Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1998 05-13 HHSCMINUTES OF THE HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING City Conference Center 1001 N. Idaho Road, Apache Junction, AZ May 13,1998- 6:00 P.M. COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: CARMEN HUERTA, CHAIRPERSON JENNIE BENNETT, VICE CHAIRPERSON CAROL CRANMER RUTH WATERS (ED BARKER was absent.) 1.Call to Order/Attendance. STAFF PRESENT: KATHLEEN CONNELLY, CITY CLERK OTHERS PRESENT COUNCILMEMBER URICH,COUNCIL LIAISON Chairperson Huerta called the meeting to order at 6:15 p.m.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly called the roll and advised there was a quorum present. 2.Discussion on FY 1998-99 funding applications and procedure for reviewing applications. Chairperson Huerta asked if they would have the same amount of money for funding this year.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they would have $76,500, the same amount that was funded last year.Chairperson Huerta asked the commission if they wanted to go through any of the applications at this time or wait until everyone had had time to review them at home first.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly commented there may be some,after review,that they may decide they do not want to fund. Chairperson Huerta stated they would review them in alphabetical order. City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she ran the entire submittal for the Apache Junction Little League as they are a new applicant.Chairperson Huerta commented it appears they wanted scholarship funding.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly added they understand it has to be city residents that receive the funding.Her primary concern HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING MAY 13,1998 PAGE 1 OF 7 is that they hand keep their records.Commissioner Cranmer commented that their board changes every year.She also wanted to know what the criteria would be in determining when someone could not pay their way.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they would have to ask them what their base limit would be and find out if they had the ability to go into someone's financial background.Vice Chairperson Bennett asked what they had done with their funds.Chairperson Huerta stated they bought uniforms and equipment for the league.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly commented the league is willing to certify that the parents live within the city, but she is concerned that the children may live elsewhere.She added the new city attorney is meticulous about agreements and he might require some type of bonding on all of these contracts. City Clerk Kathleen Connelly moved on to the Boys and Girls Club.She commented she had only provided the commission with the introductory letter and a little bit of the background.If they required more information, she would have to get that for them later.Chairperson Huerta recalled that the commission did not want to fund them last year but the city went ahead and funded them with $2,500.Vice Chairperson Bennett commented she had gotten a phone call and a letter regarding them, but she had not had time to check them out.Commissioner Cranmer stated she had been going over there, and added they are really just getting started.They have kids who are finding their way over there, and they are bringing additional kids. Chairperson Huerta asked if they ever got the programs started at Superstition Mountain Elementary School.Commissioner Cranmer stated the school district would not allow them to start the program.She commented they need help, equipment and a computer. City Clerk Kathleen Connelly advised the commission that the Little League did not submit any paperwork confirming their non-profit status.Instead, they sent a letter from someone else stating they were a non-profit organization. This might have come from the parent organization.Commissioner Cranmer asked if the parent organization is non-profit,would the local organization need the letter.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated that is something they would have to ask them to get on the record as the ordinance is very specific. City Clerk Kathleen Connelly went on with the Boys and Girls Club.She stated the reports have been fine and Bret is very enthusiastic and is a blessing to work with. He showed up with a bunch of kids at the Town Hall and they spent the day there. Commissioner Cranmer requested that Bret be present to make their presentation. The commission moved on to Central Arizona Shelter Services.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated this is the homeless shelter that is in Phoenix.They apply every year but they will not provide the proof of residency.Therefore, under the ordinance, they HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING MAY 13,1998 PAGE 2 OF 7 are not eligible.The commission requested a letter be sent advising them they are ineligible. The next applicant was the Community Action Human Resources Agency. Chairperson Huerta commented they have always done a good job.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she ran into two problems with them this year.They were late in getting started, and in the last quarter, two of the individuals they provided service to were not city residents.That amount was deleted from the last quarter and they could not go out and add two more people since it was the last quarter.Mary Lou has stated they will get started earlier this year and they appear to be doing so. Commissioner Cranmer commented that may be a consideration since they lost money last year.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they lost $640.She commented that this year they are asking for $12,000 for home repairs and $10,000 to locate a service coordinator in the area.She believes the city attorney will say it has to be direct service, so paying for the administration will be a problem.She is not sure there are enough services up here to justify the position.Chairperson Huerta surmised it is for the emergency service coordinator of rentals and utilities. The Senior Center was discussed next.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they changed their name to Mesa Senior Services as there was confusion with the appearance of being affiliated with the City of Mesa.The commission discussed if they should request having "Apache Junction" appear somewhere in the name.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly added their letterhead lists all of their senior centers by name. Commissioner Cranmer commented they do a good job and the city could not do this on their own.Councilmember Urich added their food is good.