Human Services Board

hsb0416.pdf (27 KB)

                                                SAUK COUNTY BOARD OF HUMAN SERVICES

Meeting:                  April 4, 2016, 5:00 p.m., Room 213 West Square Building, Baraboo, WI

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

Members Excused:                            

Members Absent:                               

Others Present:       Brattset, Box, Lori Dee, David Zeller, Cindy Jones, Hazel Coppernoll

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

Motion by Jim Bowers, seconded by John Miller to adopt the agenda.  Motion Carried.

Motion by Andrea Lombard, seconded by Joan Fordham to approve the minutes for the previous Human Services Board meeting held on March 14, 2016, with changes by adding “go into closed” session and “Roll Call” vote in Business Item a; deleting “made the motion to recommend” and replacing it with “recommended selecting” in Business Item c; deleting “They are seeking $50,000.00 from SCDHS.”; deleting “contraction”; replacing with “the contract”; and deleting the word “Startup” in Business Item I; and correct the alphabetic order of the Business Items.  Motion Carried.

Public Comment

None.

Communication

1. Board Materials:   Distributed electronically. 

Business Items:

1. Review and Approve Monthly Vouchers:  Distributed electronically.  Stephanie Box reviewed the Monthly Voucher Report.  Motion by Joan Fordham, seconded by Jim Bowers to approve monthly vouchers in the amount of $1,172,780.80.  Motion carried. 
2. Accounts Receivable Report:  Stephanie Box distributed and reviewed the Accounts Receivable Report for February 2016.  At the end of March, CST and case management were billed for 2015.  CCS is billed through July 2015.  August through December should be billed soon.  All programs are being billed out of AVATAR in 2016.  Joan Fordham expressed appreciation for the staff who are working on this.
3. Approval for Collection Requests:  No requests.
4. Monthly Reports:  Distributed electronically.  Stephanie Box discussed the February 2016 Volatile line report.
5. Preliminary Year End:  As of today we are unfavorable.  Revenues of $1.6 million are still outstanding and the majority will be put back in 2015.  Stephanie Box will bring an update to the next meeting.  The CCS program has grown in both the children and adult programs with 100% reimbursement.  DHS is contracting with outside agencies to help provide the CCS services.

Department Updates:

1. CPS Update – Hazel Coppernoll:  Hazel Coppernoll thanked the board for approving a new initial assessment worker position this year.  She relayed CPS referrals averaged 42.75 per month in 2015.  So far in the first two months of 2016, there have been 104 CPS referrals, an increase of 10 referrals per month.  If this pace continues, we’ll be averaging 52 per month.  Of the 624 CPS referrals, 48% were screened in; of the 101 child welfare referrals, 43.56% were screened in.  Workers are assigned one general location of the county to keep travel time down and this also promotes good relationships with law enforcement.  Changes on CPS standards are coming along with training. 

Hazel not only supervises Child Protective Services, but also supervises the Kinship program, foster care, and child care licensing. 

Social workers have been providing case aide services due to a shortage of time available.  Discussed how to improve resources so social workers are not providing case aide.  One area could be contracting with Lutheran Social Services for 20 hours of case aide time.  Visitations are challenging if parents don’t have a driver’s license, or if children are placed a distance away.  Skype and Facetime have been utilized but children usually don’t have the attention span for this.  Case aides provide coaching, parent education, and hands-on work with parents to guide and teach.

Training for new CPS social workers takes two years to perform their job.  Dan Brattset mentioned discussions have taken place to utilize a multi-county floater to fill in for medical leaves or vacancies, similar to a traveling nurse. 

DHS contracts with Lutheran Social Services to provide a child welfare position who handles referrals for homeless families, dirty home situations, at risk families.  This position in recent years has had a high rate of turnover.  Discussed if this is the best model in the long run.  It was encouraged to ask for more positions if you need more staff. 

Heroin has been a big challenge.  Need to explore mental health and substance use areas with families.

Peter Vedro excused himself at 5:54 p.m.

Discussed the two year training required to be a CPS social worker is a State/Federal regulation.  Discussion of contracted versus internal hire will be brought up in the 2017 budget.  Discussed trauma that social workers go through.  Dan relayed we have good staff who are dedicated and have been with the county for a number of years.  Discussed if schools could provide some of the training for CPS social workers before graduation.  This has been recommended and WCHSA has also suggested it; it will be continued to be discussed.

2. Use of Drug Court Treatment Money for Select Housing When a Part of Treatment:  Startup has taken awhile but the money has been utilized.  Drug court clients can utilize their insurance to pay for services.  Money has been used prudently.  Need for housing came up.  CWCAC housing contract has helped immensely.  Resources for females are greater.  Sober House in Sauk City.  No resources in Sauk County for males.  C.A.R.E. committees have been discussing.  One participant had no housing and couldn’t participate in drug court.  Bill Orth and Dan Brattset used money to help the person so he could participate in the program.  Some money was used for drug treatment.  Tom Kriegl shared housing should be discussed and be a part of treatment.  The first year appeared right sized and we’ll see if it blossoms.
3. Agency Initiatives:  Dan Brattset presented the four top initiatives for the agency:  Medication Assisted Treatment grant will expand in years two and three.  Trauma Informed Care/State of Wisconsin Trauma Project grant is in process.  Electronic records are still in process.  Management reorganization and unit staffing assignment will be addressed.  Each area continues to try to do better.
4. Human Services Management Team:  Evaluation of Structure:  Dan Brattset relayed that due to vacancy/retirement, positions are being looked at to best meet the agency’s needs.  With Dan filling the Director position, this creates a vacancy for Deputy Director.  Some recommendations from the TMG report have been implemented.  The agency will be looking at what makes sense for line managers and are there other units that have supervisory needs.  Management will meet to discuss this.  All employees will be included in discussions.
5. WCHSA Spring Conference 5/10 – 5/12/16:  If board members are interested in attending, forward the registration forms to Dan Brattset to be processed.  Dan will be attending.

Public Comment

None.

The next meeting of the Sauk County Human Services Board will be on May 9, 2016, at 5 p.m. in Room 213.  Motion by Jim Bowers, seconded by John Miller to adjourn at 6:28 p.m.  Motion carried.