Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to officially call this meeting to order. I'd be welcome everybody tonight. I've got a couple announcements that I want to make before we do our invocation. Number one is, you know, we got a new clerk, Jamie Carr, and we've got a new manager George Wood. So this is their first official meeting, I think as far as the commissioners, I mean they both been in a lot of meetings but as far as in their role and their title, this will be their first one. And I would like for everybody to welcome them with a hand around the floor. Thank y'all, we're looking forward to working with you. With that, I would like to ask Mayor Conners that he would do our invocation and leave us in the place. Everybody would please stand. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we come before you today to thank you for the wonderful blessings that you give it to us each and every day. We thank you for clothing us in our right mind early this morning and allowing us to know that we were still here. Today, Lord, we ask you to bless our commissioners with and wisdom and knowledge that is needed to carry out the affairs of Dublin County. We're so grateful for the many wonderful things you have done here in Dublin County when we went through trials and odd times you walked with us and carried us. Now tonight, Lord, we have a new interim county manager. We asked you to bless him with the knowledge and wisdom to carry out his task and also the other assistant to help her as well. As we go forward, Lord, we want to be in United Group one, one accord that is to increase stupelling county. And we need your blessings on these matters. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, let all of God's children say amen. Amen. Amen. Congratulations to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it changed one nation under God individual liberty and justice all. Thank you Mayor. This time does any commissioners have anything you want to add on the agenda tonight? I know we have one. If it pleases the board, I'd like to add Ms. Donald Brown, Board of Department Director to the regular agenda with an adoption of the 2022 Level Water Supply Plan for her to present right after public comments. It's a pleasure to board. So move. I got a motion and a second Any further comments Period none all in favor say aye all opposed same side carried Madam clerk if you was I would like for you to check and see if we had any open under the read for that. Excuse me. I'm sorry. I need a motion to approve the minutes of the July 17th meeting. So we got a motion of a second. Any further comment? Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed same side carry Need a motion to accept the consent agenda I got a motion. Do I have a second? Got a motion of a second any further comment Here and none all in favor say aye all opposed same side I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that. I'm not sure if you're going comments to first one is Lauren Carver. Please count on four. There's a three minute time that you you're allowed to share with us. Thank you. Do I need to name any information for you before I start speaking? I said do I need to name or list any information before I start speaking? Yeah you need to tell us your name and what your presenting. Perfect. My name is Lauren Carver. I'm the founder of Project North Carolina. We represent advocacy groups, shelters and citizens and various counties across our state to assist them with improvements to their local shelter. Our organization has backed everything by research to help shelters be more successful, efficient and effective to best benefit the citizens, the animals and animal services and benefit the county. So today we're going to go over some of that topic. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak today. Before my organization gets involved in any county, we carefully and meticulously verify any cities, any citizen claims when they ask us to come in. One of the ways that I do that is by always visiting the shelter in question as a citizen to see what their normal day-to-day experience would be like going to the shelter. When I entered, the employee was on their cell phone. I got a high and nothing more. I said I was there interested in walking some of the dogs or playing with the cats, taking photos and videos and trying to help them get adopted through social media. I was then informed that I could put in an application for each animal that I was interested in and that one would be brought out to me one at a time. I was not informed about any sort of volunteer program and I was advised that I could not handle the animals. I was not allowed to do a walk through. I was told I could not go to the back. Opposite of what county leaders have assured citizens their experience would be. I then asked if the shelter supervisor was there to talk to him about my organization in the ways we wanted to help the shelter improve adoption rates. I was told he was not available and neither was anyone else. I asked if I could leave my contact information and I did. As I left, I was not told to have a good day or anything. I just walked out the door. Had I been a citizen? Any other citizen? I would have never returned to that shelter to offer my assistance, help, time to volunteer, anything. After more research, I reached out to supervisor Joe Newburn to kind of initiate a conversation with him to come with some sort of resolution because the citizens were not happy with services there. They were not happy with the way they were being treated. And I felt like that was a fair assessment after my experience. I spoke with him an AAB chair, Kathy Hill, to offer solutions and resolutions. We don't just come to say here's all the problems. We come with solutions that are verified by research. She advised me that there was going to be minimal interest in making anything better at DCAS because the commissioners, the good old boys club as she described, would not allow it. She also informed me that if I came into this building with named citizens that I wouldn't even be allowed in the building. These named citizens were not even who reached out to my organization ironically enough. They were witnesses to problems that came forward along the way. Miss Tale interrupted every sentence, when as far as to yell at me, she told me she was taking out her anger and frustrations on me. And I have never experienced such an unprofessional meeting with someone else who's supposed to be a bridge for the citizens. Supervisor Newburn and I continue to try to have productive and forward moving conversations. He was very very professional. I'd not believe that the AAB runs animal services here, but you would think that she ran the entire county. Everything citizens have said about Dupland County and its problems have been a thousand percent correct and it's extremely unfortunate. have said about Dufflin County and its problems have been a thousand percent correct and it's extremely unfortunate. My organization is here as a last effort to speak with you directly and to attempt to bring forth some solutions to resolve these issues, reinstate trust with the public and offer the county the support it desperately needs to have a successful program. And that is with a new facility. The county cannot. Bring it to a close. Your time is just passed. Sure. If you want to do a summary, I'll give you a minute. Some of us have a little mass question, but it's not so with a new facility. The County can afford to fail and it can't afford for it to be an unsuccessful program and we have simple solutions and obtainable solutions that are working in other counties. Okay, anybody have any questions that you want to ask her? Should I? Would you have a question? No, I just wanted her to give us a summarization of her comments. What should you do? Sure. So anytime we get involved, like I said, we verify citizen claims. We don't just go into counties with assumptions. We verify citizen claims. We talk to them meticulously and we conduct our own information. How can we get in touch with you if we need to talk to you for sure? So the A, B and supervisor Newburn both have my email. I'm more than happy to have a much more productive conversation than we had last week. Okay. If you would leave your information with one of those fine people over there when you leave out. Absolutely, and I'm moving forward. I mean, I have documentation of the attempt to resolve these issues in email that I'm more than happy to share. I'm willing to move forward from that experience and give the county an opportunity to try to resolve some of these issues. I want the shelter to be successful just like you do, and I want the citizens to have a good experience and have an agency to try to resolve some of these issues. I want the shelter to be successful just like you do. And I want the citizens to have a good experience and have an agency that they can be proud of and trust. Okay, thank you for coming forward and we'll take your information and look into it. Thank you, Ms. Corbin. Next we have Holly Mathis. All right. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished board members and esteemed citizens of Dupland County. I stand before you today with a vision. Sorry, my name's Holly Mathis. Yeah. I stand before you today with a vision, a vision that holds the key to answering the very heart of our community's challenges. My name is Holly Mathis and I'm here to present an inspiring solution that can transform the well-being of our county. The 2022 Dupland County Community Health Needs Assessment has shed light on the top two quality of life issues we face, poverty and substance abuse. Furthermore, it highlighted the crucial priority that demands our utmost attention over the next three years, mental health. I am the granddaughter of Norma Jean Outlaw and through an inheritance I hold in my hands a piece of our heritage. A land known as Outlaws House and Store on Somalans Crossroads Road. The land carries a history of our county's founders and has been recognized by the North Carolina Department of Transportation as eligible for the National Register of Historical Places. This historically significant property has the potential to be a beacon of hope in transformation for the people in our community. Let me introduce you to the Outlaws Garden Project, a thoughtful and purposeful development where the youth in our county can reconnect with their roots through the healing power of gardening, beekeeping, and other nature-related activities. You may wonder what makes this initiative so powerful. Our modern society has unknowingly steered us away from the very essence of life, nature. Our modern society has unknowingly stared us away from the very essence of life, nature. Research by University of Illinois's professor and renowned scientist Minko has revealed that spending time in nature has far reaching benefits. It rejuvenates attention, reduces stress, foster self-discipline, and even enhances academic engagement and motivation. Beyond these advantages, it is also shown to elevate happiness and mental well-being while alleviating the risk of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. With your own wavering support, I firmly believe that the Outlaws Garden Project can alter the course of our county's struggles. By instilling a deep appreciation for nature and fostering strong ethics in our children, we can pave the way for a brighter future, free from the grips of addiction and ebb and quality of life. It brings me immense joy to share that Outlaws Garden will be established as a nonprofit organization, a testament to our commitment to addressing the issue of poverty head on. I'm genuinely convinced that Outlaws Garden has the potential to elevate the quality of life in our county. By securing the EPA grant for the redevelopment of my property, we can continue to be a part of the community. We can continue to continue to be a part of the community. We can continue to be a part of the community. We can continue to be a part of the community. We can continue to be a part of the community. We can continue to be financial support of the County Board of Commissioners. Together we can add a measurable value to our community and shape a bright future that we can be proud of for our beloved Dublin County. Thank you all for your time and consideration and for the opportunity to share this heartfelt project with you. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. That brings us to the item that we added, Ms. Donna Brown. Thank you for allowing me to jump ahead at everybody tonight. I want to take you a short few minutes. Good evening, and I'm here to get the local water supply plan approved. Every five years we have to come up all the board to have it adopted so it meets the state requirements so that's what I need tonight to get the plan adopted. Did everybody get a copy of the plan? If you had a chance to look through it. Pleasure to board. It's been approved by the state. It's just gotten to be a knockout about a government board. Most truthfully. Got a motion on the second. Any further discussion? Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same sign. Period. Thank you. Appreciate it. All right that brings us to the original sheet of item number two. Miss Angela. Good evening. Good evening. I have a couple of things. The first one is here to request a public hearing on the September the second meeting. Excuse me September the seventh meeting. Is that correct? Correct. This is for my fiscal year 25 admin and capital grants that will go to support our public transportation system. Pleasure to board. This is good. Second. I got a motion and a work. Pleasure to board. I got a motion and a second. Any further comment? Period none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Thank you. Carry. Okay. We have been given an opportunity to receive some more funding to assist with the building of our new transportation facility. As a result of that, we have been given approximately another million dollars to be able to get us through that project. So I need for the commissioners to approve the increased local share that is required. It will go up to $800, $4,034. That will all come out of our transportation fund balance. There will be no county money evolved in this Pleasure to board I Got a motion in a second to increase the local share for the five three three nine B The total in 804,000 $334 an authorized to chairman to sign the local share for funded documents. Any further discussion? Here in the none, all in favor say aye. All opposed, same sign. Carry. Thank you. And lastly, we applied for our fiscal year 24 grants to cover, again, our role transportation system. Those grant agreements have come in, so I just need the board to accept the grant agreements and have the chairperson sign such. Pleasure to board. I got a motion. Second. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. All opposed, same side? Carry. Thank you. question. Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same side. Carried. Thank you. That moves aside of number five. Mr. Tracy Simmons. Can you? Good evening, Mr. Chair. We're in fellow commissioners. Good evening. On behalf of the health department, I have several Leave me. On behalf of the Health Department, I have several agenda requests for this evening. The first is in regards to Agreement Addenda 620, which is our COVID-19 school health team workforce. This is funding to support the COVID-19 school health team workforce to continue collaborations with the local school health program and staff to provide and support other school health team workforce to continue collaborations with the local school health program and staff to provide and support other school health program activities to foster healthy students who are in the school and ready to learn as well as provide COVID-19 support and response in schools. So this agreement agreement addenda 620 like I provided you guys the email that they were going to, how much they were award us, and I actually have the agreement now. Before this, number one, I'd like to accept the ARPA COVID-19 School Health Team Workforce AA620 in the amount of $93,640. Pleasure to board. I got a motion. Got a second. Further discussion. Okay. Period none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same side. Period. So with that approval or the acceptance of that funding, I'd like for approval of a member random of agreement between Dupland County Health Department and the Dupland County Board of Education to provide the Board of Education with $55,000 of the $93,640 for the school health nurse extender contract positions and additionally to approval to sign the MOA related to this funding pending approval by the accounting attorney. Pleasure to board. I got a motion. Do I hear a second? I got a second. Any further discussion? Here you none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. I'll approve of the budget amendment for 2023-2024. I got a motion. Any further discussion? All opposed. Any further discussion? Here and none. All in favor say aye. No, no. All opposed. Same side. Carried. Okay, we're going. So the next agenda item is for agreement agenda 546, which is communicable disease pandemic recovery. This is to ensure the community helps and to achieve equitable health outcomes. The local health department will expand essential public health services to control communicable disease within the community. Services provided will include communicable disease surveillance investigation detection control reporting and prevention activities at the local level to address the COVID-19 and other communicable disease challenges impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. So I would like to accept the AA-546 communicable disease pandemic recovery for the amount of $132,922 and a proofment of the budget amendment for 23 through 24. Pleasure to board. Madam motion. I have a second. I have a second. Any further discussion? Here it is none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same side. Here it. Okay. Item number seven. Next agenda item is for agreement. Addenda 543, which is the ELC enhanced in detection activity. This is actually some carry forward funds from fiscal year 2223. AA 543 provides complimentary funding to the local health department in order for it to leverage and build upon existing ELOC infrastructure that emphasizes the coordination and critical integration of laboratory with epidemiology and health information systems, thus maximizing the public health impact of available resources. These resources bylaw are intended to prevent, prepare for and respond to coronavirus by support testing, case investigation, contact contact tracing surveillance, containment and mitigation. So I would like for approval to accept the funds for AA 543 ELC enhanced and detection activity $436,779 with an improvement of the budget amendment. Paisier to board. Sure move. So I got a motion. See. And I got a second. Father's question. Here you're done. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same side. Carried. Yeah. Item number eight. All right. Item number eight, agreement agenda 545, which is the regional prevention support team. So this is carried forward money from physical year 2223. This is continuation of funding of the long-term care regional prevention support team in each of the 10 public health regions. Dupline County belongs to Region 8, which is comprised of nine counties in the South East and North Carolina to provide on-site infection prevention and control consultation to all types of long-term care facilities. The goal of the RAPST is to reduce the introduction of disease through on-site training and consultation with facility staff in the use of evidence-based infection, control procedures consistent with equitable CDC, CMS and HHS guidance. This initiative is particularly important for the residential facilities that do not typically have health care professionals on staff. So I asked the board tonight to accept AA545 funding for the regional prevention support team in the amount for an additional $8,500 in the improvement of the budget amendment. Pleasure to board. So you got a motion? Say, got a second. Any further discussion? I've got a question about that. Yes sir. These support teams are they, does each kind of have a reason those are each county? So they're regional, so they are on contract with the alliance and so there's like five members of that team and they're divided up by the number of facilities within each county. So they're more of a two team, they sort of cover multiple counties. Any more questions? Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same sign. Carried. I remember nine. All right. This is for agreement agenda 621. This is the ARPA COVID-19 public health regional workforce. So the North Carolina Division public health received it funding from the CDC as it relates to CDC crisis response cooperative agreement COVID-19 Public Health Workforce. Hereafter known as the COVID-19 Public Health Workforce Grant, this grant provides funding to establish, expand, train and sustain the state, tribal, local and territorial public health workforce to support jurisdictional COVID-19 prevention, preparedness, response and recovery initiatives. As part of this initiative, DPH is making available funds for the 10 regions, which Dupland County is the lead for Region 8 to recruit higher and train personnel to feel to feel critical gaps in the public health infrastructure fundamental capabilities in order to respond to COVID-19 pandemic. The Public Health National Centers for Innovations, Public Health Leaders, Form identified eight fundamental capabilities of public health, the suit of skills programs and activities that must be available in the state and local health departments everywhere for health systems to work anywhere. The local health departments, when each region have identified a lead health department which for region eight is dupland to host and manage the program described in this AA, the duplont County Health Department was chosen. All capability strength and effort should pay special attention to diversity, equity and inclusion and that the lead, shall recruit staff who represent of and have language competence for the communities. They serve to promote diversity and inclusion when considering training and growth of opportunities for all staff. So we would like to accept $1.7 million, $630,000 and $54 on behalf of Regent 8th and the Health Department to continue the COVID-19 Public Health workforce and to approve, very maddened us, the two approved budget amendments. On SAE-A621 funds. Yes. Major Board. Got a motion. Got here a second. Second. Got a second. Any further discussion? Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed. Same side. Carried. Thank you. Thank you, Tracy. That moves to item number 10. Mr. Thank you. Thank you, Tracy. That moves to item number 10, Mr. Scottie. Good evening, Chairman, Board of Commissioners. Good evening, Newlyweds. Thank you for the time this evening. Before I begin, I want to welcome our new interim County Manager, Mr. George. I look forward to working with him and also all of our new staff and also in that light I'm I keep mentioning this because it's pretty important to us the EDC board is we're working into the second and third draft of our strategic plan for 2426 and before that's adopted again I just want to give you heads up down the road we would like a joint meeting to win the advisory board and the county commissioners. So would that be it? Again we always thank you for your support and I'm here this evening to discuss the ongoing work of air park development and tonight it's a contract award for project management, construction, administration, project inspection, and quality assurance for the clearing and grubbing work that is proposed to go on in the very short coming weeks. Dupland County is previously contracted, the design and engineering services for Dupland County Airport improvements. The original contract did not include construction admin services, which are typically added after design be additional work authorizations. So essentially what I'm asking for tonight is approval of work authorization number two Contract calls will be covered with grant proceeds salt and acquired by the Dukeland County Economic Development Corporation As we know it the foundation And as recommended by the foundation board on eight four twenty twenty three I Would ask the boards approval. Before I turn it over to the chairman, I would like to say that in Commerce Atenwood our county attorney, we were able to go back to the Parisian Partners Company that I think everybody knows. The airport has had a longstanding relationship with that engineering firm. But even so, they were able to reduce the scope of work and reduce the contract amount to $77,925. Again, as far as budgets go, this is no county tax money. This will be covered by the proceeds of the green agreement and the grant for that work Without all Paul's and that's her any questions you may have we quote that amount again My apologies. It's seven seven nine two five What we had on the agenda was 98 197 correct, okay and it was 98 197. Of course, right. Okay. All right, I'd entertain a motion to award parents and partners to contract for the Project Management Construction Administration Projects' inspection and quality insurance tested. The McKinney Airport Phase One for the amount, not to exceed $77,900 to $25 and authorize the chairman's sign. We have a motion. Got a motion in a second. Any further discussion? Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed, same sign. Here you. Thanks, Scottie. All right, I'll be makingried. Thanks, Scottie. All right. I'll be making ground very shortly. All right. It's going to be nice. That brings us to item number 11. Mr. McKenzie. Good evening. Good evening. I'm here tonight for two items. The first is well construction at West Park, which is just outside of North of Warsaw. In the letter part of 2022, we submitted a funding application to Golden Leaf for site funding, and that was the purpose of that funding was to construct the water supply well and back in December of 2022 the board adopted a they accepted the funding and they adopted a budget. The amount of funding is $99,150. So at this time we have completed the plan specifications and we are ready to advertise this project for the receipt of bids. So I glad to answer any questions that you have. If there are no questions, I would ask that you entertain a motion to approve a resolution of plan approval and authorization to receive a bid. So which one of these items are you asking for? This is the Duplen County Golden Leaf site, Water Supply, Well project. Okay, just wanted to clarify. So I'd entertain a motion to authorize David and the Social Security to advertise for the seats of Beards for the construction of the Golden Leaf Water Supply Well project for the Duke and County Water Systems and adopted resolution plan approval and authorized to see if he is 2023 through 2022 go and leave water supply whale project and authorize chairman sign. So right? Yes, sir, that is correct. Yeah, I got a motion. So I have a second sir, okay, well discussion second. Okay, well discussion. Here and then. I'll get a question. Um, with this way, we'll be I guess this way will be tied and direct. This is the worst supply or this will be just for West Park. It will be tied into you into your total system. However, the one of the funding criteria was that you had to allocate a certain percentage to West Park, but that's not a problem. Okay. Any more questions? Here and none. All in favor say aye. All opposed, same sign. Here and. Thank you, Mr. Kenji. I'm going on to item number 12. This next item is the county is experiencing a beginning to experience a water capacity issue in the eastern part of the county. And so we will be submitting a USDA application to build a new water supply well to increase the capacity and the first step that USDA requires construction of a test well. We plan to build this test well on the same side as elevated storage tank B2 and the reason being is because we think it's a good site. And the county already owns the property and there won't be any additional water lines required because that way we'll pump directly into the tank and there are facilities that would push the water to the western part of the county. So I presented the amount of the project back to the board several months ago. The cost of the test well is approximately $124,150. And I've laid out a preliminary budget to cover test well drilling, formation sampling, and of course they would have to do. Take water and analyze it for certain criteria to ensure that the water quality is adequate. And so we get, we'd like to answer any questions that you have. There are no questions I would like to ask that you entertain emotion. Yes sir. Well you say we have problems with water in the eastern part of the county. Can you elaborate on that a little more? Certainly. I made a presentation to the board sometime ago. The county is part of the central coastal plain capacity use area. And there is 15 counties in that