COLUSA-GLENN-TRINITY COMMUNITY ACTION PARTNERSHIP
BOARD OF DIRECTORS’ MEETING MINUTES
Wednesday, June 19, 2013, 10:30 a.m.
C. R. Gibbs American Grille, Best Western Hotel, Redding, CA 96002
Members Present: Sandy Bechtold, Lora Ceccon, Donna Dennis, Karl Fisher, Elizabeth Kelly, Minnie Lawrence, John Minniear, Debbie Moutter, Mike Murray, Al Schroeder, Steve Soeth, John Vafis, Linda Wright, and Rev. Philip Zabell
Members Apologies: Denise Carter, Debra Chapman, Mark Marshall, and Joanne Overton
Staff Present: Scott Gruendl, Christine Zoppi, Korri VonSeggern, Suzi Kochems and Connie Scott
Guest: Brent Morrison and Geoff Chinnock, Morrison and Company
Quorum Met: Yes
I. Call to Order – Steve Soeth, Board Chairman
Meeting called to order at 10:30 a.m.; fourteen present, including one alternate, four absent.
A. Introductions – All
B. Read the CAP pledge – All
II. Requests by Members of the Public to Address the Board – Steve Soeth, Board Chairman (Pursuant to Section 54954.3 of the Ralph Brown Act) – None heard.
III. Administrative Business/Housekeeping – Staff and Board
A. Meeting Notice and Posting Date – Steve Soeth, Board Chairman
Postings confirmed as required by 1994 Brown Act. Staff confirmed documents were posted/mailed June 7, 2013.
B. Agenda Additions - None
C. Approval of June 19, 2013 Agenda – Steve Soeth, Board Chairman – Action
Recommendation to approve- M/S P. Zabell/S. Bechtold Unanimous
D. Approval of March 20, 2013 Minutes – Steve Soeth, Board Chairman – Action
Recommendation to approve – M. Murray/D. Moutter Unanimous
E. Trinity County Category II Vacancy – Steve Soeth, Board Chairman – Possible Action
Sandy Bechtold reported that although interest was expressed by an individual in Trinity County, scheduling conflicts arose. The vacancy still remains open.
IV. Executive Director’s Report – Scott Gruendl
A. Fiscal Report/Funding - Possible Action
At the Federal level, sequestering has gone as expected, with reductions at 5% to 6%. As congress works through the budget, Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) may lose half of their allocation. This is tied to the process of measuring Community Action Agencies around their effectiveness and application of standards and the ability to measure and meet those standards – performance outcome. Measuring performance will be tied to the funding. We should be in a good position with performance outcomes, with what we already do in our agency.
B. Staffing/Personnel – Scott Gruendl – Possible Action
Staffing has been tied to funding. We have been running on ARRA fumes. We have extended that funding source almost five extra years. However, we are now in a position where we will have to lay off staff in Weatherization. Rex Gould retired, and he has been our contractor on staff. Shane Anderson will be getting his contractor’s license to fill that vacancy. Weatherization will be consolidated with the Housing and Community Services unit, to share staff and ensure programs can be managed. With the Affordable Care Act, Public Service Employees who work over twenty five hours per week will be eligible for health benefits. The alternative to this issue is to not use PSEs, or to reclassify them to positions that offer benefits, which we could budget for in the future.
Christine Zoppi and Korri Von Seggern reviewed the funding narrative. Christine mentioned that the items in red represented unexpected expenses, such as the Westside Domestic Violence Center, which had maintenance issues that exceeded what was originally anticipated. This was due to the facility being older, and the population in the home increasing, thus putting a strain on the existing structure. The HOME-TBRA program listed in red is due to late reimbursements from the State. The Energy Savings Assistance Program, (ESAP), formerly Energy Partners, receives funds from PG&E. There is a gap between services provided and the amount of reimbursement for that service.
C. Emerging State/Federal Issues – Scott Gruendl
See above.
