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Budget and Audit Committee Minutes Rehabilitation Services Commission 400 E. Campus View Blvd., Columbus, OH 43235 April 20, 2009 RSC staff in attendance: Chair David Daugherty; Commissioner Jacqui Romer-Sensky; Commissioner Bruce Growick, Chief Financial Officer Chris Hansen; Fiscal Officer Marc Protsman; Legislative Director Joe Dunn; Communications Director Steve Ostrander; BSVI Director Mike Hanes; Acting Information Technology Team Leader Travis Sherick; Customer Service and Resource Development Director Connie O’Brien; Manager Janet Cool; BSVI Assistant Director Steve Moore; Executive Assistant Shirley Marchi Guests: John Finch, Central Ohio Vocational Alternatives (COVA); Kelly Manns, OARF; Dawn Gleason, CSHC; Joanne Sheemar, CSJC; Jennifer Kuntz, Greanleaf; Deb Shnoskie, Goodwill; Kevin Futryk, OACCD; Marty Gaydvor; VGS Teleconference participants: Commissioner Joyce Young; Executive Director John Connelly; Mark Seifarth, MRDD; SILC Executive Director Brenda Curtiss; and Chris Staccia, A2Z Welcome and Introductions At 9:05 a.m. Chair Daugherty called the meeting to order. Minutes Commissioner Romer-Sensky moved to approve the March 2, 2009 Budget and Audit Committee Meeting Minutes, seconded by Commissioner Growick. Motion carried. Public Comment: Mark Seifarth, MRDD, stated prior to making any final decisions and changes to the Personal Care Assistance (PCA) Program, the Commission should look at putting together a ...
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Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
Rehabilitation Services Commission
400 E. Campus View Blvd., Columbus, OH 43235
April 20, 2009
RSC staff in attendance
:
Chair David Daugherty; Commissioner Jacqui Romer-
Sensky; Commissioner Bruce Growick, Chief Financial Officer Chris Hansen;
Fiscal Officer Marc Protsman; Legislative Director Joe Dunn; Communications
Director Steve Ostrander; BSVI Director Mike Hanes; Acting Information
Technology Team Leader Travis Sherick; Customer Service and Resource
Development Director Connie O’Brien; Manager Janet Cool; BSVI Assistant
Director Steve Moore; Executive Assistant Shirley Marchi
Guests:
John Finch, Central Ohio Vocational Alternatives (COVA); Kelly Manns,
OARF; Dawn Gleason, CSHC; Joanne Sheemar, CSJC; Jennifer Kuntz,
Greanleaf; Deb Shnoskie, Goodwill; Kevin Futryk, OACCD; Marty Gaydvor; VGS
Teleconference participants:
Commissioner Joyce Young; Executive Director
John Connelly; Mark Seifarth, MRDD; SILC Executive Director Brenda Curtiss;
and Chris Staccia, A2Z
Welcome and Introductions
At 9:05 a.m. Chair Daugherty called the meeting to order.
Minutes
Commissioner Romer-Sensky moved to approve the March 2, 2009 Budget and
Audit Committee Meeting Minutes, seconded by Commissioner Growick.
Motion
carried.
Public Comment:
Mark Seifarth, MRDD, stated prior to making any final decisions and changes to
the Personal Care Assistance (PCA) Program, the Commission should look at
putting together a committee that includes advocates, Commissioners, RSC staff
(Zelpha Rinehart), and a representative from Job and Family Services, to discuss
the PCA program’s information from the past and present to see what has
worked and hasn’t worked.
John Finch, COVA, distributed a handout (attachment A).
He stated COVA has
submitted three stimulus proposals through the Governor’s website.
Mr. Finch
stated COVA is a Community Rehabilitation Program (CRP) that serves persons
with mental health (MH).
COVA would like to see a balance of the stimulus
money go to serving consumers and include the engagement of CRPs.
He sees
this as an opportunity for innovative practices.
