To: Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Department or Agency Name(s): Human Services
Staff Name and Phone Number: Karen Fies, 565-6990
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Countywide
Title:
Title
Expedited Approval of Human Services Department Positions Included in FY 20/21 Budget
End
Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Adopt a position resolution approving the addition of 6.0 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) positions for Human Services: 1.0 FTE Time-Limited Public Assistance Systems Specialist; 1.0 FTE Time-Limited Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst; 1.0 FTE Program Development Manager; 2.0 FTE Children’s Residential Care Counselors; 1.0 FTE Time-Limited Public Assistance System Technician.
end
Executive Summary:
The Human Services Department is requesting six new positions to support safety net programs and services integral to the health and safety of our community. The department is requesting approval to fill these positions now given that they have confirmed funding and the positions are needed immediately.
The positions being requested are 1.0 FTE Time-Limited Public Assistance Systems Specialist for the CalSAWS project; 1.0 FTE Time-Limited Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst for Adult & Aging; 1.0 FTE Program Development Manager for the South County Center; 2.0 FTE Children’s Residential Care Counselors for Valley of the Moon Children’s Center; 1.0 FTE Time-Limited Public Assistance System Technician for Family, Youth & Children.
Discussion:
The Human Services Department submitted its Fiscal Year 2020-2021 budget which included numerous positions to be added to the department. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the County budget process differs from previous years in that new positions were not considered in June and the budget will not be finalized until September.
Human Services has a number of positions which have secured funding and are needed prior to the September budget process. The following new positions are requested to be added to the Human Services Department as of August 4, 2020:
1.0 FTE Time-Limited Public Assistance Systems Specialist (Information Technology)
Due to the Federal requirement for California to transition to a single statewide automated eligibility system by the year 2024, the Human Services Information Technology section is requesting an additional 1.0 Time-Limited FTE Public Assistance Systems Specialist (PASS) to support this effort. This position and project are in direct support of the primary eligibility system related to Federal and State programs including SNAP, CalFresh, Medi-Cal, CalWORKs, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Despite the widespread impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, the California Statewide Automated Welfare System Consortium (CalSAWS) project continues to move forward on schedule with planning and implementation of the automated system across the state. It is mandatory that all counties prepare for the system and participate in its implementation. This position is needed to complete crucial work on this project that existing staff do not have the capacity to do, and will help ensure that Sonoma County does not fall behind with planning and preparations for the new system.
Conversion kick-offs for ancillary systems have begun and the new organizational change management vendor is expected to begin working directly with the county in the fall to begin developing an implementation plan. Failure to add the PASS position dedicated to assist with the planning, conversion, training and implementation of the new system will likely lead to a problematic system implementation. This will have a negative impact to our clients’ ability to receive federal and state mandated services in the future. We would expect service challenges, lagging timeliness, data defects, and potential financial liability due to our inability to meet required service level agreements.
Funding for this position is provided via the CalSAWS Design, Development and Implementation allocation and is included in the State budget. Funding is available annually from the State to pay for the position, which will be time-limited through the end of FY 2023-2024 when the CalSAWS project is scheduled to be completed.
1.0 FTE Time-Limited Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst (Adult & Aging)
The Human Services Adult & Aging Division is requesting an additional 1.0 FTE Time-Limited Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst (PPEA) to support a number of grant initiatives focused on providing additional support to older adults, especially during this time when services are needed more than ever for vulnerable seniors.
The PPEA will administer both the CalFresh Healthy Living program and the Dignity at Home Fall Prevention Program. The connection of these funding streams is community outreach, support, and coordinated access to the county’s most vulnerable older adults. If this position is not added now, the department will not have the ability to provide seniors with much needed services and will not be able to expend the grant funding already received.
The many impacts to older adults as a result of the coronavirus pandemic justify the need for this position to be added immediately. The CalFresh Healthy Living Program provides ongoing funding for the position, which will take the lead in community organizing and systems development work with community partners to assist in identifying appropriate programs for the physical and nutritional well-being of older adults. This position will leverage existing fall prevention efforts including “A Matter of Balance,” which is an existing evidence-based falls prevention program in Sonoma County for older adults to improve their balance, strength and flexibility while also developing assertiveness skills and challenging fears of falling.
The PPEA will employ Results Based Accountability (RBA) tools to ensure the program is meeting the needs of older adults in Sonoma County, and will conduct outreach to ensure eligible program enrollment is maximized. The PPEA will collect and maintain program data for reporting (including number of completed assessments, number of clients served, falls prevention equipment purchased, number of in-home assessments performed) and administer program evaluation and quality assurance tools such as client satisfaction surveys and questionnaires.
Total funding for this position is provided by three separate funding sources: Mental Health Services Act funds; the CalFresh Healthy Living (SNAP-Ed) program; and the Dignity at Home Fall Prevention Program. SNAP-Ed and Dignity at Home grants were already approved for FY 20-21. The position is time-limited through June 30, 2022.
1.0 FTE Program Development Manager (South County Center)
Due to increased outreach efforts and the planned closure of the public lobby at our Santa Rosa’s Mendocino Avenue location, the number of walk-in clients at the South County Center (SCC) in Petaluma increased 61% in 2019. We anticipate that the increased daily volume of clients at the SCC will be ongoing as caseloads continue to increase. After having closed the lobby due to the coronavirus pandemic, the lobby reopened part-time starting July 6, 2020, from 8:00am - 12:00pm Monday through Friday. In the first two weeks of the lobby reopening, the SCC served 114 clients. Although the lobby is only open part-time for now, there are staff in the building as early as 7:00am and as late as 6:00pm. Given that staff are working full days in the building, a dedicated manager is needed to be on-site full-time as a resource and for safety reasons.
Due to the transition of the previous manager back to the Adult & Aging Division to address increased business needs, the SCC no longer has an on-site manager with primary responsibility for overseeing approximately 50 staff, various county and community partners, and the overall day-to-day operations. This includes supporting public lobby functions and intervening with challenging client situations, collaborating with and outreaching to local nonprofits, and supporting staff with personnel or facility issues as they arise. Additionally, the position is needed to oversee the provision of state mandated services by all four HSD divisions at the South County Center. Mandated programs provided at the SCC include Child Protective Services, Adult Protective Services, In-Home Supportive Services, Medi-Cal, CalFresh, and CalWORKs programs. Partner on-site services include Legal Aid of Sonoma County and Sonoma County Department of Child Support Services, with plans for expansion of additional in-office partnerships when possible. In order to adequately support staff and operations, ensure safety, and most effectively serve residents in the southern part of the county, a dedicated on-site manager is needed now.
Funding for the position will come from available increases in CalFresh, Medi-Cal and CalWORKs allocations.
2.0 FTE Children’s Center Residential Counselor (Valley of the Moon)
Valley of the Moon Children’s Center (VMCC) has a mandated staff to youth ratio of 1:4 from 8am-10pm and 1:6 from 10pm-8am per the facility license. VMCC has permanent staffing to serve no more than 20 youth at a time, which translates to 5 staff from 8am-10pm and 3-4 staff overnight from 10pm-8am. Over the past two years, VMCC has often exceeded 20 youth in the facility, resulting in the need for additional staffing 25% of the time. Additional staffing is also required when caring for youth with acute needs and severe emotional behaviors including injury to self or others, suicidal ideation, sexualized predatory behavior, and/or release from a psychiatric hospital. The number of high acuity youth has increased significantly, such that 64% of the time additional staffing has been required to address youth with acute needs.
The current staffing structure requires the use of extra help and/or overtime to fill the gaps in coverage to meet the required ratios. The current pool of extra help staff has not been able to meet the ongoing staffing needs, so VMCC has had to use a combination of voluntary and mandatory overtime for permanent staff. These short-term staffing strategies are expensive and uncertain.
Family, Youth & Children’s Services (FYC) has decreased spending on three service provider contracts in order to fund the two additional CRCC positions. The contract reductions are in wraparound services, which provides intensive case management and therapeutic services to youth and their caregivers. Based on management monitoring of the contracts, the services offered were being underutilized by clients. Thus, management determined that contract reductions were warranted, which would allow redirection of resources for better use.
Relying on extra help and overtime to staff VMCC is a short-term solution that does not stabilize operations nor provide consistent and reliable staffing coverage. Permanent CRCC staff will better support VMCC operations and more effectively provide services to the children in their care. To address staffing needs, reduce costs, and better provide services, VMCC requests the addition of 2.0 FTE permanent CRCC positions.
From a fiscal perspective, funding sources to pay for the CRCC positions are secured for the foreseeable future. Two funding sources--the Independent Living Program (ILP) and the Child Abuse Prevention Service (CAPS)--are state and Federal allocations, respectively, which are issued annually. These stable revenue streams are what fund the contracts being reduced; funding for the contracts will be redirected to pay the CRCC positions.
There are two fiscal distinctions that should be pointed out regarding the proposed CRCC positions. First, the addition of the 2.0 CRCC positions will be paid for by expense reductions of contracts in addition to the department’s proposed $752,000 expense reductions in the Family, Youth and Children Division presented at the budget workshop on July 28th, 2020. The reduction of $752,000 was necessitated by a shortfall in Realignment tax receipts. The contract cuts to pay for the CRCC’s, on the other hand, are strategic: HSD management intends to invest in the CRCC permanent staff by redirecting dollars away from contracts. Second, the strategic aim of hiring the 2.0 CRCC positions is to avoid paying for temporary staff and overtime. The CRCC positions will allow HSD to produce savings and help manage the proposed extra help and overtime budget costs presented at the budget workshop on July 28th.
