B110309
New Hanover County
Board of Social Services
Meeting Minutes
Multi Purpose Room A
9:00a.m. -10:00 a.m.
The New Hanover County Board of Social Services met in open session on Tuesday,
November 3, 2009 at 9:00 in Multi Purpose Room A of the New Hanover County
Department of Social Services.
ATTENDING: John Craig, Chairman; Minerva Glidden, Vice-Chairman; Evelyn Bryant
and Patrick Riley
ALSO ATTENDING: LaVaughn Nesmith, Secretary to the Board; Stephanie Monteath,
Administrative Support Specialist
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Ms. Glidden moved for approval
of the agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Riley and passed unanimously.
Ms. Bryant led the invocation. Mr. Riley led the pledge of allegiance.
CONSENT AGENDA
Ms. Glidden moved for approval of the consent agenda. The motion was passed
unanimously.
INFORMATION AGENDA
Personnel
Stephanie Monteath recognized Betty Robinson, returning to administer the LIEAP (Low
Income Energy Assistance Program); new employee, Elizabeth Harris, Social Worker
and Susie Stanislaw, Family and Children's Medicaid Worker who moved from a
temporary to a regular position.
Service Awards
Staff was recognized for their years of service to New Hanover County. Devonia
Harrison and Kathi Heslin celebrate 5 years of service this month; Mary Brown and Mark
Murphy celebrate 15 years of service and Linda Huffman celebrated 20 years of service.
SSDI
Ms. Glidden asked why more children were able to be served with subsidized child care
now as opposed to last year. Ms. Heslin explained that the agency began monthly
reporting last year which decreased the number of eligible families. Mr. Nesmith noted
the agency received stimulus money as well which now allow more families to receive
aid.
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County Budget Expenditures
Mr. Nesmith noted that DSS is doing really well pulling down revenues as noted in the
new report included in the Board packet.
Compliance Office Report
John Ranalli reviewed his Compliance Office Report. Mr. Ranalli gave a summary of the
Child Care Subsidy audit, which scored a 97.4% out of the required minimum score of
95%. Mr. Ranalli gave a summary of upcoming audits and projects. Ms. McNamee
noted that staff views Mr. Ranalli as a resource not a watchdog as the task of maintaining
program compliance and collecting information for audits is really daunting.
Mr. Riley asked about the delay in monitoring Medicaid Transportation. Mr. Ranalli and
Ms. Marino stated that the decrease in State staff has slowed the monitoring process. Mr.
Nesmith noted there is now three staff in the Medicaid Transportation program to deal
with the growth in that program.
Director's Executive Report
There were no questions or comments by the Board.
STRATEGIC ACTION AGENDA
Child Care Subsidy Update
Ms. Heslin narrated a power point presentation about the Child Care Subsidy Program.
Ms. Heslin noted this year NHCDSS was given a slight increase in funding allocations.
Ms. Heslin noted that costs for child care are higher in the summer as the need for care is
all day as opposed to just after school. Ms. Heslin also noted that the majority of families
receiving subsidy are employed. The significant accomplishment for the year is the
97.4% accuracy rate from the audit. The agency has partnered with Smart Start to target
Share the Care funding for one-time registration fees of less than $50. Ms. Heslin talked
about the upcoming project of tracking child care attendance sheets to EBT (Electronic
Benefits Transfer) cards. This will save a lot of paperwork and will more accurately
track services by providers. Mr. Nesmith shared his concern that there was no money
available for people going back to school or training programs to get back into the work
force. Mr. Riley suggested talking to Cape Fear Community College about providing
child care for their students, above and beyond the for profit child care program run out
of the school. Christine McNamee remarked when Welfare Reform took place in the
early 1990s, eleven million dollars was allocated for child care to assist people going
back to school. Mc. McNamee noted the funds have been substantially cut each year
since then. Mr. Craig commented on the really large client to worker ratio. Mr. Riley
asked if staff was meeting time frames for application review. Mr. Lane noted DSS staff
is still coming in under deadline with application processing.
Community Child Protection Team Update
Wanda Marino shared information from the Community Child Protection Team annual
report. Ms. Marino gave a brief history of how the CCPT was formed. The Community
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Child Protection Team is composed of agency representatives, child advocates and
citizens at-large who take action to identify and address gaps or deficiencies in services
and resources. They provide an annual report to the County Commissioners to detail
their findings. Ms. Marino noted the CCPT is comprised of two teams. One team meets
monthly to review selected cases in which abuse, neglect or dependency has been found
and gaps in services have been identified. The other team is comprised of department
heads and they meet quarterly to review deficiencies identified by the monthly meetings.
Ms. Marino discussed how important the CCPT fatality reviews are in preventing further
deaths of children by looking for any gaps in services and working as a team to make
recommendations.
Ms. Glidden asked how cases are selected for review. Ms. Marino noted that any
member of the group can ask to staff a case with the CCPT. Ms. Marino shared that this
group works to add resources to the community and find patterns in service gaps through
reviews.
Lobby Renovation Update
There is no current update however, DSS staff and board representative, Evelyn Bryant,
will be meeting with the architect and project manager on Thursday November 5, 2009 to
discuss the renovation. Mr. Nesmith will keep the board updated.
Next Meeting Objectives
Budget Process
Confirm Board Retreat Date
Board Self Evaluation
The Board completed self evaluations.
Additional Items
As there were no other additional items to discuss as provided in G.S. 154A-98 to
consider information that is confidential pursuant to G.S. 108A-80 and or G.S. 154A-98,
the board by consensus adjourned at 10:02 a.m.
Respectf y submitted,
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LaVaughn Nesmith,
Secretary to the Board
E
ohn E. Craig,
Chairman
Date approved:
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B110309