October
11, 2007 at 8:30 am
Room
304, County Office Building
Committee Present: Sandy Price, Chair, Carol Tytler, Vice Chair, Merwin Armstrong,
Mike McKee, Don Spaulding, John Troy. Absent: Kay Breed
Other Present: Marilyn Brown, Scott Schrader, Richard VanDonsel, Susan Morgan, Kristen Monroe, Judy Davison, Robin Sandwick, Manny Lann, Carol Deloff, Carl Bullock, JoAnne Wickham, Marilyn Wilbur, Corey Preston.
Chairman Price called the meeting to order at 8:32 AM.
Minutes of meeting of September 13, 2007 were unanimously approved.
On motion of Mr. Troy, second by Mr. McKee and all voting aye, Resolution No. 1 Authorize Agreement Cortland County Area Agency on Aging, Department of Social Services and NYS Office of the Aging (Cortland County NY Connects: Choices for Long Term Care) was passed.
Discussion: Ms. Deloff said this is to renew contract from October to September for the Point of Entry Program that officially opened September 24th. We are working on the public education campaign and putting together the application for year two of the funding. Mr. McKee asked if the funding will continue. Ms. Deloff said it is funded for year two and originally we were supposed to be in Phase II on October 1st however they have delayed that date. She further stated that they are still working on education information and screening. The only extra component is the staff calling on services for youth, which we have done agency cross training to accomplish.
On motion of Mr. Armstrong, second by Mr. Troy and all voting aye, Resolution No. 2 Authorize Lease Agreement Department of Employment and Training (Calabro Properties, Inc.) was passed.
Discussion: Ms. Davison said that the Department of Labor has wanted to get out of lease agreements they are involved with at the One Stop Career Centers. She utilized local representatives to support continuing our lease. The State then asked the County to take over the lease. Mr. Schrader said it would be considered and we met with the landlord resulting in this Resolution. The State is presently on a month-to-month agreement with leased properties. We have excess capacity that we hope to rent out. This will be 100% funded by WIA funds with no cost to the County. Ms. Tytler asked if the landlord is aware that the lease will end if the there is no funding. Ms. Davison answered yes. Mr. McKee asked if the County could be penalized for breaking the lease. Ms. Davison replied that if the funding goes away so does the location.
On motion of Mr. Troy, second by Mr. Armstrong and all voting aye, Resolution No 3 Abolish/Create Secretary I/Keyboard Specialist was passed.
Discussion: Ms. Monroe explained that that currently the Department has two Secretary I positions; one in legal and the other created last year to supervise Reception. The reception person was unable to retain the position due to Civil Service test so we looked at our options and decided to move the Secretary in legal to Reception. The position in Legal is more congruent with that of a Keyboard Specialist and that doesn’t involve supervision.
Chairman Price said that Mr. Lann has a resolution that was not included
on the agenda. She asked Mr. Lann if the Resolution was time sensitive. Mr.
Lann said yes. The Resolution was distributed to committee members and Ms.
Price asked for consensus to consider the resolution. Mr. Mann said it did not
get to the agenda due to a communication problem. Chairman Brown said that he
needs to make a better effort to insure resolutions get on the agenda so that
committee can review prior to meetings.
On motion of Mr. Troy, second by Mr. Spaulding and all voting aye, Resolution Resource Allocation Plan NYS Office of Children and Family Services Youth Bureau was passed.
Ms. Tytler said it make it difficult for committee to approve this amount of money on such short notice and asked that he be more timely in the future.
JoAnne Wickham from Communities that Care introduced Marilyn Wilbur, Project Coordinator
Ms. Wickham distributed a brochure that outlined the makeup, goals, board members and programs of Cortland Area Communities That Care Coalition. She said they started from a task force appointed by former Mayor Tytler to address drug and Alcohol use in the community. They assessed the program resources in the community to support and enhance their programs to build a framework for their goals. The goals are 1. to reduce alcohol, tobacco and marijuana use among Cortland County youth, 2. to work with local state and national agencies to prevent and reduce substance abuse among our youth and 3, continue to refine and implement the Five Year Youth Development Plan. She emphasized their goals are not to replace existing programs but to support and enhance existing programs as an umbrella agency. She said the devil in Cortland County is alcohol. They have a Drug-free community grant that supports their work to fund a coordinator position and some program monies. Ms. Wilbur went on to explain 4 programs they are currently involved with: Strengthening Families 10-14 for Community Groups, Project Northland in local schools, The Incredible Years for pre-schools through CAPCO Head Start, the YWCA and Marathon UPK for ages 3-5 and the The Majority Rules through the college/community collaboration. She also spoke about their new free Infant Carrier Program and distributed a brochure description of that program.