1.0 FTE Time-Limited Public Assistance Systems Technician (Family, Youth & Children)
The Family, Youth and Children (FYC) Division is in the process of implementing a new software application to replace the antiquated Child Welfare Case Management System (CWS/CMS) for administering Child Welfare services, as required by the State. The projected timeline for implementing the new Child Welfare Services - California Automated Response and Engagement System (CWS-CARES) is July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022.
CWS/CMS is a statewide system for providing child welfare services and is FYC’s most complex and mission critical system, used widely to provide case management and operational reports to social work and program staff. The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) is leading a total reconfiguration of the system over a multi-year period, resulting in the entirely new CWS-CARES system. The State has directed counties to have resources available to manage the mandatory roll-out of this new system and has allocated resources for additional positions for this purpose.
Among other duties, the PAST position will be responsible for reviewing and documenting current and anticipated workflow requirements, analyzing client/case data for data migration and quality assurance activities, overseeing data cleanup as required by CDSS, providing day-to-day technical support to 200 users, and proposing practice changes resulting from the implementation of the new system. FYC does not currently have a position with the capacity or technical expertise to take on the workload required for this project.
During the implementation timeline, funding for this position will be provided by CDSS State Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) funds, and this funding is included in the State budget. FYC also anticipates being able to use an increased state allocation related to implementing the new CWS-CARES system next fiscal year and in the future. The position is time-limited through June 30, 2022.
Prior Board Actions:
June 2, 2020: Board adopted a resolution to accept $143,750 in revenue from the California Department of Aging for the Dignity at Home program
September 17, 2019: Board adopted a resolution to accept $73,628 in revenue from the California Department of Aging for the CalFresh Healthy Living program.
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 20-21 Adopted |
FY21-22 Projected |
FY 22-23 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
|
|
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
890,500 |
1,000,100 |
705,300 |
|
Total Expenditures |
$890,500 |
$1,000,100 |
$705,300 |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal |
890,500 |
1,000,100 |
705,300 |
|
Fees/Other |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$890,500 |
$1,000,100 |
$705,300 |
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
The first year (FY 20-21) costs are pro-rated for the 6.0 FTEs to start in August 2020 in the amount of $890,500 if approval is granted by the Board. Full year costs plus a COLA of 3% is assumed for the 2 subsequent fiscal years. There are 3.0 Time-Limited and 3.0 Permanent FTEs proposed.
Time-Limited FTEs
The time-limited positions include the 1.0 FTE Program Planning & Evaluation Analyst (PPEA) and the 1.0 FTE Public Assistance Systems Technician (PAST), both scheduled to end on 06/30/2022, and the 1.0 FTE Public Assistance Systems Specialist (PASS) scheduled to end on 06/30/2024.
The PPEA position will be paid for by three funding sources available until the position end date and according to the following ratio: (1) 35% from Mental Health Services Act, or $53,795; (2) 25% from Dignity at Home Falls Prevention program, or $38,425; and (3) 40% from SNAP-Ed, or $61,480. The PAST position will be funded with $141,996 from the SACWIS/CWS-CARES grant award. The PASS position will be fully funded by a state grant in the amount of $311,994 annually until the migration from CalWIN to CalSAWS is completed by 06/30/2024. (Note: the state systems migration project experiences numerous delays, but state funding is firmly committed via annual allocations since continued Federal block-grant funding requires that the project be completed.) Year 3 subtotals in the Fiscal Summary Table above reflect this trend.
Permanent FTEs
The 1.0 FTE Program Development Manager assigned to the Petaluma South County Center will be paid for by three funding sources according to the following ratio: (1) 41% from CalFresh, or $76,260; (2) 41% from Medi-Cal, or $76,260; and (3) 18% from CalWORKs, or $33,480. The cost of $261,000 for the Children’s Residential Care Counselor II (CRCCII) positions will be funded by the reduction to three contractual cost-cuts totaling $274K for FY2021: (1) $100K each from the MyLife contractor (for the Independent Living Program) and the Child Abuse Prevention Service contractor; (2) $74K in Parent Orientation program cuts from the California Parents Institute contractor. The priority to fund the CCRCII positions will be ongoing in subsequent years.
No additional County General Fund is requested to fund any of the requested positions.
|
Staffing Impacts: |
|
|
|
|
Position Title (Payroll Classification) |
Monthly Salary Range (A-I Step) |
Additions (Number) |
Deletions (Number) |
|
Program Development Manager |
$7,807.57 - $9,489.44 |
1 |
|
|
Children’s Residential Care Counselor |
$4,325.56 - $5,257.80 |
2 |
|
|
Public Assistance Systems Specialist |
$6,904.89 - $8,393.70 |
1 |
|
|
Program Planning and Evaluation Analyst |
$6,443.98 - $7,831.92 |
1 |
|
|
Public Assistance Systems Technician |
$5,183.01 - $6,297.88 |
1 |
|
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
The addition of the 6.0 FTE positions will address the immediate needs of the department. Position detail information has been provided within the narrative above. None of the positions will supervise other employees nor result in any compaction issues.
Attachments:
Resolution
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None