Mr. Finch stated he is advocating
Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
April 20, 2009
Page 2
that stimulus money be used for underserved populations such as veterans,
offenders, and persons with severe mental health, as well as a continued
collaboration with other state agencies.
He stated copies of this letter have been
given to other agencies.
In addition, Mr. Finch stated when he submitted
proposals for the stimulus dollars the website limits information (that is to be
provided) to a very small space.
Due to this, COVA was not able to go in depth
regarding how outcomes will be measured.
Stimulus Update
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Chris Hansen reported the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Stimulus funding notification was made available to us
on April 1, 2009.
The VR Program will receive $21.6M with no match and no
Maintenance of Effort requirement.
Independent Living (IL) will receive $509,000
with a 10% match requirement.
Independent Living/Older Blind (ILOB) will
receive $1.4M with a 10% match requirement.
On April 1, 2009, we received
50% of the VR funds, which is about $10.8M of the $21.6M.
The remaining
monies will be available in October 2009 and are contingent upon fulfilling
reporting requirements.
Reporting requirements are still being developed by the
Department of Education (DOE).
We did receive 100% of the funds for IL Part B
and ILOB.
All federal funds must be obligated by September 30, 2011.
IL Part B
and ILOB match must be obligated by September 30, 2010.
The match dollars
for IL Part B and ILOB will come from local vendors.
Commissioner Growick stated are we required to obligate funds by a certain
date?
CFO Hansen replied, the only information we received states that funds
must be obligated by September 2011.
Commissioner Growick stated we are under no obligation to allocate the first half
of the funds by October 2009.
CFO Hansen responded we have not received
any information regarding obligation or expenditure.
Executive Director Connelly
stated the second half of VR funds will require certain reporting to VR
Administration.
He assumes the reporting will center on what we do with the first
half of the funds.
Specifics are still unknown.
CFO Hansen reported proposals were entered on SharePoint for review and
consideration by RSC.
Proposals were reviewed using 12 criteria developed
primarily from RSA stimulus guidance.
SharePoint information was not detailed
enough to allow for recommendation on proposals
There may be other groups
that did not know about SharePoint and may be interested in the stimulus dollars.
We do have information from the
Community Conversations
public forums and
My Two Cents
on RSC’s internet.
However this information needs to be more
organized.
Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
April 20, 2009
Page 3
CFO Hansen stated the ARRA Guiding Principles are to spend funds quickly to
save and create jobs, ensure transparency, reporting and accountability and
invest one-time ARRA funds thoughtfully.
Chair Daugherty stated you mentioned a plan for timelines.
CFO Hansen stated
we are looking at developing a Request for Proposal (RFP) that would identify
the criteria and what is needed to meet the criteria.
The RFP would be sent to
people who submitted proposals via SharePoint and others.
We are looking to
get an RFP out in May/June, 2009 with an aggressive start date of July, 2009.
In addition, CFO Hansen stated the Office of Budget and Management (OBM)
has a series of Guidance Memos (7 listed so far) that identifies the stimulus
team, coding, risk assessment and management, assurances, copies of awards
notices and reporting.
CFO Hansen stated we listed 12 criteria that came from the Rehabilitation
Services Administration’s (RSA) Guidance on VR Stimulus.
The ARRA
Guidelines are the same guidelines as in the regular VR program.
We do not
have to redo the State Plan.
The criteria include: use consistently with statutory
and regulatory requirements for VR State Grants Program; serve individuals on
waiting lists in agencies currently using an Order of Selection; increase services
to eligible consumers; expand services to traditionally undeserved or unserved
populations; obtain or improve effective case management systems; and provide
intensive training to VR counselors and other.
Commissioner Growick asked was there any input from outside individuals or just
within RSC.
CFO Hansen stated SharePoint was missing pieces of information.
We looked to expand and had a couple of opportunities from our last meeting to
get consumer input via the community forums that were held throughout the
state.