area. And over beginning in I think 2008 through 2018 the county had to withdraw their water usage from the pretacious aquifers. And so the last reduction in your withdrawal occurred in 2018 and during that time the county has continued to grow and the county has, you're only allowed to pump so many gallons per year, out of the aquifers, and there's a dividing line across the county. In the eastern part of the county, you're beginning to exceed the amounts that you're allowed to pump. You still have adequate capacity on the western part of the county, but we want to stay ahead of that curve. And so it's important that we construct a worse plywood to continue to improve the capacity that you have to provide water to your businesses and to your citizens. Mr. Chairman, could I ask a question? Yes, I was just curious. Why did you have to remember to withdraw, was it a war or quality issue? No, sir, because the water supply, the aquifer levels were beginning to drop. Okay. And the further east you go, there were situations where you can't have saltwater intrusion. Yeah. Oh, I was low counting and Jones County and such. And so that's the purpose of the rules. Since that time, the aquifer levels have begun to rise, but with growth, I don't see any change in the rules any time soon. You favor. I'm sorry. Thank you. Yes, sir. And when you're favor. Thank you. Yes sir. And when you say growth, can you drill down on that a little bit because the assistant said we lost people? Well, Donna, can you help me out with that? The county continues to have a reason. I just want for clarification. We've got over 8,000 customers now. And the demands were all on every day. We're putting in new taps every day. When he speaks and capacity used, last year I did go over and they penalized me 395 dollars. This year I'm under, but I've had to regroup, figure out how to run Wales different, and I'm maximizing everything I got the way it's running. So without putting in new Wales, I'm maximizing everything I got the way it's running. So without putting any wheels, I'm going to go over it. But there's a one F1, F2, B1 and B2 that we cannot run as much as we can the other way. And so therefore, I tried to run into wheels and push F to help Carolina Turkey's everything. So I'm trying to run into wells that D&D and pushed F to help Carolina, Turkey's over there. So I'm trying to finagulate a rail. I understand. You know, they will allow you to drill wells in the East or South of the county, but you cannot drill. You cannot drill into the lower protections aquifers where the water quality is really good. You can drill into the PD aquifer, but the PD sometimes the water quality is not as good and you cannot get the same amount of capacity of the PD aquifer. So I have answered the question. I'm sure we're going to have water systems 20 years ago. We had 4,000 active customers. As I say, we got to rate that from that in 20 years. So it's double. Thanks. OK. I wrote two questions. To the first one, you mentioned $125,000 for a test well. What makes that so expensive for just a test well? Because a contractor has to mobilize. He has to basically do the same thing as a real well. It's just a smaller name. What size is it? It would be, well, it would be ultimately probably a ten inch well we put there, but he's only going to drill a four inch test well. So he has to drill to the same depth. He has to, he has to analyze the material that comes out of the well. He has to, well he has to do a log of the well to find out where the actual water bearing areas are and then he has to test those individual areas and he has to clean up that area, you know, the drilling mud out and then he has to take individual water samples. And of course, you know, the water testing is expensive as well. How deep are those typical whales? Well this one would be a PD whale, it would probably be around 250 feet deep. Now you have whales in the county that are well, you know, 400 to 500 feet deep. Thank you. The $124,000 is an estimate. Yes, sir. You know, what you're actually asking for the night is the opportunity to advertise for the test well and receive the bids. That's correct. That's correct. Yes, sir. We would put together a bid scheduled, very typical of any other project that we do. And then it would go to the lowest bid. And it would go to the lowest bidder. And then I would come back to the board to get permission to award a contract. So the only thing that's important tonight is emotion to authorize and advertise for the test point. And you're going to use a USDA 40 year loan. Yes, sir. That's what we're pursuing. We have a motion. So we've got a motion. Second, any further discussion? Here and none. All in favor say aye aye all the others same side Carry thank you. Thank you. Okay that moves us to item number 13 Miss Annie Murray Good evening Mr. Chairman and the board. Before I begin, I want to introduce and recognize the DSS-4 members that are here tonight. We do have our chairman of the DSS-4, Mr. Jessie Dow. We have Mr. Kim Jong. Ms. Angela B. Mayner and Ms. Marazela Morse. And I also would like to introduce the Income Maintenance Administrator on Miss Wendy Henderson that works alongside me. The Department of Health and Human Services has moved forward with announcing a go-lod date for Medicaid expansion effective October 1st, 2023. The state has project that 7,000 to potentially eligible Medicaid cases for Dupline County. As of now we have 17 Medicaid workers processing and re-determining Medicaid eligibility. Their caseload sizes is 850 cases per worker. To keep up with the caseload volume, staff is currently working over and earning comp time. My concern is that staff will not be able to handle the influxes of cases that Medicaid expansion will bring. Medicaid workers cannot start on the job today and have a caseload and work that caseload independently of the minimum. It takes at least anywhere from 4 to 6 months and that is a worker that is performing and catches on quickly from the interview process till the training when she has completed training. It takes anywhere from 46 month. Someone that does not grasp it easily, it takes longer. Wait until on board staff now will have a negative impact on the county and our agency. Some of those negative impacts can be workers making errors, citizens receiving a delay in benefits, Some of those negative impacts can be workers making errors, citizens receiving a delay in benefits, a county payback as a result of those errors that workers will make. The agency not meet a monthly standard set by the state, which could result in a possible state takeover. And also, which is important to, is losing staff to neighboring counties with smaller case low sizes. Now there is no way that I can stand here or anyone can tell you that we will receive the number of cases that the state has projected. If the predictions are lower, our agency can still benefit from these positions because our workers have 850 cases. And if we, if these numbers are lower, it will only benefit the workers in the case low. Now, because of the extreme high-bottom that they are working with now. So to fund up positions and the amount based on my requested number of positions, I have initially requested 13 positions, one IMC supervisor, two IMC-2s, a total salary and benefit amount of $714,293.14. The state will reimburse the county 75% of this cost. The 25% of the county portion would be $178,573.29. The state has already upfronted a CCU money, which is the continuous coverage on wind and funds of $66,079. We received that money in May, and that money cannot be used other than expansion. Subtriped in that CCU money, and that money cannot be used other than expansion. Subtriped in that CCU money, the county will then have a portion of $112,494.29 cents. This is to fund 13 positions. Now speaking with my county LBL, which is a local business liaison with the state, she has verified that $1.67 million will be allocated for all 100 counties in the state. Dupland County is expected to receive around $16,669 per month. That total is $133,352 that I'm expecting for us to receive from November 1st through June 30th, which will cover the $112,494.29 cents. If the board does not grant the 13 positions, I have done a workup of seven positions. Because Medicaid expansion, we don't know if we will receive all 7,000. Then I'm requesting that the board will consider my request of seven IMC-2s, dependent and contingent upon the impact that Medicaid expansion would have. So based on seven IMC-2s with total salary and benefits, that amount would be 373,467 dollars and 57 cents. the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the county's budget for the So, we've been told that once the implementation date of expansion begins, which is October 1st, the county will receive that one county, the state will receive $1.67 million. And the state will receive $1.67 million. And the state will receive 1.67 million dollars. We would then receive 16,000 and when I say we do plan county will be a cause to the county in either case scenario. So Mr. Chairman and the board, I'm requesting 13 Medicaid positions. One, I'm C supervisor, two I'm C-3s, and 10 I'm C-2s to process applications in complete redeterminations timely. If the Board of Commissioners declines this request, I'm requesting you to consider the approval of seven IMC-2 positions and that the remaining positions be released after the implementation and the evaluation of the impact that Medicaid on the agency. Thank you. It came before we take a motion. The availability of these people is a question that I've gotten my mind. So to make it clear, if we made the deal, we approved the seven, and you got those hired, and we could come back and add the other four after that. It would be six. Six, six, six. Yes. Yeah, I'm not giving math. Okay, that's not good. I'm kidding. But we could come back and add. Yes, sir. Okay. So actually, so much pleasure to board. I make a motion where you find seven positions. Second. OK. Father's notion. Yeah, I'd like to amend that motion to add 13 positions. Because of the fact, I thought I was going to have to say a lot to add to what she had to say, but she said it all in a nutshell. These decisions are needed. I'm the chairman of the DSS board and I looked at it from front to back and based on the state, we're gonna need them. I don't know how we can say we're gonna need them because we don't know what it's gonna look like yet. We're just trying to get our foot in the door and get it get it get it go in and then we can come back and revisit it. Well we hire them all the day and all 7,000 to two people don't show up. We've over hired. I'm not going to say that. Well you said up here, what you said up here, it's not said up. You got a vendor, you need 19, 19, 19, 19. I can't handle that. Just listen, don't worry about it. You have a word about how it was leaving and going to make it more money. And when they got 850 cases already being it they're going to leave. So you know if you know anything about Medicaid, especially if you need to just wait until you really learn more about Medicaid and especially patients because it's going to go fast and it's going to be here and if you think people are not gonna fly, they're gonna run. How many current cases we have on Medicaid? Sir. How many currently are on Medicaid in the Canada? Right now we have 28,000 around beneficiaries. You didn't gave me that number? Yeah, I'm going to look at that. I'll go to the table. Yes. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. The IMC staff that we have now is under staff to start off with. And then the workers that, even if we authorized her to get the workers, they can't go and work today if they expanded it, uh, communicate tomorrow because they have to be trained and be ready to rule whenever the expansion takes place. So we, we, right now we are behind the eighth ball because we don't have the people in place and she mentioned in the county, you know, we lose them workers there because they pay more and have a less caseload. So right now the need is there and it's just something that has to occur based on the number of people that we have that will be getting Medicaid and wouldn't it state passed them Medicaid 600,000 people would be eligible immediately they had it but we don't have the staff in place to absorb that need. So Ms. Murls, what would be the difference I guess I would call it, if we opened up to let you go ahead and hire the seven, you know, because you don't know what's available. And if you had good applicants and you get those seven, the process is in place, we're learning more about it, and then come back and get the other six approved. What would be wrong with that approach? Well, that will only, if we do it that way, that will only put us with three workers that would need to be trained for Medicaid because the other positions would be a supervisor and Lee workers and they should already have the experience. So it would just be the make it would be the difference of getting three more people in and getting them trained which like I said can still put us behind like six months. If you look at her chart, 10 of them are the case workers, three of them are super buyers. Yes, so that's what you're talking about if you're The 13 if you just do the seven we were gonna do all case workers But if we go the whole deal it would be ten case workers and then two I mean three yes in supervision Okay, if we don't get this funded from the state and we approve all 13 and we don't get this funded from the state, are you going to release people or what are we going to do? If we, okay, honestly, you will have to tell me to release, at least release them because I would not because if we have the work demand, then I'm gonna choose to keep the staff so I can be able to meet state requirements and to serve the citizens of this county. Let me actually go, why would you think the state would not give us the money? I mean, it's in, they've already approved the amount that each county, they've already broken it down for each county. I did not understand that in the information. Yeah, they've already broken that down. I mean, as far as the cost. Yeah. Okay. That's right. Okay, I didn't understand they were available. I Yes. The funds are available. OK, that's right. OK, I didn't understand that they were available. I was understanding that they could be available now. There's already a lot of funds. Yes, they've already up fronted $66,079. On CCU. You're right for the CCU. And once medicated, expansion go live, then the state will allocate the $1.667 million. They will allocate it out to the counties and then the portion that Duplen would receive would be $16,660.00. Which is about $200,000. Yes, it would be $200,000. Is that every year or is this just today? It's going to be, it would be for fiscal year 23 through 24. And then from fiscal year 24 through 25, it would be $7.4 million that will be given to the counties to be allocated to the state. For fiscal year 25 through 26, it would be $7.8 million that to be allocated to the state for fiscal year 25 through 26. It will be 7.8 million dollars that will be allocated. And then for each quarter in subsequent fiscal years, the amount will be increased over the prior year's quarter amount by the Consumer Price Index. Now this is information that has been brought forward in meetings. So this is what I've been saying. But some final out of it, Dr. Budget has a big past, correct? been brought forward in meetings. So this is what's how I've been. I was getting to know the budget has a big past. Yes. And once the North Carolina General Assembly passes that. But you know, yeah, it's going to it will be. But it's already treated. But this is already with understanding that you just wait no October to start. One day. If. Yes, right. Okay. with understanding that you just waiting on October to start. It's the end. Can I make a message? Yes, sir. OK. Thank you for what you presented so far. I guess where I am, you indicated something about four to six months to train the staff. Yes. Whatever number we go with is four to six months to train. And that's someone that is really eager to learn and ready to go. But in all and all fairness to the people, would you think with what's out there and it's available four to six months really going to be? No, sir. So we're really going to be above that, right? Yes, we're really going to be above it. That's average but right now what we're experiencing, we're got we have people going on nine months that they're still in certain training phases that we feel like they should have been maybe in training phase three by now and they're still at two. So you have other things that's going on but you have this this huge undertaking to take place and you already hamstrung and kind of working at best sub-park. So you action for 13 people to truly try to help offset some of the other things that you're dealing with with the intent of getting him a her train to available for what we should be prepared for and not getting prepared for once the activity take place. You want to be you want to have your house in order and set to go with all that you have that's all that's available instead of wondering and trying to figure and patch because you're doing that now. You shuffling papers trying to figure it out. So you're asking others board to give you and papers trying to figure it out. So you're actually not this board to give you a lifeline to really set forward, set straight, some of what you've been dealing with and hope that it all will come together for the good of DSS to retain staff as well as bring on new staff because you got overwork and different that's going on now. It's been going on for quite some time so you just action of us to give you everything you need so you at least have a fast shake and moving forward in the 13th that's what 13 to do to give you peace of mind, peace of heart you see your team will say okay we got all this coming once we get on high now we got to get them trained but if you set them up with less than what they really need, then you have the morale issue of trying to work smarter and harder with fewer. And they still going to be embarked with it. Is that 850 now that could easily go up to 1,000? Yes. So now you have the onset of, I got to deal with more. And I'm still getting less. You're expecting me to do my job. but I can go across the count and make more. Which is easier. So we're setting ourselves up to fail if we don't give you the full amount. Even though we got to work through it, but we're working through a failure out of the gate. Okay. Well, I'm totally confused. I think I'll, can I, can I, can I tell you how I'm totally confused first? If it takes six months to train somebody, and you've got people that you can't train in nine months, then what kind of job did we do with who we hired? Why are you hiring people that can't train the six months? Well, we, right now, our staff, we have probably about 80% of our Medicaid staff that is less than two years. We've got, I would say 50% that has just reached a year. So for two years in Medicaid, you will not be ready to train to be an IMC-3 to train. Medicaid is not easy. It may seem in a peer that way, but there are so many moving parts and so many parts to the manual and there's always changes that has to be implemented. So it's not easy. So my understanding the people we're hiring, we've got more than we can train so so we don't have to be people to