MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
JULY 17, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
UI School of Social Work Practicum student Sarah Dolezal: North Liberty Youth Employment and Leadership Program.......................................................................................................................... 1
Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia: Empowerment Contract for Continue Care and School-Ready Scholarships................................................................................................................... 3
Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia: Empowerment Contract for Johnson County Social Services to be Employer of Record for Early Childhood Specialist and Empowerment Administrative Assistant 3
Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia: Proposed New Position in Social Services of Community Projects Specialist........................................................................................................................ 3
Mental Health/Disability Services Director Kris Artley: FY09 Rates for Chatham Oaks....... 5
Mental Health/Disability Services Director Kris Artley: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and Carver College of Medicine University of Iowa Physicians Proposed Rates for FY09............................ 5
County Attorney Janet Lyness: County Fair......................................................................... 6
Reports and Inquiries from Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan............................................. 6
Reports and Inquiries from the Board of Supervisors........................................................... 6
Chairperson Sullivan called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 10:35 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia said Sarah Dolezal is a University of Iowa undergraduate social work student who is graduating officially at the end of the summer. She said Dolezal has been doing her final full-time practicum with Johnson County Social Services, which started at the end of April and finishes up in about a week and a half. Correia said Dolezal has been involved in an exciting new project that started up in North Liberty and so she asked her to come and give a short presentation on it.
Dolezal said she has been involved in a program with North Central Junior High Human Family Resource Counselor Bill Feeney, which is called the North Liberty Summer Work and Learning Project. She said the mission of the program is to provide meaningful employment for students and to introduce them to a world beyond their own neighborhoods. Dolezal said the project allows for students to see the connection between schoolwork and the workforce; she views it as a prevention program that is geared towards 14 year olds who show tendencies towards being at risk. Dolezal said Feeney and other counselors within the school and choose the students who will be provided with meaningful experiences in their time away from school. She said this session there were approximately 10 students who were 14 years old and entering high school. Dolezal said they were required to be North Central Junior High students and the first five weeks ran at the end of the school year. The students participated in a training session run by Junior Achievement that taught them the importance of employment, how to look for a job, what jobs might best suit their personalities, likes and dislikes, characteristics, etc. The session also taught the students how to budget and other financial aspects of maintaining a job. Following the five-week Junior Achievement session the students were inducted into a six-week work experience session where the students worked ten hours a week although one student worked up to 40 hours per week.
Dolezal said the worksites were the North Liberty Public Library, North Liberty Aquatics, North Liberty Parks and Recreation, Chik-Fil-A in Coralville, and the Johnson County Community Partnership. She said the worksites have agreed to sponsor or hire a student for the entire six weeks and there were also financial supporters so the program could pay the students. Dolezal said Jan Swink, Johnson County Social Services, and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church were donators and agency affiliates who have worked with the program including Johnson County Social Services, Iowa City Community School District, and the Community Corrections and Improvement Association of Cedar of Rapids who became the financial backbone of the program. Dolezal said the outcome of the program appears to be a successful experience for all the students; they have gotten great reviews from the employers and the supervisors. She said she would like the program to continue next year so currently she is in the process of working with community members to write a grant to hopefully sponsor the program next year.
Stutsman asked if all the students that started the program completed it, and Dolezal said not all of the students who started the five-week Junior Achievement session completed it because of their summer schedules and sports but every student that started at a job is still working. R. Sullivan said it looks like a lot of the kids actually worked for projects with the City of North Liberty and that he assumes the City of North Liberty staff provided whatever supervision that was necessary. Dolezal said that is correct. R. Sullivan asked if she is getting good feedback from them. Dolezal said yes, they have gotten great feedback and actually the student working with North Liberty Parks and Recreation is the student working 40 hours a week; North Liberty Parks and Recreation staff gave him more hours because they liked his work ethic and were excited about him.
