WCDHHS Board Meeting Minutes

June 4, 2014

Waupaca County Industries

175 West Howard Street

Manawa, WI  54949

 

Members Present:  Dave Neumann, Mary Kay Poehlman, Carl Kietzmann, Jan Lehrer, Jerry Murphy, Dr. Steven Goedderz, Don Aasen, Dona Gabert

Staff Present: Chuck Price, Gene Ruppert, Celeste Leider, Lana Draeger, Christie Gonwa, Terri Brooks, Shannon Kelly

Others Present for Public Hearing:  Doug Raasch, Sandi Bernard, Alysha Hereau, Annette Nehring, Philip Nolan.

 

The regular meeting of the Health and Human Services Board was called order at 6:00 pm by Chair Jerry Murphy.

 

The Public Hearing was called to order at 6:02 pm by Chair Jerry Murphy.  He called for anyone interested in speaking. 

 

-          Philip Nolan of the Town of Waupaca asked the Board to consider Air and Emission Recycling for the Town of Waupaca.  He is a Public Health Epidemiologist, asking to consider adopting AER as a goal in the 2015 budget and develop it with a strategic objective in coming years.  They have been working with the Foundry for collecting emissions, sorting it out, and putting it effectively to new markets.  Fossil and fuel emission policy approved Monday.  He has presented to some Towns and has upcoming presentations to others.

-          Doug Raasch from Clintonville is part of the Waupaca County Advocacy Group and they have been talking about transportation.  He doesn’t have relatives and wonders who they can call after hours, when needing a ride home from the hospital.  He is asking for having someone on-call when people need late night rides, rather than having to wait until morning.  He complimented the Board for doing a fine job of running WCI. 

-          Sandy Bernard is from Manawa and also a WCI employee.  She spoke in support expansion of WCI for staff to effectively work with clients.

 

Chair Murphy closed the public hearing at 6:17 pm.

 

Motion by Lehrer, second by Poehlman, to accept agenda.  Motion carried.

Motion by Gabert, second by Kietzmann, to approve minutes of May 7, 2014.  Motion carried.

 

Action items

  1. Gail Yest has submitted her notice of retirement.  Motion by Lehrer, second by Poehlman, to accept the retirement of Gail Yest, with regrets.  Motion carried.
  2. We interviewed for the Deputy Director position.  We are hoping to make a decision by early next week.  There were many well-qualified applicants.  We have a recruiting out for a CST Social Worker for the new position.  Our new Transportation Coordinator starts Monday, June 9.  Director Price reviewed the employee staffing change report.  To date, we have only had one resignation, along with 9 retirements.  This is a positive trend.
  3. Shannon Kelly reviewed her request to expand the CLTS LTE position.  She asked for that position to be extended through the rest of 2014.  There continues to be a need that full-time staff are not able to meet.  We have 12 families still waiting to be assessed for eligibility.  If we can minimize the wait on the front end, we would be that much closer to serve children.  We are out of compliance by state statute by not having assessments completed within 45 days after referral.  Shannon reviewed some corrections to her original memo.  We would continue with the straight hourly rate.  We are recouping about $240/week for the LTE and the additional cost is $190/week. Estimated cost is just under $5,000 for the position to continue through the year.  Motion by Poehlman, second by Lehrer, to approve the extension as requested.  This has not been budgeted, however, there are funds in the budget to cover the cost.  This LTE is capped at 16 hours per week.  She is considering requesting a part-time position for the 2015 budget.  Motion carried.
  4. Celeste Leider reviewed her request for an out-of-state conference request for herself and Sandy Bertram.  This is a training to help WCI meet Department of Labor guidelines and it is only offered in Illinois.  The training is free, but their cost is for mileage, hotel, and meals.  Motion by Poehlman, second by Gabert, to approve the conference as requested.  Motion carried.

 

Finance

  1. Director Price reviewed the Income Statement Overview through 4/30/14.  The overall budget is at 25%, so we are on track. 
  2. Payment register was routed for Board review.  Fly-Me Flag Company is for flags required for the waysides.  Lehrer questioned DEN Services and how many clients are served.  The contract is for staffing services.  The Highway Department does some maintenance for WCI, as well as winter snow plowing.  Building Services Group is for WCI maintenance.  Motion by Lehrer, second by Neumann, to approve bills.  Motion carried.
    1. As Follow-Up to Bill Questions from 5/7/14 – report was completed for the Board.
  3. Gene and Celeste reviewed a request for WCI remodeling.  They are looking at remodeling for 3 areas – Company Store; Security; Loading Dock.  Company Store is currently located in a room at WCI.  The purpose is to build on skills for community employment for our members.  The Company Store has replaced the vending machines.  The money with vending machines did not go to members.  The money from the Company Store will help pay for member Christmas Party, Summer Picnic, or other member events.  All money goes to the members.  Security is a concern of the building.  The way people come into the building gives people total access to WCI, which needs to change for safety for members and staff.  With our contracts, these companies are requiring tighter security due to food products.  With our audit for food packaging, we are required to meet the same criteria as Sturm Foods.  We received serious demerits during our training audit due to the need to tighten our security.  We need to control access points to the building.  Todd Rasmussen of Waupaca County SWAT and Andy Carlin of Waupaca County Emergency Government have reviewed WCI and have made recommendations for security.  The Loading Dock Door needs remodeling.  There are many semis going in and out of WCI, and they are having problems with only having 2 loading docks.  Kraft Foods and Sturm Foods use the two loading docks the majority of the day.  When a 3rd truck comes, they need to manually load semis by walking across the parking lot.  Gene is proposing to move the Company Store into the area currently the front office.  The front office would be moved into the entry way of the lunch room, which would give office staff a better control of people visiting WCI.  For security, they are proposing to have an employee badge swipe, similar to the Courthouse, as well as a buzz-in system for people to check in.  There would be a camera to see who is at the door and anything going on in the front of the building.  There would be additional employee swipe areas for the back entrances to WCI.  The loading dock has a service door, and that is the area they would like to turn into a new loading dock.  Gene asked some local contractors give an estimated cost.  Engineering Services - $3,800

