Present: D. Winch, F. Proto, C. Evans, S. Stein (arrived at 9:25 a.m.)

Excused: S. Davis

Mr. Winch called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m.

The COFA item was withdrawn and replaced with items from the Youth Bureau.

Mr. Winch said he has always had an interest in senior housing issues; he recently ran across an article that was in the March 1 issue of Newsweek and distributed copies regarding the senior citizen population and how seniors typically do not support school budgets.

It was MOVED by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Proto, and unanimously adopted by voice vote by members present, to approve the minutes of June 10 as submitted. MINUTES APPROVED.

Ms. Zahler provided an update on what funding the Youth Board has recommended in year 2000. She said all programs are on track and continued funding is being recommended. They are recommending on the municipal side, to reauthorize the same amount of funding but to maintain the current level of services; there will be some over target requests to maintain salaries and fringes. She said since there is no State budget in place, they are preparing a budget that based on the amounts received from the State last year. The resolution being presented to the Committee was a result of the Planning, Intergovernmental Relations, and Education Committee.

Mr. Stein said this has been a very long process, and is uncomfortable about the long, drawn out process of people not coming forward stating that the County is going to be responsible for this. He suggested approving this for half a year and placing the remainder in escrow until a plan is brought forward. He feels this may place pressure on this group to come to a conclusion. He asked that Ms. Zalher to relate this message and concern to the group. Mr. Evans said he has attended some of these meetings and said the towns are listening in good faith. It started out being a $40,000 County contribution that was to be reduced to 20,000 and then 10,000. The second year they were told the towns couldn’t contribute any more money and it went to $35,000. A lot of the negotiations are taking place between the towns and the Ithaca City School District. Mr. Evans questioned how this is going to help the entire County if the since the County is going to be financing it.

Mr. Proto agrees with Mr. Stein's comments but cautioned placing a hardship on the towns’ budget planning process.

It was MOVED by Mr. Proto, seconded by Mr. Stein, to approve the following resolution and submit to the full Board:

WHEREAS, the nine municipalities participating in the Recreation Partnership are all actively participating in reviewing the current system to develop a proposed system for the future, and

WHEREAS, the elected and appointed officials servicing on the Recreation Planning Committee convened by the County’s Planning and Intergovernmental Relations and Education Committee are not yet ready to make recommendations to take effect January 2000, and

WHEREAS, the participating municipalities are committed to financially maintaining the current Partnership during 2000 while they continue planning for 2001 and beyond, and

WHEREAS, the municipal officials on the Recreation Planning group have asked the County to continue its $35,000 annual share of the Partnership scheduled to end in 1999 through 2000, now therefore be it

RESOLVED, on recommendation of the Health and Human Services Committee, That the County commends the efforts of the Recreation Planning Group to date and agrees to continue to participate as a partner during the balance of 1999 and into early 2000 to develop a mutually agreeable plan in a thorough way for 2001 and beyond by June 1, 2000,

RESOLVED, further, That the County Youth Bureau be and hereby is directed to submit a budget request in the amount of $35,000 to continue its contribution in the Partnership for 2000 on behalf of the nine municipalities participating in the Recreation Partnership with the understanding that this request from municipalities will be considered separately from the County Youth Bureau’s other budget requests and that it will be acted on during the normal budget review and adoption procedures,

RESOLVED, further, That the County will continue to have input into future planning and that any request for funds for 2001 and beyond will be carefully evaluated by appropriate County committees during 2000.

