HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 2012.12.03 - 36682CHRISTINE LONG
Chairperson
KATHY CRAWFORD
Vice Chairperson
MARCIA GERSHENSON
Minority Vice Chairperson
December 3, 2012
Chairperson Long called the meeting of the General Government Committee to order at 9:30 a.m. in
the Board of Commissioners’ Committee Room A, County Service Center in Pontiac, Michigan.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT :
Christine Long, Kathy Crawford, Marcia Gershenson, John Scott, Bob Gosselin, Jeff Matis,
Bob Hoffman, Mattie Hatchett, Jim Nash, Nancy Quarles
COMMITTEE MEMBERS ABSENT :
None.
OTHERS PRESENT
CLERK/REGISTER OF DEEDS Larry Doyle, Deputy
Chris Ward, Deputy
ELECTIONS Joe Rozell, Director
CORPORATION COUNSEL Bradley Benn, Assistant Counsel
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Kristie Zamora, Marketing Coordinator
DISTRICT COURT 52-2 Sharon Rupe, Administrator
EXECUTIVE OFFICE Bob Daddow, Deputy
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES George Miller, Director
CHILDREN’S VILLAGE Jody Overall, Manager
HEALTH Kathy Forzley, Manager
HUMAN RESOURCES Clare Flaisch, Analyst
MANAGEMENT & BUDGET Laurie Van Pelt, Director
OAKLAND COUNTY WOMEN’S COMMISSION Mishelle Kennedy
Sandra Burgess
Veronica Mitchell
MI DEPT. OF HUMAN SERVICES -OAKLAND COUNTY Dr. Grenae Dudley, Chair
Mary Ann Jerge, Member
Doug Williams, Director
Susan Hull, Children’s Director
BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS Tom Middleton, District 4
Marcia Gershenson, District 13
Jim Ver Ploeg, Admin. Director
Sheryl Mitchell, Sr. Analyst
Helen Hanger, Sr. Com. Coordinator
APPROVAL OF THE PREVIOUS MINUTES
OAKLAND COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
1200 N. TELEGRAPH ROAD, PONTIAC, MI 48341-0475
Telephone (248) 858 -0100 FAX (248) 858 -1572
GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
John Scott
Bob Gosselin
Jeff Matis
Bob Hoffman
Mattie Hatchett
Jim Nash
Nancy Quarles
GENERAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE Page 2
December 3, 2012
Matis moved approval of the minutes of November 28, 2012 as printed. Supported by
Quarles.
Motion carried on a voice vote.
APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA
Scott moved approval of the agenda. Supported by Matis.
Motion carried on a voice vote.
PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
AGENDA ITEMS
1. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – APPOINTMENT OF 52-2 DISTRICT COURT
MAGISTRATE
The 52-2 District Court is requesting approval to appoint Scott W. Powers, Attorney at Law, to act
as a magistrate for the 52 -2 District Court. State law requires that magistrate appointments be
approved by the County Board of Commissioners.
Ms. Rupe explained that this appointment was to replace a magistrate who had previously
resigned and will allow more scheduling flexibility. Each d ivision has its own magistrates , who
must receive approval from the chief judge before going to the Board of Commissioners.
Crawford moved to recommend approval of the attached suggested resolution.
Supported by Matis.
Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote with Nash absent .
While waiting for Item 2 presenters to arrive, Item 3 was taken up.
3. OAKLAND COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES BOARD PRESENTATION
TO OAKLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
A presentation with accompanying material was provided to the committee by Michigan
Department of Human Services -Oakland County Board (Board) members Dr. Grenae Dudley,
Chair (Board of Commissioners appointee); Mary Ann Jerge, member (Board of Commissioners
appointee); Margaret Warner, Vice Chair (state appointee). Doug Williams and Susan Hull were
also introduced and assisted with the presentation. Ms. Dudley explained that the DHS Board is
charged to review contracts that impact Oakland County and to provide input. The Board cannot
vote down a contract, especially those that are on a state -wide basis, but they can refuse to sign
an agency contract to express no confidence or send it back for more information. Other
responsibilities of the Board are outlined in the presentation material.
