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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1992 02-27 HHSCMINUTES OF THE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION Administration Building/Mayor Conference Room February 27,1992 7:00 P.M. ROLL CALL Present: Chairman Virginia Seeman Commissioner Carmen Huerta Commissioner Joy McNulty City Clerk Kathy Connelly Asst. City Manager George Hoffman CONSENT AGENDA Approval of September 24,1991 meeting minutes: M/S -Commissioners McNulty/Huerta Absent: Commissioner Ed Barker Commissioner Angela Shoemaker Council Liaison Robin Barker "I move to approve the minutes with the correction of the date of the minutes submitted for approval that they be changed to September 24,1991; and and that a correction of the date of the minutes on the Consent Agenda for approval at that meeting be changed to September 25,1990; and that under the agenda item "Commission Goals, Objectives and Projects", the second line which refers to "CARRA" be changed to "CAHRA". Motion approved.Vote 3-0 ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER REPORT Mr. Hoffman related that there was a quasi -related health and human services item to be presented by Mr. Bob Jones at the next Council worksession on March 2,1992.Mr. Sig Overgaard with the Reach Out Food Bank has informed that either the County or the Food Bank will be appealing to the City to assist in the funding of construction of a new building on the County Complex.Any Commissioner who wished to hear this presentation during the work session is welcome to attend.Discussion ensued on the particulars of the new building and the funding necessary. MINUTES OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION FEBRUARY 27,1992 PAGE 1 OF 5 REVIEW OF FUNDING APPLICATIONS City Clerk Kathy Connelly presented an analysis of her review of the funding applications which had been received by the City. She said the City had received six applications, all submitted by the January 31,1991 deadline.There were two new applicants on the list; one was the Abuse Prevention Council with a request for $12,000 to be used for the hiring of a Youth Center Coordinator as well as to assist in paying the mortgage and utilities.Since the Council in the past has looked at using funds for direct services, she said she didn't know if using the funds in this way would pose a problem. She additionally said that because this is a startup operation, they were unable to file an audit report or client service information, but all other documentation has been submitted. CAHRA has submitted a request for funds to repair or replace evaporative coolers for residents, primarily senior citizens, in the City.She said she has had no problems with the administration of the CAHRA funding and in fact had been contacted by a number of persons who wished to thank the City for the assistance they have received. East Valley Catholic Services has been funded for the past two or three years.This year they are requesting $10,500 (the same as last year's request).She said that although this group has had to be contacted in the past to remind them to provide their quarterly reports, they have done so without further prompting, albeit past due.Although they have been contacted to provide information on other outside funding, they stated they receive no funding for this particular program from the outside.She suggested that the Commission may wish to question what their other sources of funding are for this program or others. The Family Emergency Center is a new agency operating the homeless shelter on Main Street in Mesa.They are requesting $10,000.Ms. Connelly said the one concern she has regarding this request is how the City determines whether the funding is being used for City residents. Commissioner Huerta said she thought that during last year's program funding selection, it was decided that the City was not going to accept any more applications for funding out -of- the -City service centers. After discussion, it was determined that although the actual service facility or administration of some of the organizations (CAHRA, East Valley Catholic Services) is outside the city, they do administer to city residents in various capacities. Superstition Mountain Mental Health has received funding from the City for several years. Their proposal is for $26,500, which is broken down into three separate categories (emergency mental health services, psychiatric services for the seriously mentally ill, and information and referral services).Ms. Connelly said their documentation was correctly submitted and they are very careful to see that the funds are used for clients within the city. MINUTES OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION FEBRUARY 27,1992 PAGE 2 OF 5 The Salvation Army is requesting the same as last year.Ms. Connelly said they are timely with their reporting to the City and very thorough with their documentation.She related that she had no problem with this organization. Commissioner Huerta asked Mr. Hoffman if he knew what the budgeted amount would be that they would dividing up to service the various agencies applying.Mr. Hoffman said that at this time the amount specified in the draft budget is the same as last year which was $54,000, but the final amount is wholly dependent upon Commission recommendations and the Council's decision with final budget reviews. Commissioner McNulty asked about the schedule for the presentations by the applicants.If it was the same as last year, it would be fifteen