McHenry Times

McHenry County Mental Health Board Met Jan. 26.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

Board Members present: Greg Alexander, Mike Baber, Rachel Boldman, Adam Carson, Tracy Champion, Cathy Ferguson, Ray Lapinas, Connee Meschini, Paula Yensen (6:03 p.m.)

Board Members absent: None

Others present: Scott Block, Terry Braune, Jane Wacker, Pat Peterson, and interested parties

Given The Covid-19 Public Health Emergency And Governor J.B. Pritzker’s Gubernatorial Disaster Proclamations, The Chairman And Executive Director Have Determined That An In-Person Meeting Is Not Practical Or Prudent. This Meeting Will Be Held Remotely Only. The Public Can Listen And Provide Public Comment By Calling The Number Provided Above.

1. CALL TO ORDER - Connee Meschini called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Roll Call was taken. 

2. PUBLIC COMMENT - Via Call In or 24-Hour Advance to ppeterson@mc708.org – None.

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - FOR ACTION

Mike Baber motioned to approve the Minutes of the December 15, 2020 Regular Board Meeting. Seconded by Rachel Boldman. 

A ROLL CALL VOTE WAS TAKEN. Rachel Boldman – Yes, Adam Carson - Yes, Tracy Champion – Yes, Cathy Ferguson – Yes, Ray Lapinas – Abstain, Greg Alexander – Abstain, Michael Baber - Yes, Connee Meschini – Yes. Six in favor. Two – Abstain. Motion carried.

4. REPORTS

A. President's Report - C. Meschini

i. New Board Member Introductions – Connee provided a brief introduction of the three new Board members: Gregory Alexander, Adam Carson, and Ray Lapinas.

ii. Appointment of Secretary – As Board President, due to vacancy, Connee appointed Tracy Champion to the position of Board Secretary through June elections. Tracy accepted the appointment.

iii. Appointment of Treasurer – As Board President, due to vacancy, Connee appointed Ray Lapinas to the position of Board Treasurer through June elections. Ray accepted the appointment.

iv. MHB Committee Assignments

Connee announced the following 2021 Mental Health Board committee assignments:

Buildings and Grounds Committee: Chair: Cathy Ferguson, Greg Alexander, Adam Carson, Ray Lapinas, Paula Yensen 

By Laws Committee: Chair: Tracy Champion, Greg Alexander, Mike Baber, Cathy Ferguson,Ray Lapinas 

Ethics and Compliance Committee: Chair: Rachel Boldman, Greg Alexander, Mike Baber, Tracy Champion, Cathy Ferguson 

Executive/Personnel Committee: Chair: Connee Meschini, Greg Alexander, Mike Baber, Rachel Boldman, Adam Carson, Tracy Champion, Cathy Ferguson, Ray Lapinas, Paula Yensen

Finance and Audit Committee: Chair: Ray Lapinas, Mike Baber, Adam Carson, Tracy Champion, Paula Yensen

She noted that D200 will be providing a resiliency-building Zoom conference on February 18th at 7p.m. with an expert presenter. More information is to come.

B. Director's Report - S. Block

Scott reviewed highlights of his Director's Report beginning on Pp. 8.

In MHB COVID-19 Related efforts include:

∙ The County Joint Information Committee continues to meet. Throughout January, the Committee supported People in Need Forum messaging and vaccination information. McHenry County Dept. of Health should be commended for their work in the healthcare rollout in comparison to other counties. The Health Dept. continues to attend Network Council meetings to provide updates to agencies.

∙ Scott was invited to participate on the Illinois Public Health Association (IPHA) and Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA) Pandemic Health Navigator (PHN) Advisory Board. The commitment includes participating in meetings held virtually once per month, as well as providing input and feedback on the program implementation through surveys and/or interviews as the initiative moves forward. This joint effort includes the McHenry County Dept. of Health, FHPC, Independence Health and Therapy, YFC, Live4Lali, and TLS - Veterans. The program will run from March through the calendar year.

Association of Community Mental Health Authorities (ACMHAI) Updates:

∙ The Lame Duck Session started Friday, January 8th. ACMHAI’s Legislative Committee met on the 15th. 

