MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:

JANUARY 13, 2005

Chairperson Stutsman called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 3:33 p.m.  Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.

DISCUSSION: JOB DESCRIPTION FOR GENERAL ASSISTANCE COORDINATOR

Stutsman said that she would like to have the General Assistance Coordinator job description put on the next formal meeting agenda.  Interim General Assistance Director Susan Campney said that she has looked at it and it looks pretty good.  R. Sullivan asked how it compares to what is currently in place.  Campney said that the General Assistance Director position has supervisory authority.  Lehman asked if a 1/2 time or 3/4 time assistant would be better managed by a General Assistance Coordinator or Director.  Stutsman said that she no longer sees the position as a supervisory position.  R. Sullivan asked if they are talking about having two coequal people in General Assistance.  Stutsman said yes.  Neuzil said that he believes that the positions will be equal but that he is not sure that both full time positions will be hired right away and because of that one position will have some seniority.  Neuzil said that the question is about the supervisory aspect of the position.  He said that if they are going to hire someone to replace former General Assistance Director Kay Hull then they need to decide if the position is going to be supervisory.  Neuzil pointed out that if the position is not supervisory then they are heading in the direction of having a new Social Services Director, and if they don’t want to go in that direction then the position needs to be potentially a supervisory role.  Stutsman asked if the position needs to be a department head and a supervisory position if they don’t hire a Human Services Director.  Stutsman also inquired as to whom would supervise the department if the General Assistance Coordinator was not a supervisory position.  Neuzil said that ultimately it would come back to the Board of Supervisors for oversight of the department.  Stutsman said that they do not directly oversee any staff except Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan.  Campney said if they do it that way then they have gone against the goal of getting someone to supervise people like Human Services Accountant Kathy Lynch and Community Program Aide Brenda Petz and instead added two more people without any supervisor.  Neuzil said that is why he thinks they are heading to a Social Services Director.

Neuzil said there are two questions in regard to the Social Services Director; if they are ready, and how will it be paid for?  Stutsman said that Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne said that this will be budget neutral, Campney and Hull are already budgeted for so the new employees would fall into their salaries.  Neuzil said that would work if they didn’t hire anyone else in General Assistance.  Stutsman said that Hull was at the top of her pay scale.  Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek said that Hull was red circled.  Stutsman said that someone starting as Human Service Coordinator would not be at the top of the pay scale.  Neuzil said that depends on all of the duties that they choose to assign to this position, it could be that the position will need to pay more than $35-40,000 a year.  Neuzil also pointed out that if the individual could not be also at least 1/2 time in General Assistance there would be increases there too.  Lehman said that they need to look at it financially and see what they want the people to accomplish and pay them to do it.  Stutsman agreed.  Stutsman said it makes her nervous to look at the Human Services budget and think that no one is overseeing all those tax dollars.  R. Sullivan said that there is a lot of potential for the position to pay for itself.  He said that if they are looking for a Human Services Coordinator it isn’t fair to ask that person to spend 1/3 of their time doing General Assistance work because they will not have enough time to get their own work done.  Neuzil said they also want someone to help manage the block grants and assist the Board in deciding where the money should be spent.  Neuzil pointed out that this duty is very time consuming and tedious.

Stutsman said that because of all of the people who were unable to attend this meeting, they should reschedule.  Lehman suggested that at the next meeting Horne and someone from the Attorney’s Office should be present.  Neuzil also suggested that Shramek and Human Resources Coordinator Jen Feldmann try to see if other counties have done something similar so they can compare plans to those.  Stutsman said that Linn County has something similar.  Shramek said that she has some job descriptions but everything is in draft form.  R. Sullivan suggested they do a straw poll because it wouldn’t make sense to have another meeting unless there are at least three people interested in adopting the position.  Neuzil said he wants to remain open minded, but the question is how is it going to be paid for.  Stutsman asked if there are other questions that they need to ask Department of Human Services Area Administrator Cheryl Whitney and County Attorney J. Patrick White.  JCCOG Human Services Coordinator Linda Severson suggested they ask Whitney what she had been doing and where there had been gaps.  Severson asked if Shramek had any qualification details in her draft job description of the position.  Shramek said that the Director position is drafted as requiring a bachelor’s degree in social services, human services, or a related field with a master’s degree preferred and three to five years of experience.  Stutsman said they need to talk to the attorney to see how things will work and what the interpretation of the Code should be.