Stutsman asked if the program would be eligible for an Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) Innovation Award. Correia said she was going to fill out an application for the project and Stutsman said good because the success rate is terrific. Harney said he noticed some quotes in the article in the paper and one of them was Dolezal saying the Community Corrections is involved and asked if that is correct. He said it is great that the City of North Liberty and the other entities are involved. Correia said it has been a great collaboration all around and in the early stages Feeney had been to the North Liberty Committee of the Chamber of Commerce to pitch the project to get donations for the work stipends and also to recruit for work placement sites. She said it has been a real effort to get lots of aspects of the North Liberty community together on the project. Correia said Dolezal has also been involved with flood recovery and has been doing case advocacy at the Johnson County Crisis Center for the last few weeks when the center needed more hours. She said Dolezal has gotten a full experience working with the County. Harney said Dolezal has been busy and Dolezal agreed.
Correia presented the Empowerment for Continue Care and School-Ready Scholarship Program. She said Johnson County Social Services receives the applications for Continue Care in school writing and processes those. Correia said her department makes the payment directly to the daycare and preschool providers and then bills it to Empowerment to be reimbursed via Department 45.
Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia said the Empowerment Contract for Johnson County Social Services to be Employer of Record for an Early Childhood Specialist and Empowerment Administrative Assistant is a new contract and is in response to Johnson County Empowerment Early Childhood Specialist Laurie Nash’s position being transferred from the Johnson County Public Health Department to the Johnson County Social Services Department a little over a year ago. She said the Administrative Assistant position has been created within Social Services although both positions are funded 100% by Empowerment dollars. Correia said the County is the employer of record so a contract is needed between the Empowerment Board and Johnson County to formalize the relationship and record that Empowerment does cover the costs of the employees. R. Sullivan asked if there ever was such a contract. Correia said that originally the contract was with the Public Health Department. She said on some level the contract does protect the Empowerment Board and the County if something were to happen to Empowerment funding, but that doesn’t seem likely since Empowerment funding continues to increase. Stutsman said it makes a lot of sense to make the shift and she thinks it is a good move. Correia asked if both items will be put on next week’s agenda and R. Sullivan confirmed.
Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia said she has a proposal to create a new position in Social Services. She said it has come out of a situation where there is a retirement coming up and her proposal is to eliminate the current position and create a new professional position in Social Services. Correia said there is not a gain in the number of positions in the department; the position is for a Community Project Specialist or someone working full-time on community projects with significant social services impact that have 1) demonstrated a need for the project and 2) demonstrated an ability to leverage outside resources into the County. She said currently there are two specific projects: One is working to coordinate the community partnership to protect children, taking the project to a more in-depth level with strategic planning and coordination around the County that brings in $20,000 in State funds, and promoting community and neighborhood networks. Correia said the other large project is to have a staff person at the County level that is responsible for coordinating efforts to respond to disproportionate minority contact of youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. She said it is a big issue in Johnson County and the State; there are certainly very high numbers of minorities involved in child welfare and the juvenile justice system. Correia said there are many resources and technical assistance providers out there in the State and the country to respond to the issue including the Annie E. Casey Foundation but there isn’t one staff person in the County anywhere that has dedicated a significant portion of their time identifying and accessing those resources. Correia said having someone that would be able to focus time on the special project that have County-wide impact and relevance would be extremely beneficial. She said additionally this person would be able to provide some backup to some of the duties in her position if for any reason she needed to leave; like if a Johnson County Decategorization Program Governance Board (Decat) Coordinator needed to go on a one-month medical leave. Correia said the qualifications would be a master’s degree in social work and the ability to take on the additional supervision of students and their practicums.
Harney asked if the positions would be cost-neutral and transfer over the new classifications. Correia said the pay grade is at 19 which is what Johnson County Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek put it at. She said the starting salary range is within what is currently budgeted. Stutsman asked if the salary is higher than what the previous position’s was. Correia said the full range is higher the starting salary it would be under what the previous position’s was. R. Sullivan said the person who is currently doing almost the exact same thing is at the very top and Correia agreed. Stutsman said there is so much reference in the job description to the disproportionate minority contact and she knows it is, justifiably, a big initiative right now with the Department of Human Services and the juvenile courts. She said she is concerned that it is so much a part of the position; she is optimistic that the County is going to get a handle on the problem. Stutsman repeated it makes up so much of the job description it makes her wonder if the description should be more generic. Correia said she thought about that as she was working on the job description. She said she and Shramek talked about it but not about that specific concern. Correia said she thinks there is the ability to add as additional projects might drop off as problems are solved. She said she thinks job descriptions have the ability to shift duties over time; over time they will be able to identify new community projects of significance. Correia said she will talk to Shramek about that. Stutsman said she likes job descriptions to be current and if they are constantly changing maybe it might be better to have something more generic.
