DISTRICT I
Ramada Inn
Present: Billie Jo Hermanson, Bob Barr, Carol Verbunker,
Duane Waters MD, Floyd Rabineau, Frank Mead, Gladys Eleegert,
Gordon Pekuri, Helen Johnson, James Aebli James Dougovito, John
Nelson, Julia Hadas, Kathleen Langhals,
Ken DesArmo, Leona St. Vincent, Linda Steinfeldt, Michael Kaufman, Peg Bastien,
Pepper VanLandschoot, Robert Moore, Robert Roberge, Robyn Loviska, and
Russell Sexton.
Guests:
Laura Champagne, Chief Deputy, DHS, Ellen Speckman-Randall, MCSSA, DeeDee DeRoche and Linda McLain,
MCSSW, Lauris Barr, Margaret Waters
There has been discussion
about changing the site for the March Legislative Forum and the vote came out
28 to stay at the Radisson Hotel and 18 to move to the Sheraton Lansing. The vote regarding the location of the legislative
luncheon was 42 to stay at the Rotunda, 8 wanted to return to the evening
session at the Radisson and 5 had no opinion.
Next year, the Rotunda will be set up differently with better signage
and more tables.
There
was a gentle plea for volunteers to run for the elected offices within MCSSA
for 2005-2006. Jim Beach will be the
President, Wayne Buskirk will be the Treasurer but there are vacancies for the
President-Elect and Secretary offices.
Two Board Members and two Directors are needed to serve on the Board of
Directors.
Guest Speaker: Laura Champagne, Chief Deputy Director
of DHS, shared the latest information
regarding the BRIDGES Project. She
stated that the Salaries and Wages Account is overspent by @ $10 million
dollars. We are overspent on the Travel
Account as well. We need to use 150 more
positions over the 300 vacancies to reach the point where we can pay for the
staff we have on board. By the end of
April, we’ll know where we are in the hole and there will be a meeting on May 6
to determine the next steps since we can not afford to lose those 150
positions.
The Title IV-E Audit and the
CFS-R PIP are not moving forward as quickly as hoped and the Legislature’s
request for a Specialized Foster Care Plan by April 1 was not met. There continues to be discussion about the development
of a performance-based Purchased Foster Care Program but we must decide what we
want. There is a possibility that every
county will take a hit for the Title IV-E reimbursement required by the failure
to meet the federal goals.
The ITTs’
future within DHS or DIT is still being
discussed. We will have IT services from
DIT but what that will look like is still being
formulated. The classification, either
ITT or Department Tech, will look different in each office and county. To be an ITT, one must have 95% technical
duties and 5% others whereas the Dept Tech can have up to 40% administrative
support tasks.
There was discussion about
the early retirement bills currently in the Legislature and whether Director Udow supports them.
Raising the factor to 1.75 will cost money that is not there. The “80-and-Out” will cost loss but the defined
benefit investments are down due to the losses in the stock market and more
money is needed to fund that type of pension plan. Eventually, there will be more people on the defined
contribution than defined benefit plan.
The staffing allocations were
discussed and the possibility that local county directors will get a pool of
money and will be expected to staff and fund each county office continues to be
considered.
B.
Board of Directors: Floyd Rabineau
Floyd
stated that the Conference Committee has arranged for a Drum Session at the
Banquet at the 2005 Annual Meeting at the Kewadin
Resort in the Soo in September. The keynote speaker will be Guadalupe Lara
from
He
also mentioned that some Boards are changing their names to “DHS” Boards and he
reminded them to inform their County Boards of Commissioners when this is done.
A.
Election of officers (president, vice-president,
secretary/treasurer). The new officers
will assume their positions at the
After
much discussion, the 2005-2007 Slate of Officers was voted into office.
It was moved
and carried to approve of Ken DesArmo as President
and District 1 Representative to the Board of Directors. VanLandschoot/Loviska
It was moved
and carried to appoint Linda Steinfeldt as
Vice-President and back up to Board of Directors. Dr. Waters/Dougovito
It was moved
and carried to appoint Russ Sexton as Secretary/Treasurer. Rabineau/VanLandschoot
Floyd Rabineau
was appointed as District 1 Representative to both the Board of Directors and
the Advisory Board. Russ Barr/Dougovito
B.
Discussion
concerning
Written
minutes are distributed as we receive them.
Committee members who have oral reports can provide them at this time.
Next Meeting:
Place: House of Ludington in Escanaba
Presentation: BRIDGES
Project with Bill Kennedy and Carla Barrows-Wiggins
Secretary/Treasurer: Russell K. Sexton, Delta/Menominee County
cc:
Jim Nye, Deputy Director, Field
Operations
Kathie McDonald, Director, Outstate Operations
DHS Board Members DHS
Zone 1 Manager
DHS Directors MCSSA
Office
MCF Directors Drew
Crouch, Houghton-Keweenaw, MCSSW
Linda
McLain,
Bill Kennedy, BRIDGES Project Team
Carla Barrows-Wiggins, BRIDGES Project Team