train. No, we have the workers to train them. Yes, and thanks for you all implementing the salary study last year. We've got Medicaid workers and we had 100% vacancies filled up until last month. And we have not been able to do that in years. So we have workers there, we wanna keep them. Hate to lose workers, our neighboring county like Pender who has already got 19 positions approved and is working on a hybrid policy. So my staff know this and it's talk. And so that's competitive and I want to do what I can to keep them there and keep them motivated. Okay you got between her and I don't allow you to speak but I want back that off please. I don't know how to do job speak, but I won't back that out, please. Mr. Led was next. I just wanted to make two points on this. One is whether you go to 13 or the seven, you've got the cost covered. Because if we're going to get, I think, Annie, you said we were going to get 130 something over eight months. Yes, from November. And that would more than cover the 112,000 that we need on that one right? Yes. And then the other one we only paid 27,000 and you're going to get 16,000 a month. Yes. Right. Yes. Right. Yes. So I see the concern about, you know, if we over-employ, is it going to cost anything? The way I'm seeing this, it's not going to cost the county anything. The other point I want to make is it's so difficult to hire these people that if we come back and instead of having the potential of 7,000 new customers or clients, what are you going to call them, let's say we get half of that, it's 3500, then we're saying we needed seven people to cover that. The rest of it is really to be fucked the rest of the current staff. You're only talking about three or four people. And the reality is, with the turnover you have, you'd probably lose some of those folks anyway. So if we had to cut back, you could just do it through a trick. But I don't think you'd have to do it because the state, if I'm understanding the funding on this, the state's basically picking up all of it. Yes, because they're giving you enough money to cover our 25% match as well. Yes, that's the correct statement. Okay. I don't think the board understands the process with the Department Social Services. It's different than any other department within the Duke County group. This right here is probably the largest department in the county. Yes sir. But this is the chart right here. I'm seeing all these people, people right here. And for them to even get a job here, they have to be authorized by the state before we can hire them in the county. So you can't hire social workers just go out there and just hire social workers. And so you come and work for the county. They have to be hired by the county, sent the state approved and be a worker and then we can hide we can put them through the motions but you just can't be a social worker just by coming and having a degree or something like that to get a job it's different and then the training has a process for the training for them to even do their jobs. So it's an extended training, most of them an average job. So I can sit here and talk for two hours and explain the process that they have to go through to rent a service for the county. And it's all types of services. This right here is the old shop for the entire county and it covers everything from food stamps to just having to support staff to provide the services. So these workers, I wouldn't even say anything if these workers would not need it, but they are needed because of the budget that should be coming down. Should have been done 10 years ago, but we finally get the Medicaid expanded and it's right now it's on delay because of the budget. So maybe some of you that have influence with your buddies and Raleigh can tell them to go ahead and pass the budget. So maybe some of you to have influence with your buddies and Raleigh can tell them to go ahead and pass the budget. Well, Mr. Chairman, one of the things we could do is go ahead and authorize her to advertise the positions that's gonna take us probably three weeks or so to get positions, you know, get applications in, go through, interview them and that sort of thing. And hopefully by then we'd finally have a state budget. You know. Okay, well, we had a motion on the floor at a second, and then we had a amendment to the motion. And I have not got a second on the amendment. Okay, so we got a second on the amendment. That move that forward for... Okay, that's the right one. Yeah, not only men, I'm checking with our attorney. That moves us forward to now, the motion on the floor is the 13 positions. You got a vote on the motion to amend. Okay, before we go there. Right, yeah. Okay, so and then we'll go back into discussion. The motion to amend that would be done first. All right, so I said I was just trying to clarify to make sure we've done this in legal fashion. Okay, so at this point, to make sure we've done this in legal fashion. Okay, so at this point, all in favor, ongoing with the amended motion so that we can get further discussion, say aye. All opposed, same side. Okay, that means I got to break the tie. So I'm gonna go with an aye, so we can get further discussion. Okay, that means I got to break the tie. So I'm gonna go with a knife so we can get further discussion. Okay? So now, you can ask your question. Can you tell me currently of your 17 income maintenance workers? Correct? Yes, sir. Can you give me a breakdown? I mean, the supervisors you have? Yes, sir. We have two supervisors and we have six IMC-3s which are trainers and two of them carry partial, big carry caseloas. So one of four of them carry caseloas and they're partial caseloas, which two of those if you look at full caselo, be two of those two workers. That's carrying. How do six two carry case one? Well, four carry case lows and they're half case. But they're half case. Yeah. So that gives you two four workers, right? And how many IMC twos do you have? Right now, I'm see we have, yeah, 15, that's right, because it's a total of 17 that has 850. Okay, so you're taking, you currently have 23 employees. There's a 23, which is one of four. And you're saying that only 17 of them are full times would be full time caseload workers even though four of them are or two of them are half dead. Yes. No, before I would have to do four, half dead, like receive a partial caseload. case load. And you did ask a question earlier as far as how many beneficiaries and just 20,898. 28,898 Medicaid beneficiaries in the county. And then that 7,200 will be added to that, correct? Yes. what number? Jake yes, and and that figure is of made as of May 31st when I ran the numbers so it could be well not could be it's going to be higher a little higher but not that much higher So I want to divert the question if I made to Mr. Wood. You mentioned before we got into this discussion that you felt the fund is available, this would not cost a county. Yes, based on what she has said about the state coming forward with that, 16,600 something every month. If you do the math, that's about $199,000, I think is what we determine. Annually, and if you go back to her chart, on the 13, which is the most expensive one, right? I don't know. Our part would be you won't get the CCU money but this one year. So you've drew you back up to that 178,000 figure. Everybody see that? Yep. Well, the 199 if I'm understanding any correctly is that would cover that. Yes, sir. And it would be $200,000, 28 per year. Right. We $200,000, $28 per year. And that information was given to me by the state LBL, which is the local business liaison. She gave me that information in an email. I have not received an official Deer County Director Letter, but that figure was quoted to me. Well, my two concerns, number one is county cost right but my other concern is if we hire the seven that you know it was your second request and we don't have any available supervisor to train them you know are we gonna sit there because you mentioned earlier about people have been there nine months and still wasn't trained you know we don't need to be paying people they can't do the job so if that is the lack of supervision to get them trained then it would be more efficient to take the first request which is the one on the floor now, to create your training positions. If that's what that supervisor positions are, is to help get the training. Yeah, and I wouldn't say it's a lack of supervision. It's just everyone learns differently at a different pace. Well, that goes back to my original question. Why hire somebody that you don't think is qualified? I mean, you know, we don't need to, in the interview process, if they are not qualified to do this type of work, we don't need to give them a job. You can answer this question. Um, you can actually, of course, yes, the, um, the people that are hard have to be trained to do the job. And you can't, you can't move it into an I MC 2 and let you be in it as an I MC 1 for one year by state standards. So it's going to be, you know, we're going to be behind the eight ball even if you're high to seven, you can still going to be at a loss because the, you know, it's going to be hard to find somebody to come in as the IMC one and they have to be in the IMC one position before you become an IMC two and supervisors would be coming from the people that know what they're doing and upper edge of law and other things. Two years later. One of the issues we have is this is going statewide. So we've got 100 counties out there, every one of us is going to be adding to the state. And so we're probably not going to have a lot of experienced social workers that we can hire. You're probably going to get entry-level people. Students coming right out of school with a social work degree that they've got the academic training but they don't have the practical training that we'll need. But just keep that in mind. There's a hundred counties out there. Every one of them is facing what you're is, adding a whole lot of people all at one time. Everybody right now, everybody scrambling to pull in people to work those positions. Right. And the State, the Department of Social Services, when the State coming with a program, they just it at me real quick. Just like when they did the NC fast, you know, nobody was for me within any fasts unless they came out of rock. And now you coming up with, I had this Medicaid expansion and they just throw it at you, but you have to have the workers in place before you get the people. You know, you got to have the workers trained and it takes a quite, long time to train them. And then just like he said, if you get one or two in there, probably one or two is going to quit, especially depending on the count, the count is snatching people, Jones County, snatching people, Samford County, and the pay study really helped us out because everybody was leaving going to different counties. So now we're in a position where we can keep them. And you're like I showed you the whole chart right here, this right here, that used to be all the way across, all the way across. And now, I think 3, 4, 5, 5 vacancies. How many of these, this right here with July 20th? How many have you felt since this? how many of these, this right here with July 20th, how many have you filled since this? Well since July, we've actually at eight now, eight vacancies, but all of them are not Medicaid. So right now I think we've got three vacant Medicaid positions closest to Winner process. So you know, just right here is probably the hardest department to put people, qualified people in, and keep them working that can provide services and counting them. It's all kind of services that provide here from the adult Medicaid child support layout. You know, there's a whole bunch of stuff in here that people never heard of that the Department of Social Services provide and Medicaid is a new something new that's coming in so we have to have the people in place to provide the services. Mr. Chair. Otherwise you're going to be in the news and we don't want to stay to come in and take us over. Again, it's a situation where even if we say 13 it's not like they standing at the door waiting to get in. You just go ahead and say it's 13 and we're still going to have to wait. We've got to wait for the people to come. We just setting them up to succeed instead of putting perceived barriers in the place by going with a number that's not really going to substantiate what the director and the board is action for. So I'm going for just giving one to action for and allow the process to work for good instead of going halfway there and it works faster than you think and we still trying to figure out how to put it together. We had to fight hard to give them to fund it so that we wouldn't have been this issue for all 100 count of we fought. Like tooth and nail just to get them to fund it so the county wouldn't be overburdened with a cost factor to the cost of the workers. Correct me if I'm wrong. A tooth position cannot train someone coming in right. No, sir. Has to be a three. Yes. Or a supervisor. Yes. So you all are 13 people and have eight people training. No, sir. What we're going to do with those 13, we're going to make a supervisor and make another, we got what we call teens. So right now we have two teens, one supervisor for supervisors, a team of how many? 11 and then the other supervisors, supervisors, another team of, what is it nine? Yeah. And then with the 13 positions, we'll have a supervisor that would then have a team of 10 with this new staff. And we would have two lead workers on that team to train those 10 people. And hopefully we can hire a trainer that some that's already got the experience we can pull somebody from another county. Right. They've been pulling up stuff from people from all county so maybe we can be lucky. And our problem is everybody else is working to stay on to. Yes. Yes. And we've lost one of our I-M-C-3s to another county already. Last month, I think it was last month. Are we clear? I'm clear. Oh, you're up there with... No, I'm not clear. I'll be clear. You know, I'm still concerned about the nine months of employment and they're still not trained to do the job when it's said on here that you got four to six months training. But that is... That was just somebody that couldn't get it. You may have a person that can't get the work that has to be done with the computer that's been there nine months. You know, just like where you work. Have somebody, you know, you can't teach this person nine months, they can't get it. But it's different with the problem. So it's serious because you have to have it right otherwise the state gets penalized. Whether with the count against penalized, if the workers don't do it right, we don't pay money back So how long do you keep an employee in a position? That can't do the position before you move Okay, if they're if they are not learning then We normally start letting them know where they are at six months and we let them know our concerns and then we take we give them a work plan put them on a work plan if that's filled does not rectify the problem and we see that they're not getting it then normally the workers will leave but in this situation I have not yet have had to terminate someone but using using around nine months. OK, because, like I said, I mentioned earlier I was confused. And I'm staying with that same wording, because I don't want to give you the green light to hire people to cover for people that's on the payroll, that's not getting the job done. But likewise, I don't want to give you the green light to hire people and we don't have staff to train them with because we're just paying them without getting trained. I'm thinking and I'm saying this for clarification. Everybody speak in clarification or not, before we call for vote because I want this clear before we call for a vote, because I want this clear before we call for a vote. But my understanding at this given point is you need to advertise for this supervised position, be to be able to have the trainers that you need to, if we just hard to seven people, you won't have enough trainers. We won't really, but we'll have to make do with what we have. And one thing that I do want to let you know to one of the delays too for some of our staff is COVID. So when COVID came into play, the state put all these restrictions and they changed rules. And when COVID ended, we have now covers the unwinding period, which all those COVID restrictions have been lifted. So now our Medicaid workers are having to learn how Medicaid was pre-COVID. Whenever we hired these people, they came in, they had to learn it the state way, because of COVID, the COVID way. Now they're having to learn it a different way after being there for a year, being there, maybe a year to two years. They've learned it one way, now that the state went in and lived it. These restrictions, I think it was May 17th of this year. Now we're having to train workers that have been there for a year and a half to two years years how to do it the way before COVID. So those are the examples that can really hinder learning because the state is forever changing. There's always going to be something that's going to come in that is going to have the state send down a dear county director letter of state and you need to do it this way or you need to put a halt on this because of this. So that makes it difficult as well. When you say make do with what you have, what does that mean as it pertains to the team, total, and connection with the services that you provide to the citizens. It's a lot. It's really pressing. When we make do that means workers do what they have to do. They miss their children's ball games on the weekends or they come in early and stay late having to rearrange schedules. That's what we do. We do what we have to do to get the job done because we want to succeed and we want to meet state deadlines. As long as you've been there, how long can you say you've had to make do? Just last week, me personally, I was on vacation, but I worked at least 15 hours and I was on a work. So it's an norm to make it. That's the norm at DSS. And you have, I'm not the only one, she and I work this weekend, you know, she's at the Nails Alon and we discuss some work. And that's just not an upper management that is line staff, especially social workers, that's the nature of DSS. So in this process of needing 13, it would help alleviate the concept of making do maybe. Yes, for the, for our Medicaid department, yes. Yes. And I think those workers that are coming in and staying after hours, I came in on a Saturday, last Saturday at 6.30 in the morning. There was at least four staff that beat me there. at 6.30 in the morning, there was at least four staff that beat me there. Well, I feel that based on the conversations we've had, I feel that you need a supervisor position that you're asking for and you're asking for two income maintenance case worker three positions. But why did we go from seven income maintenance case two positions to TEMM if we hired those other three and the seven it would probably that work instead of moving that seven to a ten. Can I answer? Yes, I think what she's trying to do is get that 850 caseload number down. Yes. Because if our average caseload is 850 and you can go to another county and at 750 or it's 600 or whatever Then that looks much more appealing to somebody But the same amount of money Or more or more this is going to be more But that was the reason for those additional The seven was a