Executive Director Connelly stated he attended the Ohio Association of
Rehabilitation Facilities meeting and did go over proposals with them.
Also, we
met with Ohio Goodwill Industries.
We conducted our own research on what
other VR agencies are doing and planning across the nation.
CFO Hansen stated we propose a four part plan for the use of VR stimulus
funds.
One part is $5M for targeted services and programs to CRPs via the RFP
process and $10M for increase case services, for a total of $15M.
In addition, we
propose $4.2M to replace the OSCAR VR case management system and $2.4M
to cover anticipated staff shortages due to attrition, intermittent staff to manage
stimulus funds, and related administrative costs such as rent, travel and
equipment.
Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
April 20, 2009
Page 4
Commissioner Romer-Sensky stated given the fact that OBM has to approve
intermittent staff and part of ERI approval was a pledge that we would not backfill
positions, has there been any preliminary approval or guidance from OBM.
CFO
Hansen responded OBM is monitoring this very closely, especially with hiring.
For regular staffing, VR has lost a lot of counselors since January.
We can make
a request to OBM as long as the positions are budgeted. She further stated we
have not had specific conversations yet with OBM because we wanted to have a
general discussion with Commissioners first.
CFO Hansen further reported we plan to conduct an RFP process for VR
targeted services to CRPs through May and June with contracts beginning in
July, 2009.
We plan to open the bid process to include SharePoint participants
and plan to award grants to accredited CRPs.
Commissioner Romer-Sensky stated has any more thought been given to the
scoring criteria?
BSVI Director Hanes stated we are looking at such criteria as
what experience does the vendor have with the population; what are the
projections and how many people will be served with the dollars; is the proposal
innovative; does the proposal target areas of the state that may be undeserved.
Executive Director Connelly stated in addition to these items, we are also looking
at underserved population with Supported Employment.
The SharePoint team is
rating and inviting someone from the DOE and MH to assist us in reviewing
proposals.
We are also looking at Transition Youth.
In addition, we are looking
at if the jobs are community based or sheltered jobs.
CFO Hansen reported $2.5M is being awarded with current VR allotment.
We
will receive one quarter’s worth of funding in FFY 09 to develop infrastructure
with a balance of funding in FFY 10.
BSVI Director Hanes stated potential targeted services include the Summer
Youth Employment Program; services to Veterans; improve delivery and
coordination of services to persons with mental illness; and expansion of
Supported Employment services.
BSVI Director Hanes further reported an additional $10M is proposed to be
managed by RSC staff and is recommending that some of the funds be targeted
to partner with agencies such as MH, MRDD and JFS with the expectation that at
least 60% of the funds will go to CRPs.
Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
April 20, 2009
Page 5
Commissioner Growick stated to what extent are we reaching out to other state
agencies.
Other state agencies are not so well positioned, especially MH and
MRDD.
We need to bring other state agencies in for discussion.
Commissioner Romer-Sensky stated are we putting money back into historical
earmarks.
Is RSC to dedicate a million dollars for JFS, MH and to rejuvenate
those partnerships?
She further stated 60% of $10M will touch hands of CRPs.
Executive Director Connelly stated up until two years ago, we had dedicated
lines for those populations.
We still have several mechanisms in place to identify
mutual customers.
We provide reports on a regular basis to other state
agencies.
We believe that by having line items, it sends a message to everyone
that we have a very tangible investment in these programs.
CFO Hansen reported regarding the proposed OSCAR replacement we would
like to use the existing bid/selection process previously authorized by OIT.
We
would begin contracts in July with a target completion date of September 30,
2011.
BSVI Director Hanes reported on the Administrative Costs.
He stated we would
like to increase staff due to difficulty in hiring counselors and allow attrition to
cover the costs long-term.
We would add intermittent staff to manage contracts
and additional case services.
The balance of funds would be for travel,
equipment, rent, and support staff.
Commissioner Romer-Sensky stated she wants to see more details on the
Administrative Costs.
For example, what are attrition rates?
What are the rules
to bring back retired employees?
What is an intermittent employee?
She further
stated what are other models out there that RSC can do to outsource?
BSVI
Director Hanes stated counselors determine eligibility, sign off on plans, and sign
off on closures.
It is in the law.
Executive Director Connelly stated Ohio VR is
pretty aggressive, for example with the Pathways program.
He stated RSA is
raising questions about states with third party agreements.
For example, are
dollars being used to get consumers jobs?
Commissioner Growick stated is the California Model still being considered.
Executive Director Connelly replied RSA was doing a monitoring visit with
California and looking at the legality of in-kind match.
He further stated he spoke
with Ed West from RSA and Mr. West has not yet seen a report from California.
We don’t know if RSA is saying that what California is doing is appropriate or not.
We found in our research this seems to be questionable under the law and we
are waiting to see how RSA will rule with California.
Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
April 20, 2009
Page 6
Commissioner Growick asked if a paper will be distributed to Commissioners or
does an internal document exist regarding RSC research on the California
model.
CSRD Director O’Brien stated we do not have a paper drafted at this
point.
We wanted to wait until a decision from RSA was made before moving
forward.
BSVI Director Hanes stated the only paper was the white paper
distributed to Commissioners last December.
Commissioner Growick stated when does RSC get the report from RSA.
Executive Director Connelly replied he expects to hear something within the next
month.
As soon as we have the information, we can go back to the white paper
and if legal, we can update paper and bring back to the Commissioners.
BSVI Director Hanes reported on the IL/OB proposal.
He stated he would like to
expand successful contracts.
If we expand the contracts it would include
software training, serve an additional number of individuals to keep them
independent and out of nursing homes.
We would begin an RFP process for
undeserved areas with a July 2009 starting point date.
We have an opportunity
to partner with the Department of Aging and Area Agencies on Aging.
We are
waiting on feedback from the Department of Aging to see if they are interested.
He further reported that there is an expectation that the 10% match requirement
will be met by participating vendors and there may be issues of existing or new
contractors in order to find the needed match.
Commissioner Growick stated the 10% matching for ILOB, can we test the
waters.
BSVI Director Hanes replied, we can ask and have to look at guidance.
Commissioner Growick stated look at guidance and test using in-kind match
rather than wait on the information from California.
BSVI Director Hanes reported on the IL proposal.
He stated there is a 10%
match for Part B to come from IL General Revenue Fund (GRF) line item.
We
are waiting on proposals from the SILC regarding the criteria and use of Part B
funds.
Part B proposals must be consistent with the current SPIL, or the SPIL
must be amended and RSA approval is required.
BSVI Director Hanes stated stimulus dollars for IL Part C does not go through
RSC.
There has been no allotment of funds or guidance from DOE on IL Part C.
Chair Daugherty stated VR was lobbied by CSAVR for ARRA funding; however,
the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) spearheaded the IL and ILOB
recovery funding and did not ask for and did not receive a waiver on match.
Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
April 20, 2009
Page 7
CFO Hansen stated the next steps are for the Commissioners to vote on staff
proposals for the use of stimulus funds.
Staff will design and make ready the
RFP process for VR and ILOB with targeted contract start dates of July 1, 2009.
In addition, IT will research the next steps in the OSCAR replacement process.
Staff will determine the mix of counselors and support staff to be hired with
stimulus funds.
Staff will also determine support costs associated with new staff.
Lastly, necessary budget motions will be offered at the May 20
th
Commission
meeting.
Chair Daugherty stated in summarizing the VR proposal, there is $15M in case
services and targeted projects; $4.2M in infrastructure costs (OSCAR
replacement); and $2.4M in short term administrative costs.
He asked
Commissioners for a motion to approve this.
Commissioner Growick stated he has not seen anything in writing regarding the
case management system from OIT.
However, he will approve this based on the
concept.