Ms. Jerge presented information on Front End Eligibility (FEE ) and explained that FEE focuses on
fraud prevention. Before applicants can receive assistance, the ir eligibility must be determined .
At the request of DHS eligibility staff, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) will perform
investigations in cases where applications contain suspici ous or erroneous information.
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December 3, 2012
Investigations are completed within 10 days before opening a case or recertifying the applicant for
benefits. Oakland County is the state’s gold standard for this program. In 2011 Oakland County’s
FEE program savings accoun ted for 30% or $9.1 million of the total $30 million statewide and
increased 33% to $12.2 million of the almost $70 million statewide savings for 2012. Mr. Williams
and his staff at all four Oakland County offices were recognized for this effort.
As of January, the Pathways to Potential (P2P) program will be in every school in the Pontiac
School District. Oakland County is the first to have DHS presence in its schools. The Program
works to address the barriers that stop kids from attending school. DHS has a strong partnership
with the Sheriff for this program and is pursuing grants to support P2P. A grant request was
completed today that would allow hiring of several deputies to provide programming inside the
schools and to provide safety support for p revention workers in visiting families and children with
service delivery needs.
Ms. Dudley and Mr. Williams reported that DHS is soliciting hospitals and nursing homes to place
DHS staff in facilities to determine eligibility for Medicaid and other ser vices. Many patients go in
with little or no insurance and hospitals then need to find a revenue stream to pay for services.
DHS specialists can navigate through many programs for patient eligibility. DHS is currently
working with Providence Hospital and is looking to expand the program.
Commissioner Crawford asked how the schools were selected, how the children were referred
and how the P2P program would be measured.
Mr. Williams explained that the Governor recognizes and understands that our y outh are
important to the health of the state and desired to create an environment where families would be
excited to learn and grow . National crime data shows the cities of Flint, Detroit, Saginaw and
Pontiac are listed in the top 10 for violent crime. A s part of the effort to address this situation, the
Governor placed state police in these cities. School superintendents provided input and the City
of Pontiac supported the efforts to place DHS staff in each school. Any child attending one of the
program schools and receiving assistance can go met with a prevention coach. More than 5 days
absent is considered absent without an excuse (meaning an attendance problem but not truancy).
Within 24 hours DHS will reach out to the parents to talk about why th eir child is not in school and
try to address the barriers to attendance . An evaluation tool is being developed and will be put in
place in January to measure against last year’s attendance. There is a long -term commitment by
DHS and the Governor to the P2P program.
Ms. Hull added that DHS has met with Youth Assistance and the truancy officers to identify kids
and families for the program. The schools identified and sent a list of 85 kids having problems.
These are kids born in 2005-2006 of which 80% have been touched by child welfare and 15 are
already in foster care. DHS will exchange information on kids with YA as it is received. DHS
believes in getting to kids early to avoid these problems as teenagers.
Scott moved to receive and file the DHS presentation material dated December 3, 2012 .
Supported by Gershenson.
Motion carried on a voice vote.
2. OAKLAND COUNTY WOMEN’S COMMISSION ANNUAL REPORT – PROFESSIONAL
RESOURCES DIRECTORY FOR WOMEN IN OAKLAND COUNTY
Ms. Kennedy presented the Women’s Commission (WC) report and introduced Ms. Burgess and
Ms. Mitchell. Ms. Kennedy reviewed the activities of the WC for 2012. In February WC members
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December 3, 2012
did volunteer work at the Ba ldwin Shelter to let neighborhood organizations know the WC is
willing to volunteer. The WC also had a guest speaker from the Beaumont Healthy Heart Center
at their monthly meeting . Two ladies received vouchers for heart checks. In March the WC had a
guest speaker from the Women Officials Network and met at Oakland University with several
other women’s’ commissions. In April the WC went to Lansing and participated in a cancer walk.
