DeKalb County, Illinois
	Minutes of the COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH BOARD September 16, 2002

Board Members Present:  Norm Gilbert, Patricia Terry, Bob Krogman, Mary Petruchius, Maureen Russell , Sue Franz, and Denny Sands

Board Members Absent: Regina Parker and Opal Zitka

Other Persons Present: Staff: Jerry Lane and Sue Halbrader, Jack Bennett

The Community Mental Health Board meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. by President Maureen Russell

The agenda was approved

 

Board members introduced themselves to Jack Bennett, Ben Gordon Center.

Mr. Gilbert moved to approve the July minutes seconded by Ms. Franz. On a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously.

 

• Mr. Lane announced that Jim Graves’ retirement from Ben Gordon Center is final. There will be a reception on Friday, September 27, from 5 until 8 p.m., with a brief ceremony scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Michael Flora, who replaces Jim at BGC, comes from Ohio, a state with one of the strongest community-based systems. He intends to become active in funding issues.
• The Board discussed which of several options they could do to honor Graves, as he had been the Executive Director of the Mental Health Board before taking on management of Ben Gordon Center. Several ideas including a plaque, a statement of appreciation from the Board, a gift certificate were put forward. The Board President will meet with staff to determine what will be done.
• Mr. Krogman moved that the Board set a limit of $100 for whatever means is determined to honor Mr. Graves; second by Ms. Franz. On a unanimous roll call vote the motion was passed.

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• Mr. Lane announced the CACDC’s fund raising All-You-Can-Eat Rib Dinner will be held at the Knights of Columbus Hall on Thursday, September 19. Order forms were available for anyone interested in having a very nice dinner and donating to the consumer group.

• Mr. Lane distributed DCPSafe brochures for interested people to sign up for the 13^th Annual DCPSafe Banquet, which will be held on Thursday, October 17, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., when a luncheon will be served. Mr. Jim Dedera will be the guest speaker. Nominating forms for the DeKalb County Peace Prize were distributed to Board members.
• Mr. Lane was pleased to announce that "bed hold" has been restored to DD agencies. Grant funding which was to be replaced by Purchase of Care contracts, will endure one more year.

• Mr. Michael Flora, the new Executive Director of the Ben Gordon Center, is tentatively expected to attend the next meeting of the DeKalb County Community Mental Health Board to be held on October 21, 2002.

• Mr. Lane distributed several reports to Board members:
  
  • Mr. Robert Putz’ NAMI Conference Report
  • The list of the Assistant Directors yearly objectives and record of work responsibilities over the past few months
  • The State Association’s Salary Survey
  • Report on indoor air quality at BGC, showing no problems

• Mr. Lane discussed the needs of communities that straddle county lines between DeKalb County and Kane and Kendall Counties. Jerry Murphy, Executive Director of Mental Health/Mental Retardation Services, Inc., a consortium of six township Mental Health Boards in South Kane County, contacted Mr. Lane to set up an appointment with him and the two respective Health Departments, perhaps to venture cooperatively toward establishing points of service to handle the Health and Mental Health needs of citizens in those areas. The meeting is tentatively planned for early October.
• Mr. Lane announced the death of Dan Didier, retired Executive Director of the St. Clair Community Mental Health Board.
• Mr. Lane distributed copies of the County Budget for 2003 for the Board’s perusal. The levy rate will yield $1,506,000 in revenue for the Mental Health Board, which appears to be about $10,000 less than requested. However, the actual difference is $2,000, due to revenue projections based on a CPI of 1.6% and projected new construction figure of 2.6%, which turned out to be a little off.
• Mr. Lane commented on the state budget, which stands at $600M in unpaid bills and $200M in the bank. The budget projections last year were overly optimistic, based on a belief that the economy would turn around. Instead, August revenues are down from August revenues of two years ago. If the situation does not change, Illinois will be $1.2B in the red, which means serious cuts for all agencies.
• Ms. Russell attended the DeKalb County comprehensive Youth Services Committee meeting and brought some items of interest to the Board:

A conference will be held for first responders in Rockford
A juvenile learning/mentoring program for at-risk youth
In addition, the social workers at DCFS in DeKalb County, which once employed seven case workers, is now reduced to three. This is a situation that strikes home, indicating the serious consequences of budget reductions.