SEQR ACTION: TYPE II-20

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It was MOVED by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Proto, and unanimously adopted by voice vote by members present, to approve the following budget adjustment:

REVENUE: 7027.42089 Recreation Charges - $40,000

7027.43820 Programs for Youth - $25,283

APPROPRIATION: 7027.54400 Program Expense $40,000

7026.54400 Program Expense $25,283

EXPLANATION:

1. Learning Web has decided not to accept the Learn and Serve America Grant of $40,000 for 1999, this money was just passed through the Youth Bureau budget and did not affect the County cost.
2. 15 out of 16 municipalities now swap their State aid eligibility from the same amount of County dollars for ease of contracting, claiming and tracking. Mistakenly all 16 municipalities' amounts were "swapped". The City of Ithaca will continue to receive their State aid as a direct contract with the State. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the revenue in account 020 and correspondingly the appropriation in account

Ms. Brazauskas reported the Special Children’s Center has withdrawn from their five-year contract and will no longer transporting children effective September 1^st . Ms. Brazauskas said the County has contracted with the Special Children's Center to provide this service for several years; however, due to high costs and a continued decrease in children enrolled in their programs (the number of children now involved is approximately 35), they feel they can no longer provide this service. She said she and Chris Brill of the Finance Department have been working on preparing and sending out proposals. These proposals have gone out and are due to return on July 16; they anticipate awarding this contract in August. She reported there have been a number of interested parties, including one local inquiry. Mr. Evans noted this is not the first time the Special Children’s Center has attempted to get out of a contract.

Mr. Ferrari brought the Committee up-to-date on some projects AIDS Work has been working on. He announced he has resigned his position at AIDS Work and be assuming the position of Executive Director of Catholic Charities of Tompkins County. Valerie Raines will be the interim Director of AIDS Work during the transition period. Mr. Ferrari updated the Committee on funding for the Needle Exchange Program and stated the Harm Reduction of the AIDS Institute of the New York State Department of Health let them know that Tompkins County's waiver process will not be looked at before January 1, 2000; therefore, the expectation of launching the program in the Fall of 1999 needs to be moved back to some time in 2000. He said additional endorsements received include Cornell University Health Services, Ithaca Rape Crisis, Planned Parenthood, Tompkins County Chapter of NOW, and others. Mr. Ferrari said the media has continued to provide positive coverage on this program. He also reported there has been no movement on this issue at the federal level.

Ms. Dill reported the Labor Coalition lost some major funding for an ergonomics program they have had in the County and since the Human Services Coalition does not feel that this issue falls under the auspices of the Human Services Board, she has forwarded them to this Committee.

Mr. Foyer of the Labor Coalition said their efforts over the past year have been to implement a musculoskeletal injury prevention program in the workplace for the County and businesses within Tompkins County. They have been working under a grant from the New York State Department of Labor and began the program last year. He said for the first time in ten years they have not been refunded by the New York State Department of Labor so they are making efforts to make sure the program is retained for the County. He said there is no other ergonomist or program like this that is available on a no fee or low fee basis in the County. They are planning to do outreach next year to increase awareness that the program exists. They are asking the County to support he program and provide a $4,000 grant. Mr. Foyer said they will also be approaching the City of Ithaca and others, including Cornell University for funding as well.

Mr. Foyer clarified that the funding loss is for the funding year August 1, 1999 thru July 31, 1999. They do have other grants that they will use for the remainder of 2000 and are asking to be included in the County’s 2000 budget. Mr. Winch asked Mr. Benjamin to figure out which department or committee should be included in this and bring back a proposal. Mr. Stein said it is important to sort out what services they provide to small businesses and what they do for County employees.

Mr. Evans asked if this is an emergency request for next year or ongoing funding. Mr. Foyer said he sees this as an emergency request and expects that they will be funded in the future.

It was MOVED by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Proto, and unanimously adopted by voice vote by members present, to approve the following resolution and submit to the full Board:

WHEREAS, there has been an increase in the amount of time our psychiatrists have been devoting to routine procedures such as renewing prescriptions and initial and follow-up physical examinations, and

WHEREAS, the creation of a Nurse Practitioner/Physicians Assistant position would free psychiatrists staff to perform other more important duties, and

WHEREAS, the Nurse Practitioner/Physicians Assistant position would be providing direct medical services which would cause an increase in fee producing units of service, not therefore be it

RESOLVED, on recommendation of the Health and Human Services Committee, That one (1) position of Nurse Practitioner, (18/712), labor grade R (18), competitive class, be created effective immediately,

RESOLVED, further, That no new money is needed for the creation of said position.