minimum. Yes. OK. You finished, sir? Yes, sir. Yeah. DSS is one of the departments that can get penalized by the state if things don't go right. And some kind of have the state come in and take them over because they had had them with the state required of them. So, what we're trying to do is get into position where we don't get into a situation like that. And, and Medicaid is the only program in the building that we have two audits a year. Last year we were fortunate and blessed that with the single-counted audit we had technical errors but we did not have a county payback so I thank God for that. We're getting ready to enter into another single-counted audit so crossing my fingers we never know what case they can pull. That can be the difference between a $50 payback or a $50,000 payback. And that could be for one case. So that's one of the reasons why when I made the proposal, I'd rather go if you're not going to give me 13, then I've got to ask for something, you know Swing I got to swing it, you know, whatever's thrown at me So that is one of the things about Medicaid that especially the children's Medicaid They're going to get the bulk of the cases so when the auto auditors pull, they come in straight for children's Medicaid. Out of how many cases last year without audit, we may have had four adult, was it four or five adult Medicaid cases pull and the rest of them all came from the children's Medicaid unit because that's where you have so many different types of programs. You have Medicaid for pregnant women, then you have family planning, then you have Medicaid for families, and then you have Medicaid for someone that was denied adult Medicaid, then they can go into a different category, and then there's North Carolina Health Choice, and there are so many different levels to Medicaid, and that's what makes it complicated, because you have so many different levels to Medicaid and that's what that's what makes it complicated because you have so many different rules To Medicaid so it's just not only here's this and we are gonna use all of these rules It's gonna apply for just this one single case if you are denied for Family Medicaid then we're gonna say okay, are you praying that we're gonna put you in the P MPW okay, if you're not praying're gonna put you in the PMPW? Okay, if you're not praying that let's look at family planning, you know, so it's different levels And I don't understand it all myself. I worked adult Medicaid not children So you can definitely learn But I'm learning yes We don't understand when you work with it every day. And again, like I said, I've gotten convinced with our conversations that you need those other three positions for training. And if you haven't asked for the seven, I probably wouldn't have a question on seven would work. But like I said, you asked for the seven, I probably wouldn't have a question on seven would work. But like I said, you ask for a seven and that's kind of where I got caught up on. And I just don't know how many training, then we're still left with not being able to get the job done. Whether you are able to get the case work or two or not, you've got to have the available staff to train. Correct or not correct. We're going gonna get the training okay even if it takes 12 months right yeah I'm gonna throw in somebody for 12 months they can't do the job they got a hold on to what they have we don't know I give them a lot of work I would be even the grass bit until they get to that point. You can't give them? It's a lot too. I mean, it's more complicated than just sitting here talking about. I mean, this job is different than anything I've ever seen. And I've researched this stuff. Back with the four was the whole agency's difficult animal. Well, like you said, Mr. Dahl, as a chair, you've been in there, you kind of get to see what's going on in the director of Merle on there. You guys are in it, day in and day out. So who am I to sit here to tell you what you don't need? Right, and there you go. I think I give you everything you need to go to battle and hopefully everything works out before I try to come in and give my guesstimation or assumptions on what he is and what's not. And plus, it's funded. It's all funded. And everything within his agency is covered by a gentleman's stature within the statute books. So it's about a third assumption. Is it fair for this? And then I'm gonna just ask the question. If we approve these 13 positions, and it is not 100% funded by the state as I'm being told, then we're going back off of them. I say we cross the bridge and get to it. We don't have the agreement sitting here on public tonight. Right now this state, we requested through the NCC that every position be funded and she's done the assessment and had the LBL. What's her name? Her name is Beth Winson. But anyway, they've given her the numbers of state had to give the numbers to the agencies. So all these numbers are coming from the state to her. So that's what she's going by the numbers in the state. I was just saying that, but this requested it's not in black and white because the budget hadn't been paid. Well, do you think it's going to be paid? I don't know what it's going to have. I don't see that. Well, it's sitting there. Maybe you can use your influence. How about having a deal? Yeah, the cameras get it bad. Well, I was just going to say, I mean, you could certainly put that in the form of emotion. I mean, the worst case is going to be, it's going to cost you $178,000 a year. If the $16,000 a month doesn't come through so you could certainly Put that in the motion that you would revisit it if that's not What's forthcoming and then you can review about 16,000 Six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six and six 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 69 So Mr. Works on it. The man that made the motion said he would agree to it. Can we go back and put that in his motion? He can change the motion to do it. He needs your motion. No, my motion was denied. But his motion is, he's only got to do a change of motion from 7 to 13. He made the motion to approve several positions. Which way did you vote on the motion to amend? To... Yeah, I broke the tie so that we could go on in favor of the member. Which means this Mr. Dales motion? Uh-huh, that's what I'm saying. And Mr. Dales motion. My motion didn't pass. Yeah, yes it did. Yeah, did. He, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah understood what he said. Okay, that's my fault. Yeah, I should have clarified it better because I was breaking the die to so that we could go in with discussion. So where we're at right now is you know if you would add that into that motion and the second would accept it. Yeah, then that's where we'd be if not we need to do another amendment What's your request miss Dale? If we don't come through at the state doesn't come through with 16,000 six at least sixteen thousand six hundred and sixty nine dollars per month every month Then we'll back off of will will if that is We'll fund a 13 positions. One supervisor, the two IMC-3s, the two IMC-2s, but if the state does not come through with that 16, 66, 69, we're going to come back and revisit it and cut the 13. Can you, I think maybe you just put a comment at the end contingent upon the funding. That's fine, too. I'll amend my motion to add that in there. Just contingent upon the payment of the 1660s, right now, we'll come back and revisit the motion. Second agree with that. Yes sir. Okay so now let's make it clear. We've discussed this as long as the whole meeting's been. But it's very important. I mean you know I don't take this lightly. I mean I know you you're trying to get the staff to get the job done and I appreciate you standing there and willing to keep sharing the information we need to try to get it clear, you know. But the motion on the floor is that we approve the 13 Medicaid positions, one supervisor position, two income and maintenance case worker threes and 10 income and case workers to contingency upon the state giving us to $16,669 per month. That's the motion, correct? Everybody clear on what the motion is. And I got a second on that motion. This is correct. Okay. Do we have any further special? Because I want everybody to feel good before we vote. Any further special? Any further questions? They're sort of. Here and then, all in favor say aye. All opposed? Okay, it passed. Thank you. We aren't worth. Thank you. I appreciate it. Okay that moves us into. That's all of the the regular session I think okay so by the entertainer motion to go out of the regular session in the closed session pertinent to NCGS 143-318.11A3. Got a motion that will second any further discussion here none all in favor say aye. All opposed. Same sign. All right. We are going into closed session. Thank y'all for attending the night. They're all welcome to come on back in. All right. Gentlemen, is there anything that needs to be discussed based on the closed session? No. OK, with that, do you have any announcements? Mr. Wood, did you like to share with us? No, just, and I'm glad to be here. It's been a good first week. Everybody's been very helpful. I would like to say I appreciate you hitting ground running because because you know I know that's what you're doing and thank you for accepting the job and you seem very dedicated to get the job done. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Any other comments you want to say anything? I just like to say welcome aboard. Thank you for all that you're doing and looking forward to working with you. Thank you. Same here. Same for me, I'm not just just thank you. I would entertain a motion to a second. Any further discussion? Here in none. All in favor say aye. All opposed, same sign. Thank you all for attending.