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly advised the commission that Beverly had moved and Joyce is now managing the center,and everyone appears to like her as well.Vice Chairperson Bennett commented she believes they should have a different pricing system for residents versus winter visitors.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated this involves federal funds and therefore there is a set fee.She added every year there is concern about non- residents, but recently the full time residents have become so active there that there is no room for non-residents.Residents get priority.Commissioner Waters commented she is all for a helping hand, but she does not like freeloaders.She has seen people drive up in Lincolns to have their $2.25 lunch.Vice Chairperson Bennett advised they have to call in at least 24 hours in advance to order a meal.If they just walk in and sit down, it may be because they have an extra meal. City Clerk Kathleen Connelly notified the commission that each contract required all of the funded agencies to designate a person that would be her contact.They were to meet with her and call her if needed; not a single agency designated a contact person.She suggested they be told at the interviews that they will have to designate a representative to meet with her to explain what needs to be done.Councilmember HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING MAY 13,1998 PAGE 3 OF 7 Urich suggested withholding the first check if this is not accomplished. Chairperson Huerta moved on to the Food Bank.Vice Chairperson Bennett asked if all of their reports were coming in.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they are coming in, but her calculations do not match with their calculations.She does not believe they are identifying non -city versus city residents; it is becoming a real mess. Vice Chairperson Bennett stated they have a map on the wall, but with the people being volunteers, and someone maybe coming in once a week, they may be taking people's words for being residents.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she had sent them a list of mobile home parks that are not in the city along with their contract, however, every report included those not in the city.There was general discussion on training.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly commented she believes Project Help will be relocating up here by the end of the year, and she is concerned the traffic for the Food Bank will increase as a result.This needs to be corrected now or it could get worse.Frequently they are serving people and not asking for identification.Those people she has to delete, but the Food Bank does not delete them.Vice Chairperson Bennett suggested if the president understood that,they would probably send a coordinator to her.Chairperson Huerta suggested that John Taylor be present for the interview,and City Clerk Kathleen Connelly added the coordinator should also be present.Commissioner Waters asked if there is any limitation on who they can serve if they are getting funds from outside the city.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated city funding has to be used for city residents; she does not know about funding from other sources. The Salvation Army was the next applicant.Chairperson Huerta commented it appears they are still having problems with them.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they never signed and returned the contract so therefore the $4,000 allocation has not been spent.It is unknown why they did not sign and return the contract.Vice Chairperson Bennett commented they now have a husband and wife team that are trying to get the organization up and going.There was general discussion that each new commander has said the same thing for the last 4-5 years.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she did some research on them and found that in FY 94-95 they were funded $23,500 and returned $2,040 from a latch key program that was never started.In FY 95-96 they were allocated $10,500 and returned $3,717.20 because the program was shut down.In FY 96-97 they were funded for $8,000 and they returned $977.48.In addition, their last report showed two individuals who were non -city residents, causing them to owe the city $294.69.None of the phone calls she had made to the Salvation Army previously had been returned.In FY 97-98, the council recommended $4,000, they did not return the contract, and the commander approached a commission member who is not here and wanted to know why they did not get more money.All of this is money that could have gone some place else. Councilmember Urich commented they still do not have a budget.City Clerk Kathleen HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING MAY 13,1998 PAGE 4 OF 7 Connelly stated they have not had a budget for 2 years, so she ran a copy of their internal report for the commission.Councilmember Urich asked if the two new people had approached the city clerk yet.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they had not; the bookkeeper, Edith Anderson, contacted her to ask for their money in April.She stated she had never seen the contract.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly explained to her that they were not likely entitled to the funding as they were already two reports behind,and she could not commit to the amount of funding for FY 98-99 as requested by Edith Anderson.Ms. Anderson indicated the new individual in charge would be calling shortly, yet there has been no contact from them and it has been four to five weeks.Commissioner Cranmer asked if they could have the funding for the last quarter if they signed the contract.It was brought to her attention by Councilmember Urich and City Clerk Kathleen Connelly that they have not submitted a budget.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly added they also do not have a board. Commissioner Cranmer recalled that they also did not have a letter designating their non-profit status last year.Councilmember Urich asked what would happen if they came up with a letter and a budget at this time.Chairperson Huerta stated it would be too late.The commission agreed that they could start right now for next year. Chairperson Huerta questioned what "emergency disaster"means,as it is not explained at all. The commission moved on to St.Georges Catholic Church.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they have done very well, with a few insignificant problems.They call if they are not sure of an address.Vice Chairperson Bennett asked how they were making sure they were not duplicating other agencies.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she does not see the same names showing up.Chairperson Huerta stated they may be the same names, but St. Georges does not pay the full amount for rent and other services, whereas Salvation Army does. They coordinate with other agencies so that the full amount is paid.