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Minutes of the last meeting in March were sent out to all board members to review. Lacking a quorum, approval of the minutes was delayed.

Executive Directors Report: Please refer to the attached report for summary of items discussed.

Giovanni Achoe summarized comments during a relative care conference in Knoxville. The conference confirmed that Metro Social Services delivery of services to relatives would address an unmet need in Davidson County.

Chair Butler stopped the meeting agenda to approve the minutes since a quorum was available.

Motion: Approve March 23, 2005 meeting minutes
Made By: Gwen Harris
Seconded: Linda Matteson
Passed unanimously

Finance Report: Pam McEwen reported that through the end of April we were approximately one million dollars under budget for expenditures. However, we do have several large contracts we are pursuing at this moment, so Pam is projecting it is probably more like $400,000 dollars we are under spent. Salaries, retirements and vacant positions are the primary reasons for the budget amount being what it is. We are doing some other things in contractual services and that is why contractual budgets will be a little over budget for the year and salaries and fringe benefits will be slightly under. Contributions to others remain to be a little over budget, and probably by the report next month it will be in line. 4% funds, we are utilizing some of the funds and we have about a $178,000.00 balance. Special Services Donation Fund, we have about $21,000.00 available and the majority is in the Camille Caldwell Funds. We are utilizing some of this money for people coming to us for assistance and we still have a balance of around $11,000.00. Pam made mention that the reports were received by email for the first time and everyone should have received more detailed information. Bonnie Campbell our new Executive Assistant who comes from Caring for Children, emailed all the information out and if anyone has questions regarding the information received by email please contact Pam McEwen.

The Board asked Pam McEwen to explain the Camille Caldwell Fund in more detail. A summary of her response follows. The funds are donations made by individuals and they are distributed at the discretion of the Social Services Director. We use these funds for people that cannot qualify for any other assistance and the funds are not tax deductible. Pam concluded her report by stating that she is currently waiting for official notification of approval of the MSS budget from the Mayor and the board will be notified when approval is received.

Program Updates: Gerri gave the report on the program updates.

Transportation: Feedback is good. A follow up survey is being conducted and we will give the board an update at the next meeting.

Child Care Center: Things are going well and we are working on the close out. We have some issues involving equipment with McNeilly, but this issue has been placed in the hands of Metro Government. We feel this problem will resolve itself.

Richland Village Community Services: Program is closing out and Renee Pratt will cover some of the impact related to Layoffs. We are going to have a summer program and it will run through July 05.

Family Services: A plan to transition Family Assistance to MAC is being prepared and should be completed by mid-June. We will retain the positions with Family Services and Richland Village to staff the new Adult and Family Services model. We will discontinue funding Family Assistance on June 30th.

Refugee Services: We are in the process of closing this program out and things are going smoothly. The new vendor for Refugee Services for DHS is Associated Catholic Charities.

Homemakers and Nutrition: Things are going well and the Mid-Cumberland contract is going well.

The Bordeaux and Adult Day Care programs have been closed out. Dinah reported that the hours for transportation services, are seven days a week and everyone who has applied for Access Ride has been approved. We provide free tickets for them, the same as what has been offered before. The process requires people to call a couple days ahead of time to make out the schedule. During regular office hours, Monday through Friday, people call to request an appointment and we relay that information to Metro Transit authorizing the payment by MSS. People cannot call directly because we have to make sure applicants qualify for service. However, since MSS is not open on weekends, verification of applicants needing weekend assistance cannot be assisted, that is why we try to set up appointments in advance. However, the ones that were not able to make an appointment can pay Metro Transit and get reimbursed if they qualify.

Personnel Update: Yuri Hancock reported that the Adult and Family Support Services position has been reposted and the announcement closes on June 3. As of May 24, the five-coordinator positions were posted and closed out. The interviewing process for all positions will begin around June 14. In terms of staffing, the positions within the new business model will begin to take place once the Layoff plan is complete. Yuri and Renee Pratt have begun meeting with staff individually to inform them of their employment options. The meetings with individual staff will end by next week and Central HR is working with MSS to help employees gain other opportunities of employment.

The meetings with the 14 employees projected to be laid off were going well. However, the number of employees involved with the layoff could change according to staff decisions. The one on one meeting with employees are to inform them of opportunities within MSS, however, if layoffs are involved, then Central HR will assist employees with additional employment opportunities. Some of the positions are lateral moves and they automatically go into the position, based on where they currently are in their civil service status. However, MSS cannot guarantee all employees will be offered positions within Metro. It is up to the employees to apply and follow up on positions that are being provided by HR.

The layoff plan can change even though it has been approved, for instance, we have had two resignations. These resignations happened within the last two weeks and so the plan had to be changed.

Chair Butler stated that regarding the layoff plan we will need to have a call meeting before June 14, 2005. Legal advised that a week’s notice must be given before we can proceed with a vote. The Board then suggested that an email be sent out setting the meeting date and time. Bonnie Campbell will email everyone with the call meeting date and time.

Items for Discussion

• Review and Update of Commissioner Assignments: Gerri asked for a current list of assignments from all board members and what they are currently working on so she can revisit the list according to there specific area of interest. Chair Butler asked if this item could be tabled until the board retreat.

Board Retreat: Gerri suggested one full day and a half day, if at all possible for the retreat. Chair Butler suggested that Bonnie Campbell email information to board members with assistance in selecting a date.

New Business

• November and December scheduled board meeting times could cause a conflict due to Thanksgiving and Christmas. So, we are looking at changing the meeting times to the 3rd Wednesday in the month of November and December. So, the meetings will be held November 16 and December 21.
• Ordinance No. BL2005-582, the Homelessness Commission has been approved by the Metro Council and signed by Mayor Purcell on May 19, 2005. Our commission has a seat on that commission. We will need to appoint someone to represent MSS. Our staff will staff the homeless commission.
• Substitute Resolution No. RS2004-642: Dinah reported that this resolution is in terms of the repository for people that reside in other places other than their homes. This resolution is requesting the Mayor and MSS to create an office of group homes to serve as a repository for citizens (young and old), and to direct citizens to the appropriate licensing agencies within Metro. Dinah seem to think this could be done with the existing staff, and we will supply the contact information and the locations in the different communities. There are some concerns with over saturation in some areas. MSS will be providing more information in this area. Dinah suggested we begin with the Codes Department to find out the requirements for residential homes and places that are not zoned for facilities. It was suggested by Chair Butler that if research could be completed by the time we have the call board meeting, we could also vote on the resolution.

Call meeting will be strictly to vote on the Layoff Plan and Resolution No. RS2004-642.

Motion: Moved to adjourn
Made By: Gwen Harris
Seconded: Jose Gonzalez
Passed unanimously

Meeting adjourned at 4:10 p.m.

_________________________________
Gerri Robinson
Director
Metro Social Services