May was mental health month and the guest speaker provided magnets, etc. for distribution
purposes. In June the Resource Fair was held at the Executive Office Building and the WC was
able to network with others outside of Oakland County. In August the American Association of
University Women came in and the WC hopes to establish a partnership with them next year. In
November the WC met at the MSU Management Education Center and attended women’s
events. The WC would like to continue to build on the resource listing and have this information
made available on the website. Another thing that WC members tried to do was to keep
commissioners informed and to take information back to the communities. The WC is working
with libraries and other agencies to have the resource listing made available, both in hard copy
and on line.
Full participation from each commissioner district was difficult to achieve but those members who
were involved doubled their efforts. Commissioner redistricting will be an issue for next year as
some of the members will not have the same commissioner who made their original appointment.
Another issue this past year was the cha nge in policy for use of the Board of Commissioners’
Auditorium after hours. This policy change did not allow for the WC to use the auditorium without
paying for security so it became necessary to seek other meeting venues. An attendance report
on the membership was sent to all commissioners.
Commissioner Long suggested that it may be more helpful for the WC to operate as an
independent group not governed by Board resolution. This way the WC could have as many
members as they wish, would not need to pos t their meetings under the Open Meetings Act, etc.
Redistricting is a concern and the county does not provide re sources so that might be tying the
hands of the Women’s Commission as well.
Commissioner Gershenson indicated that if a resolution is done in January, consideration should
be given on how to help strengthen the Women’s Commission’s efforts.
Ms. Burgess was thanked for compiling the resource list. The need for a list of support services
for entrepreneurs was recognized early on.
Gershenson moved to receive and file the Women’s Report on Professional Resources
and Organizations in Oakland County . Supported by Matis.
Motion carried on a voice vote.
4. CLERK/REGISTER OF DEEDS – POSITION FUNDING CHANGES AND CREATION OF
NEW POSITION
The Clerk is requesting authorization to transfer funding of six (6) General Fund/General Purpose
(GF/GP) positions to the Automation Fund (Special Revenue) and to create one GF/GP full -time
eligible Office Assistant II position in Elections/Administration. Th e Automation Fund was
established by state statute and provides that a portion of fees collected for recording documents be
allocated to the Fund to provide for technology enhancements, etc . The Clerk has identified six
positions that can be funded by the Automation Fund as a result of technology enhancements:
three GIS/CAD Technician I, one GIS/CAD Technician II and two Micrographic Equipment Operator
II positions. Heavier statutory responsibilities resulting in tighter deadlines in the Elections Divisi on
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December 3, 2012
have caused an increase in overtime, use of staff from other divisions and emergency salaries.
Transfer of funding for six positions to the Automation Fund will result in a savings to the General
Fund of $447,079 which will cover the cost of creating t he Office Assistant II position to address the
issues in Elections. The Automation Fund also has sufficient funds to repay the General Fund for
remonumentation program advances.
There was discussion regarding the use of these funds for various purposes and whether this action
should occur at this time as a new Clerk was elected and would be taking office January 1, 2013
and might wish to consider these changes.
Members of the Administration and the Clerk’s office explained that these changes have been in
progress since summer. Savings to the general fund will be used to balance the County’s FY 2016
shortfall. Other expenses have been moved to th e Automation Fund to avoid layoffs and as many
programs as possible, such as e-online services. If there is another budget task, the reduction in
use of general fund dollars in the Clerk’s budget will reduce any budget task they may be given.
The Michigan Association of Register of Deeds has been considering use of this fund. One county
has funded its entire Register of Deeds staff with its Automation Fund.
Scott moved to recommend approval of the attached suggested resolution. Supported by
Hatchett.
Gershenson moved to postpone until the new County Clerk takes office on January 1, 2013.
Supported by Nash.
Roll Call
Ayes: Gershenson, Hatchett, Nash, Quarles
Nays: Scott, Gosselin, Matis, Hoffman, Crawford, Long
Motion failed.
Gershenson moved to divide the question. Supported by Quarles.
Roll Call
Ayes: Hatchett, Nash, Quarles, Gershenson,
Nays: Scott, Gosselin, Matis, Hoffman, Crawford, Long
Motion failed.
Main motion carried on a roll call vote with Nash, Quarles and Gershenson voting no.
Scott moved to refer the resolution directly to the Human Resources and Finance
Committees. Supported by Matis.
Motion carried on a roll call vote with Gershenson and Nash voting no.
5. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES/CHILDREN’S VILLAGE DIVISION
– FY 2012 MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS REGIONAL MINI -
GRANT ACCEPTANCE
Children’s Village is requesting authorization to accept Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs
funding of $3,500 from the Region 2 Regranter – Oakland County Arts, Culture and Film. Funds will
be used to provide quality hands -on art opportunities, conducted in partnership with the Birmingham
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December 3, 2012
Bloomfield Art Center for the period of February 1, 2012 through September 30, 2012.
Crawford moved to recommend approval of the attached suggested resolution. Supported
by Hoffman.
Motion carried unanimously o n a roll call vote.
6. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES/HEALTH DIVISION – 2012/2013
COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING, BUDGETING AND CONTRACTING (CPBC) AGREEMENT
ACCEPTANCE
Health is requesting authorization to accept Michigan Department of Community Health FY 13
funding of $9,202,948. Funds are used for various programs negotiated between the County and
the MDCH and are identified in the budget detailed attached to the resolution. Additional funding is
anticipated with future amendments to the agreement.
Nash moved to recommend approval of the attached suggested resolution. Supported by
Scott.
Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote.
7. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES/HEALTH DIVISION – ANNUAL
REPORT
A copy of the Health Division’s ann ual report for 2011 was included in the mailout. Ms. Forzley
provided a brief review of the information. In 2011 immunizations increased in the clinics and, as a
result of placing a nurse into the program, the Women , Infants and Children Program (WIC). Health
also oversaw safe storage of 119,000 vaccine doses throughout the county and contracted with a
dental provider with 14 office locations, increasing dental care for clients, 50% of which are seniors.
Commissioner Crawford recognized the Health Div ision for its work and asked if commissioners
could be provided with information on services. She also asked about Shingles shots for seniors.
Ms. Forzley indicated that her office was developing a tri -fold card of services that commissioners
could carry in their wallets. Shingles shots are available through the Health Division but the supply
is quickly depleted so this service is not marketed as much as others.
Gosselin moved to receive and file the 2011 Health Division Annual Report . Supported by
Crawford
Motion carried on a voice vote.
8. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES/HEALTH DIVISION – PROGRAM
UPDATE AND POINTS OF INTEREST
Ms. Forzley explained that commissioners had received a copy of the Health Division ’s new
Program Update . This new information piece will be presented quarterly. Information: The Health
Division is now on Facebook and in its first week reached over 10,000 people. In July Health
participated in a mock terrorist event and learned how to receive medications from dis tribution
centers, etc. Health will be meeting in January as part of the Homeless & Vulnerable Collaboration
to address the health issues of Oakland County’s vulnerable populations. The piece includes
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December 3, 2012
several other information topics.
At Commissioner Ge rshenson’s request, Ms. Forzley indicated that the Health’s press releases
would be forwarded to the Board of Commissioners’ staff to be provided to commissioners .
Scott moved to receive and file the Health Division Program Updates . Supported by Matis.
Motion carried on a voice vote.
9. BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS – RESIGNATION FROM COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH
AUTHORITY BOARD
A secondary consumer seat on the Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority Board has
become vacant due to the resignation of Al vin Simmons. The Committee interviewed candidates
for the CMH Board on October 22, 2012 for a general public seat, found Ms. Bijaya Hans an
excellent candidate for a Secondary Consumer seat, and directed staff to contact Ms. Hans to
inquire as to her interest in being appointed to this vacancy.
Should Ms. Hans still be interested, Scott moved to report to recommend appointment of
Ms. Hans to the Oakland County Community Mental Health Authority Board as a secondary
consumer to complete the term of April 1, 2012 through March 31, 2015. Supported by
Gershenson.
Motion carried unanimously on a roll call vote with Gosselin absent.
OTHER BUSINESS/ADJOURNMENT
There being no other business to come before the committee, the meeting was adjourned at 11:32
p.m.
______________________________ __________________________________
Helen A. Hanger Jim Ver Ploeg
Sr. Committee Coordinator Administrative Director
NOTE: The foregoing minutes are subject to Committee approval.