590  The joint meeting oft the Amelia County Social Services Advisory Board and the Administrative Board convened at 8:30 a.m., July 17, 2024, in the County Advisory Board Members Present: David Felts, Chair Stanley Wilkinson, Debra Adams, Administrative Board Taylor Harvie, (member ex officio of Advisory Board) Advisory Board Members Absent: James Foster, Vice Chair Rose Mastracco Staff Present: Audra Morris, Director, Heather Dalton, Administrative Programs Assistant II, Lynn Murphy, Family Services Supervisor, Amy Miller, Benefit Programs  Administration Conference Room.  Supervisor  Agenda Item I. Call to Order  Mr. Wilkinson called the meeting to order with a quorum present.  Agenda Item II. Approval of Minutes  On ai motion made by Miss Adams and carried, the Board approved the May 15, 2024,  meeting minutes.  Agenda Item II. Administrative Board Report A. No actions have been taken since the last board meeting. B. Mr. Harvie had no other items to report. Agenda Item V. Director's Report A. State oft the. Agency (SOTA) Address  An meeting has been scheduled for. July 30, 2024, for the heads of the Social Services State department to meet with the Director, Audra Morris, and the Supervisors ofe each unit. An invitation has been extended to the Administrative  and Advisory Board members. B. DSS Organization  Effective July 1,2 2024, the Supervisor for Monica Wilkerson has been changed to Audra Morris instead ofLynn Murphy. There are also currently 3 vacancies in the Benefits unit. An updated organization chart will be sent out to the  Administrative and Advisory Board members.  C. Unit Updates ADMIN:  Mrs. Morris will work with the Management Team to begin quarterly reporting to Mr. Felts toj provide to the BOS (per his request). The first report will be provided in September which will provide information for Board member training will need tol be completed preferably by the SOTA meeting. Board members who need assistance, were informed to reach out to Sandy Graham, Regional Administrative Manager, whose email was  FY25 1st Qtr. (June, July, & Aug).  included in the initial training email.    The agency completed the DSS FY24 under budget. One of our goals in FY25 includes research to utilize more state and federal funds to minimize Mrs. Morris requested support for fund raisers for our community partners. The fund raisers would assist the Amelia Food Pantry and Amelia County Public Schools with a school supply drive. Mr. Harvie: requested a detailed Tammy Gangwer, Administrative Services Manager recognized Heather Dalton, Administrative Program Assistant II, for doing an awesome job uplifting spirits in the office; from her short entertaining puzzles and brain breaks, emails of encouragement, and monthly calendars with fun activities for all. She has shown quite a bit ofi ingenious and originality, and we appreciate her willingness to make our days lighter in an environment that  591  the usage oflocal funds.  plan to move forward with both fund raisers.  can be quite serious and stressful.  BENEFITS:  Total SNAP benefits issued for June $263,719 (increase of $10,376 since April). TANF and Childcare remained relatively similar. FY25 started 7/1/24 and a Childcare waitlist is implemented. Clients not currently receiving TANF benefits will be placed on a Childcare waitlist. Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Mundy are in training and starting to implement the  new policy.  Closed one. AG case due to recipients passing.  Application percentages:  0 SNAP: 16% increase TANF: 50% MA:25%  Childcare decreased by 20%.  Since June 15th the agency has processed 80 Energy Assistance Cooling PIPP applications have slowed down due to EAP Cooling program. Amelia DSS has completed the PHE unwinding (renewals through 4/30/24). Benefits unit has had two resignations since 6/1/24 (one HSA III and one Requisitions are posted for the following positions: HSAI III, BPS MII, and Mrs. Miller stated staff are fulfilling multiple duties for different positions which deserves recognition for each Benefit Programs Specialist: Ashley Ashman, Shawanda Baker, Carolyn Collins, Dawn Mundy, and Emma  applications.  BPSI III). BPS III.  Snowden.  FAMILY SERVICES (May & June):  Foster Care - 5 Children in Care (Goals: 3 Adoption, 11 Relative Placement,  IL/FF) CPS-1 12 New complaints (7 were valid/5 invalid) Continued FA/nvestigations- 6 In-home -3 APS Reports - 25 (12investigations/13 invalid) Guardianship - 17 Long-term Care Screenings-8    592  Information/Referal. -1 16  Mrs. Murphy gave recognition to the Family Services Staff:  Shantel Sydnor, Family Seryices Specialist (FSS) II, redacted a document request that was over 295 pages long. This was an extremely time consuming and tedious project that required significant attention to detail. She did an excellent job and submitted Nora Barta, FSS I, received: recognition during a team meeting fora foster care youth at their group home, the youth's support team, stating she was an amazing Foster Care worker. They stated they deal with many agencies and no other worker is as supportive or responsive to their youth as Nora. They thanked her: for doing Sherri Cunningham, FSSI IV, assisted a fostering futures youth that recently entered an IL placement. She pitched in to support the primary case manager with pre-placement activities. Sherri accompanied the youth during a tour of the IL placement and helped her move into the placement. Sherri is always willing to go above and beyond and support the team any way she can.. Additionally, on PTO the first week ofJuly. Sherri, being the amazing lead worker she is, handled everything that came into the agency. When I returned to the agency everything was running smoothly, all was well. I want to thank Sherri for her leadership. Ashlyn Dixon, FSS I, is going above and beyond with her first and second-year trainings. She's been with the agency since the beginning of March and has completed many ofher first-year trainings and several ofl her second-year trainings all while managing her own caseload. Very proud ofher for her initiative, focus and hard LaChelle Spencer, FSS II, is engaged in motivational interviewing training. This 12-week training is time consuming and intensive. Several hours per week are spent in training with homework and assignments to be completed in between sessions. At the end ofthe training, LaChelle will submit a video to demonstrate she has acquired skills from the training. Can't wait to watch her put her Mrs. Murphy stated they recently received a FOIA request for aj previous foster child. Mr. Harvie asked if we charged for the FOIA. Mrs. Morris stated we followed State guidelines, therefore should charge accordingly. Mrs. Morris will ensure FOIA policy is provided to supervisors. Mrs. Murphy informed the board that at times the staff enters homes that require full Tyvek gear. Miss Adams suggested getting the appropriate gear for staff. Mrs. Morris will contact the County Emergency Manages, Kent Emerson about protective gear for the Family Services workers. Miss Adams informed The Board there has been an appreciation breakfast is  the request prior the deadline.  excellent work.  work.  skills into action.  D. Staff Wellness and Appreciation  setup for the staff to enjoy today and invited the Board.    Mrs. Morris requested the Board's support in pushing back the Staff Building Day as Benefits is too understaffed and a full day would only cause additional To assist the Benefits unit, Mrs. Morris has approved up to 2.51 hours per week of Special Duty Leave for Benefits staff as needed for the additional workload until positions are filled and requested the Board's formal support oft this action. Mrs. Miller is working on aj procedure/process guidance for SNAP Hotline fliers that will allow temporary additional support from the front office team,  593  stress at this time.  including Mrs. Morris to assist the Benefits unit.  Agenda Item VI. Administrative Bills May 2024 and June 2024 The administrative bills were reviewed and approved by Mr. Harvie. Agenda Item VIII. Schedules of Board Actions May 2024 and June 2024 The Schedule ofl Board Actions was reviewed and approved by Mr. Harvie. The next meeting will be held September 18, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. in the County  Agenda Item IX. Date of Next Meeting Administration conference room. Agenda Item X. Adiournment  As there wasi no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned.  22  Chair  Executive Secretary Dubll Ghslaf  y/18kzy Date  Date