D. Communications Received – Scott Gruendl – None
E. Recognition and Award – Board Member Proclamation
Steve Soeth read a proclamation concerning Linda Wright’s service to the CAP Board from 1995 to the present. She was presented with a bouquet of flowers, and all wished her well on her upcoming retirement. Sandy Bechtold addressed the chairman and requested that Linda be considered as a replacement to the existing board vacancy. This item will be placed on the September agenda.
V. Presentation: CAP Capacity Targeted Initiative – present/review/provide input/accept recommendations – Morrison & Company - Action
Korri Von Seggern introduced Brent Morrison and Geoff Chinnock from Morrison and Company. An outline was distributed to the board, and Geoff began his presentation. The deadline for this project is June 30, 2013. The final report and the next steps will be discussed at the end of the presentation.
Morrison and Company is a consulting agency from Chico, and most of its members are CPAs. This project was initiated to discover ways to build capacity and deliver programs in an era of decreasing funding. Three key areas were investigated:
· Look at the existing allocation cost models
o What are they?
o Are there alternatives we can employ; if the answer is yes, what would they look like?
o What would it change if we went to a different cost allocation model?
· Categorize or grade some of the existing funding sources
· Major considerations or recommendations
The report will cover all of these three issues, plus the history of Community Action agencies, the funding history, the financial overhead structure, and comparisons to other community actions in the state. Non-profits in all three counties were also investigated for possible future partnerships.
There are two main components of overhead that CAP deals with. The first is A87, or administrative costs, which are costs that come from Glenn County. The second is operating costs from the HRA, which twenty percent of the costs get pushed down to CAP, plus the overhead for the HRA. The report will explain the overhead costs, operating costs and salaries and benefits in detail.
There are fifty-two community action agencies in the state. Most agencies cover only one county. Twenty-two of the agencies are public, and thirty are private/non-profit. The predominant model is the private model, which more newly formed agencies are adopting. Our agency is one of four in the state that offers weatherization, housing rehabilitation, employment services, employment and food and nutrition services. Our agency is one of ten community action agencies in the state that serve multi-counties, we are one of three that serve non-contiguous counties, and we are the only one that serves three counties.
Geoff discussed Amador and Tuolumne counties’ structure, and that of San Bernardino County, where both are non-profit organizations. San Bernardino’s process of going from public to non-profit occurred over a period of ten years, with a gradual shift of staffing to the non-profit side as staff retired and new hires came in to the agency. The non-profit agencies do not have A87 costs, but they do have to find their own short-term financing.
Geoff gave an overview of overhead allocations, showing how changing allocations can alter costs to CAP. Funding source score card items were discussed. He also spread the current grants by department and categorized their “capacity building” funding. Most of our grants have “B” grade funding, with WIA and CSBG as “A” funding sources, which build capacity. The HOME grant is a “C” grade funding, with draws capacity from the agency.
As an agency, we can remain as a public agency, evolve into a non-profit model, or become a hybrid agency, which includes elements of both public and non-profit agencies, similar to Amador/Tuolumne counties. Morrison and Company have recommended we evaluate the transition to a non-profit model. This process could possibly take several years, such as what happened in San Bernardino. Initially a non-profit agency would be established, which would serve as the beginning step in the process. This entity would begin fund raising to build the new agency. This would be a low cost way to begin the transition. Geoff suggested we have county counsel review and align our CAP by-laws, Articles of Incorporation and the Joint Powers Agreement. He also suggested that CAP make a contingency plan in case CSBG funding is cut by one-half.
Scott added that this type of move from public to non-profit agency would be a seven to ten year process. There is much to consider, as this would impact the county as a whole. Christine added that she feels a hybrid model may be the path we need to take, as our small county may be limited in its fundraising ability. Mike Murray posed the question “Can we be all things to all people?”. The future may dictate the need to re-evaluate the programs we offer.
Scott said that he will draft members from each county to review the draft report and provide feedback in a conference call next week.
VI. Presentation – CAP Plan – present/review/provide input/ accept recommendations – Christine Zoppi/Suzi Kochems - Action
Christine Zoppi commented that Scott submitted the Community Action Plan to the Board of Supervisors yesterday at the Board meeting, a process that is done every two years. She presented a slide show on Community Action, highlighting programs such as the feasibility study on senior housing needs in Glenn County done with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Citizens for Senior Housing. The project brought the developer a 4.5 million dollar HOME grant. Christine showed statistics on housing and rehabilitation, food bank services, and the formation of a Food Policy Council, which addresses topics such as food, nutrition education and how it affects the local Farmer’s Market. CAP had a role in mobilizing forces to address these issues.
Christine next described how a CAP plan is formulated. She noted every two years, by using surveys, focus groups, census data, public hearings and listening to the Board’s input, a plan is developed. She next showed statistics on poverty and unemployment in all three counties. She also showed statistics on education in the three counties, relating education’s impact on employment and quality of life.
Christine added that Suzi has been updating the Community Action Partnership website, as the younger generation in the counties uses this social media tool. In the Continuum of Care, there is a question concerning sustainability. Our three areas of Hamilton City, Mad River and Williams will stay the same for the next two years. We will be sending out Requests for Proposal in the fall for Colusa and Trinity Counties. She also mentioned that as the Human Resource Agency merges with Health Services, there may be opportunities to find better locations for some of the Glenn County based programs, such as domestic violence and child abuse treatment.
Suzi passed out copies of the plan, and also emailed the report to the board. She will also distribute a copy of the annual report.
Christine asked for a motion to approve the CAP plan as described. M/S S. Bechtold/M. Murray. Unanimous.
VII. Program Reports – Staff
A. Program updates/grants status
We were awarded an Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) for Trinity County to support their transitional housing program. The ESG Grant for Colusa County was not funded. We were awarded
training and technical assistance funding under CSBG for asset mapping.
VIII. Board Member/Individual County Issues – Open discussion on emerging regional issues
A. Colusa County
John Vafis commented that he had been in contact with a volunteer fireman who had fourteen hogs donated to them after the county fair. The firemen wanted to donate the meat to the needy. This is an untapped resource, and John encouraged other counties to research this in their own areas. Elizabeth said they are preparing for the Affordable Care Act by hiring staff to handle the increased work load. They are developing a welfare fraud unit, which they have never had. She is also concerned about the public health realignment and how it will affect CMSP counties. She noted that Mark Marshall pointed out that they have not had to lay off employees or do furloughs since 2007, and she feels they are in good financial shape. Lora Ceccon commented on the ESG grant that was not funded was to go towards transitional housing.
B. Glenn County
Rev. Phil Zabell says he has a site coordinator hopefully coming on board to oversee the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Glenn Communities Working Together is in the final stages of getting the financial feasible report for market rate senior housing from Che Partners. The market rate housing project may not be feasible, due to the county’s population and financial demographics. The food bank is having transitional issues with funding. He also commented that there is a group trying to revitalize Andy’s theater, and they are currently looking for funding sources.
C. Trinity County
Linda Wright said they are doing a statewide recruitment for her position. Her staff is preparing for the Affordable Care Act, even though they are currently understaffed at this time. Linda noted that they are also checking into providing extra security for the staff.
D. Hospital/Health Care Reform/CMSP – Scott Gruendl
None
E. Green and Renewable Energy – None
None
F. Other Universal Concerns- None
None
VIII. Governing Board Actions
See the back of the agenda.
IX. Confirmation of next meeting date – Steve Soeth, Board Chairperson
The next meeting will be in Colusa County on September 25th. The Weaverville meeting will wait until the road construction is completed.
X. Adjournment – 1:21 p.m.
Respectfully submitted by:
Connie Scott
Office Assistant III, Glenn County Human Resource Agency
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