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Archived Minutes

Call to Order / Approval of Minutes
The Metropolitan Social Services Board of Commissioners met on Wednesday, October 22, 2003, at Scarritt-Bennett. Chair Luvenia Butler called the meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. The minutes for the meeting held on September 17, 2003, were approved as submitted.

Chair Butler introduced and welcomed our newest Commissioner, Glenn Carter.

Executive Director’s Report
Ms. Berry thanked everyone for attending today and commended staff members who worked very hard to put this meeting together. She hopes today’s information will be very helpful to the Commissioners.

Our Child Care Center will hold their Fall Fest on Wednesday October 29, 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. Everyone was encouraged to come and see the beautiful Center.

The RFP for the Program Audit has gone out but a selection has not yet been made. We have not received any preliminary information on the Performance Audit; we know there are some things but we will address any findings there are.

Ms. Berry announced she has been asked to chair the Metropolitan Employee Consolidated Charities Campaign (MECCC). She will be sending out information on this.

Renee Pratt and Barbara Anderson are the photographers for today. We would like to send the pictures to the Tennessean so the citizens of Davidson County will know each of you are serving in this capacity. We would also like to frame them and hang them in our newly decorated Conference Room.

This Saturday, October 25, 8:00 – 1:00 p.m., plants will be put in the Bordeaux Cemetery.
It was noted that Bordeaux is not just a cemetery for the homeless – there are a lot of children buried there.

Financial Report
We have completed the first quarter of fiscal year 2004 and Ms. McEwen projects we should complete the year with $85,000 to return to the General Fund. That is a great deal less than last year and has to do with fringe benefits. Vacant positions covered the increase in the insurance last year; therefore, we did not receive a supplemental appropriation. We also did not receive any additional funding in our FY04 budget for this increased cost. Savings in other areas will probably offset this in most programs, but in smaller programs, such as the Child Care Center, Nutrition and Transportation Programs, it could have a major impact. The Homemaker Program has a contract amendment to the state SSBG that will increase their budget by $40,840. The increase in food preparation purchases made by our Nutrition Program has caused the line item for contractual services to be over budget for the Department; we will be working to resolve this issue. The 4 Percent Fund has a balance of $310,000. Metro does not fund this way any more but are allowing us to keep this money, all of which is designated for something specific. The Knowles Home renovations are underway and we should see the balance of $421,000 start to decline. There is a balance of $29,555 in the Special Donations Fund.

Ms. McEwen explained the blue handout is the final Financial Report for FY2003.

Policies & Procedures
Ms. McEwen reported we are in the process of writing Policies & Procedures for everything we do. Copies were mailed to the Commissioners for review and 12 were presented today for Board approval. After discussion, the Board approved nine of the Policies: Policy on Polices, Cellular Telephone, Internet and Email, Student Interns, Communication, Bulletin Boards, Workplace Threats and Violence, Customer Rights and Responsibility, and Cash Management Policies. Modification will be made on the Smoking Policy, Equal Employment Opportunity Policy and Sexual Harassment Policy. Once these modifications are made, they will go back to the Civil Service Commission for review and then be presented to this Board for approval.

Ms. Harris asked if we should include something on HIPAA; Ms. Polk stated this would be addressed in the policy on confidentiality.

At this time, Ms. Berry introduced and welcomed two students assigned to the Social Services Department by the Mayor’s Youth Council. They are Deatrice House, a Senior at Stratford High School and Brittany Johnson, a Senior at Overton High School.

Hope VI Information
Ms. Polk reported Hope VI is a Project approved by HUD to raze and then rebuild the Sam Levy Homes. There will be fewer housing units built and many families will be displaced. Brenda Venson, Program Manager at the Child Care Center, is concerned with the impact this will have on her program. Although the project has not officially begun, families know they will need to move and relocation funds will not be available until March. There have been five people come to us for assistance. Under our current eligibility criteria we would not be able to assist them; however, since they are being forced to move we can assist them with a relocation grant. For a family of up to three people, the grant would be $180; for a family of four or more, the grant would be $230. Ms. Polk noted we were able to help three of the five who came to us and we will try to assist anyone who asks us for help.

Camilla Caldwell Fund
Ms. Polk explained we are writing a policy to address all the special funds. This policy will come before the Board for approval.

Madison Senior and Community Awareness Day
Commissioner Holliday reported this was a wonderful event, with a good collection of agencies participating.

Ms. Berry introduced Demitira Norman. Ms. Norman came up with the idea for the Madison Senior and Community Awareness Day. It is hoped this will be the first of many such events.

Adjournment
There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 4:40 p.m.

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cc: Council Member Morris Haddox
Cristi Scott, Law Department
Jennifer Gash, Mayor’s Office
Loreen Spain, Internal Audit
Ann Paine, the Tennessean