Stutsman asked if Lynch had written down some of her job details.  Lynch said that she had because she was surprised when she found out that the Board thought she did mostly State work because she actually does very little of it.  Lynch said that some of the things she does are local administrative reports, reimbursements to Johnson County, continuous care reports, daycare authorizations and payments for the County, Empowerment, and the State.  Lynch said she will no longer be doing the State portion soon.  Lynch went on to say that she also takes care of Empowerment County Payments, State Auditor, Department 45 Budget, Shared Space Allocation, bi-weekly payroll for Departments 45 and 46, Shared Costs to MH/DD for their TCM management reports, yearly Human Services budget, personnel for Departments 45 and 46, Department 45 Human Services County Payments that Campney used to be in charge of, County Human Services Purchases for Department 45, Answering Service reimbursement from participating Counties to Johnson County, Community Partnership County Payments and Reimbursements to Johnson County, Volunteer Contract County Payments, and Reimbursements to Johnson County.  Lynch added that she will be keeping a couple of State things; State MH/DD and some Foster Home and Adoptive Study invoices.  Stutsman said another problem that Lynch brought up is that there is no support staff at Department of Human Services.  Lynch said that mostly they just take care of themselves, but if such a broad position were to be created they would probably need support.  Stutsman asked if Social Worker II Margo Magee-Swim types up her own reports.  Lynch said some of Magee-Swim’s things might go to State departments, but that her stuff is not done that way, it is all in excel.  Stutsman asked if there had been support staff in the past.  Campney said that when she first started at Johnson County there was.  Stutsman said she remembers that there was one clerical position.  Lynch said that the 28E gives access to the State systems and covers a lot of things in general.  Neuzil said that he thinks there will be some sort of 28E agreement.  Lynch said that she doesn’t think they have to be supervised by a State person to be in a 28E agreement.

Stutsman asked if there are any other questions or if there is anything else that needs to be clarified.  Campney said that General Assistance is one of the best organizations in the County and that they save a lot of money by taking time to talk to the people to find out what they really need.  She said that there are some concerns that if the amount of time in General Assistance is diminished, people will not be helped as accurately and efficiently as they are now and costs will go up.  R. Sullivan said that he is concerned about the caseload and the time restrictions.  Campney said that it usually isn’t a big problem, but lately there have been files she can’t get to and instead of waiting periods being two or three days it is turning into two or three weeks.  Lynch pointed out that these people do have a dire need at that moment and it can cost more down the road if they don’t get assistance immediately.

Shramek asked what title they want to give to the position.  Neuzil said he thinks it is under the umbrella of Social Services.  Stutsman said they are wondering if the State functions that Magee-Swim and Social Worker II David Moran do have to be supervised by a County employee versus a State employee.  Sarchet said the State has never really funded their office to allow work to be done well and a lot of the support has come from the County so it is difficult to categorize duties as State or County.  Stutsman said she was talking about things like licensing foster homes because the County doesn’t do that.  Sarchet said that is true, but that Magee-Swim does not do that either, she gives support and assistance to the foster families after they have become licensed.  Sarchet said that Moran does the intake, and that the State does not fully fund intake so getting that done has needed some creative maneuvering.  Sarchet explained that there is some flexibility as to who can supervise them because there has been a very good working relationship in the office between State and County officials.  Neuzil said that basically it would be a County Social Services Director that in some ways would allow the County to be closer to the State.  Sarchet said that a 28E agreement would also help everyone communicate better.  Stutsman asked if the LAE is tied to the 28E.  Sarchet said that it is tied in the fact that it allows reimbursements of about $3,200 for each of the five participating employees to come back to the County.  Neuzil said that there is no reason to get rid of the 28E agreement, it should remain a team approach.  Sarchet said a lot of the characteristics of how the team will work together depends on the type of person hired for the position.  Sarchet pointed out that there is a lot of support from the County and that in addition to monetary funds the County is supportive in other ways and that is also key to the way things work.  Stutsman said that they want to continue that support.

Neuzil said that with a new building in a couple of years things will be different and some things will need to change then.  R. Sullivan asked if it seems that the State will be moving some things down to the County level.  Sarchet said that they are in the middle of Better Results for Children and some changes are being made to focus on intake, but the biggest area of concern is for children with mental health needs.  Sarchet said a unique person is needed to be able to meet the needs of the Board and continue to grow for the County.  Neuzil said that some things will be difficult earlier on, but will get easier with the new building, but it is important to get a list together of the responsibilities that the new position will be in charge of.  R. Sullivan said that he thinks the juvenile justice group could be a good model for this new position and that there is some money in Marlene Perrin’s position and that there could be someone fulfilling that role on a countywide basis.  R. Sullivan said that this way that person could get recommendations from all of the agencies and determine what is really important and bring that information to the Board.  Stutsman said that this is sounding like what the Decat Coordinator used to do.  Sarchet said that the person hired would have to be a really good team player to make it work.  R. Sullivan said that they are envisioning a remarkable person that would be able to wear many hats.  Stutsman said they are talking about a department head position and supervisory duties come with being a department head.  Sarchet said that there would be day to day functions for the department head to take care of.  Campney asked if this person would be the one who deals with the hospital and the one that takes care of State Papers and goes to the County Directors Meeting for General Assistance.  Stutsman said that she sees the General Assistance person doing that, and the supervisor would be the Coordinator Position.  Stutsman said that this person would be a manager similar to the one at the Health Department.  Neuzil suggested that Sarchet find out about the requirements under the 28E for supervising of the County officials.  Stutsman said another thought is whether or not Whitney wants to give up some of her responsibilities.  Neuzil said they need to get a list from Whitney and that possibly she would be able to come to the next meeting.

The Board scheduled another meeting regarding the reorganization of the Human Services Department for January 24, 2005 at 10:00 a.m.

Adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Attest:  Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Kadlec, Recording Secretary