∙ The Legislative Black Caucus filed a series of large, omnibus bills in the areas of economic equity, healthcare, and human services, criminal justice, and education. Law Enforcement Coalition Response to HB163 (approved)-Governor has 60 days from receipt of the legislation to act. There are increased mental health trainings within the bill and it is controversial within the law enforcement realm.

∙ Of note was a provision within a bill that did not pass which included the loss of Integrated Health Homes. 

∙ Another was to eliminate MCOs and move back to FFS which would have a significant impact on providers. 

∙ Government Strategy Associates continues to review the entire health and human services proposals and has identified areas that will impact behavioral health services.

∙ McHenry County Council of Governments Legislative Priority: Support Social Service Agencies – Social service agencies are essential to McHenry County and its residents.

MHB General Updates/Notable ED Activities:

∙ Scott thanked all for work, attendance, and support of the MHB-supported People in Need Forum. MHB messaging was provided via Hotsheet, LinkedIn, Facebook, & Star 105. Over 500 attended the event. 

∙ MHB website was enhanced with a “Homepage” link to request information via a call from a MHB staff member. A monthly Website Analytics Report for December showed a user’s average of about 1000 per month. 

∙ MHB ED met with LEAD (MCHELP APP Developer) to discuss updates and revisions to the app. A proposal is forthcoming with the intent to complete upgrades and reestablish local marketing efforts. Updates will include the MHB logo and branding, push notification capability, and scaling back to include the text-a-tip, crisis line, and MHB service directory functions.

∙ Per County Admin request, MHB ED facilitated a multi-department dialogue about the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse (COSSAP) Program. There is no opportunity to apply for this grant but the MHB will continue to assist in seeking federal funds.

∙ MHB ED and Health Department Administrator were selected to attend The National Council for Behavioral Health 2021 Behavioral Health Training Institute (BHTI) for Health Officials. In this eight-month professional development initiative, attendees will gain direct access to training and technical assistance opportunities on behavioral health topics.

MHB Network and Provider Updates/Activities include the Suicide Prevention Taskforce – FY21 focus on QPR Promotion and Out of Darkness Walk in April, they are also working on a movie screening and a veteran-specific event in June.

C. Finance and Audit Committee

i. Treasurer's Report Review - Jane Wacker

Jane reviewed Treasurer's Reports for the Period Ending November 30, 2020 (V2), D365 vs. Fundware Comparison Report for 12 Months Ending 11-30-20, and Treasurer's Report for the Period Ending December 31, 2020.

Pp. 42 – V2 of November – recognized receivable for Provider return of unspent; addition to Prepaid Items due to CARF. Recognition of tax revenue, including collection in FY21 that counts as revenue in FY20. Note made re: county property tax levy to be collected in FY21.

Pp. 43 – Numbers should be final for Salaries and admin expenses. Negative amount is due to moving CARF to Prepaid because of delay in survey to FY21.

Telecommunication is from last quarter’s network fiber optic, Legal Services is caught up, coming in far under budget. Overall an increase in expenses over version 1 is about $33k.

Pp. 44 – Property Taxes revenue collected is $10.343M out of a budget levy of $10.450M. Recognizes Property Tax revenues, agency affidavit payments, and return of unspent.

Pp. 50 – Bottom line was budgeted at $800k but only using $13k.

Pp. 51 – F&A Committee regularly reviews this report that reconciles FY20 Fundware to County D365.

The next several pages reconcile Fundware to D365:

Pp. 54 – D365 December Balance Sheet – the report is as presented from D365; items of note are explained on the bottom part of the form.

Pp. 55 – December’s report of admin costs- note - a delay in posting of certain expenses exists due to County process limitations. Postage was high due to restocking of machine.

Pp. 56 – December report is sparse for agency client dollars because MHB is executing contracts with agencies and starts billing in January. A COVID waiver exception for certain IDD programs, such as Pioneer Center program, allows for billing for 1/12 in December.

ii. Reconciliation Report - J. Wacker

MHB YE Recon AR Summary 11-30-20

Pp. 41 – Scott commented that previous to requiring reconciliation, the Board had a dialogue of waiving the return of underutilized funds stemming from Year-End reconciliation but the Board deemed that was not an equitable approach to distributing MHB funds.

Jane reviewed the Reconciliation process noting the MHB staff’s three responses to Provider reports: 

1. Noted issues and asked for explanation,

2. Reviewed without issues but with amounts due,

3. Review, agree with the amount due, reconciliation is accepted as final.

Current funding will not be issued to agencies until reconciliation dollars are received.

