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HomeMy WebLinkAboutHealth & Human Services 12-21-11 NOTICE OF MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES BOARD December 21, 2011- 8:30 A.M. Board Room, St Croix County DHHS Building 1445 N. e Street, New Richmond Wisconsin L CALL TO ORDER II. ROLL CALL III. BUSINESS ITEMS 1. Resolution Approving Advisory Referendum Question Relating to County Nursing Home IV. ANNOUNCEMENTS & CORRESPONDENCE V. ADJOURN DATE OF NEXT MEETING: 01/18/12 at 8:30 A.M. REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY: Committee Chair and County Administrator DATE APPROVED: 12/16/2011 A quorum of the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors (County Board) may he present at this meeting. Therefore, this notice also serves as notice of a meeting of the County Board for the purpose of obtaining information relating to subjects listed above for use at future County Board Meetings. 12/16/2011 ST. CROIX COUNTY HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES BOARD December 21, 2011 The St. Croix County Health and Human Services Board met on December 21, 2011 at the St. Croix County Health and Human Services/Health Center complex. MEMBERS PRESENT: Esther Wentz, Chair Leon Berenschot Frederick Horne Roger Larson Linda Luckey Richard Marzolf Deb Rasmussen Alfred Schrank MEMBERS ABSENT: Dr. Lisa Ramsay STAFF PRESENT: Fred Johnson, Health and Human Services Director Cindy Anderson, Nursing Home Administrator Malva Sirek, Clerical Supervisor OTHERS PRESENT: Pat Thompson, County Administrator Heather Wolske, Assistant Corporation Counsel Kim Dupre, Information Systems Analyst Sharon Norton-Baumann, County Board member Roger Rebholz, County Board member Norm Matzek Jeff Holmquist, New Richmond News Chair Wentz called the meeting to order at 8:30 AM noting the meeting was properly and legally publicized. NEXT MEETING: The next Health and Human Services Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 8:30 AM. RESOLUTION APPROVING ADVISORY REFERENDUM QUESTION RELATING TO THE COUNTY NURSING HOME: Wentz invited discussion on putting a resolution on the April ballot to question the taxpayers if tax levy dollars are needed to support the St. Croix Health Center, are the taxpayers willing to provide the extra funding. A county wide vote was presented in 2008. Wentz expressed that the Nursing Home is an asset to the county and provides excellent care. Luckey expressed concern regarding asking a question identical to the question asked in 2008 and spending $2,000 to $3,000 to do so. Wentz felt the question should be settled once and for all. She St. Croix County Health and Human Services Board Page 2 December 21, 2011 expressed the residents need to know the Nursing Home will continue and employees need to know they still have a place to work. Discussion was held whether a referendum should again be advisory or if it should be binding. Spring elections usually present advisory referendums; binding referendums are usually presented in fall elections. It is difficult to have a binding referendum as financial figures would need to be specific. It was strongly recommended to clarify that the referendum is requesting to `partially' fund the Nursing Home. There are no definite budget numbers for 2011, 2012, or 2013 as budgets are based on projections. Corporation Counsel also included an explanatory statement in the resolution that additional funding is provided by other sources. In the fiscal year 2012, St. Croix Health Center is projected to use 1.2% of the total County tax levy of $27,847,925. Board members indicated confusion over the figures presented in the draft referendum. Wolske indicated the projected figures were added to the referendum after referendums from other counties were reviewed and all included budgeted figures. Wolske reported Dunn County held an advisory referendum in 2008, a binding referendum in 2009, and Jefferson County also held a binding referendum. Wolske will continue to research other referendums held. Dupre questioned the sentence structure as it is important to put the number requested at the top and then give additional information at the end. The levy is what concerns the public. It was suggested to include that funding will be 1% less than the figures from the previous year, which is a 50% reduction in total levy projection from the previous year. Rasmussen questioned if it would be possible to make the referendum more personalized to the impact on the taxpayer. It is difficult to pinpoint an exact dollar amount per taxpayer as the budgeted numbers are only projected numbers and we are not asking for a specific amount of tax levy support as would be done in a binding referendum. St. Croix County is not mandated to provide a nursing home. Motion: A motion was introduced by Marzolf, seconded by Schrank, 1) That the draft resolution be amended as follows with `partially' added before the word "fund:" Starting with line 55 to read as follows: A "yes" vote means you want the County to continue to operate the St. Croix County nursing home if property tax dollars are needed to ap rtiallX fund its operation. Then delete line 56 through 59 and change to: In 2011, the projected amount of the total levy dollars earmarked for operation of the nursing home was 615,382 (2.2% of the total levy). In 2012, it is anticipated that $333,002 of the total County level will be needed to partially support the operation of the County nursing home (1.2% of the total levy). These are projected numbers. Luckey indicated the resolution implies that the course that the Nursing Home is headed towards is much better and that is not the case. Marzolf reported Nursing Home staff have conceded huge cuts in benefits. Norton-Bauman indicated a negative figure of $150,000 to $175,000 for 2011 for the St. Croix County Health and Human Services Board Page 3 December 21, 2011 Nursing Home was reported at the last Board meeting and more could be needed than what is put in the resolution. She reported the County is in a contract with the Nursing Home employees for 2012 and expressed concern going to the April election with this referendum as it muddies the waters for a contract for 2012. The County Board approved contracts for 2012 with the agreement to monitor expenditures and to negotiate impacts on what settlements would be. Luckey again expressed concern that the wording in the resolution makes it sound like the Nursing Home is out of the woods financially and that is not the way it is. She did not agree with the resolution wording. Norton- Bauman expressed there is no purpose in a referendum in this case if it is advisory and not binding. It was the consensus of the Board that the resolution should clarify that the referendum pertains to the County nursing home in New Richmond as the last referendum stated public nursing home and some taxpayers were confused. Wentz indicated there is only one department in the County (Register of Deeds) that does not draw on the County levy and none of the rest of the departments have to fight for their jobs. She wants to ask the public if the County should stay in the nursing home business. Rasmussen agreed with the concept of a binding referendum. She indicated by fall there will be more figures available from the contracts to put figures in the referendum. Motion: A motion was introduced by Marzolf, seconded by Rasmussen: 2) That the main motion be amended as follows: Lines 54-59 in the resolution be amended as follows: A "yes" vote means you want the County to continue to operate the St. Croix County nursing home if property tax dollars are needed to ap rtiallX fund its operation. It is projected for 2012 that the County nursing home budget will require $333,002 of County levy support for direct operations. That amount is roughly half of the previous year's tax levy budgeted amount. Note: These are projected numbers. Also, insert word "partially" before the word "fund" in lines 31, 41, 52, 55, 67, 73. Also insert the words "St. Croix" in front of the words "county nursing home" throughout resolution. Thompson indicated final Nursing Home numbers should be available in April when the referendum would go to the polls. The 1.2% figure is less than the previous year. Roll call vote on motion 1) above: Esther Wentz-no Leon Berenschot-no Frederick Horne-no Roger Larson-no Linda Luckey-no Richard Marzolf-yes St. Croix County Health and Human Services Board Page 4 December 21, 2011 Dr. Lisa Ramsay-absent Deb Rasmussen-no Alfred Schrank-no One yes, seven no, one absent, motion failed. Roll call vote on motion 2) above (motion to amend original motion): Esther Wentz-yes Leon Berenschot-yes Frederick Horne-yes Roger Larson-no Linda Luckey-no Richard Marzolf-yes Dr. Lisa Ramsay-absent Deb Rasmussen-no Alfred Schrank-yes Five yes, three no, one absent, motion to amend original motion passed. Motion: A motion was introduced by Berenschot, seconded by Marzolf, and unanimously adopted: That the Board agrees to add the word `partially' in front of the word "fund" in six locations on the draft resolution and to change County nursing home to St. Croix County nursing home in the resolution. The Board recessed from 9:45 - 10:02 AM. Motion: A motion was introduced by Horne, seconded by Rasmussen, and approved with Luckey voting no: That the Board approves the following amended resolution: RESOLUTION APPROVING ADVISORY REFERENDUM QUESTION RELATING TO THE COUNTY NURSING HOME Resolution No. St. Croix County, Wisconsin WHEREAS, the future of the St. Croix County Health Center (hereinafter "St. Croix County nursing home") and its operations continues to be discussed at numerous Health and Human Services Board and County Board meetings; and WHEREAS, there are no Wisconsin Statutes that mandate a county must own or operate a nursing home. If a county does own or operate a nursing home, it must comply with Wisconsin Administrative Code DHS 132. The St. Croix County nursing home is operated by choice; there are no "state mandates" to provide nursing home services; and St. Croix County Health and Human Services Board Page 5 December 21, 2011 WHEREAS, the advisory referendum question: "Should St. Croix County continue to operate a public nursing home if property tax dollars are needed to fund its operation?" was asked as a referendum question on the November 4, 2008 election ballot; and WHEREAS, the official results of that advisory referendum question were 27,428 "yes" votes and 14,769 "no" votes; and WHEREAS, the St. Croix County nursing home's budget for 2012 is $5,730,222, which is approximately 8.2% of the total County budget of $70,037,962; and WHEREAS, the 2012 St. Croix County nursing home budgeted $333,002 of County tax levy support for direct operations, which is approximately 1.2% of the total County tax levy of $27,847,925; and WHEREAS, the Health and Human Services Board has reviewed various business planning models and anticipates that continued County tax levy dollars will be needed to partially fund direct operations in future County budgets; and WHEREAS, the Health and Human Services Board requests an advisory referendum question relating to the operation of the St. Croix County nursing home be placed on the April 3, 2012 election ballot so the constituents of St. Croix County can provide updated input; and WHEREAS, the Health and Human Services Board developed the following question: Should St. Croix County continue to operate the St. Croix County nursing home if property tax dollars are needed to partially fund its operations? and WHEREAS, Wisconsin Statutes §10.01(2)(c) requires the corporation counsel to prepare an explanatory statement of the effect of a "yes" or "no" vote; and WHEREAS, the explanatory statement prepared by corporation counsel reads: The St. Croix County Board of Supervisors desires public input on the question of whether or not the county should continue to operate the St. Croix County nursing home if property tax dollars are needed to partially fund its operation. The result of the vote is advisory, not binding. A "yes" vote means you want the County to continue to operate the St. Croix County nursing home if property tax dollars are needed to partially fund its operation. For 2012, the St. Croix County nursing home budgeted $333,002 of County levy support for direct operations, which is approximately 1.2% of the total County tax levy of $27,847,925. St. Croix County Health and Human Services Board Page 6 December 21, 2011 These are projected numbers. Additional nursing home funding is provided by other sources. There are no Wisconsin Statutes that mandate a county must own or operate a nursing home. If a county does own or operate a nursing home, it must comply with Wisconsin Administrative Code DHS 132. The County nursing home is operated by choice; there are no "state mandates" to provide nursing home services. A "no" vote means you do not want the County to continue to operate the St. Croix County nursing home if property tax dollars are needed to partially fund its operation. THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the St. Croix County Board of Supervisors that an advisory referendum be placed on the April 3, 2012 ballot with the following question: Should St. Croix County continue to operate the St. Croix County nursing home if property tax dollars are needed to partially fund its operation? FURTHER, be it resolved that the explanatory statement is approved. Norm Matzek questioned why residents under Chapter 51 and Chapter 55 care were not included in the resolution as the County is responsible to care for residents under these placements. The County would have to find placements for Chapter 51 and Chapter 55 residents to be placed. St. Croix Health Center accepts residents if the care needs of the residents under Chapter 51 and Chapter 55 can be met. Other nursing homes closely regulate the number of Medicaid clients they accept. Marzolf recommended inviting Colleen Bates from Eau Claire County to explain the 2008 consequences of Eau Claire County closing their nursing home. After the Eau Claire nursing home closed it was costing Eau Claire County more money to place these residents than if the residents had been placed in their own facility. Horne recommended getting the most current numbers for these costs from Eau Claire County. By not referencing Chapter 51 and Chapter 55 residents, an important factor of the nursing home is being left out. The County will always take care of its own. Wentz asked if there were any other issues to bring before the Board. Wentz adjourned the meeting. Time: 10:25 AM Chair: Attest: (Secretary)