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B110806 New Hanover County Board of Social Services Minutes November 8, 2006 The New Hanover County Board of Social Services met in open session on Wednesday, November 08, 2006 at 9:00 a.m. in Multipurpose Room A of the Department of Social Services. ATTENDING: Frankie Roberts, Chairman; Bill Caster, Vice Chairman, F. Wayne Morris, Ann Pitts, John Craig ALSO ATTENDING: LaVaughn Nesmith, Secretary to the Board; Stephanie Monteath, Assistant to the Director The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. Mr. Caster moved for approval of the agenda. The motion to approve was seconded by Mr. Craig and passed unanimously. Mr. Roberts led the invocation. Mr. Caster led the pledge of allegiance. CONSENT AGENDA Mrs. Pitts moved to approve the agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Morris and passed unanimously. INFORMATION AGENDA Service Awards Elise Coble was recognized for 20 years of service to New Hanover County New Hires Deborah Benton, Tarasha Lloyd and Deborah Gay were hired as Economic Service Caseworkers Zone 1. Promotions Jessica McSwain was promoted from an Economic Service Caseworker Zone 1 to a Social Worker Zone 1. Linda Mitchell was promoted from an Economic Service Caseworker Zone 1 to a Lead Worker in Food Stamps. SSDI Mr. Nesmith explained that some information is noted as N/A in SSDI due to the early date of the Board Meeting. Mr. Caster asked about the Work First Demonstration Grant. Mr. Nesmith explained that with assistance from Community Partners, the grant was written and submitted and New Hanover County was awarded the grant. Page 2 of 3 Mr. Nesmith asked the board to peruse the letter stating that New Hanover County would be reimbursed funds that were previously taken out of the IV-E budget. County Budget Expenditures James Oxendine explained that the numbers reflected on the County Budget Expenditure report are not complete due to the early date of the Board Meeting. Mr. Morris suggested that the monthly reports presented at the Board Meeting reflect the numbers from 2 months prior to alleviate confusion. Mr. Caster and Mrs. Pitts agreed. Reports for following Board Meetings will reflect this change. Mr. Nesmith asked the board for suggestions for supplanting Subsidy Day Care funds. Mr. Caster asked for clarification of how County dollars would be reallocated. Mr. Nesmith explained that normally all County dollars ($21,000,000.00) allocated to the agency are not completely used due to salary lag etc. James Oxendine clarified that normally Subsidy Day Care is completely funded by the State, and funding the program with County money, could set a precedence wherein the State would then require the County to make a matched percentage. Mrs. Pitts said she is not in favor of doing business with the State. Mr. Caster agreed. Mr. Morris shared that from his experience, supplanting State funds with County dollars would set a dangerous precedent. Mr. Roberts feels that all decisions need to be based on the needs of children in New Hanover County. Mr. Morris suggested that this topic should be an agenda item for December's meeting and asked that more information be provided for the Board in the packets. STRATEGIC ACTION AGENDA James Oxendine presented the LBR Indicator update for Fiscal Accountability as it relates to funding staff time. Mr. Oxendine shared that for FY 05/06 MOE and TANF money was not completely drawn down and the agency did not meet its 100% goal. Happily the agency was not penalized for this. For the first quarter of FY 06/07 the agency is at 38.40% which is good. The agency has been working steadfast to spend all the funds available in TANF and MOE for 06/07. Mr. Oxendine gave definitions for different TANF funding codes and which programs those dollars fund (i.e. Work First, Foster Care, CPS etc.). A pie chart was presented to show how funds are divided amongst the various children's services programs. One hundred and fifteen staff salaries come from the money represented in the pie chart. Mr. Oxendine reviewed the challenges for this indicator such as restrictive funds; less staff being qualified to use the funds, new restrictions have been added and/or changed. Mr. Oxendine reviewed various strategies for this indicator including monitoring of funding and day sheet coding, becoming knowledgeable of new regulations and best practice and changing the agency's internal practices etc. Stephanie Monteath presented the LBR Indicator update for Employee Turnover and Vacancies. Ms. Monteath broke down statistics of DSS' employees in the areas of gender, age, education and race. Ms. Monteath explained that the definition for employee turnover changed to include voluntary (retirement/resignation) and involuntary (dismissal) turnover. This method of tracking turnover was recommended by the NC Director's Association. The turnover number is cumulative so it will likely be much larger at the end of the year than is reflected for the first quarter. Ms. Monteath discussed Page 3 of 3 the challenges for this indicator: Human service jobs are stressful, 38% of DSS' staff will most likely be retiring in the next 5-10 years (95 staff members), huge caseloads due to increased County population and staff turnover and agency acclimation of Emergent Workers. Ms. Monteath discussed several strategies the agency is employing to assist with turnover to include: Additional training for all staff, work with the Jordan Institute for recruitment and retention tools, flex time and staff recognition. Ms. Monteath also discussed the LBR Indicator of filling vacancies within 40 days or less. The agency has this quarter, exceeded its goal. Challenges for this indicator are: Completing criminal background checks and drug screens, growing caseloads during vacancies which cause staff to burn out and the low un-employment rate in New Hanover County. Recruitment and retention tools noted above have been an aid. As well, all vacancies are now posted on the 99 county website. NEXT MEETING OBJECTIVE Resource Needs Identified by LBR and Subsidy Day Care BOARD SELF EVALUATIONS Self Evaluations will be completed at next meeting. ADDITIONAL ITEMS The Director of Social Service's evaluation completion was discussed. Mr. Caster will see if the evaluation can be turned in later than December 5, 2006. Mr. Roberts asked Mr. Nesmith to complete a self evaluation. Mr. Nesmith will turn the self evaluation in within the next two weeks. Each Board member will complete a draft of the Performance Evaluation and compile the information at the next Board Meeting. As there were no items to discuss in closed session as provided in G.S. 143-318.11 pursuant to G.S. 108A-80 and/or G.C. 154A-98, the meeting was adjourned at 10:17a.m. Respectful s ~U LaVaughn Nesmith Secretary to the Board Frankie Roberts Chairman Date approved: