Board of Directors
December 14, 2016
Yampa River State Park
Hayden, Colorado
Members Attending: Bob Grover, Julie Pearce, Jeff Dockstader, Tom Soos,Terry Jost, Dennis Kuntz, Michael Turner, Lu Etta Loeber, and Susie Baird
Members Excused:Fred Wolf & Beth Davison
Staff Present: Susan Mizen, Matt Morrill, and Amy Ibarra
Call to Order
Bob Grover called the meeting to order.
President’s Remarks
Bob informed the board that our annual presentation to the Routt County Commissioners about the mill levy funds is Tuesday, December 20th. Lu Etta and Michael plan to attend along with the Leadership Team and Bob. Other board members are welcome. Susan distributed a draft script for the presentation and will contact Bob, Michael and Lu Etta prior to the 20th to review the script. Jana Hoffman, our Direct Support Professional who was a finalist for Alliance’s statewide award, will come to the presentation as will her supervisor, Yvonne Truelove.
Bob reminded board members of the expectation that they each make an annual gift to Horizons.
Bob noted that the board will go into executive session after the meeting to discuss 1) a client issue, and 2) the executive director’s performance.
Public Comment
There was no public comment.
Approval of Minutes
Motion: “To approve the minutes from October 12, 2016.”
First: Lu Etta Loeber
Second: Jeff Dockstader
The motion passed unanimously.
Director’s Report
Personnel:Mike Dwire is working with day program staff to bill for our services through Therap which will be more efficient.
Lynne attended the annual Employment Law seminar hosted by our employment law attorneys.
At the September meeting, the board asked for updated staff turnover information. This information will be provided at an upcoming board meeting. Alliance conducted a survey of its members so we will be able to compare our compensation package and turnover.
Kay McGill is back at work!
Eight people from Steamboat and Craig attended the annual Wellness Conference in Steamboat hosted by REPS, the suicide prevention group.
Tommy Larson organized a booth for Horizons at the Workforce Center’s Job Fair at the Sheraton. He was joined by Siobhan Balcombe and Amie Rawlings. Two people applied as a result of the job fair. We are currently fully staffed in Routt County.
Paige Kirchner offered two behavior trainings in November: Crisis Prevention and Intervention (CPI) on the 9th in Craig and Behavior Modification on the 16th in Craig.
Five program staff will attend Investigations Training in December.
Lynne and Michele are setting up a paperless system for payroll through ADP.
Finance:We were finally paid by Medicaid for ServiceCoordination we provided to children and their families. Claims had been denied since March, 2016. The solution was complicated and involved a new National Provider Id #, a new taxonomy code, updated billing codes, and creation of a link to an existing Medicaid number.
Program: We opened a new host home in Steamboat at the end of October. A man in our SLS program met the criteria for an emergency comprehensive resource due to deterioration in his health. We explored options for providing adequate supervision to him and ended up choosing a host home option. The provider is a former employee and current volunteer who already knew the individual.
Both counties celebrated Halloween with parties. In Steamboat, the Methodist Church Youth Group hosts a party for us at the church.
We sent lots of people to the regional Special Olympics bowling competition in El Jebel in October. The group from Craig spent the night and Steamboat did a down and back trip.An end-of -season Special O bowling party was held at Snowbowl.
Connections4Kids hosted a Family Fun camping night in Meeker and it was a huge success with 35 families and 123 people. Their second Family Fun night had a science theme and attracted 90 people. They held a Family Fun night in Rangely that was attended by 60 people.
The Steamboat Supported Living holiday party was December 6th at the Catamount Lake House. We were able to put the food donated by The Cabin through the Food Recovery Network to good use!
Tommy organized a crew to help set up for the community Thanksgiving dinner in Steamboat.
The NW Center for Independence started a parent group. Amy represented us at the first meeting.
Amy represented us at the Grand County Youth in Transition meeting on 12/6.
There was a Human Rights Committee meeting on 12/7.
Resource Development: Over the past month, Deirdre worked on Yampa Valley Gives (December 6th), our Little Points of Light direct mail campaign, a grant from USDA for a vehicle in Meeker, and our next CDOT grant.
Our home tour in Meeker was Sunday, December 4th from 5-8:00pm. NatoshaClatterbaugh arranged for us to hold the reception at Smoking River Studio Arts. Blanco Cellars had a wine tasting for our guests. We had $1550 in sponsorships and over $600 in in-kind donations. A mom offered a testimonial at the reception about working with Natosha that was heartfelt and moving.
Michael Toothaker gave a presentation in Craig as part of the Wellness Wednesday series.
A group of people in Craig partnered with Victory Vision to hand out hot chocolate during the Halloween stroll. Ron Schaeffer of Victory Vision wrote a check to Horizons for $2000.
Rio Blanco County awarded Horizons $8500 in use tax funds for 2017.
Horizons participated in Festivals of Trees in Moffat and Grand counties. Our tree in Grand County sold for $400. The event in Grand County was a great opportunity to tell people about the work we do.
Horizons participates in Colorado Gives Day which is locally called Yampa Valley Gives. We received $5070 in donations. Over $800 of that amount is specifically for Krsydal who needs to raise money to go to the Rock ‘n Roll Museum in Cleveland next spring.
Mountain Valley Bank is donating $4000 so that we can purchase a device to screen children’s hearing. Once our staff are trained in the use of the device, Katherine Hartley hopes to be able to screen children in Routt County who are in childcare centers. Moffat, Rio Blanco and Grand counties have hearing screening devices already (through grants).
Twenty Mile Mine donated three turkeys to Horizons.
The Carpenter Ranch Thanksgiving feast was a success again this year. The setting is beautiful and peaceful, the food is amazing, and everyone enjoys the hay ride. Thank you to Terry and Sharon for bringing their horses and wagon to the ranch.
We raised $3600 to date in the Little Points of Light campaign.
Tom Soos encouraged us to promote Amazon Smiles. If our supporters sign up, Horizons receives a percentage of their purchases. Horizons is a participating non-profit.
Housing: The sidewalk project at the Oak Street office is finished. Our snow removal costs increased slightly since we have to keep it clear.
Window replacement at Rainbow has not started yet but Dave Lindahl is ordering the windows.
A new shed was delivered to Rose Street. It is on the foundation of the garage that we demolished.
Our snow removal company in Routt County is Rocky Mountain Asphalt.
State News: Alliance has been working with a subcommittee of members to draft an Alliance response to the Conflict Free Case Management report. Susan is on the subcommittee. A draft of the response was reviewed by the full membership at Alliance and approved. It will be shared with legislators and people at the department.
At the same time, a group of CCBs have been meeting outside of Alliance to draft a letter to legislators. A draft of that letter was being reviewed by CCBs on Thursday. Amy attended the meeting and learned that the CCB letter will be held for now because of the Alliance letter.
Amy reported that the department wants to move quickly with Conflict Free Case Management. This is a concern for many reasons. One of them is that there are many new staff at the department who lack history with the DD system and are not consulting with providers.
Alliance conducted a data survey last summer about staffing issues and capacity. Information from the survey was used to write a document called A Perfect Storm for IDD Service Providers. Board members were provided with the document and with an excerpt from the data survey regarding compensation for Direct Support Professionals. This will be on the agenda of a future board meeting.
Board News: The Grand County Advisory Board met in October. Susie represented the board and ran the meeting. We talked about the challenges of starting programs in Grand County when the Medicaid funding we receive only supports group services. There is no critical mass of people with funding. We are planning an internal meeting to follow up on some of the questions people asked us.
At the last meeting, Bob asked the Executive Committee to make a recommendation about guidelines for public comment. Susan found out at the October Alliance meeting that the department is “fast tracking” guidelines for CCBs that we will be required to follow. They are trying to head off another transparency bill at the state legislature. Bob and Susan agreed to wait to see what the department does.
Soda Creek Apartments: Wade Gebhardt from Mountain Valley Bank finalized the paperwork to transfer sponsorship of our Federal Home Loan Bank grant to his bank.
Finance Report
Matt reviewed financial information through September. He cautioned the board that the surplus will not last partly because the $.60 increase had not gone into effect yet and partly because of timing. Horizons received two one-time checks - a large estate gift and an additional payment from the state to support infrastructure needs that are caused by the growth in our SLS program.
By the second quarter of the fiscal year, our revenue will be impacted by the loss of an individual in our residential program in Craig and an emergency resource in Steamboat.
Matt is projecting that we will end the year $20,000 short in the mill levy budget.
Approval of Financials
Motion: “To approve the financials through September 30, 2016.”
First: Terry Jost
Second: Michael Turner
The motion passed unanimously.
Program Presentation
Amy introduced the Family Support (FS) Program by talking about its origins. A group of parents appealed to the legislature for funding to support families by providing financial help. By financially supporting families, the state can actually save money by keeping children with developmental disabilities at home rather than costly out-of-home placements.
There are over 100 families in our service area enrolled in Family Support with about 85 of them using some funding. Amy talked about the Most in Need assessment, how requests are processed, and examples of covered services. She told the board about the FS Council and distributed a list of members. She talked about the program having value beyond the financial assistance – the Child and Family Service Coordinators who help families develop a plan for the use of their funds become an invaluable resource. They often refer families to other agencies who can help, make connections, and help families develop natural supports.
Last fiscal year, we disbursed $95,582 through the FS program. We only received $58,300 in our state contract – the rest of the funds were from the Little Points of Light campaign, Moffat Key Club, the mill levy, and other grants.
The board will be asked to approve the members of the FS Council in February after we determine how many of them are willing to continue for another two year term.
The board thanked Amy for her presentation.
Adjourn
Motion: “To adjourn the meeting to go into Executive Session to discuss a client issue and performance of the Executive Director.”
First: Terry Jost
Second: Jeff Dockstader
The motion passed unanimously and the board went into executive session.
Call to Order
Bob reconvened the board meeting to vote on two items.
Motion: “To retain private counsel in the matter of the people vs an individual receiving services from Horizons using Horizons funds.”
First: Tom Soos
Second:Dennis Kuntz
The motion passed unanimously.
Motion: “To give the Executive Director a bonus for her performance over the past two years as discussed in the Executive Session.”
First:Dennis Kuntz
Second:Jeff Dockstader
The motion passed unanimously.
Motion: “To adjourn the meeting.”
First: Dennis Kuntz
Second:Jeff Dockstader
The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned.