MINUTES
Ashtabula County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board
August 21, 2017
The Ashtabula County Mental Health and Recovery Services (MHRS) Board met in a regular scheduled session on Monday, August 21, 2017 at 6:30 PM at 4817 State Road, Suite 203, Ashtabula, Ohio.
MHRS Board Ms. Kay Broughton, Board President the meeting to order at 6:31 pm and asked for a roll call of those in attendance.
Board Members in attendance: Ms. Kay Broughton, Board President; Ms. Susan Deak; Mr. Terrence Blon; Mr. Larrie Puraty; Mr. Richard Dana; Ms. Terry Wereb; Mr. Richard Trice; Mr. Mathew Crawford; Pastor John Werner and Ms. Kim Whitcroft-Parker.
The following Board Members were not in attendance: Ms. Marie Lane, Board Secretary and Ms. Jasmine Hopson.
MHRS Board Staff in Attendance: Ms. Miriam Walton, Director and Ms. Bridget Sherman, Program Director.
Visitors: Mr. Willie Sims, Goodwill Industries; Ms. Karen Fronczak, Community Counseling Center; Ms. Mihaela Burtea, Signature Health and Stacy Noyes, Family Planning Association of NEO.
SWEARING IN OF NEW BOARD MEMBERS: Mr. Richard Dana, Board member and Notary, issued the oath of office in three new Board members (Mr. Mathew Crawford, Mr. Richard Trice and Pastor John Werner) and one member being reappointed (Mr. Larrie Puraty). All three new Board members introduced themselves to the Board. Current Board members also introduced themselves to the new members. New members were welcomed.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: The Minutes of the June 2017 MHRS Board Meeting were reviewed. Ms. Broughton asked if members had any additions or corrections to the minutes. Mr. Puraty moved that the minutes of the June 2017 meeting be approved as submitted. Ms. Whitcroft-Parker seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously with Ms. Wereb, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Trice and Pastor Werner abstaining due to the fact that they were not in attendance at the June meeting.
FINANCIAL REPORTS:
A. Fiscal ReportS—Ms. Walton reviewed the July fiscal report with the Board. Ms. Walton noted that the June report is still being updated as we have not closed out state fiscal year 2017. Mr. Dana requested that Ms. Walton walked the Board members through the reports and give a thorough explanation of the Board functions and processes for the new Board members. Ms. Walton explained the mandate of the Board, the contracting process and the services the Board currently contracts for with the OhioMHAS certified agencies. Mr. Walton explained the Community Planning process and the mandate for the Continuum of Care. Mr. Dana added some comments on the challenges the Board faces.
B. SFY 2016 Annual Report- Ms. Walton reviewed the report with the Board, and reminded them that any questions may be directed to her. Mr. Dana moved to accept the financial reports as submitted. Ms. Wereb seconded. Financial reports were approved unanimously.
REPORTS:
A. BOARD PRESIDENT’S REPORT: Ms. Broughton explained that Pastor Meranda was not only a great Board member but also the Board Vice-President. And, since the Board was in the second year of the officers’ two-year term, the Board would need to go through the process of electing a new Vice-President to serve out Pastor Meranda’s term. Ms. Broughton asked Ms. Walton if the Board by-laws had a process for mid-term elections. Ms. Walton stated that the by-laws are silent on mid-term elections and there is no precedent for this event. After some discussion about how to proceed, Mr. Dana moved that Mr. Puraty be elected Board Vice-President to serve out Pastor Meranda’s term. Ms. Whitcroft-Parker seconded the motion. Mr. Puraty agreed to serve if elected. Ms. Broughton called for a vote. Mr. Puraty was elected Board Vice-President unanimously.