minutes total for the presentation and any question and answer period.It should be consistent for each presentation and the applicants need to be notified by letter of the day and time of their presentation and what the schedule will be. Mr. Hoffman said if he spelled out the full schedule in the letters sent to the applicants, they would understand that there are other applicants waiting in line to give their presentations also.He could encourage that they make their presentations five or eight minutes long to allow time for questions by the Commissioners. Chairman Seeman suggested that the procedure and schedule for the presentations be written down so the Commission and the applicants will have something to follow.She also suggested a list of questions to be asked of each agency so they can retain consistency in the interviews. Mr. Hoffman said that at one time there was a decision to attend agency meetings and coming back with a report to the other Commissioners and possibly even the Council.lithe Commissioners had had time to do that and would wish to make a report to the City Council, they would be welcome to do that. Commissioner McNulty said she had attended an interagency luncheon and had found it to be very enlightening.She said she came away with many questions answered and became acquainted with the agency representatives and their programs. Commissioner Huerta said that although there used to be a newsletter sent out, a lack of manpower had eliminated the newsletter.There is still a list of the meetings which is sent out monthly to the City and other funding agencies. Mr. Hoffman said if the feeling was strong enough, a stipulation could be put into the contracts that a quarterly report would be made to the Commission and the Council. Commissioner McNulty suggested that since the Commissioners are serving voluntarily, perhaps the $5.00 luncheon fee for one Commissioner to attend a meeting a month could be allowed by the Council. MINUTES OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION FEBRUARY 27,1992 PAGE 3 OF 5 Mr. Hoffman said he thought this could come out of Commission support budgeted funds. He said he would need a receipt or some type of documentation submitted for legitimate expenses of Commissioners in attending these luncheons or seminars.He also said that if we have a Commissioner attending the Pinal County Interagency meetings or luncheons on a regular basis, it would be good to have them report back to our Commission on this coordination. Commissioner Huerta volunteered that she attends these meetings on a regular basis and would be happy to report back to the Commission on this topic. Mr. Hoffman said another source of community information would be the Pinal/Gila Behavioral Health meetings which are held in the City.He said he could let the Commission know of the meeting dates and times if there would be an interest in attending. A topic of discussion at the last meeting was Commissioner Barker's review and proposal of the percentages allocated by different Valley cities comparable in size and population to the health and human services cause.Since he was absent from this meeting, it should be an item for the agenda for the next meeting. Kathleen Connelly said she had received some feedback on the staff level asking if the 1% allocated funding was out of the total budget, or out of general funds which would be available for use in these efforts. Mr. Hoffman said an alternative approach may be to request the Council to fund the existing programs with an additional minimum amount to fund the new programs which have applied. Mr Hoffman asked if the applicants interviews would be on the next agenda? Commissioner Huerta suggested another meeting before the interviews to further discuss the funding availability, review the applications and review the procedures for the interviews. A meeting to review was set for 7:00 p.m., March 12th with the regular meeting set for March 26th.An April 9,1992 meeting date was set to invite the applicants to make their presentations to the Commission.April 23rd was set as a meeting to discuss the presentations and then make recommendations to the Council.By then, the Commission should know how much in the way of funding will be available to allocate to the applicants. Mr. Hoffman said that the agenda items for the next meeting will be Commissioner Barker's report on the 1% allocation review, a report on the Interagency Luncheon and the Pinal County network, and a discussion on the applications for funding.There was a concurrence of the Commissioners for this future agenda. It was suggested that a motion for the next meeting date was in order. MINUTES OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION FEBRUARY 27,1992 PAGE 4 OF 5 M/S -Commissioners Huerta/McNulty "I move we meet the second and fourth Thursday of each month until the budget process is completed." Motion approved.Vote was unanimous. A question was asked as to when the Commission would present the recommendations to the Council.It was determined that the budget process would not be finalized until June, but since the Commission felt it important that as many members be present at the Council meeting, it was suggested that May was a better time for the Commission's recommen- dation to go to the Council. Chairman Seeman said that there being no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Virginia Seeman Chairman George Hoffman Staff Liaison MINUTES OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION FEBRUARY 27,1992 PAGE 5 OF 5