Mr. Growick further stated he does not want to allocate funds for new
staff until RSC talks with DAS and OBM.
In addition, he stated there wasn’t
really enough information to evaluate proposals on SharePoint.
What evaluation
criteria, time frames, etc., do we have in place?
We want to get funds out and
begin using the funds.
We need to put a hold on this until we get new
information.
We need a special meeting prior to the next full Commission
meeting.
Commissioner Romer-Sensky stated the numbers can be arbitrary.
She does
not like to see administrative costs over 10%.
She would like to see
administrative numbers between 7-8%.
Chair Daugherty stated the report is
listed as administrative costs but a lot of this is program costs and counselors are
considered program costs.
Commissioner Romer-Sensky stated for future
conversations, we may need to adjust administrative costs and program costs as
associated with counselors.
Commissioner Jacqui Romer Sensky moved for RSC staff to: identify a basic
framework for what the VR stimulus dollars RFP would look like; identify a basic
framework for the ILOB stimulus dollars RFP; identify metrics associated with
staffing patterns; and identify more detailed information for OSCAR regarding the
framework and make contact with the State of Ohio Information Technology,
seconded by Commissioner Growick.
Motion carried.
Chair Daugherty asked staff if they are able to deliver of all of these requests.
Staff said yes.
Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
April 20, 2009
Page 8
Chair Daugherty asked if any of our key partners attending today’s meeting had
input.
Mr. Futryk stated the OACCD did not submit proposals because
parameters in SharePoint were not defined well enough.
SILC’s Director Curtiss
stated there is a lot more flexibility in hiring people in the IL proposals.
Executive
Director Connelly stated it is very important that the Commission is aware that IL
Part B stimulus dollars have to be awarded and come through the Commission.
Independent Living/Older Blind
Commissioner Growick moved that staff are to identify the framework and
matching funds for the RFP, seconded by Commissioner Romer-Sensky.
Motion
carried.
Independent Living Part B
BSVI Assistant Director Steve Moore stated the expectation is to expand
$240,000 over 10 Centers.
This is not a great deal of money.
A separate grant
is to be developed.
In addition to the FFY 09 stimulus expenditures, SILC’s
Executive Council will put together a plan to expend those funds this fiscal year.
However there is some concern about driving the funds into an audit status.
Chair Daugherty stated the IL Centers are for independent living; not jobs.
How
does this work with VR stimulus money?
BSVI Assistant Director Moore stated
the basis is on the State Plan that has been submitted.
The Plan does not rely
on job outcomes, it relies on adding a ramp to a house, etc.,
Director Hanes
stated this is similar to ILOB – to keep people independent, off of public
assistance, and out of nursing homes.
Other Business
Former RSC Commissioner Mark Seifarth stated as we go through
reconsideration of the PCA program, please involve a lot of people in the
discussion.
Commissioner Romer-Sensky stated given the stimulus money, the
current workload on staff, and having a new Executive Director in July, we should
table this discussion to a later date.
CSRD Director O’Brien stated Zelpha
Rinehart, RSC staff person who oversees the PCA program, will be retiring and
we need to get the PCA information from her.
Commissioner Growick stated with
Medicaid Buy-in, this is a problem with JFS.
He agreed that expediency is not
necessary.
This topic can wait as long as we set a foundation for moving
forward.
CSRD Director O’Brien stated she represents RSC on the Medicaid
Buy-in Committee and will ask to have this information on their agenda.
Budget and Audit Committee Minutes
April 20, 2009
Page 9
Next Meeting Date and Time
The next Budget and Audit Committee Meeting is scheduled on May 6, 2009
from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. at RSC in the Columbus and Zanesville Conference
Rooms.
Other
Commissioner Growick stated he is very impressed with the PowerPoint
presentation and is requesting the information be placed on RSC’s website.
Adjourn
Commissioner Romer-Sensky moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by
Commissioner Growick.
Motion carried.
