001Welcome all. >> If you will please uh join me with the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Tonight, before we begin, I wanted to acknowledge the recent passing of Commissioner Gary Sides and ask that we take a moment to pause and reflect and honor his life and his service and the impact that he had on our community. May we hold his family, friends, and colleagues in our thoughts and recognize the loss felt by those who had the privilege to serve alongside him or to do life with him. Let us carry that reflection with us as we move into prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for the
002opportunity to serve. remind us of the responsibility and the privilege of public service and that the work we do tonight and the work that the county staff carry out every day, day in and day out truly matters. It carries forward beyond anyone meeting anyone role and anyone person. Decisions made in rooms like this do not live on paper. They live in people and in families navigating uncertainty and in children needing protection, in adults seeking dignity, and in communities relying on systems to work as they should. Lord, grant us the clarity to see beyond ourselves and to remember that every policy, program, and decision is connected and that what we do in one area touches lives in another. May we listen deeply, speak thoughtfully, and act with integrity. Help us to remain mindful that those that
003we serve may never sit at this table, but they feel the impact of everything that we do here. Guide us to lead with both wisdom and compassion, to balance data and humanity, process and purpose, responsibility with care. As we move into tonight's work, keep us grounded in purpose. Grant us the wisdom to make thoughtful decisions and help us to listen with intention. Give us in the clarity that we need to see things as the whole, not just as the parts. And may we carry forward the responsibility of this work with grateful hearts and honor the example of those who serve before us, continuing to build a system that truly supports and protects those who need it most. Amen. >> Amen. Um, we're going to start with the approval of the agenda. Approval of the minutes.
004Has everyone had a chance to review the minutes? >> Do we have any motion? I make a motion to approve the minutes. >> We'll second the motion. >> We have a second. If all of those in favor say I. >> Opposed, the minutes have passed. Approval of minutes or approved, sorry. Next up is the approval of the agenda. Did everyone have a chance to review the tonight's agenda? >> Yes. Motion to approve. >> Thank you, Brandy. We have a motion. >> Dr. Weise second. Um, all those in favor of the approving tonight's agenda say I. >> All who are opposed? With no opposition, tonight's agenda is approved. Next on the agenda is tonight's executive director's report. >> Good evening. This evening, um, I wanted to start also by recognizing Commissioner Sid's service and thank you
005for that. No, that was that was beautiful. So, thank you very much for those words. I I think uh Commissioner Sides was very passionate about a lot of things and human services is certainly one of those and because of his advocacy our seniors are certainly better off um from a food and nutrition perspective and um that's what we're all here for, right? As you so eloquently said. So just thank you for that recognition. um and he will be missed. I also sent an email to you all earlier today uh and wanted to just take a moment to recognize Earl Ford's service. He unfortunately had to resign uh from his position on this board because he is moving to South Carolina, the home of smiling faces and beautiful places and he's looking forward to that. And
006so I'm glad for him in this new phase, but uh he will no longer be able to serve because he does not live in Union County. Um, so we will have a couple of vacancies that will be posted uh to to be filled. And so if you know anyone uh that is a consumer of human services or our other vacancies, we have uh vacancy as a dentist, a registered nurse, an other person which we are actually going to review this evening and I have an agenda item for you all for that. pharmacist, a physician that is a psychiatrist and an optometrist. And then at the end of Dr. Weiss's term, uh, which will be in June, we will also be recruiting for a veterinarian, which she has promised us she will try to give us
007a recruitment for. So hopefully that will be good. But um, if you if you know of anybody to serve, please encourage them to do so. Tonight I would like to bring before you one action that is requested in association with service on the board and that is for you all to review applications that have been received for the position of other person. We have received three applications from Ben Mount, Michael and Linda Yang. All three of those do qualify for the other person vacancy and all of them have been all three candidates have been uh interviewed by members of your board for this open position. And so at this point I would ask that you all consider those applications, discuss them and if you can come to agreement, make a recommendation to the board of
008county commissioners for appointment to the vacant position. The question that has come up in the past, so I think I should go ahead maybe and address it, is do you have to approve only one or can you advance more than one for then the board of county commissioners to make a determination on? And that is your choice um which which path you would choose to go. So if you had more than one excellent applicant, feel free to make a recommendation of having more than one go before the board of county commissioners. um for their consideration. And if you are all in unanimous agreement on a particular one, you can choose to to isolate that to only one. >> I'm sorry. Yeah, I should have mentioned that. Uh that the people who were able to complete
009the interviews and thank you for your time were Brandy Smith, uh Matthew Childs, and Dr. Kalash. Um, can I just speak to the board? Yes. >> As probably an opinion on as one of the interviews. So, all three were amazing. Um, I think each of them brings something different to the board and diverse. What I really liked about Michael, he's sitting behind me, um, was his years in Union County. Obviously, he's invested in Union County. Um, I think that's important when we're sitting on a board uh representing citizens in the county. Obviously, Mr. Mount has tons of experience in this um arena times. Um, Miss Yang has a great uh resume and she's definitely qualified to be on the board. I wonder if she might be a little overqualified. Um, so I thought all three
010were great. Obviously the time in Union County for Mr. Ebola speaks volume. He's very dedicated. He's on other boards as well. Um, so I can't tell you between the three, I don't have a top pick. They all are great, but those are just some suggestions from each candidate. Thank you, Brandy. Did anyone have any questions? We can go through them individually or we could um answer any questions or we could put all three through through. Um I did not participate in the interview. I did review the applications. Um and as I shared via email, I agree that they are all good applicants. Um I a little biased toward um Mr. Elling. >> Yeah. So you have two spots. >> Uh we have one spot, one other person spot. >> Earl was a consumer, right? Yeah.
