Minutes - 20080417 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Foushee said that some of the outside agencies are beginning to request that their requests be considered outside of this process because there is concern that they will be left out since they do not fit under human services. Commissioner Gordon agreed that this was all under Outside Agencies, but the problem was that the category was increasing a lot, and the Board decided to have a targeted dollar amount. She appreciates the work of the HSAC and that it was so thorough. Chair Jacobs said that part of the problem is that if people perceive that they do not want to be in the human services category, then the Board needs to think about how to categorize. Laura Blackmon said that the County needs to make sure that what agencies ask for is used for what they want to achieve. Emily Adams said that the HSAC recognized this as the first phase in a process. The goal is to refine the criteria. Chair Jacobs said that the HSAC did a good job of noting the pitfalls of the current process, which is a valuable contribution. Laura Blackmon asked for feedback from the Board on the recommendations. Chair Jacobs said that he would like to fully fund the requests of HYAA, Orange Enterprises, and Piedmont Wildlife. He would also like to see an explanation when there is a recommendation not to fully fund. Commissioner Foushee agreed. • Emily Adams said that Orange Enterprises asked for$10,000 less this year because it asked for an additional $10,000 last year to cover a specific cost. Regarding Piedmont Wildlife, the service area included areas outside of Orange County. Although they value this organization, there was discussion about getting other county agencies, specifically Durham County, to support their portion of the services. Regarding Hillsborough Youth Athletic Association, there was a concern that this organization was not reaching the entire community. Chair Jacobs asked if there was any communication with the non-profits regarding the preliminary conclusions. Assistant County Manager Gwen Harvey said that they sent a notice to agencies today with a link to the web with this recommendation information. Chair Jacobs said that if there were only two that were being cut, then it would be easy for staff to contact them. He said that all of the County Commissioners got an email from HYAA about their efforts to try and recruit more minority participants. He said that it might be helpful to have this communication to the non-profits that got cut before this comes back to the Board. Laura Blackmon said that the Board of County Commissioners could make a decision that it will fund them in full, but send a letter to let them know about the problems associated with funding them in full in the future. Commissioner Carey said that he likes this approach about funding and then informing the agencies of the issues of concern next year. Emily Adams said that the HSAC would be willing to work with HYAA on the recruiting efforts. Commissioner Gordon made reference to the UNC-CH Department of Psychiatry and said that it was not exactly an outside agency. Usually, this funding would be on a contract basis. She would like a justification for the $100,000 recommendation. Emily Adams said that this funding is for the STEP Clinic, which works with schizophrenics in the community and it is specifically for Orange County residents. She said that the HSAC asked the OPC-LME to review the mental health applications. Commissioner Gordon asked staff to look at this question as a precedent. Commissioner Carey asked that OPC be involved in the process of designing the performance standards for the mental health requests. Gwen Harvey said that there is one outside application from Club Nova for outsourcing their database and client management system. This request is not to be confused with the previous request for service subsidy funds.