B. DIRECTOR:
1. Enterprise System and Medicaid Redesign Implementation Updates—Ms. Walton informed the Board that the progress with the implementation of the Smart Care system is on track and that the agencies will be attending training offered by the PartnerSolutions Boards on managed care preparations. Ms. Sherman will also be attending the training. The action around the state budget has now resulted in the implementation of managed care for the behavioral health system being delayed again until July 1, 2018. Medicaid Redesign will be delayed until January 1, 2018. The constant changes have resulted in a delay in our contracting process as the Board’s services contract had to be updated to reflect the changes at the state level. Board members asked about the Medicaid penetration rate. Ms. Walton stated that it was at or above 25% before Medicaid expansion. Ms. Walton stated that PartnerSolutions sends us Expansion reports on expansion that could be reverse engineered to give us this data. Ms. Walton will reach out to PartnerSolutions and see what we can get from them.
2. Technology Updates—Ms. Walton stated that the Board Administrative Assistant, Ms. Wells, received a second screen for her computer. The second screen will be needed so that she can do Medicaid lookups in the state GFMS while also being logged into SmartCare. For the new Board members Ms. Walton gave a short explanation of the MACSIS billing system process that was statewide, the state’s decision to close MACSIS and the Boards’ need to have a system that will allow for electronic billing and data collection in order for the Boards to meet their ORC 340 mandates and service the residents of our county.
3. Medicaid Redesign- No new updates.
4. Additional State and Local Update—1) The County Commissioners invited Ms. Walton to join them in a meeting with U.S. Representative David Joyce. The meeting was yesterday and went very well. The meeting gave Ms. Walton the opportunity to update and educate Rep. Joyce on what is happening here in the county, why Medicaid Expansion is so important to Ashtabula County and what we are doing with the 21st Century Cures funding we will be receiving through OhioMHAS; 2) Ms. Walton announced that Lake Area Recovery Center was having a celebration of their 50th year serving the residence of Ashtabula County on September 23rd at Spire in Geneva. Ms. Walton will be attending; 3) Through the 21st Century Cures Act Funding the state will be expanding prevention efforts. There will be some additional prevention funding available for prevention in the schools as well as funding for the PAX Good Behavior Game. Ms. Walton stated that she will keep the Board informed as she learns more; 4) Ms. Walton stated that the Ambulatory Withdrawal Management project is moving forward and the state is pleased about where we are at in the process: 5) August 31st is Overdose Awareness Day. There will be a short program in Jefferson at the Old Court House at 1:30 p.m. The flags will be on the Court House lawn through the end of the month. At this point we are looking at over 300 overdose survivals and over 30 deaths since January 1, 2017; 6) August 27th is Light the Night in Conneaut. This is a program to commemorate Overdose Awareness Day and thank first responders; 7) The Board staff will be narrowing the focus of the Mental Health Emergency Assistance funding granted by the Board. The purpose of the move will be to ensure that we are targeting those individuals who are truly in need of assistance to keep them stable in the community and that all other local resources are used first; 8) Ms. Walton informed the Board that she continues to work with the Community Corrections Board on the updated plan and that the Board has been invoiced for the Board approved funds to aid in the process of securing the contractor for the planning process; 9) Ms. Sherman announced that Ms. Walton was presented with an award from the Ashtabula County Educational Services Center and the County School Superintendents for the work accomplished with the schools over the past few years. The presentation was made at the Administrators Retreat the beginning of August at the Geneva Lodge where Ms. Walton and Ms. Park did pre-school year presentations.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
A. GRANT SEARCHES— Ms. Walton informed the Board that the Board has been informed that it will be in receipt of the OhioMHAS Collective Impact Grant after the second round of applications have been processed. The amount of the grant has also been increased from $10,000 to $20,000. The Board staff will be discussing the increase with the Substance Abuse Leadership Team to see if they have ideas for expending the new funds. Also, the Board is working closely with the Sheriff’s Department on an Attorney General grant for a Quick Response Team. The Sheriff’s Department put this group together quickly and worked hard to get the application in on time. A QRT would allow a law enforcement officer and a treatment staff person to visit an individual who had survived an overdose within 72 hours of the incident and offer them treatment services.
B. Grant Reports- No new reports at this time.
C. PROGRAM UPDATES— Ms. Walton stated that the BHCJ Grant has been funded for another year. RSAT grant has still not been awarded by the Office of Criminal Justice Services so we are still waiting on the announcement. Other end of SFY 2017 program reports will be available for September Board meeting.