SEQR ACTION: TYPE II-20

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Mr. Deluca said a program currently exists to provide day treatment services in conjunction with the Special Children's Center and BOCES to children who have been identified by special education programs in school districts. He said these two agencies work together and provide a very successful day treatment program. Mr. Deluca said he was recently contacted by BOCES about a program they learned of downstate for kids that are not identified by special education programs. The program is a short-term day treatment program for children would be identified prior to needing special education services to avoid behaviors that escalate into fairly serious problems. BOCES would like to set up a day treatment program at Dewitt Middle School; however the Office of Mental Health has stated that BOCES cannot expand their day treatment program. The program BOCES observed is run by their psychiatric center and the only way they would be allowed to create such a program would be to have BOCES contract with the County and the County contract with the Special Children's Center, thus, having the County as a pass through. The Community Mental Health Services Board has approved the concept of this program that would cost approximately $75,000 with monies flowing in the direction stated. Mr. Deluca asked

direction from the Committee to proceed with pursuing this contract, having the County as a pass through. The Committee directed Mr. Deluca to proceed with this.

Mr. Evans said he asked Mr. Deluca to bring this issue which is leftover from last year’s budget process, to the Committee. Mr. Deluca said last year the Board vote to set the Mental Health Target at an amount below what they were requesting; part of that funding was for the staff psychologist position. He had been hoping to receive State funding for the position and will not be receiving that. He said this leaves him with proceeding with recruiting a psychologist and requesting Contingency Funds. Ms. West suggested because there are so many variables in the Mental Health Department's budget and because the budget is large enough, to just fill the position and not go to the Contingent Fund and to place this in the 2000 budget.

Mr. Deluca said the Board specifically said during the budget process last year that it did not want to fund the position at that time because there was a possibility it would receive State funding. If that didn’t happen, it was recommended that he ask for Contingent Funds. Following discussion it was recommended that a resolution be approved for $40,000 from the Contingent Fund for 1999 and that it be a permanent target increase for the Department for 2000.

Mr. Deluca reported on the Medicaid audit that was happening across the State and said the State will be taking $153,000 back in Medicaid of the $2 million that they receive from the Mental Health Department. This is an example of the swings in the budget the Department can have from year to year.

Due to the length of time the subject of Mental Health Funding would take and the interest the Budget and Quality Planning Committee would have, Ms. West was asked to see if this item could be added to the Budget and Personnel Committee’s agenda for July 15^th. (This item was placed on the agenda for that meeting)

Ms. Walker said the EOC Board is made up three sectors – low income, private sector, and the public sector. In the past the public sector has always been appointed by the County Board. There have been some changes at the State level has changed the rules and now say that the public sector all have to be elected representatives. She said at the current time this effects three persons on the Board. (Gil Levine, Dryden; Marnie Johnson, Caroline; and Ron Dez of Lansing). The only elected official they have right now is Nancy Schuler, member of the Board of Representatives. They also have one vacancy at this time.

Ms. Walker stated these representatives would no longer need to be appointed by the Board of Representatives; therefore, there would be no role for the County to play other than appointing its own representative to fill one of the elected official slots. Mr. Evans suggested having the town supervisor or town board appoint the person, and leave it up to the town boards to authorize who they want to fill those seats.

The Committee felt it would be useful to have documented idea of how these individuals will be appointed. Mr. Benjamin suggested a rotation system be used with municipalities.

Mr. Winch said he does no feel that town boards take liaisonship to boards as serious as he would like them to. He would like to see the County representative receive a letter alerting them that there will be solicitation in a particular municipality for representation on this Board. Mr. Benjamin will work with Ms. Walker on this.

It was decided that for the current individuals, letters will be sent to Board of Representatives representing the municipalities involved, Ms. Walker will send a letter to the Board representative asking them to authorize those same individuals to continue. It was felt that future appointments should be made by the municipal with notification being given to County Representative.

Due to time constraints, liaison reports were deferred to the next meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m.