Ms. Price thanked both for all they do for this program and for the report given.
Department Budgets
Mr. Schrader reported that there are no significant
changes in anyone’s budget with the exception of Social Services. The
Commissioner is proposing a number of new positions, all but two substantially
funded by the State. He asked Ms. Monroe to explain that portion of the budget
to committee. Ms. Monroe said that she has proposed three new caseworkers
and one supervising Sr. caseworker as a package to accommodate our Foster Care
preventative program. We are unable to manage the high caseload without these
positions. Another Sr. Caseworker is for the PINS program. Although detention
costs are down they are still high. A contract Sr. Probation Officer is also
proposed. Additionally a Sr. Clerk is added to in imaging plus a Social
Welfare Examiner for the Medicaid unit, both are funded through PCAP. The
other proposal is to increase the Driver, part-time to full-time, as we cannot
keep up with foster care appointments. Ms. Tytler said that she hoped moving
the DMV out of the Court House will accommodate and free up space for joint
programs. Mr. Schrader said that looking at program dollars and the cap on
Medicaid we have cost certainty for budget stability. He said that Ms. Monroe
has addressed program lines in her 2008 budget that have presented over budget
status this year. Ms. Monroe explained that the overall increase is 2 million
dollars; the County share less than half a million. The local share did not
increase as much due to reimbursement by the State and Federal Government. Mr.
Schrader complimented Ms. Monroe for the detail provided in her budget.
Departmental Reports
Veterans: Mr. Bullock distributed a new outreach brochure outlining major benefits available to our Veterans. He said they created this in house so it will be kept updated on a regular basis.
Youth: Mr. Mann distributed his Annual Report for the Summer Recreation Program.
Social Services: Ms. Monroe said that the new security doors have been installed. The PIN numbers are not working yet but will be shortly. She added that this program can be expanded into the County. Mr. Schrader said he wants to explore that possibility next year. Ms. Monroe added that she wanted to make the committee aware that they will be having a Title 4E Audit in Foster Care shortly.
Employment & Training: Ms. Davison said they have been notified that they are receiving $57,811. in incentive fund monies. She said it is the first time we have qualified under the WI legislation. We now have to put together a plan to spend the money. We have met with both Counties and Consortium. We are looking at purchasing skills assessment tools and technology updates. Further we are working on the Youth Fair with the Youth Council and are going on a staff retreat. For the past 18 months we have been working on grants of the Regional Approach for Workforce Development and have just received a $500,000 grant. Part of that grant that includes Oneida, Herkimer and Madison Counties has to do with biofuel. She concluded that we have lost over 40% of our formula funds since the year 2000. Robin Sandwick thanked Ms. Price for attending the Community Awareness luncheon, the proclamation presented and all the legislative support they have received. She said that on the 17th they will be having Youth Day which is a shadowing experience for 50 students with disabilities.
Aging: Ms. Deloff said that tomorrow is
Senior Enrichment Day at SUNY Cortland and anticipate about 200 people. That
will be followed by a Public Hearing regarding issues for the older population
in the future. Ms. Deloff asked to discuss the possibility of the Office of
Area Agency on Aging to relocate to the South Main Street property. Chairman
Brown asked that this be looked at by the AdHoc Committee to gather the
background information of the agency needs and report back to this committee
as well as Buildings and Grounds. Ms. Deloff said she plans on sending out a
letter to her Advisory Board and Senior Members telling them that this under
discussion and ask for their input. Mr. Schrader added that we will be looking
at that possibility to address agency needs. Mr. Troy encouraged that
exploration. Mr. Spaulding said he is in favor as long as we do not dive into
it. Mr. Schrader said he was looking for direction from the committee. Ms.
Tytler agreed that the Ad Hoc Committee would explore the relocation with Ms.
Deloff. Ms. Deloff invited committee members to tour her facility and observe
difficulties especially in the food and delivery areas as well as the concern
for parking at the County Office Building.
Committee Items
suggested for Legislative Review is Carol Deloff’s inquiry into the South
Main Street property for The Office of the Aging and Ms. Monroe’s budget
presentation. They are highlighted in bold.
Meeting adjourned
at 9:26 AM
Minutes prepared by Susan Morgan, Clerk