011So, it would be all three would be for the same splot. Um, I do agree with what Brandy said that the years in the county, you know, could be of relevance. And, um, also he had work experience here at social services. That's helpful. Again, if there we could put a motion forward for all to put them all through or we could put a mo a motion to put it to a vote tonight and go through who we, you know, recommend. I'm between two versus three. All right. So, Brand's thinking that um >> definitely two >> two forward, >> you know, like possibly that we could put forward two. >> Okay. >> Um which two? >> Mr. Mount and >> I'm sorry I keep saying Eve, but you said Eve. Okay. >> It's Eve. >> Eve.
012Oh, yeah. She's like, >> those would be my first. Do you have any thoughts? >> I've reviewed all the resumes. They are all Uber qualified and I don't think that Miss Yang is overqualified. But if those who are involved in the interviews feel that they would like to forward these two individuals, I make a motion to forward mount and Michael Eve. >> Why don't we just make a motion to move forward all three? >> I'm the only one here from the interview by myself. So, Yeah, she can make a motion and >> but you have to vote on both. >> Yeah, you're right. >> You can make a motion for all three and we can vote on both >> for the position. I was more looking at like her type of work. >> Um but
013I'll let's make a motion to move forward all three candidates. >> If we do that then the board of county commissioner has to make the decision which one. >> Okay. >> All right. So we have motions on both. So I we'll need a vote on both you know like unless you don't want to withdraw. >> I'll withdraw my motion. There you go. >> All right. So, we have a motion to put forward all three. >> Second. >> And Mr. Harrian seconds that. All right. All those in favor of putting forth all three and letting Mr. Commissioners, the board of commissioners vote, say I. >> I. All opposed. And it passes. We will put forward all three. and the commissioners will get back to us at the after their next meeting. >> Excellent. Thank you all
014very much. We will put that on the next window which will be in May May 4th. May 4th I don't know. Um next up tonight we have the division report and we'll start with Miss Collie. So, the first one is a recommendation for an environmental health division fee change. Sorry, there you go. So, the first item is a recommendation for envir for an environmental health division fee change. Uh the current fee for this service which is a hybrid uh improvement permit uh submitted by a private uh soul scientist. And um the current fee is 40% of our customary fee that we have now which is $400 for a residential situation, $500 for a commercial. um the general statutes and rereading them and clarifying them actually allow us to charge 100%. And that's because of the
015time and effort that it takes to review the submittal, making sure it's correct. Um so we are actually asking for the fee to be increased from 40% to 100% of the fee that's already charged. So we do want some type of vote or approval on this. Um, happy to answer any questions that you have. >> I'm sorry, Tracy. You said the fees are going to go to what? >> So, currently the fees are 40% of what's typically charged, which would be either $400 or $500. We are asking for the fee to be corrected to be 100% of the customary fee which would be $400 or $500 rather than 40% of $400 or 40% of $500. Sorry, I should have said that more. I know I've asked this before but just for a point of clarity
016>> what the that is at currently at the 40% that's all that we even bill insurance you know >> this is environmental health >> okay >> this is paid for services rendered uh for the on-site water protection program >> the first septic and well >> septic well this is this is specific to septic systems >> okay >> and currently 40% of it is paid for. >> Currently, people are paying 40% of the fee. You know, we, you know, reviewing the statute, the statute allows, and most counties around us or the ones we communicated with, um, charge 100% of the fee, which is what we should be charging. Uh, to be frank with you, we're leaving about $11,000 on the table. >> Do any of the surrounding counties have a greater differential between residential and commercial?