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly commented her only concern is a handwritten report entitled "Disbursements".She does not know what it is.Commissioner Cranmer suggested it might be the money they disbursed that they felt were within their limits.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated the individual documentation supports that, but this confused her.It does not appear to be done by the same person.Chairperson Huerta stated it looked like Father Maloney's handwriting.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly wondered if it were an attempt at the expenditure report.She added they still do not do a lot of the required reports; they still do not do an audit.She received another letter from the diocese stating they would not do an audit, and reminded them that an audit is one of the stipulations for funding and that it must be certified and done by a professional accountant. Chairperson Huerta suggested requesting St.Georges to do their own audit.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly read them the part of the contract requiring an audit be furnished within 90 days of the conclusion of the contract for services.She recalled that Father Maloney agreed to have the church bear the cost of the audit.She HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING MAY 13,1998 PAGE 5 OF 7 commented the audit would answer the rest of the questions that she has. Chairperson Huerta and Commissioner Cranmer discussed approaching church member Rene Lesieutre about doing the audit.Chairperson Huerta doubted that they have a budget; they have funds designated for emergency assistance.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she needs to be able to show the city attorney that there is no comingling of funds.Commissioner Cranmer asked what the problem was with Father Maloney signing the contract.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly commented she had heard that he was not involved with that.Chairperson Huerta added he is the administrator of the church and is involved in the emergency aid program, however, that is not part of the St. Vincent de Paul organization.The program is put on by the church itself, not the national organization. The final application was from Superstition Mountain Mental Health.Chairperson Huerta commented they also did not spend all their money.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated they were surprised when she called them up and asked for the money to be returned.They apparently had not totaled everything up whereas she had.They had to return $770.She has the line item budget and could give them a copy at the next meeting.There was general discussion on the areas where the total allotment was not spent, and if the commission had given them less funding then they had originally requested.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly suggested other providers in the area may be picking up part of that service.Commissioner Cranmer stated they used to provide direct counselling services to the students at the high school but they are no longer providing that service.The school cannot afford to pick up the bill. Instead they call their crisis team out, usually about twice a week, and they come and assist them.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly suggested that be something they should be asked about.Chairperson Huerta asked if the school district was paying for that earlier.Commissioner Cranmer stated if was funded by grant money; the grant had not been rewritten by someone at the school district. 3.Selection of future meeting dates. Chairperson Huerta asked how soon they would have to have these done.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she believed the tentative budget has to be adopted by the second or third week in July, and the final budget has to be adopted by the second week of August.Chairperson Huerta stated she would like to have it all completed by the end of May because as one of her daughters is having surgery the first week of June.That would give them two weeks; the first week they can go through them to make a decision on who should be interviewed and the second week they can have the interviews.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she totaled up the requests by all of them and it came out to $115,500.Commissioner Cranmer stated they cannot keep working on the same budget each year.They are either going to have to fund everybody less,or accept fewer applications.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING MAY 13,1998 PAGE 6 OF 7 commented organizations that have been funded year after year had already been advised by the Commission that they would like to see them get their own funding. Commissioner Cranmer stated she really liked what the Boys and Girls Club did this year; they were rejected by them last year but they have really picked it up.There was general discussion on the council meeting last year when the recommendations of the commission were given to council.There was general discussion on the dates for future meetings.The commission agreed to a meeting on Thursday, May 28, at 6:00 p.m. for further discussion on the applicants and possible allocation.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly will supply them with the miscellaneous items that they spend money on and a copy of the form.Commissioner Cranmer asked if she would be contacting any of the organizations on their deficiencies.City Clerk Kathleen Connelly commented that she usually sends out a letter advising them of their interview time and asking them to bring any additional information needed.There was general discussion on the meeting dates for the interviews.The commission decided to meet on June 3 at 1:00 p.m.for interviews and possible allocation final decisions.If necessary, they will continue on June 4 at 2:00 p.m. with whatever is not completed on June 3. 4.Commission requests for future agenda items. City Clerk Kathleen Connelly stated she would put the selection of officers on the next agenda, minutes from past meetings, and a copy of the line item budget.If, when they are going through their information they see that they need something, they should call her and she will make sure they have it at the next meeting.She will make copies for everybody of anything that is requested by any commission member. 5.Adjournment. Commissioner Waters moved for adjournment.Vice Chairperson Bennett seconded the motion.The vote was unanimous.The meeting was adjourned at 7:43 p.m. Carmen Huerta Chairperson Kathleen Connelly City Clerk HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES COMMISSION MEETING MAY 13,1998 PAGE 7 OF 7