The Health and Human Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met on Monday, April 4, 2005 @ 5:30p.m. in the Legislative Center’s Gathertorium.  Chairman Robert Rosemier called the meeting to order.  Members present were Marlene Allen, Eileen Dubin, Sally DeFauw and Ruth Anne Tobias.  Those absent were Julia Fullerton and Eric Johnson.  Others present were Ms. Mary Olson, Ray Bockman, Ellen Tyne, Karen Grush, Karen Hagen, Val Heinz, Marshall Hayes, Susan Plote, Alan Zaeske, Ruth Michaelson, Bob Shipman, Steve Slack and Jeff Whelan.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

          Moved by Ms. Allen, seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

          Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Ms. Allen, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from the March 2005 meeting.

SENIOR SERVICES TAX LEVY HEARINGS:

          Chairman Rosemier said that he would have materials to pass out to the committee after the deliberations tonight concerning their future meetings.  He would appreciate between now and the next committee meeting that if there were any changes to his handouts or questions to please get in contact with him. 

          Ms. Olson mentioned that she has received all clean audits from the agencies that have filed applications for tonight’s hearings and she brought them with her to share with the committee this evening.

DeKalb County Health Department

          Ms. Karen Grush, DeKalb County Public Health Director, said that they are requesting $25,000, like they have in the past, to subsidize approximately 400 home care medical visits to 40 medically indigent DeKalb county senior citizens.  Medically indigent individuals are those not covered under Medicare and who are non-insured or under-insured.  In 2004, Home Care costs per visits are estimates at $135 for skilled nursing, physical, speech and occupational therapy, $180 for medical social service and $75 for home health aide services.  Currently, full charges are skilled nursing, physical, speech and occupational therapy are $140 per visit, $180 for medical social service and $75 for home health aide visits.  She said that they are almost out of money currently from the monies that were awarded them last July (2004).  Chairman Rosemier asked her what will happen?  Ms. Grush said that they will still serve the clients.

Ms. Grush said that she would like to clarify how her medical social services differ from Elder Care services?  This question, she said, was asked of her last year.  The difference is that her medical social worker is a licensed clinical social worker with a Masters Degree.  Medicare requires that they have a Certificate in Clinical Competence, which means that they have worked in a healthcare setting.  The Elder Care case managers, to her understanding, are Bachelor’s prepared social workers.  She also said that they do more assessment and referral out to agencies.  Her social workers do get involved with some of the problems they have and do even get involved in providing counseling with the client. 

Ms. Julia Fullerton arrived @ 5:55p.m.

Barb City Manor

          Ms. Ellen Tyne, Administrator for Barb City Manor, was present to answer any questions that the committee had for her and her request.  She said that this is their first time requesting funds for rent for the residents at Barb City Manor. There have been changes in the Section 8 funding and the funding has been cut back. Ms. Tyne said that there is a list of seniors that are waiting to get in.  She said that there are certain criteria that need to be met to be able to get on the list.  Some of them would be that you need to be a senior, disabled or have dependent children.  The committee asked Ms. Tyne how many seniors were on the list?  She said 2 currently but that they did have 5. 

Ms. Tyne explained that they are requesting $7,956.00 in funds to help assist an average of 3 residents per month for 1 year of services (36 month or units of service) at an average costs of $221.00 per service unit.  Cost of service will vary with financial need of the senior.  Current Section 8 subsidies vary from $88.00 per month to $329.00 per month.  The number of residents assisted and the dollar amount of assistance would not be so great as to exceed the requested amount in the year’s time.  Residents must be able to pay for the majority of their monthly cost of living at Barb City Manor with an average cost of $1,031.00 per month.  This is done through monthly social security, pensions, interest or savings.  Assistance from Barb City Manor’s Resident Endowment Fund may also be requested.  The Fund is currently at $86,000.  Residents are receiving $600 a month from this fund, which is over the amount the fund is earning in interest.  Residents with very low income or those who have outlived an annuity or other investment sometimes need assistance from more than one source.

Chairman Rosemier said that on their income statement vs. disbursement statement, it shows that income in excess of disbursements in the amount of $18,479.00, which you are moving to your trust.  Couldn’t that money be used to supplement these?  Ms. Tyne said yes, but with a building like Barb City Manor , they do try to come out even at the end of the year.  They do factor in a 6% vacancy factor when they figure in their rental income.  Because of people coming and going they do try to make sure that they have enough money to pay their bills, too, Ms. Tyne said.  The other thing is – the City of DeKalb has been helping them with some major expenses, but anything under $10,000 is Barb City’s responsibility, said Ms. Tyne. 

The committee also asked Ms. Tyne if there was an excess last year that you moved into the trust?  She said about $3,000 to $4,000 dollars. Their resident Endowment fund is losing money each month.  They are spending $600.00 a month and only making interest wise, 4% if that.  Chairman Rosemier pointed out that their audit showed an endowment of $444,000, which was much higher than that alluded to in their request.  Ms. Tyne said that this fund was a different endowment and was a set-aside for a building fund when the City ended their TIF support.  Chairman Rosemier asked if the $6,000.00 or so that Ms. Tyne mentioned from their Garden Walk was included in their income statement.  She said that it was not.

DeKalb County Hospice

          Ms. Karen Hagen and represented Hospice.  The total funding request for their Transitions Program is $4,180.00.  This would be used to support an average of ten (10) senior home-based Transitions clients per month.  The average time spent by the Transitions Coordinator on case management and volunteer supervision per client is two hours per month at $17.00 per hour.  The request also includes $100.00 for the Transitions portion of the Direct Care Volunteer training (two trainings/year).

Elder Care Services

          Mr. Marshall Hayes, Executive Director of Elder Care Services, said that they are requesting funds again this year for their two programs, Elder Abuse and Neglect Program and their Case Management Program.  The funding request for their Elder Abuse Program is $25,000, which would provide for additional elder abuse and neglect services in DeKalb County.  The funding request for their Case Management Program is $$25,000, which would provide for additional case management services in DeKalb County.

Family Service Agency of DeKalb County

          Ms. Susan Plote, Executive Director, and Mr. Betsy Steel, represented the DeKalb County Family Service Agency for this evening’s hearing.  They are requesting $131,699.00 for their assisted living service for the low-income elderly residents of DeKalb County.  The other source of income to be used for this portion of the program is from the Illinois Department on Aging (IDOA).

          IDOA pays for Assisted Living services at a rate of $12.62 per hour, an increase of $1.56 per hour.  A recent analysis by Family Service Agency showed the cost to Family Service Agency for providing these services is $22.02 per hour.  The difference between these hourly rates is $9.40 per hour, an increase  in the rate of $1.46 per hour in the Senior Tax Levy rate over last year. Chairman Rosemier commented that their overhead was 2/3 of their cost to provide this service.

There were 13,764 hours that were provided to IDOA clients in fiscal year 2004.  The $131,699 that they are requesting from the Senior Tax Levy will pay for 14,000 service hours at the rat of $9.40 per hour in fiscal year 2006.  County funds will enable low-income older adults to receive the care, which they desperately need, and allow Family Service Agency to continually meet emerging needs for assistance with the tasks of daily living. 

Fox Valley Older Adult Services

          Mr. Alan Zaeske, Director, represented the Fox Valley Older Adult Services Agency.  Their request from the Senior Tax Levy this year is $50,000.  This request is a significant increase over last year’s due to the fact that they now have a facility in the City of DeKalb with 11 to 14 clients of which 8 are served on a daily basis.  These funds will be used to support the unreimbursed costs of the FVOAS Adult Care program.  These costs include many resources for many clients who do not qualify for state assistance, yet cannot afford the cost of the care.  In addition, they are utilized to meet the needs of those clients who receive some assistance from the state, but it does not begin to cover their care.

          An example, explained Mr. Zaeske, of this is a client who resides with his/her spouse, who works full-time.  The state will pay for 4 hours of care per day, however, due to the spouse’s work schedule he/she must receive a minimum of 8 hours of care.  The senior tax levy funds are essential to families such as these so that they do not have to place their family members in a nursing home.  Chairman Rosemier indicated that he had visited the DeKalb site and Ms. Allen said that she had visited the Sandwich site. They requested a head count as to how many regular clients were seniors from DeKalb County. Mr. Zaeske indicated that this varied from day-to-day but that since the DeKalb site has opened, the number of seniors at the Sandwich site had returned to almost the same level it was last year before the DeKalb site opened.

Opportunity House

          Ms. Ruth Mickelson, Director, Ms. Smith and Mr. Hamilton, represented Opportunity House this evening.  Their request this evening is for $30,764.00, which provides funding for each of the individuals in their Developmental Training Program.  The amount they receive provides for 1,100 hours of annual service.  In their program they currently supply 1,690 staff hours on an annual basis.  Some of the difference between service hours funded versus service hours provided is funded by a grant from the local DeKalb County Community Mental Health (708) Board.  Their current DHS funding combined with their grant from the 708 Board does not allow for clients needing the type of assistance required by the seniors enrolled in their program.  They do utilize TransVac for many of their transportation needs.  The request of $30,764.00, which is an increase over last year’s award, would allow them to add a third full-time staff person, making it possible for them to provide continuous programming to their seniors.  Their cost per unit of service of $15.77 is lower than last year’s ($16.93), because their transportation and supplies requested amounts have not changed.  The staff compensation is based on 1 additional full-time staff member working 37.5 hours per week at $9.64 per hour. 

Voluntary Action Center

          Mr. Tom Zucker, Director of the Transportation Program and Ms. Ellen Rogers, Director of the Meals On Wheels Program, represented Voluntary Action Center this evening. 

Ms. Roger’s request this year for funding amounts to $82,225.00 for the Meals On Wheels Program.  She said that the request will be utilized to provide 11,500 meals, which will purchase 14% of the Meals On Wheels services for DeKalb County residents. 

          Mr. Zucker’s request this year for funding amount to $69,000.00 for the transportation services at Voluntary Action Center.  This request will fund $6,765 rides at a cost of $10.20 per ride.  Costs were calculated by dividing total transportation costs by total number of rides provided.  Gasoline prices are nearly 40% higher than they were two years ago.  Vehicle insurance premiums increased by 3% this year, while they expect another double-digit increase in health insurance premiums. 

Prairie State Legal Services

          No one represented Prairie State Legal Services for the tax levy hearing this evening.

Moved by Ms. Allen seconded by Ms. Tobias, and it was carried unanimously to allocate the funds the following way:  $2,500.00 to Barb City Manor; $25,000 to the DeKalb County Public Health Department; $2,000.00 to the DeKalb County Hospice; $18,000.00 to Elderly Care Case Management Program; $15,000.00 to Elderly Care Elder Abuse Neglect Program; $122,000 to Family Services Agency; $30,000.00 to Fox Valley Older Adults; $15,000.00 to Opportunity House; $67,500.00 to Voluntary Action Center – Transportation; $80,000.00 to Meals on Wheels, and to forward this recommendation to the full board for approval.

ADJOURNMENT

          Moved by Ms. Fullerton, seconded by Ms. DeFauw, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting.

                                                          Respectfully submitted,

                                                          ____________________________________

                                                          Robert Rosemier, Chairman

____________________________________

Mary C. Supple, Secretary