R. Sullivan asked if the Board is comfortable in moving the item forward with the understanding that Correia will talk to Shramek. Neuzil said as long as the budget doesn’t need to be adjusted he thinks it is an opportune time for something like this. Correia said she will be on vacation the following week but she will talk to Shramek. R. Sullivan said if Correia is not able to talk to Shramek the Board can wait a week before moving the item forward. Neuzil said particularly with the County Fair; he knows the Board is trying to keep that meeting short and Correia said sure. Harney said he agrees the language of the job description ought to be a big more generic and he knows the Sixth Judicial District Court is doing a big study on the disproportionate number of minorities involved with child welfare and the juvenile courts. He said there are a lot more factors that go into that including the living conditions that need more attention. R. Sullivan said the Board will plan on having the job description on next week’s agenda unless they hear differently.
Mental Health/Disability Services Director Kris Artley said the Board needs to approve the FY 09 rates for Chatham Oaks like the rest of the providers that had been discussed earlier in the season. She said some of the providers are dealing with issues because of the Minimum Wage Law adjustment, and hiring satisfactory personnel has been problematic for them. Artley said the Support Community Living (SCL) Services is also being greatly impacted by the cost of gasoline. She said the State has a current approved rate for the maintenance of $26.95 daily at the Residential Care Facility (RCF) level. Artley said the maintenance cost changes every January. She says that for the amount requested, $26.95 comes from the State and they are requesting for the residential $69.80 from the Federal. Artley said the current approved rate is $67.00 for the fiscal year. She said for SCL, the adjustment would be higher because of the gasoline. Artley said they are currently receiving $47.90, which is considerably under what their CRIS report came in as far as FY07. She said they are requesting $53.50 for FY09, which is right in the middle of what other providers are charging for that service. Artley said they are very comfortable with both of those requests.
Artley said the Mental Health and Disability Services lengthened their name and that name went into the contract a year ago. She said that MH/DS did not understand that the contract in and of itself goes through June 30, 2010. Artley said MH/DS thought it only went through 2008. Artley said she had assured them they would only need to deal with the rates. She said the only issue was that somewhere along the line in 2006, the program called Impact seemingly was removed from the service matrix, and she couldn't find any documentation of why that occurred but that it is in the contract. Artley said if they don't have documentation in their service package, then individuals from other counties will not be able to access it as well. She said MH/DS is very satisfied with the current rates they are receiving and are not requesting any changes. Artley said the addendum to the contract got spread out and repeated, and they were up to D in addendums. She said she revamped it so the service was explained in attachment A, and attachment B was the race request. Artley said since race requests were the same, MH/DS was very supportive of that.
Lyness said while at the County Attorney's conference, there was a representative from the missing and exploited children program, so she ordered some information for younger kids about Internet safety.
Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan said he submitted most of the Category A and Category B disaster expenses to the FEMA Coordinator on July 16, 2008, and he said they still have some coming in as of July 17, 2008. M. Sullivan said they are going to be working on putting project worksheets together. He said they will be submitted to FEMA. M. Sullivan said that in the July 9, 2008 Key Issues Work Session there was discussion about establishing work groups to deal with catastrophic disaster contingency planning for County Operations. M. Sullivan said the first meeting will be July 28, 2008.
Meyers attended department head liaison meetings and noted that Solon Beef Days is starting on July 18, 2008.
Stutsman attended County Case Management Services exit interviews.
Adjourned at 11:04 a.m.
______________________________________________________________________
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By:
On the _______ day of _____________________, 2008
By John Deeth, Recording Secretary
Sent to the Board of Supervisors on August 1, 2008 at 5:30 p.m.