20, 2015, from 4:30 to 6 p.m. if anyone has questions.  Bill also stated the UW Extension is celebrating their 75^th anniversary with Culver’s custard prior to the County Board meeting on October 20, 2015, from 5 to 6 p.m.

Business Items:

1. Review and Approve Monthly Vouchers:  Stephanie Box reviewed the Monthly Voucher Report.  Motion by John Miller, seconded by James Bowers to approve monthly vouchers in the amount of $1,706,885.81.  Motion carried.  

2. Accounts Receivable Report:  Stephanie Box distributed and reviewed the Accounts Receivable Report for August 2015.

3. Approval for Collection Requests:  No request this month.

4. Monthly Reports:  Stephanie Box discussed the August 2015 Volatile line report.

Tom Kriegl arrived at 5:11 p.m.

5. Trauma Informed Care Presentation:  Bill stated a year ago we began an effort in Trauma Informed Care (TIC); after meeting with all staff, we formed a committee and planned activities. 

Bridgitte Bodette presented information on Trauma Informed Care.  They have recently learned toxic stress in childhood or adverse childhood experiences (ACES) can damage the developing brain and overall health of an individual going into adulthood and beyond.  These traumatic events can shape the way people respond to their environment.  Trauma Informed Care provides a fundamental change in perspective and support from asking the question “what is wrong with you” to “what has happened to you.”  Bridgitte attended a regional meeting for the Children’s Long-Term Support Waiver and a Waupaca County social worker presented on how their county is making efforts at becoming more trauma informed.  She presented a handout that compared Traditional Services and Systems with Trauma-Informed Services and Systems and pointed out the statement “Service providers share power and recognize the wisdom and experience people bring to the service relationship.”  The Human Services collaborative group consists of managers and line staff who are dedicated to improve how we serve our consumers and customers and improving collaboration among the units in the department.  We agreed to educate our entire staff on Trauma Informed Care.  JoAnn Stevens, a statewide presenter of TIC, gave presentations to the Human Services staff to lay the groundwork with all staff and from there we formed an action team who has met monthly for the last year.  Waupaca County has become a state leader on moving toward a TIC agency and we have asked them to come to Sauk County to present to our staff on November 12, 2015.  Waupaca County has experienced a 33% decrease in residential care placements, 13% decrease in county foster care placements, an 8% increase in Kinship placements (alternative to foster care), and an 8% overall decrease in all out-of-home placements.

Natasha Drury spoke about an action plan and action steps.  The goal is to foster a culture of person centered care amongst each other with our clients and then also with our community partners.  Out of seven areas of change we talked about and came up with two primary areas we are concerned with which were human resources and environment.  Human resources relates to staff interacting with each other and how that affects our service provision and environment, relates to how our physical environment feels for our consumers and staff and whether or not it’s safe when consumers enter and work with us.  We developed a survey for staff and management with seven different questions.  After the survey we came up with a list of where we would go with this information. 

Nicole Rachuj spoke about implementing bringing consumer artwork into the agency and invited board members to view the window art currently displayed in the fourth floor waiting area.  Jill Ellinwood stated the emphasis is how can we have a meaningful interaction with community members so they are able to be in a better place after they have received services.  An appreciation board is displayed for employees by employees who can leave notes for a co-worker who they have had a positive interaction with.  Another initiative is called “Speak Your Peace.”  It is a reminder for staff and individuals seeking services at our agency to really listen to what each other are saying, be attentive to the concerns that individuals are bringing to us, and to be respectful.  There is an official kickoff event on November 12, 2015, with two sessions, 10:00 to 12:00 and 1:00 to 3:00; all board members are invited to attend.

Peter Vedro commended the group for their efforts with a proactive versus reactive focus and appreciated the comment that the change has been from what’s wrong with you to tell me your experience.  Discussed training with other departments.  Discussed interactions with police, use of art and music therapy, and potential for online therapy for anxiety or depression.  Discussed school districts training in Trauma Informed Care.  Tom Kriegl mentioned this training would be a useful thing to discuss at the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee.

f.Agency Mission/Vision Proposed Changes

g.Reappoint Julie Eckert to the Comprehensive Community Services Coordinating Committee

h.Reappoint Jeanne DeForest to the Family Support/B-3 Advisory Committee

i.Appoint Kayla Steinhorst to the Family Support/B-3 Advisory Committee

10. Appoint Jessica Bare to the Family Support/B-3 Advisory Committee:  Motion by Peter Vedro, seconded by James Bowers to have one motion to reappoint Julie Eckert to the Comprehensive Community Services Coordinating Committee, reappoint Jeanne DeForest to the Family Support/B-3 Advisory Committee, and appoint Kayla Steinhorst and Jessica Bare to the Family Support/B-3 Advisory Committee.  Motion carried.

Department Updates:

1. Homelessness Program:  Dan and Bill met with Linda Faivre and Susan Tucker from Community Action.   We have two transitional housing referrals (longer-term program that lasts up to a year and sometimes longer); they are successfully housed, in process, and doing quite well.  There are 11 families in Rapid Rehousing (shorter program) who are successfully housed; 2 Rapid Rehousing individuals are waiting to find a landlord but are getting close; 9 started the process who either decided to stay where they were, moved or didn’t call back.  Peter Vedro requested looking at the opposite, what would be the cost if we weren’t able to do this, some estimates to compare apples to apples, in order to expand this program.  James Bowers requested that we continue to have contact with these families to see what’s happening with them in a year or two, if they need other services to help prevent going back in that situation, that we are there to help them.  Dan stated Linda calls every quarter to follow up even if after they finish.  We get a number of referrals from both the schools and from Child Protection.  Bill stated it is getting more publicized and people are becoming more aware of it.  In terms of expansion, this seems to be pretty adequate to meet the need of families.  Discussed assistance for single adults is not in the budget in 2016 but is something to look at for 2017. 

b.Criminal Justice Coordinating Council

c.2016 Budget Process

4. County Ambassador Program – November 4, 2015:  Wisconsin Counties Association is a sponsor.  Andrea Lombard has scheduled everyone and will send out the schedule when it is finalized.  Everyone is encouraged to attend.  Not a lot of Human Services issues this time.  Scott Alexander and Bill Orth will be attending.

Public Comment

None.

The next meeting of the Sauk County Human Services Board will be November 9, at 5:00 p.m. in Room 213.  Motion by James Bowers, seconded by Peter Vedro to adjourn at 6:18 p.m.  Motion Carried.