Themes noted included: reported more than MHB dollars, program dollars greater than budget, missing client counts.

Seven of twenty agencies owed more than reported because they did not access overage in categories. Actual dollars shown as used were equal to dollars actually budgeted; percent of expense attributable to MHB is higher, and some agencies show profitability – this will be discussed at Finance & Audit Committee. A total of $148,995 is to be returned as a result of reconciliation.

MHB staff will host a mid-year and end-year training again this year to improve provider knowledge and accuracy.

D. Network Council - C. Ferguson

∙ Dept. of Health is seeking volunteers to help with the COVID vaccination process.

∙ Survey for nonprofits to see how COVID has impacted them assisted by UW and MHB through the Volunteer Center.

∙ 241 calls to Crisis line 15 resulted in assessment but many were just people that wanted to talk. 

∙ Age Strong meets Feb. 9 and will hire a COVID Navigator to help people without computers and also plans to add someone on the 2-1-1 line to help with senior calls.

∙ SAC reported that there were 42 ODs last year, 6 pending, working on Opioid grant, State of Addiction event to be held on Feb. 22. Scott and Laura Crain will be presenting services offered in County to the County Board members.

∙ IDD to meet on Jan. 22, will be doing speaker series on transitional aged geared to families. In March they will work to present a speaker series for the education of the community. 

∙ TI Care in March will train 10 to train others on trauma informed care in the criminal justice system. 

∙ AID is adding a bilingual Spanish service called “Treatment without Borders.”

∙ NISRA is looking to start in-person services.

5. CONSENT AGENDA - FOR ACTION

A. 202101-05 Treasurer's Reports for the Period Ending November 30, 2020 (V2) and December 31, 2020 

B. 202101-06 MHB Monthly Bills - FY20 $585,822.27; FY21 $138,644.28; Total $724,466.55 

Cathy Ferguson motioned to approve Consent Agenda items A and B. Seconded by Paula Yensen. A ROLL CALL VOTE WAS TAKEN. Rachel Boldman – Yes, Adam Carson, Tracy Champion – Yes, Cathy Ferguson – Yes, Ray Lapinas – Yes, Paula Yensen – Yes, Greg Alexander – Yes, Michael Baber - Yes, Connee Meschini – Yes. All in favor. Motion carried.

6. OLD BUSINESS - FOR DISCUSSION/FOR ACTION – None.

7. NEW BUSINESS - FOR DISCUSSION/FOR ACTION

A. 202101-07 Prescriptive Authority Loan Recognition Program

Scott reported that as a facility or organization supported by the Board, Mather’s Recovery and Mather’s Community Mental Health Center have utilized the Recognition Program as a recruitment tool. Mather’s recruitment efforts have resulted in a Recognition Program application from a Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist who is considering entering an employment contract to provide psychiatric services within McHenry County.

Mike Baber motioned that the McHenry County Mental Health Board, Board of Directors directs the MHB Executive Director to execute a Memorandum of Understanding outlining and memorializing Prescriptive Authority Loan Recognition Program participation for the proposed participant as detailed in this memo. Ray Lapinas seconded. A ROLL CALL VOTE WAS TAKEN. Rachel Boldman – Yes, Adam Carson, Tracy Champion – Yes, Cathy Ferguson – Yes, Ray Lapinas – Yes, Paula Yensen – Yes, Greg Alexander – Yes, Michael Baber - Yes, Connee Meschini – Yes. All in favor. Motion carried.

B. FY20 Year End Outcomes - Terry Braune

Terry reviewed FY20 Year End Outcomes including the Q4 FFS-POP-Grant Outcomes Report Summary, Q4 P4P Outcomes Report Summary and the FY20 Efficiency and Innovation Report.

8. PRESENTATION – None.

9. MEMBERS' COMMENT – Paula commended staff for the good graphics that made figures easy to understand.

10. PUBLIC COMMENT – Paula welcomed new Board members. Connee mentioned upcoming Board meetings as noted below.

11. ADJOURN – Mike Baber motioned to adjourn. Seconded by Tracy Champion. 

A VOICE VOTE WAS TAKEN. All in favor. Motion Carried. The meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.

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