D. COalition Reports— Housing Coalition: NONE. Suicide Prevention Coalition: Race is September 9th. An art show is scheduled for November. Suicide are up to 18 thus far this year. This is more than the entire number we had in calendar year 2016 Prevention Coalition: The Opiate Summit will now be called Operation: PART (Prevention, Awareness, Recovery and Treatment) and planning continues to go well. The Prevention Coalition is also planning for the National Evaluation Team visit August 24th and 25th. Overdose deaths continue to rise. We are currently at over 30 thus far in the calendar year. The Coalition Media Event is August 25th at 9:00 a.m. at the Old Court House in the Commissioners’ Meeting Room. Board members are welcome to attend. We will be honoring community champions in prevention. Evaluators for the DFC will be visiting on the 24th and 25th as well. The evaluators will be visiting coalition members, interviewing, and observing some coalition events. The coalition will be included in a report. Mr. Puraty asked if there was a way to learn about all of the coalition events through a listing. Ms. Walton stated that she would get the Board members on the Prevention Coalition newsletter list. It comes out monthly with everything in the calendar. Board members can also check the Coalition Facebook page.
E. substance abuse leadership team—Ms. Walton passed around the “Your Life Matters” cards for the Board members to review. Ms. Walton also gave the Board a quick review of the last few meetings.
F. NALOXONE DISTRIBUTION EVENT UPDATE: Ms. Walton updated the Board that the County Health Department will be receiving additional Narcan for on distribution to first responders.
G. BOARD SFY 2018 BUDGET-FAMILY PLANNING REQUEST: Ms. Walton reviewed the Family Planning proposal for life skills in the schools and in the community. Ms. Walton explained that the life skills training Family Planning would like to do in the schools is similar to Botvin Lifeskills but has a reproductive health component. It is not an evidence-based program but based on some evidence-based curriculum. Ms. Walton expounded that life skills training is a recovery support service on the state list of recovery support services and may be a useful addition to treatment groups at the various agencies. There was Board discussion in regards to limits of the time schools have for outside programming. Board members questioned how many schools now receive Botvin through UHHS or other sources. Ms. Walton stated that Botvin is in every school district but not in every school building and every grade level. Geneva and Buckeye have the most classrooms and grade levels. After additional discussion, Mr. Dana moved that the Board fund Family Planning life skills training in the amount of $20,000 for the purpose of delivering the service to adults in the various agency mental health and substance abuse treatment groups for the purpose of providing life skills as a recovery support service coordinated with the local providers. Pastor Werner seconded the motion. Ms. Broughton asked for any further discussion. With no further discussion Ms. Broughton called for a vote. The motion passed unanimously.
A. LIGHT THE NIGHT DONATION: Ms. Walton stated that the Board recently received about $4,000 from the Light the Night 5K for the purpose of purchasing Botvin Lifeskills materials. Ms. Walton will purchase the books based on the needs of the trainers.
B. BEST IN COUNTY: Ms. Walton announced that the Board’s Prevention Coalition is a finalist for the Best in County in the area of community vitality. Ms. Walton stated that the Board does not usually attend the event but most likely we should attend. Ms. Walton said that a table of 10 is $800, a single is $85. The event is September 19th at Spire beginning at 5:30. The Board discussed the cost of the event and whether or not the Board should pay for a table. Mr. Dana suggested that some Board members may be interested in assisting the Board with the cost of a table at the event. Mr. Dana volunteered to contribute $200 to cover the cost of a table. Mr. Trice stated that he would also contribute $200 towards the cost of a table as well. Mr. Crawford moved that the Board cover the remaining cost of a table for Best in County so that Board members, Board staff and Coalition members, who would not normally have the opportunity to attend the event, are able to attend the event September 19th. Ms. Deak seconded the motion. Ms. Broughton asked for further discussion. With no further discussion Ms. Broughton asked for a vote: The motion passed with 8 yeses and 1 no. Mr. Puraty is on record with a no vote. Mr. Dana suggested that the Board look for any other donations to offset the cost if at all possible.