October 28, 2022 Minutes

Human Services Advisory Commission - Meeting Minutes

Meeting: October 28, 2022

In Attendance: Human Services Advisory Commission Members: Elizabeth Barber, Stacey Casteel, Stephanie Foos, Stephanie Gausch, Stanley Graffis, Jodi Hartmann, Enita Kearns-Hout, Rebecca Lorenz, Tammy Phillips, Lori Saine, Lisa Taylor, Tom Teixeira, and Adam Turk

Absent: Human Services Advisory Commission Members: Melanie Woolman

In Attendance: Weld County Department of Human Services Representatives: Tami Grant, Julie Witkowski, Karin Crandall, Lesley Cobb, Megan Kelly, Kyle Ewertz, Kylee Macheledt, Andrew Pittman, Holly Darby, Karina Amaya-Ragland, Alison Pegg, Windy Luna

Recording Secretary: Alison Pegg

Welcome

The meeting was called to order at 8:16 a.m.

Presentation

Jodi Hartmann presented the High Plains Housing Development Corporation affordable housing project. Jodi’s presentation included an overview of the project including location, design, application process, and timeline. The building will include 90 units. Funding for the affordable housing units will be through Tax Credit funding. The selected location is ideal as it is in close proximity to many services that residents will need access to including DHS, the food bank, and bus terminal. Jodi encouraged everyone to read about the Housing First model to understand what it is and why this model can be successful for the most vulnerable and can help to stabilize them. Jodi shared that there will be a five member staff on site 24/7 who will be able to provide support and services to the residents. Staffing will be provided through Volunteers of America and Rocky Mountain Communities will be the property manager. High Plains will remain the owner of the property. High Plains will be applying for a low-income Housing Tax Credit through the IRS. They can apply on February 1st for 9% credits and on August 1st for 4% credits plus additional State credit. Jodi explained they know that it will be a very competitive application process, but they will keep applying and do whatever they need to do to make sure the project moves forward. If they are awarded funding from the February 1st application round, they anticipate that leasing for the first group of residents will be in January 2025.

Introductions

Review of Minutes

Minutes from July 2022 were reviewed and approved. Lisa Taylor abstained from voting. Motion to approve minutes as presented (A. Turk). Second (S. Casteel). Approved unanimously.

2023 Membership, Officers, and Dates

Officers

This year’s three HSAC officers each completed their first year in their officer positions and are eligible to serve for an additional term. Stanley (Chairperson), Elizabeth (Vice-Chairperson), and Stacey (Secretary) all accepted the opportunity to serve as officers for a second and final year.
Motion to approve all three to serve as officers for an additional year made by (A. Turk). Second (L. Taylor). Approved unanimously.

Membership

On December 31, 2022, the membership of four HSAC members will come to an end. Stephanie Foos, Stephanie Gausch, and Tammy Phillips will all renew and serve for an additional term. Rebecca Lorenz will serve the remainder of her 2022 term but is unable to renew at this time. She hopes to be considered for membership again in the future.

Future Meeting Dates

The following HSAC meeting dates where agreed upon and approved for 2023.

January Quarterly Meeting - All HSAC members - Friday, January 20th
Core Contracted Services Workgroup - A sub-committee of HSAC members - Thursday, March 9th
Core Contracted Services Special Session - All HSAC members - Thursday, March 23rd
April Quarterly Meeting - All HSAC members - Friday, April 21st
July Quarterly Meeting - All HSAC members - Friday, July 21st
October Quarterly Meeting - All HSAC members - Friday, October 27th

Meeting invites will be sent out by the DHS team.

Community Services Block Grant Update and Financial Report

Karin Crandall reminded the group that they had to spend the CARES Act funding by the end of September. A significant amount of that spending was shifted to Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA). Additionally, they purchased 626 car seats, 150 Pack ‘N Plays and spent about $2,100.00 on hygiene items that all went to the Diaper Bank. Karin explained that the Department spends a lot of money on car seats and Pack ‘N Plays when placing children so they felt that this would be a good way to spend the funding. Finally, the Department also purchased dues to have 24-hour access to the Diaper Bank.
Community Services Block Grant 2023 Budget

Karin Crandall reviewed the proposed CSBG budget for 2023. Karin described the positions this funding supports, as well as the trainings and business-related expenses that they are able to use this funding for. One new item under board and meeting expenses is office supplies, which will be used to purchase binders for onboarding new HSAC members. For 2023, they anticipate being awarded $266,973.00 so the budget is based on that award amount.
Motion to approve the 2023 CSBG budget made by (E. Kearns-Hout). Seconded and approved unanimously.

Strategic Plan Update

Representatives from each of the three Strategic Action Teams presented information on their respective teams including primary goals of the team, recent accomplishments, and current initiatives/projects.

• Action Team 1: Kyle Ewertz discussed the Department values and how Action Team 1 is utilizing Department “kudos” to reward staff through a drawing. They are also creating a manager toolkit which includes games and ways to engage with staff about the values. Finally, they have also started to display the values on TV screens located within the Department lobbies.
• Action Team 2: Kylee Macheledt talked about the survey that Action Team 2 sent to all staff to inquire about barriers our clients face. Results from the survey revealed two main barriers: (1) language and communication, and (2) staff program knowledge. Action Team 2 will be hosting staff focus groups to gather more feedback regarding these areas.
• Action Team 3: Andrew “Andy” Pittman shared with the group that Jamie and Tami host a weekly live update for the Department, known as the “JT Show”. Action Team 3 has invited outside partners to come onto the JT Show to talk to the Department about their partnership with DHS and programs they offer. He also shared that the Action Team is developing a “Road Show” to attend events in the community and bring awareness to the services DHS offers.

Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA)

Megan Kelly, Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Supervisor, provided an update on ERA. The application portal for accepting applications closed on August 15th. Megan reported that “ERA Funding 1”, has been completely spent. The total number of approved households under this funding was: 2,694 and the total amount spent was $9,466,676.95.00. They are still spending the money from “ERA Funding 2”. So far, the total number of approved households under this funding is: 1,898 and the total amount spent is $6,320,088.68.00. The total amount of direct support that has gone to the community is $15,786,765.33. Megan shared that administrative costs for the program, including staff salaries, has been 5.8% of the grant, lower than the amount they were approved to spend on administrative costs. There are 256 applications still pending processing. Megan reminded the group that ERA includes utility assistance in addition to rental assistance.

Megan explained that this ERA program began in February 2021, so this amount of spending has occurred in about a year and a half timeframe. Karin shared that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we spent about $50,000 a year on rental assistance through the CSBG Grant.
Julie shared with the group that the employees who have been working on this program are temporary staff whose end dates are slated for this December. Julie and Megan informed the group that many of the temp employees who started in this position have since found permanent positions within the County.

Contract Services Update

Lesley Cobb provided an update regarding contracted services. During the third quarter of 2022, Contract Management completed 290 items. Child Welfare continues to be the division with the highest number of items that the contracts team processes. Lesley highlighted various projects and presented a handout, which was provided to members, detailing the various items that were processed.

Lesley shared some up and coming projects including our Core Various Services RFP which will be posted on January 4th. The following HSAC members indicated interest in participating in the Core Workgroup which will meet on March 9th: Stanley, Tammy, Stephanie G., Elizabeth, and Enita.

Audits

• Older Americans Act
• Holly Darby, the Community Outreach Manager for the Area Agency on Aging, presented the checklist they were evaluated on during the Older Americans Act audit. This included evaluating their voucher, nutrition, transportation, and homemaker/personal care programs.
• The audit revealed no compliance issues for the third year in a row!
• The audit report stated the program’s strengths which included the nutrition and transportation program, as well as what AAA does to support employee morale.
• There was one area of concern, overdue reassessments in the data system. Holly explained that this is not really a concern because they are in compliance based on the policy and procedures which outline the timeline for the reassessments. The issue is with how the data system itself calculates this timeframe.

Department Updates

Julie said they have been working with Realities for Children to get the Kind Connect Portal here in Weld County. The portal is a way to engage people who want to donate items such as beds. The County will be able to post needs and connect directly with people who may be able to fulfill those needs.
Julie shared that like many employers, DHS has experienced a lot of staff turnover in the past year. The Department and County are working to recruit and retain employees. One item DHS does each year is host a Department wide Thanksgiving meal where division heads serve the meal to the staff.

Department Proclamations

• National Adoption Day/Month:
  • Julie Witkowski shared that this Proclamation will take place on November 16th. At the Proclamation, they will be honoring a family who has fostered and adopted a number of children. Julie shared that on November 18th, the Department is hoping to finalize 10 adoptions with a ceremony at the courthouse.
• Child Support Awareness:
  • Kyle Ewertz shared that August was Child Support Awareness Month. Through September of this year, $17 million dollars of child support has been distributed. To celebrate Child Support Awareness Month, child support staff volunteered together at the Food Bank and hosted open houses to help inform the public about child support.
• Workforce Development Month & collaboration with Larimer County:
  • Karina Amaya-Ragland shared that this Proclamation took place in September. They hosted a Business Before Hours event to invite the community to learn about their services. They also had a regional symposium which was held in Weld County for the first time. A regional MOU was signed between Weld and Larimer County to ensure that the programming and services at each workforce center are the same. Because so many people live in one county while working in the other, they want to ensure both workforce centers are offering the same, quality services.

Community Updates

• Greeley-Weld Housing Authority (Tom)
  • Tom shared that they have called in about 43 people for the Greeley voucher program.
• Weld Food Bank (Stephanie G.)
  • Steph shared the Food Bank has seen a large increase in the number of people utilizing their services. They are up about 40% of people who are utilizing their services, while food donations are down about 70%. Stephanie explained that this is in part because grocery stores do not have leftover inventory to donate. She also shared that the holidays are the busiest time for the Food Bank and they have spent about $100,000.00 on holiday food which will be distributed to their partners who will then distribute the holiday food.
  • Steph was excited to share that they are expanding their after-school meal programs as well as their backpack programs.
• Greeley Police Department (Adam)
  • Stan asked what was being done about the crime and stolen cars. Adam reminded the group to lock their cars and not to leave their keys in the cars. He shared the statistic that around 88% of our stolen cars are because people leave their keys in them.
• Catholic Charities (Enita)
  • Enita reminded the group that Catholic Charities has emergency overnight shelter for women. They do not test anyone for entry. Enita shared they ask participants to arrive by 8:00 pm. The conference rooms where they stay are typically used until that time of the evening. If there isn’t a meeting taking place, they can accept women at an earlier time.
• VFW 2121 (Stanley)
  • Stanley shared that they will be having a veteran’s memorial on Veterans Day. The celebration will be taking place at the memorial located in Bittersweet Park starting at 11:00 am. After the ceremony, VFW 2121 will be hosting a free soup luncheon.
  • In December, they will have a program with planes flying in from Centennial Airport bringing in food. The food will be distributed to veterans and veteran’s family who are in need.

• Weld County Board of County Commissioners (Commissioner Saine)
  • Commissioner Saine shared that she is working with Jamie on an application CBDG for an ADA van for 60+ rides. She described the services this program provides and the huge benefit it has for our community.
  • She also discussed a program which plans to give opportunities to those experiencing homelessness to learn a trade.

The meeting adjourned at 10:05 a.m.