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21 1 A report on the advantages and challenges of transitioning from county Social Services’ offices 2 to regional offices is due to the General Assembly by February 2019. There is also a report due 3 in November 2018 on regionalization of state offices with implementation to occur no later than 4 March 2020. A workgroup was appointed by the General Assembly to make these 5 recommendations. There are county representatives on the workgroup, and one representative 6 of attorneys who works with social services agencies is Angie Stephenson, a law partner at 7 Holcomb and Stephenson (the firm that provides legal services for Orange County DSS 1 8 services). The workgroup has met several times and the School of Government is providing 9 facilitation and other support for this work. 10 11 When this legislation was first introduced, regionalization of local social service agencies was 12 mandatory. Through work with the bill sponsors, this was changed to allow the work group to 13 It does appear make recommendations to the General Assembly before implementation. 14 however that there is still interest in mandatory regionalization of both state functions 15 and local agencies . 16 17 The Department of Social Services is participating in numerousactivities related to the law. 18 These include analyzing proposed performance measures, identifying data sources for these 19 measurements, and determining current performance. The Social Services Board and staff 20 have met with state representatives to share concerns about some parts of the law, particularly 21 mandatory regionalization. There is also a convening session in January sponsored by the 22 county commissioners’ association and Orange County will participate in that session. 23 24 Commissioner Jacobs asked if there hasbeen thought given to havingregional 25 groupings,similar to mental health regional groupings;or will it be more like Triangle J Council 26 of Governments (TJCOG)and other regional boards. 27 Nancy Coston said she does not know,since she isnot in the workgroup;but a DSS 28 contract attorney is in the workgroup, if the BOCC would like to share specific feedback. She 29 said, to her knowledge,none ofthis been discussed. She said the State has to decide what to 30 regionalize. 31 Commissioner Jacobs saidNorth Carolina is unusual in that the State Government has 32 devolved some of the responsibilitiesto the counties. He asked if this is very unusual, and if 33 the State would prefer to return to a more centralized system. 34 Nancy Coston said this is not clear at this time. She said all states are different, and 35 about ten states have a county-run DSS. She said NC is also one of the few states where the 36 county contributes to the cost in the way that they do. She said Orange County is unique in its 37 approach to certain things, and it is unclear how these would translate to a regional model. 38 Chair Dorosin asked if the workgroup is the same as the study commission appointed by 39 the Legislature. 40 Nancy Coston said this was called a working group, and has a lifespan of about 18 41 months to create a recommendation, and cannot regionalize without taking a plan to the 42 General Assembly(GA). She said whoever receives the contract for the request for proposal 43 (RFP)will make reports to the GA about the strengths and weaknesses of the system, 44 particularly in child protection. 45 Commissioner Rich asked if the working group is comprised of people from all over the 46 State. 47 Nancy Coston said yes. She said the NCACC appointed 3 or 4 commissioners; there 48 are three social service representatives; one county DSS attorney; as well as many members of 49 the General Assembly.She said Orange County has a contract attorney in the group, and 50 there is also a County Commissioner from Durham.