WCDHHS Board Meeting Minutes
October 1, 2014
Waupaca County Courthouse
811 Harding Street
Room 1068
Waupaca, WI
Members Present: Dave Neumann, Dona Gabert, Jerry Murphy, Carl Kietzmann, Don Aasen, Jan Lehrer, Mary Kay Poehlman, Dr. Steven Goedderz
Members Absent: None
Others Present: Chuck Price, Shannon Kelly, Erica Becker, Lana Draeger, Gene Ruppert, Celeste Leider, Chris Machamer, Kasey Kaepernick, Lisa Grasshoff, Christie Gonwa, Dana Strohm, Kathryn Goel, Terri Brooks, Alisha Haase, Susan Younger, Nicole Lauritzen, Jim Fassbender.
The regular meeting of the Health and Human Services Board was called to order at 6:00 pm by Chair Jerry Murphy.
Public Comment: None
Motion by Lehrer, second by Kietzmann, to accept agenda. Motion carried.
Motion by Lehrer, second by Poehlman, to approve minutes from September 3, 2014, with a grammatical correction under Public Health. Motion carried.
Director Price introduced the Management Team. This is the group that put the budget together.
2015 Budget was presented to the Board. On the first page of the budget, there are position requests listed. Those have not yet passed all committees for approval. If all are approved, there would be an additional $61,000 used to reduce the contingency fund. The contingency fund is from expenses cut in other areas, previously allocated for other programs or positions. We were instructed to come into the Board with a 0% levy increase.
There are programs we are looking for expanded services and revenues, such as Comprehensive Community Services, Casey Family Programs, out-of-home care costs, foster parent recruitment, mentoring program, early childhood brain development.
WCI RAM (Rest Area Maintenance) Program is the wayside program to contract with the state to maintain the waysides. WCI recently received an award from the Governor for their maintaining of the waysides.
Question raised on the WCI remodeling project. The project is moving along much slower than we expected. Gene received information today, and plans will be sent to the State. If/When approved by the State, we will bring a proposal back to go forward.
Family Care Buyout – We used to house the long term support programs. We have a long-standing commitment to the State for sharing in the cost for Waupaca County services. Each year, our responsibility for the cost is reduced.
Question raised on contracting. Contracts are developed based on the budget.
Motion by Lehrer, second by Poehlman, to approve the 2015 Budget. Mary Kay asked if WCI has a contingency in the budget in case estimates go higher than projected. Gene feels there are sufficient funds to pay for the remodeling costs. Motion carried. The Budget will be moved on to the Finance Committee. We struggle with trying to be creative in continuing to bring a budget in with a 0% increase each year. We continue to search grants and other funding opportunities.
Action Items
A. Personnel
a. Accept Resignations/Retirements. There were no resignations or retirements to report.
b. Employee Update was reviewed. Nhia Moua resigned as CSP Social Worker. Interviews were held for a MH Social Worker and a Child Services Social Worker. Colleen Offord, current Crisis Worker, has accepted the CSP Worker position, and we have made an offer to replace Colleen. An offer has also been made for the Child Services Social Worker. We are working on negotiations with a person for the WIC Project Director.
B. Finance
a. Director Price gave an Income Statement Overview. We seem to be right on target with the overall budget. Biggest concern continues to be out-of-home care costs.
b. Payment Register was reviewed. Motion by Poehlman, second by Gabert, to approve bills. Motion carried.
Reports to the Board
A. Director’s Report
a. General Update and Discussion
i. The 2013 Annual Report was shared with the Board. Last month, a request was made to share the Vision and Mission Statement. That is included in the Annual Report.
ii. The Mission/Vision/Leadership Charter was shared with the Board, along with the Trauma Informed Care Principles. We are using these principles when working with families. The Leadership Charter is how our Management team will hold ourselves accountable.
iii. The Management Team started a club by reviewing the book, “Good to Great”, looking at how to move our Agency from Good to Great. That book club has since expanded into staff book clubs. Over the past two years, we have had presentations on Speak Your Peace, Tools of Civility, for better communications within the Department and those we serve. We are also moving toward a trauma informed agency. We will have an event on October 16 to unveil the Leadership Charter and have some round robin presentations that include managers and key staff.
iv. We have been asked to present at Foster Futures conference, headed by First Lady Walker.
v. Dave Neumann is going to a Future of Healthcare conference on October 16, and wondered if anyone else received information. We are partnering with ThedaCare for a Mental Health Plunge. We will look at gaps, whether local or regional. Jan questioned a phone call she received about ADRC. We are unaware of any programs from the County that are doing those outreach calls. We are in process of Organizational Effectiveness for the ADR Unit, trying to identify the Desired State. We are hoping to see developments over the coming months from that process. Jan asked about follow up from the transportation meeting.
vi. On November 7, there will be a Heroin Summit at the Masonic Lodge in Manawa. That will be attended by law enforcement, EMS, Medical, as well as representatives from Marinette DA and Law Enforcement agencies.
b. Alternate Care
i. Children residential services are remaining the same. We are talking about resources for high needs children.
c. Mental Health
i. Mental Health contract expenses remain high. We are talking with Green Lake County next week to look at how they have revamped their on-call system. Their system has made a big impact on their hospitalization placements and costs. We are looking at getting certified to provide services for transitional youth to adult. Statewide, there are service gaps for this age group.
Motion by Lehrer, second by Poehlman, to adjourn meeting at 7:05 pm. Motion carried.
Submitted by,
Lana Draeger
Office Manager
Approved by,
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