017Uh you mean the the the fees that we charge? Most have a difference in the fee between a residential application and a commercial. A commercial application for an on-site system is a little more complex. You have to ask questions about the use, whether or not they have a kitchen, number of employees, they have a grease track. You know, there's a whole series of additional questions and calculations that have to go into into play. Um it can be a little more complicated, not always, but sometimes. So that's why there's a change in the, you know, there's a slight difference in the fees. >> That's just it. It's a slight difference. It seems like it would be more. That's why I was asking. >> Yeah. >> Tracy, what happens if someone can't pay that 100%. >> Well,
018then they would not receive the service. >> Okay. Just that simple. >> I mean, it's a it's something that it's information that's shared on the front end when someone applies. Now, remember, these specific situations are folks that have hired a private soil scientist uh to evaluate their property. So, they they already have the additional funds to hire someone outside to do the work that we would otherwise do, right? and they're submitting this for approval to kind of bypass maybe they're looking for, I don't know, Charlotte, they may be developing a larger parcel and, you know, dividing the property up in multiple uh lots and they just want to kind of move through the process a little more quickly. Um, it's becoming much more popular. Um, and this we would consider to be like a hybrid.
019It's not 100% bypassing um environmental health, but it's a a quasi kind of a semi bypass. It's a we call it a hybrid. >> So, this is just someone that wants to use a private person instead of the county, >> right? For the improvement permit, not necessarily for the construction authorization, but for the improvement permit. >> I vote to approve. I make a motion to approve the fee increase. >> We have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? >> I have a question. >> Okay. >> So, it was just improvement. So, there's not a scenario in this one in which like with the new where the approval and then the buyer, you know, can end up with something that's not potable. This is completely different. This is what what constitutes an improvement. >>
020Okay. So, an improvement permit like I'll just explain it to you from uh the work that we do. someone submits an application, they want to have a property evaluated for a septic system because public sewer is not available and this is just septic system. This is not referring to a well. Uh they submit the application, they uh submit all the information that's associated with that. Uh a site plan show showing where they want their house to be or mobile home to be the lot boundaries. Um they provide the information on number of bedrooms and you know other details that are required as part of the process. We receive the application bill for it. It goes in the queue. It's assigned to an individual that handles an area. The environmental health specialist goes out to the
021property, does a soil and site evaluation. They do augur borings. They're looking at structure, uh topography, a number of different factors. each site stands on its own merit for the evaluation. Uh they're also looking for setback limitations like a well that's existing or whatever. So we do that solo in our office. That's a completely public uh improvement permit process and then once that improvement permit is issued, that's what someone can use to buy a property. It says this land perks. It parks for this. Um, and the next step after the improvement permit is a construction authorization that includes the the design of the system. Like it shows all the details, the type of system, um, setbacks, how it's laid out. It's what the contractor uses to install it. And then there's a there's a third
022step which is the inspections and that's the operations permit issuance. So what this is, this is legislation that allowed Is that good? I can I can go >> if you want to like I'm good now. Like I'm ready to give her a second. I don't want your wife a second. >> I have one question. >> Yeah. How did how did it get to be 40%? Like why were we charging only 40%. >> So the when the legislation first came out, there were some pieces to a process that were able to be charged 40%. And I think it was misread and we just carried that over to this mistakenly. and then reviewing it, it looks like we can actually charge 100%. So there are other there's there's another fee that we could charge 35% for. A
023lot of this legislation was coming fast and furious and it was changing very frequently. So, you know, we were constantly changing not only our application process and our process internally, but also our fees that we were able to charge for these because they they've changed quite a bit. So, this is kind of making a correction, too. >> Thank you for explaining that. I agree. I think it sounds like it should be 100%. That's just my opinion. We'll put it to a vote. If anything, like I said, feels like maybe commercial should be even more than the residential, but we had a motion. Um, and I second that. Um, all those in favor of making the increase to 100% say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion passes. Next is public health clinical service fees. Okay.
024So, we have several fees for your consideration for uh public health. uh CPT codes and there's a there's actually a chart for the the year of the time that you've got. Um four fees. One is uh for an established patient home visit, typically about 25 minutes. This uh that fee is $4362 is the fee that we're recommending. Um the second one is an established patient home visit fee. That's typically about 15 minutes. The third is an established patient virtual brief check-in. That can be an audio uh video 5 to 10 minutes give or take. And then the fourth one is an established patient patient virtual check-in audio only. Um so this these uh adopting these fees and these C CPT codes would allow us to charge a fair price for services rendered. Thank you, Tracy.