• Ms. Russell reported on services offered by Rosecrance in Rockford, which now has homes for recovery. In addition, October is National Recovery Month as well as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Mr. Gilbert moved acceptance of the August office claims as submitted; seconded by Mr. Krogman. On a roll call vote the motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Gilbert moved acceptance of the August agency claims as submitted; seconded by Mrs. Terry. On a roll call vote the motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Gilbert moved acceptance of the September office claims as corrected; seconded by Mrs. Franz. On a roll call vote the motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Gilbert moved acceptance of the September agency claims as submitted; seconded by Mrs. Franz. On a roll call vote the motion passed unanimously 

 

Mr. Bennett acknowledged Jim Graves’ skill in administration, and expressed his hope that the new Executive Director of BGC will bring additional good things to our community.
 

The Fire & Rescue teams in DeKalb County are being trained in October, thanks to the groundwork done by Denny Sands. The northern part of the county is scheduled for October 8, and the south county firefighters will have a training on October 28. There will be two to three hours on issues of dealing with persons with mental illness and on handling the psychological and emotional issues of bystanders.

Under the heading "Special Projects" is Crisis Training, offered through Kishwaukee College this fall in five Thursday evening classes to be held at Youth Service Bureau. The cost is $5 registration for each person attending. The Crisis Training will provide continuing education units and visibility for the County’s Crisis Teams.

The DeKalb County Training Consortium will hold its first training session on October 29, 2002, at the Kishwaukee College Conference Center, from 8:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.

The objective is to consolidate existing training and offer in-community conferences, workshops and training at a cost saving to local agency personnel. This training is priced reasonably at $10 for each agency registering. This training is about websites, their ability to offer agencies exposure, communication and economy. The Surgeon General’s Report stated that practitioners need training, the one area that is often neglected due to shrinking budgets.

VAC purchased a new bus, last year’s model, that Board approved in July. An updated list of needs to complete the necessary customizing to accommodate our clients was received. A service manual and a second wheelchair station are needed, bringing the total cost of the vehicle to $34,459.80 (out of the $40,000 allotted by the Board). The additional cost comes to $1,352 to completely outfit the bus.

Mr. Lane presented more information from Ben Gordon Center regarding funding their staff training for Dynamic Awareness Management on October 14, 2002. Family Service Agency is sending all their executives, Elderly Care Services and Safe Passage executives have also been invited to attend (as well as the MH Board staff). BGC was able to find funding for this training from other sources, and has sent the request to our Board for $750.

Mr. Krogman moved to approve $750, seconded by Mr. Sands. The motion passed unanimously.

Insurance Grants to agencies will be distributed in October, as we were unable to get the amount into the September agency claims. Bob Pritchard, Ray Bockman and Gary Hanson called Mr. Lane to question him about the Board’s large expenditure. Since the County itself is wrestling with large increases in insurance rates, Board members should be aware that the perception of spending such a seemingly large amount to subsidize agencies may raise questions. The rationale for assisting agencies with a one-time-only payment is to assure that service delivery personnel are not laid off, thereby reducing services to citizens of DeKalb County seems to answer this question. In not-for-profit agencies, approximately 80% of the budget goes for salaries.

 

Information on the proposals for Ben Gordon Center three remodeling and repair projects: BGC sent three bids on building a back wall in the emergency and admissions area, one bid on replacing a section of the roof (shingles) and one quote on door openers for the front doors.

Mr. Krogman moved to delay a decision on the roof repair and the door openers and to authorize the building of the back wall in the Emergency area; seconded by Mr. Sands.

After discussion regarding the amount of money to be designated,

Mr. Sands offered a friendly amendment that the amount not exceed $5,411. On a voice vote the motion was passed with six yes votes and one abstention (Ms. Russell).

For the information of Board members, a joint venture Request For Proposal from the State of Illinois is under consideration by several agencies interested in a cooperative venture into violence prevention. The Grant is for $50,000 in the first year; each additional year for three years is for $100,000, for a total of $350,000. DeKalb County has a good opportunity to win this grant.

The State Association of Mental Health Boards will hold its Fall Retreat on October 23 and 24 at Eagle Creek Resort Center, Findlay, IL . It begins at noon on Wednesday and runs until 1:00 p.m. on Thursday. Financing Issues will be discussed: Acquiring, leveraging and managing money. Board members interested in attending need to notify staff as soon as possible to take advantage of the block of non-smoking rooms that have been reserved.

Staff has just returned from Springfield from the Quarterly meeting of the State Association where a great deal of good information was shared. Among other things, we learned that local Mental Health Boards were invited to assist in planning the closure of Zeller Mental Health Center. They estimated the cost of serving clients in the community at $1.5M. The State closed Zeller and gave local providers the total of $360,000, less than 25% of what was needed.

In addition, HIPPA, the Health Insurance Portability Act, Federal legislation that must be in place by April of next year, requires the sharing of health records. For the DCCMHB to investigate agencies, we must be certified as a business associate, due to confidentiality laws.

The present candidates for Governor have both promised to reopen every facility that Governor George Ryan has closed. They seem to be attempting to woo AFSCME, the union to which state workers belong. Their concerns and promises have nothing to do with mental illness in Illinois. Instead, it is a matter of maintaining patronage jobs and appeasing the state workers. If the elected candidate follows through with his promise, social services will continue to be in deep trouble; if he does not follow through, his party may not survive the legislative elections in two years. Either way, mental health will not be supported. Projected budget shortfalls presently run at $1 to $1.5 Billion.

The date for the Spring Conference of the Association of Mental Health Boards of Illinois is April 8 and 9 in Chicago, again, in conjunction with the Community Behavioral Health Association Conference.

In the state of Michigan, mental health money is divided between state operations and communities at 15% to 85%, respectively. In Illinois, 54% goes to state operations and 46% goes to communities. Even worse, funds for mental illness in Illinois go to adults and children 85% to 15%. Illinois has not recaptured federal medicaid funds because they will not put money up front to do so. The State Association voted on a list of mental health reforms. The adopted points are:

• Decentralization of management of community mental health in Illinois
• Development of a strategic plan for state operated facilities in Illinois
• Opposition to unfunded mandates and unnecessary over-regulation of the community mental health system
• Mobilization of citizens to support adequate funding for community mental health
• Salary parity between state and community MH professionals
• Increased access to the community MH system for racial and ethnic minorities as discussed in the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity
• Increased involvement of consumers and families at the local level as partners in the community mental health system
• Opposition to budget-driven policies at the state level that are counter-therapeutic and harmful to citizens
• Increased focus on services for children and adolescents with the desired outcome being that they are at home, in school and out of trouble
• Opposition to inflexible state contracts and grants which do not meet the needs of communities and result in fragmentation of services at the local level.

Absent in some of these ideas is determination of which models are most effective. For example, we cannot have "assertive case management" without enough case managers.

The Executive Director’s evaluation form in the packets is due soon. Fill them out and return them to Mrs. Russell as soon as possible. She will call a committee meeting to discuss matters further. The form itself has some lines left over from earlier years that are no longer applicable. Staff will modify the form or find an improved one.

Mrs. Franz moved the Board adjourn into Executive Session to discuss personnel issues; second by Mr. Krogman. On a unanimous voice vote, the motion passed.

Ms. Petruchius moved to leave executive session; seconded by Mr. Krogman. The motion passed on a voice vote.

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_____________________
Opal Zitka
Secretary Treasurer

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