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Approval of Minutes – Chair Butler asked if members had any changes to the minutes of the meeting of October 27, 2004. Mr. Carter stated a comment attributed to him regarding the transportation program was incorrect. The last paragraph on page 0930 should read as follows:
Mr. Carter stated he understood from the comments of Council Lady Baldwin-Tucker there had been instances where clients felt they had been threatened and coerced to complete an application. A motion was made to approve the minutes with the above correction. The motion was seconded by Ms. Mattson and duly approved by the Board.

Service Awards – Chair Butler recognized three employees receiving service awards at this month’s meeting.

Suzanne Montgomery, Nutrition           5 Years
Pamela McEwen, Administration        25 Years
Brenda Venson, Child Care Center     25 Years

Executive Director’s Report – Ms. Robinson congratulated the staff on their hard work gathering data. Staff is working very hard to have accurate, current information regarding the people we serve.

Finance Report - Pamela McEwen reported she had separated the Knowles Home and Adult Day Services information from the other programs in order that the report would be clearer. All programs are presently under budget. The demand on Family Services grants continues to be very high. The 4% reserve is currently about $250,000. We will be transferring about $63,000+ in 4% funds to the Hospital Authority, and there is a little over $12,000 associated with the Child Care Center and we will be determining how to deal with the 4% funds in that program. Knowles Home donation funds will be transferred to them, and the balance of the funds will be available for us to spend.

Program Updates – Caroline Chamberlain reported Family Services continues to have many people applying for financial assistance causing them to spend at a higher rate. Presently we are trying to get a handle on all aspects of spending, but we do not have a database capable of generating reports easily. The first of the year, we would like to have a meeting with our community partners and other agencies that are experiencing this type problem. Social Services would like to take a long look at what happens to the people coming in for emergency financial assistance. Due to the increased activity, we may need to adjust how grants are done for the next 30 days or so. We will continue to try to get good hard data along with a better count on how many people coming in for financial assistance are homeless. Ms. Robinson stated the goal of Social Services is to serve as many people as we can with a finite budget.

Transition Update – Administration has been added to the Task & Status Report. By the first of January final details should be complete for Knowles Home and Adult Day Services.

Transportation – A full report will come in January. Staff has developed a survey directed to riders. Representatives of Social Services have been to all
four Nutrition sites and offered AccessRide tickets to participants. Twenty-five of our passengers have requested AccessRide tickets. A practice day has been scheduled for three Nutrition sites on December 23. That day AccessRide, along with a MSS employee, will transport passengers to/from their Nutrition site in the same manner that MSS usually does.

Staff have also been trying to get in touch with on-demand customers. Administrative Staff members have been surveying these folks by phone to get an understanding of their thoughts and concerns. Some on-demand customers said they thought the change had already occurred, and many said the most important thing is “to get where they want to go”. From statistical information gathered, Social Services’ Transportation is serving a very small percentage of the over 60 population in each Council district.

Disability Information Office – Has been finalized.

Child Care Center – Has been finalized.

Family Services – Discussions have begun with Cynthia Croom at MAC to begin looking at the recommendations of the Performance Audit.

Homemakers and Nutrition – We have tried to look at senior service concerns, and hope to evaluate the information we gather utilizing a pilot project.

Chair Butler inquired about computerized information gathering. Ms. Chamberlain stated that is something we were looking at in the new model. Ms. Robinson stated Social Services would be meeting with ITS to discuss our needs in this area, and hopefully this will become a part of the new model.

Homeless Taskforce Update – Karlene Polk advised that the Performance Audit recommended Social Services take a lead role in the plan to end homelessness. Last year Mayor Purcell appointed a task force on homelessness based on a Federal initiative. Just weeks ago, Governor Bredesen announced plans for a Homeless project on the state level. Over the summer the task force developed a framework of recommendations the members felt should set the direction for the program. The Mayor will present the full plan at the Affordable Housing Summit on December 16. The plan should be available on the internet in the next day or so and will include a considerable amount of resource material. Karlene gave instructions to the site from the Nashville.gov address. Karlene reported that throughout the process there has been a sense of direction that Metro Social Services was the appropriate agency to take a leadership role in the process.

Pilot Project – Ms. Robinson stated she was requesting the Board to approve an eighteen month pilot project for senior service programs using funds available from existing vacancies in this year’s budget. Funds for this project would probably be limited to less than $200,000. Under this project Social Services would arrange with the Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency to provide Homemaker and Nutrition services on a trial basis for the period January 1, 2005 to June 30, 2005. This project would supplement, not replace, the services offered through MSS’s Homemaker and Nutrition Programs. And, it would allow additional time to gather information and seek collaboration with one or more local universities to compare the Metropolitan government delivery system with those of nonprofits. A pilot project would enable persons on the Homemaker waiting list to receive services, and possibly add another nutrition site.

Ms. Robinson stressed that no current Social Service employees would lose their jobs.

Glenn Carter made a motion to accept the proposal to initiate a pilot project in our Senior Services. The motion was seconded by Gwen Harris.

Prior to a vote being taken, Mike Naccarato of SEIU Local 205 asked if he could ask Ms. Robinson a few questions. The Board granted Mr. Naccarato’s request. Mr. Naccarato expressed concern that Metro employees would lose their jobs. Ms. Robinson assured him this pilot project would last until June 30, 2006, and she felt comfortable with the service provided by Social Services’ employees. Ms. Robinson stressed that this was a way to determine whether we can deliver a higher standard of service than a nonprofit.

Chair Butler asked if the Board was ready for a vote. All agreed and a vote was taken, and the pilot project proposal was approved.

Chair reminded the members that a retreat would be held January 21, 2005.

There being no further business, Mr. Gonzalez moved that the meeting adjourn. The motion was seconded byMs. Harris, and approved.

The meeting adjourned at 3:55 p.m.

____________________________
Gerri Robinson
Director
Metro Social Services

cc: Margaret Holleman, Metro Legal Department
Kelle Boyd, Mayor’s Office
Loreen Spain, Internal Audit
Ann Paine, The Tennessean