Permits - $220

Company Store/Main Office Remodeling - $32,000

Security - $20,000

Loading Dock - $24,000

Total Estimate - $81,020

These are only estimates.  There will be bids requested.  Gene is asking for permission to go forward with an RFP.  In order to go forward with the RFP, an engineering company would need to draw up blueprints at approximately $3,800.  Dave Neumann suggested the RFP include the cost of a loading dock, along with an optional proposal with one more additional loading dock.  He also suggested we look at additional remodeling for possible storage and unloading.  Don Aasen also suggested a possible buzzer in the loading dock area.  Jan Lehrer asked if Gene had looked at grants. They have not, but aren’t sure there are such grants available.   Within the last year, when WCI came under scrutiny with the audit with Sturm Foods, is when the need for security and loading docks came up.  Jerry Murphy shared his concerns about the new changes and costs, along with his concern of loss of space into the lunch area with the office taking over space.  He asked Gene and Celeste to monitor the future mission of WCI.  Gene is asking for approval at this time to go forward with Engineering Services through an RFP.  Once RFPs are received, he would come back to the Board for any recommendations.  Carl Kietzmann asked if there was money.  There is money from the sale of the group homes.  Don Aasen questioned the commitment of Sturm Foods and the possibility of their support with remodeling.  Motion by Lehrer, second by Gabert, to approve going forward with an RFP for engineering services, with the cost not to exceed $4,000.  Question raised if Sturm Foods Foundation could be approached for support.  Motion carried.

 

Advisory Committee Meeting Action

A.      Minutes from EIP/FSP/COP Advisory Committee Meeting of May 15, 2014, were reviewed.  Motion by Lehrer, second by Goedderz, to accept resignation of Sarah Heinrich and recommend appointment of Amie Krueger to the Committee.  Motion carried.

B.      Minutes from Committee on Aging Meeting of May 27, 2014, were reviewed.  The ADRC Advisory Committee is recommending a County Board Member be a member of the ADRC Committee.  The Committee on Aging Committee supports that recommendation.  Calumet and Outagamie Counties have County Board representation.  Jan Lehrer is our Board representative, however, is not a County Board member.  The committee feels there would be better communication to the County Board if there was a County Board member on the committee.  The Committee meets 5 times per year.  Christie stated it would be good if the person would be a County Board member and also on the DHHS Board.  Chair Murphy requested a review with Supervisor Koeppen and come back with a recommendation next month.


Reports to the Board

  1. Financial Reports
    1. Alternate Care – Some children have left care, and there have been some placement changes.  Director Price complimented staff working in the OE process and coming up with better decisions for children.  We have a few grant opportunities coming up soon.
    2. Mental Health – Manager in that area is on leave, and this area will be worked on more closely when she returns.
  2. Director’s Report
    1. It has been a very busy month.

§  A consultant started last week to help develop our TCM data base system.

§  Staff have been dealing with a recent child death, which has involved staff and management.  Autopsy has shown no foul play.  Staff have been supported to help deal with this death.

§  Last week, a representative from Casey Family Programs visited our Department.  They are in all 50 states and have a contract with the State of Wisconsin.  Chuck made contact with a representative at a recent conference and talked about our Department.  There is great potential for Casey Family Programs to provide support to help us move forward with some of our goals.  She has stated she wants to come back to visit again, which is very encouraging to us.

§  Fiscal audit was completed this week.  Chuck met with auditor today, and he stated our fiscal state is good. 

§  Survey was done in our Behavioral Health Unit.  Surveyor was impressed with our staff and programs.  This was for Mental Health, AODA, Crisis, and Community Support Programs, and all were issued 2-year certifications.  There was one citation relating to background checks no related to the services provided.

§  Chuck was nominated as Vice Chair to WCHSA Committee.  He will be able to bring valuable information back to the Board.

§  With Gail Yest’s retirement, we are working on a reorganization plan with a possible action item for the next Board meeting.

b.      Updated Acronyms List was shared with the Board.

    1. 2013 Purchase of Service Contract listing was shared with the Board.

 

Motion by Aasen, second by Goedderz, to adjourn at 7:50 pm.  Motion carried.

 

Submitted by,


Lana Draeger

Office Manager

 

Approved by,

 

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