025Are is this the only room? Is there no other source of income for the home visits? >> No, just >> in fact, uh we're uh preparing to uh begin conducting uh infant home visits. Uh we know that's a strong need in the community. So, these fees will enable us to charge fees for service and recognize revenue for those uh services in the community. It's really a um an impactful way to do public health because you're meeting people where they are, not only the children, but the women, the moms, and you're seeing them where they live, maybe recognizing other challenges and connecting them with resources they may need. So, um we're very excited about the opportunity. >> Are these fees that are reimbursed by Medicaid? Um, so there is a Medicaid reimburseable rate with each of
026these and so we take the Medicaid reimburseable rate, whatever that is, um, and we increase by 30% for administrative costs. Do we have any other questions on these fees? And if not, do we have a motion? >> I make a motion to approve the fees. >> We have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? I second the motion. Thank you. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? That these are approved. I think it sounds like a wonderful program. Next up, we have adult and family children's social worker program overview. I'm going to steal the privilege of introducing Dr. Dora Bowers to you all. She is division manager of child and adult welfare at DSS. She is absolutely fantastic and amazing and I know you're going to love her overview
027of all of the programs that she works with. >> Thank you. Thank you, Ashley. >> You're welcome. >> Okay, so as she stated, I am the division manager here and um I just wanted to do a brief overview about our social work programs that we have to offer. So, I'm going to start off with children's services talking about the reporting and common cases that we receive as well as our foster care and then I'm going go into adult services and their reporting some common cases that we receive as well as their guardianship. >> Hey Dory, can we switch mics? I don't think that one's working. >> Okay. Sorry. I didn't think it was. >> That one's better. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, as far as child services, we have our intake social
028workers. They're the ones who take the child services referrals that come in. Um, from there, if the report is accepted, we do have our assessment, also known as our investigators, who go out and investigate these allegations to determine whether or not there's um truth to it and to see if there's services needed with families. Um, we have permanency planning and inhome services. Permanency planning is also, excuse me, permanency planning is our foster care and inhome services is also known as treatment. Some people refer to it back then as treatment services. Um we have adoption social workers who work with children who are free for adoptions. We have links. Um we do have afterare prevention as well as after hour social workers. It is a 247 job. So we do have social workers who work evenings
029and weekends. So just to start off to let you all know um it is a legally mandated program. So, it's nonvoluntary. When we speak with families who we have to go out and assess their homes, we let them know that it is not voluntary, that we have to be out here, that this is the law, and we are trying to ensure child safety. We want to just make sure we're protecting children from future harm, as well as supporting and improving families and making sure that they have everything that they need to be better parents and making sure they're provided a nurturing environment. In North Carolina, everybody is legally mandated to make a child protective services report. So, if you are a resident of North Carolina, you are mandated to make that report. Um, it's not
030just because you're a professional. So, we go out and we do outreach to different um agencies, just making sure that people are aware of that. You do not have to know 100%. You have do not have to do your own investigation. You just um have to have a suspicion that a child has been abused, neglected or dependent and you can make a report to our agency. When we go out, we always provide our hotline. We have a hotline that goes directly to our intake. They take child and adult protective services and then we give out the after hours contact information which is communications number where they call and they request to speak to an on call social worker so they can make sure we're aware of a situation that's going on or some concerns that
031they have. We cannot provide the reporters information to anyone and we try to make sure we let that known when we go out and make these uh presentations to our community so they can be more comfortable in making reports. A lot of times people know things but they're afraid of retaliation or or things from families. Um so they don't want to make a report or they shy away from it. They do have a right to remain anonymous in North Carolina as well. Um we do encourage professionals to make sure that they they do say who they are when they make those types of reports. That way um they won't be held liable if somebody say well I told Dr. Johnny this was going on and then Dr. Johnny calls an anonymously. We cannot prove that
032it was Dr. Johnny who made that report and something the child gets revictimized and stuff like that. So, as far as our data, we had in 2025, we had a total of 1,960 child protective services referrals and we accepted, 1418 of those for investigation. So, about 72% of the reports that are being called in are being accepted to get investigated and that is just based on the state policy. So we have to look at what the state policy says. We have to um investigate and we go out and we send a social worker out to ensure the safety of those children. We do have um here's some more data as far as the types of reports there are. Um we have 64% is neglect and we do get the majority of those cases as neglect.
033Those are the improper supervision or improper care jurist environment. Um and then the next highest of course is our abuse cases which is 34% and that that percentage is actually rising. We have a new um statewide system that came out October for us. It came out earlier last year for the whole state but Union County got it October 6 of 2025. And um within that system came a new chapter services policy as far as what we can screen for, what we can and cannot do which increased our abuse um cases tremendously. So we have seen a very uptick in those types of cases. And even though dependency is only at 2% recently within the last several months we have been seeing a rise in dependency cases with teenagers. And dependency is when they do not
034have a parent or caretaker that's willing to care for them or they're unable, meaning they may be mentally incapacitated or they may have gotten incarcerated or unfortunately they might have died and no longer able to care for them and there's no one else. So that has been on the rise um in this county as well. So, did you guys know we currently have 137 foster um care children in our county right now? Um, and then we have 21 youth between the age of 18 and 21 who agree to stay into foster care to extend their foster care in the 1821 program. Unfortunately, 36 children right now are placed out of county and that's because we do not have the placement in county or the services that they need in county. So, we have to place
035those out of county. Um, and that does affect us because we have um timelines and things that we have to visit these children and make sure everybody has their needs. So, um, we currently have 46 licensed foster homes and we do have 14 families that are participating in that class right now to get licensed. So, that's exciting. So when we go out, not only do we do outreach for um making reports and people knowing how to make a report, we also try to recruit people to become foster parents in this area so we can make sure that if unfortunate um event happen and we do have to take a child into custody that they have somewhere locally they can go and they can remain in their home school and things like that. So I am
036going to go ahead and segue over to adult services and talk about some of the things that they have to offer. They also have the intake. Um our team here is blended. Our intake department is adult and children services intake. So they take both referrals, both type of referrals here. Um evaluations is the same as investigations for child protect services. They're just evaluating adult tech services referrals. Um we do have adult referrals. So if they might not reach the level of um investigation, but there are concerns and we want to still check on that adult. We do have an adult referral process here and a social worker goes out to um speak with the adult and see if there's any services that they need or even they may come back and may have to make
037another adult protective services referral with more information to show that that adult is a disabled adult that needs protection. Um there are guardianship services and adult daycare. Um and after hours is also um available for this because it is a 24/7 service as well. So of course this is also legally mandated for um adults is nonvoluntary. If adult protect the services referral comes in, we do have to go out and do evaluation. Um, and we want to protect them from further harm and just make sure that they have the quality of life that they deserve as a disabled adult in our community. The stat on adult protective services, they are much lower than children, but it's very important. our adult population is rising and it's something that we all need to pay attention to. The
038total um adult referrals that we received in 2025 was 476 and we accepted 257 of those referrals. The types of referrals that we get mainly um are caretaker neglect and self- neglect. Those are our two highest types of referrals that we receive. And then from there and these are the accepted referrals. So the type of accepted referrals we received are caretaker neglect and accept neglect are the highest. Um we do have financial exploitation as the third highest where unfortunately people are exploiting them and taking their finances and then we have a small amount of abuse cases but we do get those unfortunately too. So, for everyone's awareness, we currently have 67 wards disabled adults who are guardianship in our county. Um, 31 of those are out of county. Sometimes it's because they are with family
039members and or there's providers that are out of county. We have 17 um individuals that we service for our inh home support. And then we have 24 adults that are in our adult daycare currently. Just to bring it all together, um our role is to protect our most vulnerable population which is our adult disabled adult and children. So we do work hard and work together to ensure that we are putting everybody's um in front of us and making sure that we are meeting everybody's needs and that everybody is safe. Does anybody have any questions for Thank you for that report. >> Sorry, how many investigators do you have? >> Currently, we have 18. We are hiring one. >> The whole of DSS vacancy rate is only 4.8%. Not to flex, but just thought I'd share
040that with you. >> As for children, it's for adults. We have four. Well, total for all of PSS 4.8%. >> How long does an I get that some of them can be closed out quickly, especially those that you determine are good intent don't have any merit. >> How many What's the average length of an investigation? They go on for weeks or months. >> Well, they have for children services, they have 45 days. Um, usually it just depends on the type of case it is. So, um, I can give you an average. There are going to be some outliers because if we have law enforcement involved and they have to go to community, um, outreach center, things like that, child advocacy centers, that those type of cases last a little bit longer, but they they do
041last approximately 30 to 35 days minimumly for children services. Now, adult services, they have a shorter timeline. So, their neglect and abuse cases um have to be wrapped up in 30 days and their financial exploitation cases have 45 days. And that's just because they have to deal with the banks and get more information and maybe law enforcement may get involved for those cases. >> Thank you. >> Uh expanding on that, is that do those timelines change for a subsequent call on the family? So yes, if a a new report comes in, then they do have more time because a new incident has occurred. >> If if a family say under especially under neglect and stuff, right? If a family had open open applications, right, for other for economic services and when an investigation comes through,
042does everything halt um while it's investigated? Does that halt their applications and everything or does do things proceed? >> No. Um that doesn't have anything to do with their application um our side, does it? >> You spoke on the new um >> roll out. Yeah. like where they which I presume is when we also had the mandate consolidation of um the child welfare and the child fatality right it's the same >> oh I >> I don't remember if that was the exact same legislation it was similar timeline >> so the increase though that resulted from it do you is it identifiable why is it from in a certain area like we're investigating more from schools because they have >> no uh we get we're getting more physical injury cases from three and under. >> So
043um that's what would have been improper the state anybody and under if they're getting disciplined to that manner it is physical injury. So that is Yes, >> that seems like a positive increase. I mean that you would want that. >> It's not negative. >> Go ahead. >> I'm sorry. It's not a total increase overall. It's just in the bucket that they fall in. >> Does that make sense? And how quickly we have to respond. >> So I think we're of course good with the investigation of it. We just have to be cognizant of the increase because that's more immediates for us. So, we need to make sure we have staff available that can go out and do that. And it took us off guard at the first few months of it because we were like,
044"Wow, why are we getting so many of these immediate cases, but it was just the way that they changed the wording and where they fall into those buckets." >> Yes. And same as dependency, if if someone left their child at the hospital and they refused to get their child, that was always an accepted referral, but we had 72 hours to respond. Now, that's an immediate. So we have to go out quicker. So she's right. It's more so the response times than the actual investigation. >> Is there a clear difference between like a child welfare call and someone calling child protective services for a report? Like um you know an avenue where they call and have someone check on a situation before they check on a situation. It is a child services referral. Um the only
045time that they law enforcement take child welfare um calls where people can call and say, "Hey, I want you to go out." But when you call child tech services is is not there's no I I think I worded that wrong. You know, I'm that's what I meant. Like um are those in the community aware of that difference, you know, between the two? when I I'm one of the ones who go out a lot to present about intakes and our services and that's something that I do speak on, but we are working hard to make sure that that information is out there to the public so they know um what to do and when to report and things like that >> when we do have to one last question. You're doing great. Um but when we
046do have to go out and investigate something, say um I'm going to give a random example here hopefully. hopefully random, you know, like, right? Um, so something, you know, triggers a mandated report um on a child from a school or a doctor's, you know, office or something um like bruises, you know, like our or injuries, right? And we have to go out and investigate. Um if y'all have to say it was the school so that y'all go out there and you know then you remove the child do where we what is the timeline right for get making sure that they get their medication or that the whole thing is returned you know to normal. If say for example those it turns out those bruises came from a medication >> you know like something explainable how
047long is that child going to be out of the home? So, so during the initial um investigation when the initiator goes out to determine what's going on, if the child has bruises, uh we seek medical to determine because we as social workers can no longer say yes, it's a bruise, no it is not. Um medical pro professional has to identify it as a bruise, mark a bruise, um and then determine what what occurred. So if it is a medical condition, usually that is in their medical chart. So we're speaking with medical upfront. Um removing children from the home is the the last thing that we're trying to do. So, we're doing everything in our wheelhouse during that initial contact to ensure that these children are not in an unsafe place that the whatever occurred, it
048may be in an isolated incident or whatnot. But as far as the timeline, it just depends on the participation from the family and um the community. So, for example, if if parents are willing and say, "Hey, you know, we blew up. our children can go to our parents' house. We agree for them to temporarily be there while we get some services in place. Then that may um be a shorter time. Whereas you have parents that are saying that, you know, I was hit across the head with a bat when I was little, so what's wrong with it? You know, that could make it be a little bit longer. Just getting a brand. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I I remember learning at one point that like certain professions were mandated reporters for suspected child abuse or
049neglect. Um can you just clarify? You said that everyone in the state was a mandate. Okay. So is that different now? Is that just like it's not limited to certain professions? >> I'm not sure what now and then is as far as time frames, but I will say since I've been doing this for 14 years, it has always been North Carolina residents. >> Well, average. So I'm not sure when before it was just professionals. I know a lot of times as a professional that's something that you're trained um as a person laying person you that does not work with children or things like that. You may not be trained that oh I'm supposed to tell somebody about this but um professionals we are trained that way. So yes Ashley >> 1979. >> Okay thank you
050>> I just Googled. I'm sorry >> for North Carolina specifically. And they don't have to be like resident like living here. You can just cross the border. >> Yes. >> You can stand on one side of Care Winds and then when you stand on the other you become a mandated reporter because you're in the state in North Carolina. >> And they take it serious. >> They do. >> Yeah. >> Question. >> If you're suspecting child abuse, how would you go about reporting that? >> Great question. So you would call our intake department um that I can give out that number 7042966124. That goes directly to the hotline. If it's during business hours, 8 to 5. If it's after hours or on the weekends, you will contact communications and make sure you clearly state that you
051are you need to talk to a social worker because you have a concern and you will need to make a child protected service report or an adult protected service report. um and they will give get you to the on call social worker >> information >> if you can't remember the number um just cuz it is different if you just Google the SS the number then on the phone tree it'll ask you for a call to make a report and you can >> it does the main number does give you I think it's option eight but it gives you um the other option to do that >> I had a question on the out of county placements do they come at a greater cost. >> It just depends on what they are, but usually they're the
