Nashville.gov

Introduced new board of Commissioner Barbara Toms

Gerri Robinson introduced new Metro Social Services employees:
Bill Ives – Director of Systems
Paul Miller – Director of Adult and Family Support Services
Demitria Norman – Assistant Director of Adult and Family Support
Services

Motion: Approval of November 2005 meeting minutes
Made by Gwen Harris
Seconded: Glenn Carter
Passed Unanimously

Executive Director’s Report:

• Gerri referenced the report on Social Service Privatization and how this material will help to guide the commissioners’ decision making in years to come.
• Team Building Diversity Training for the Metro Social Services staff is scheduled for December 8th.
• William Aaron will do the Planning Session for the Environmental Scan after the regular scheduled board meeting today.
• Additional staff hired will be the Quality Assurance Manager Coordinator scheduled to start on December 5th and Homeless Services and Senior Service Coordinators will assume their positions the week of December 12, 2005.
• Thanked Phil Ryan and Paul Johnson from MDHA for assisting in staffing various subcommittees of the Homelessness Commission.
• Interviewing process for the Children and Youth Coordinator will begin after the Thanksgiving holidays.

Finance Report:

• MSS completed the first quarter of the fiscal year well within budget;
• The 4% Fund has a balance of $174,586.87 (example: repairs, maintenance);
• The Special Donations fund has a balance of $28,099.32;

Adult and Family Support Services

Update on services transferred to other Departments and Agencies

• TCAP and the after school-tutoring program are being evaluated by TSU for their effectiveness and impact on school age children.
• The character development groups and the parenting skills classes are not ready to be assessed at this time.
• Services are continuing at Knowles Home without a break
• Childcare center continue to operate via the McNeily Infant and Toddlers program.
• Financial assistance program was transferred to Metro Action Commission (MAC); however Metro Social Services maintains case management responsibility for those customers.
• Nutrition and Homemaker Services Pilot Project currently has 65 cases. UT is in the process of conducting the evaluation.
• Transportation has a goal to increase ridership by 25% under the Access Ride program for the 10 highest poverty districts
• Refugee program has been transferred back to the Department of Human Services

Adult and Family Support Services

? Edwina Chappell provided information surrounding the meeting with University of Tennessee at the Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency. This meeting will involve discussion around the Homemaker and Nutrition programs pilot projects. Attendees for this meeting will include SEIU, Mid-Cumberland Human Resource Agency, GNRC, UT and MSS staff. Edwina encouraged all boards member to attend.

Planning and Coordination

• Metro Social Services received an award “The YMCA Hispanic Achievers Program”.
• Technical assistance was provided to the 18th Avenue Family Enrichment Center
• The Kurdish Community Leadership Summit was held in September and plans are underway to have a leadership summit for the Hispanic community also.

Gerri recommended the board form a committee to research best practices in measuring the performance of the Planning and Coordination functions. This research will help Metro Social Services to apply best practice in this area.

Human Resources

• All information on new hires was stated earlier in the meeting with the introduction of the new hires.
• All positions are made available through the Recruitment Office with central HR. They are also responsible for all the announcements for Metro Social Services. Majority of all Metro Social Services positions are posted on Human Resources Web site, Channel 3, in-house and some outside according to the position.

New Business

Commissioner Bradley - Resolution of Metropolitan Homelessness Commission.

The Resolution ask the two Tennessee Senators and House Members to oppose the cuts in the Medicaid program because it is crucial in serving the homeless and people that are income eligible.

Motion: Approval of Resolution on Metropolitan Homelessness Commission
Made by Jose Gonzalez
Seconded: Glenn Carter
Passed Unanimously

Bill Ives
Presentation on Economic and Demographic Data

Data compared counties within and outside of Davidson County. Poverty and crime data were also included using the police data. This is just the beginning of future data to be provided.

Edwina Chappell
Employee Survey

Issue Brief discussing the changes within MSS regarding the Employee Surveys. The survey gave the Metro Social Services staff an opportunity to provide feedback on organization changes and the Social Work Title protection Legislation. A total of 54 of 77 staff completed the survey. Majority of the changes with MSS derived from the New Business Model. 80 % of staff did comment within this survey that the job title was important to them. The findings of the survey will also be provided to staff.

Motion: Approval of adjournment
Made by Jose Gonzalez
Seconded: Glenn Carter
Passed Unanimously