052same cost. Just depends on what type of placement level, what level placement it is, things like that. >> So, is that inclusive of or does it not include like, you know, if therapeutic fall like that's everything when we talk about 36 out of county? >> That's everything. I think I think it the cost is relatively the same if you're just thinking about the cost of placement. But when you think about having to do either weekly, bi-weekly, monthly visits depending on what the requirements are, then you're talking about staff time, the gas to get there. like especially when we have to make placements out of state um that can become quite costly as far as the logistics go of making sure that that child is seen in person by a staff member. Did it have a
053negative impact on permanency planning? Like are I mean that's the thing I I haven't seen this in union this year but I've seen way too many kids in foster care without a plan right for that. And so is that something we have a periodic check on. I mean you listed it. I was excited to see that in the permanency planning care but like is that at certain checkpoints? Is that automatic? Is that you know? >> Yeah. So we have mandated permanency planning meetings where we have to review each case and we take that very seriously here. It it makes permanency planning difficult if the plan is reunification and you placed a child out of state because there's no way that a parent who's already struggling here in this county is going to be able to
054build any kind of bond relationship or work on whatever it is the two of them need to work on. If one's in another state, we're stuck because typically if we've placed them in another state, it's because their behaviors are such that they need some type of intensive treatment that we were unable to provide here in our county, much less our state. So, if we don't send them out of state, then we are stuck with them staying here overnight at DSS, which many counties have had to resort to. We have not, thank goodness. Um, yeah, I mean, um, but that's where it gets tricky. So, you have to get creative in that, which we have. We use Microsoft Teams. We keep a Zoom license because some parents find that easier to use. So, that while they're
055there, if the child and parent need to have a visit, they can at the very least have a virtual visit and have some connection um if they can't do that physically together. I think there's even been times where we've had um social workers who have um flown with the parent, we've assisted the parent in that transportation cost, especially when it came to actual reunification. I can think of one where we flew them out uh to Washington where the father was. We flew the children out there. Um we did a home visit and were able to make all the seeing them have the kids with them. So, we we try to think outside the box when it comes to that, but it does make it more difficult. That was a lot of words. Sorry. >> That
056was great. Thank you. >> All right. One last question. Yeah. Is there um like a set of conditions that triggers a referral to law enforcement from from DSS's. >> So, um that's a great question. If we do not accept a referral, some things are not child tech services rise to the level of an accepted report, but it does that we do have to send it over to law enforcement. One thing that jumps out is um well, of course, non- caretaker report. So, if you're not a parent or caretaker, uh but you did something to a child, there's allegations, we have to automatically send that to law enforcement district attorney's office. When there's child- on child sexual abuse, meaning two children are perpet one another or one child perp on another child, and there's no concern
057with um there's no concern with the adult or parent or caretaker. They're just children, then we still send that to law enforcement, district attorney's office. Um that's more of a criminal matter. If we get reports of any reports of abuse, we have to notify law enforcement and the district attorney's office as well. Um, as well as inappropriate dis unsafe discipline. Um, if a child has a mark or root. So, there are certain criteria where we do have to get them involved. Uh, we do work closely with them. um contact detectives if we get get a really um bad case and um we do contact and work try to work out and go out together. So >> any other questions? >> Thank you for the presentation from Berlin. Next up is our staff report. Beginning I'm
058sorry, I'll go first. Um, so I've been a part of the opioid settlement task force and we sent out a request for applications back in February um and close that uh process in March and we uh have gone through those applications and um there will be a presentation to the board of county commissioners on Monday um so you can hear more then um can't disclose anything yet. Um we still have a couple final decisions to make, but um that process, you know, we went through strategic planning in the fall with all our partners, community partners, and so we're we're just moving ahead now. Um and um so those will make the recommendations. The board will make those decisions to approve, not approve, um make recommendations. Um and then once that's made we will have new
059contracts that will start in J in July um first and most of them will be for four years of funding and and not to exceed and we'll be training all the providers and we have a whole new process and guide book etc. So we've been working really um the task force um has been working hard on that on um to move ahead. Um, and then in my shop too, uh, the volunteer income tax program closed today. Um, I know I don't have exact numbers of how many tax returns we've done, but I know we've helped over 500 people. Um, which is, you know, pretty usual. Um, and you know, a lot more tax returns. So we we have obviously we have US and then state and um we were able to do South Carolina and
060North and North Carolina and I think that's it but I think some people came in one in some other states but the folks aren't all trained in the other states. We were only permitted to do that. So um I think that's about Oh and our community health assessment I was submitted last month. I'm not sure if I said that last month. Uh so we submitted it last month. Uh hopefully we will get some um an approval in the next couple months. It does take time to read that. Um we are now working on our community health improvement plan. And the priority areas are um substance use disorder, access to care, and um uh housing, affordable housing. >> You said applications. Was that like a RFP or grant? for our bank. Yeah, request for our application.
061A little different than RFP. Thank you. >> I like that mic better. I'm going to give Jan mic. Um, social services decor did a great job explaining our social work programs. Um, just so y'all know, last month we celebrated social work appreciation month. Dora threw an amazing party for all of them. Um, I think everybody had a great time. As far as I can tell, this month, April, is child abuse prevention month. Um, if you didn't, you should go back and look at the Inquirer Journal. They did a great write up on some collaboration between DSS, Alliance for Children, and Turning Points Child Advocacy Center. We had an event downtown. And then we uh marched to the plaza, Junis Plaza, and planted pin wheels. Um, for child use prevention month, we are recruiting foster parents.
062If you needed a sign, there's one outside at the road. Um, we also have our two special projects that we're still working on. And so, as members of our consolidated human services board, we would like to invite you this Friday from 1 to 3, Crossnor, which is a local nonprofit in the state of North Carolina. they are going to be opening our first ever bridgen famil family's professional foster parent home. Um, and so if you are ready and willing to come, shoot me an email and I'll send you the address and the date and time. Please don't please email me because I'll forget. Okay. Um, but yeah, I'd love to see you there. We have a second home in that same neighborhood that will be opening soon and then a third home that Wing a
063donated to us um that is currently being renovated and I'm supposed to go look at this week. Um the second special project that we're working on at DSS is in regards to our group home and having a crisis stabilization center that both Union County and Cabaris County DSS can utilize. Um, we are at the stage where we this month will be presenting to Monroe City Council for approval of a special permit that we didn't know that we needed, but now we do. So once that gets approved, speaking that into happening, then we will be um putting out an RFP looking for a contractor to help us with our renovations of the group home so that we can get that looking sch snazzy for our new youth that we'll be serving hopefully by beginning of next
064year. When is that Monroe Council meeting? >> April 20 >> something. >> Hold up. >> 7th or 8th? >> I'm in my calendar. >> April 28th at 6:00 p.m. Monroe City Hall. And once that hopefully is approved, we will also be engaging with the state to request that they extend our ability to utilize the funds that they have awarded us. >> So, as long as we're putting good things into the air, figure we'll go ahead and put that out as well. >> Um, Michelle Marano wanted me to let you guys know that she is very sorry she is not able to be here tonight. She is working on uh a really fun event that is with one of our excellent community partners, Council on Aging. It's a fundraiser called Corks and Forks. If you guys
065don't know about it and you like going out and having a good time during the day and sampling yummy food and tasty primarily adult beverages, um hearing some good music and that kind of thing. That event is Saturday, April the 18th from 4 until 9:00 p.m. at the Grand Victorian, which is just down West Franklin Street. And it's a good time. Uh I'd encourage you just to if you just literally put in Corpse and Forks, um check it out and if you don't want to go, but you know somebody who might share that because it's definitely a good cause. Um and while she is there, uh she did share with me two other things. One is this month's success story and it is in regard to a surviving spouse and the veteran's death was not
066correctly viewed by the VA to be a service connected death and our veteran services office successfully argued that the service connected mobility limitations and mental health conditions contributed to the health issues leading to death. And you may recall that since uh one of our VSOs, Robert Turner, has become nationally certified and trained in appeals, he's been doing uh informal conferences, which is basically one step below meeting with a law judge in Washington. and he did this spouse's informal conference after the claim was initially denied and argued that the VA failed to develop for toxic exposure risk and that there was not a proper medical opinion given on the potential service connection for cause of death. The VA denied the claim again. Our office argued again and we won, which allowed uh this surviving spouse to
067receive 27,900 retroactive payment and additionally a $1,700 monthly ongoing benefit plus about $300 for being married to this fine human. I don't know if it was a anyway for being married to this person uh prior to their death. So basically another $2,000 per month all going for the rest of their life, which is pretty amazing work and a way that actually uh changes that family's life for sure for the better, for the future. Uh, additionally, I believe that either Michelle or I once one mentioned that the veteran services office is hosting a veterans resource fair and that is called almost home veterans resource fair. It is going to occur on Saturday, May the 30th at 10:00 a.m. and it lasts until 1:00 p.m. and it's going to be at the Simpson Event Center, uh, which
068is right next to or right behind the A Center. Uh, the address for that is 307 Cultivation Circle in Monroe. And it is a free community event inviting uh connecting that that is going to connect veterans and their families with essential resources including VA benefits, employment services, health care, peer support. And we anticipate having at least 200 attendees hopefully this first year and would certainly welcome and encourage you guys to go and spread that word and uh appreciate that as well. And then last but not least, just because it's something that benefits everybody regardless of age, there is a shreddathon that the city of Monro Council on Aging are doing on May the 1st. And lots of people like to shred their documents and since it's tax season, it's kind of a good time maybe
069for that to occur because you can at least do the ones that are for prior years that you don't need anymore. Uh anyway, so that's on May the 1st from 9:00 a.m. till 11:30 a.m. at 500 West Jefferson Street in Monroe. And that is all that I have to share with you guys right now. Tracy? >> Yep. I just have a couple of things. We have a rabies clinic here at the human services back parking lot from 9 to 1 this coming up Saturday, April 18th. And we have another one on May 16th from 9 to 1. So spread the word. >> I don't have anything. >> You have nothing. >> We have We have nothing else on the agenda. Do we have a motion to >> motion to adjurnn? >> A motion to adjurnn.
070>> A second. Thank you to those. >> All those in favor? My