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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 1991PRESENT: ABSENT: STAFF and OFf ICIALS PRESIDING: �ALL TO ORQ2 Minutes TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE January 14, 1991 7:00 P.M Ald. Drummer, Washington, Wold, Wollin Ald. Rainey Supervisor Edna Summers, Veranda Jolliff, Michael Kent, Jay Terry Ald. Drummer, Chair The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. The minutes of the meeting of December 5, 1990 were unanimously approved. Ald. Drummer suggested in the interest of time, since this would be an abbreviated meeting, the Committee move directly to the consideration of Township monthly bills. TQW4SHIP MONTHI.Y BIIlj Aid. Drummer noted that Ms. Jolliff passed out to the Committee a breakdown of rent payments that have been made to the City for the Civic Center office in Room 2800; and to Family Focus. He noted a correction for the current bills list that the rent for Room 2800 was shown at the 1990 rent level, and that the rent had gone up with the 1991 calendar year. He recommended the Bills List be corrected to show the rent increase of $34.83. It was the consensus of the Committee that this was appropriate, and it was clarified $535.08 was the February rent payment. Ald. Wold noted that it was always difficult to deal with information that was passed out at the meeting and encouraged Township staff to get information out prior to the meeting. The Committee and Township staff had a discussion trying to clarify rent payments which had been made to Family Focus. The list which was passed out did not made this clear, and Ms. Jolliff noted that for a payment which had been approved on the last Bills List at the December meeting, she could not tell whether or not a check had actually been cut because the staff person who could answer that question had not been present in the Township this day. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 1/14/91 . . . 2 Ald. Wold made a motion that any- rent payment which was on the Bills List this month for Family Focus be deleted until the amount due Family Focus was clarified, Committee consensus was that the rent payment on the Bills List in the amount of $366 to Family Focus be deleted from the Bills List until a more complete breakdown could be provided. Aid. Wold asked a question about the entry for the IBM agreement; what was that for. Ms. Jolliff responded it was for maintenance on typewriters, Aid. Wold wanted clarification whether this was an annual payment; what exactly it was for; how long did the agreement cover; what machines were covered by this, and if the maintenance agreement had anything related to do with computers how it would relate to the proposed contract from Michael Mayer. Aid. Drummer noted that a response had been received regarding the charges incurred by the accounting firm of Kent, Givens and Barnes, Aid. Wold stated she is still very concerned about the limitations on budget and did not feel the Township could afford that level of expenditure. Aid. Drummer felt the level of expenditure was justified given that Mr. Kent had to do with both a new staff and a new accounting system. Mr. Kent stated that he did not want the impression left that all of these charges reflected only activities beginning September 1. He felt that the expenditures shown of $8,000 after eight months into the fiscal year was appropriate; that the work his firm did covered all the way to the start of the fiscal year. He said there had been no accounting done by Julian Coleman after March 31, 1990. Ald. Drummer sought clarification that the payment for the Infant Welfare Society for Teen -Baby Nursery; that the entry on the Bills List should be for January and not December. The Committee further clarified that two months' payment were approved at the December meeting and that was not reflected on any of the documents for this evening's meeting. Ms. Summers stated that the entry on the Bills List for this evening's meeting should be for February, 1991. Ald. Wold noted her concern that for payments such as the one to Infant Welfare Society, there appeared to be a considerable time gap between Committee action and the Township actually issuing checks. Ms. Jolliff confirmed that the payment on the Bills List for consideration was, in fact, the payment for February. The Committee proceeded to attempt to clarify the month for which some of the Community. Action payments were made. Clarification was sought as to why different amounts were paid to different agencies, Mr. Terry responded that if the Township's experience was similar to the City's, the community agencies invoiced on a very irregular basis. The Committee considered the possibility of payments being made without invoices being received. Mr. Terry indicated that a problem experienced with the City was that service data on monthly and quarterly reports were often not received if we did not make it clear that the payment would be withheld if we did not get that information. The Committee consensus was that the current procedure would continue. Aid. Wold made a motion that an amended monthly bills list of $90,541.I4 be approved. Ald. Washington moved for approved of medical bills in the amount of $8,254.48. The Committee unanimously voted approval of a total bills list of $98,795.62. . .'" TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 1/14/91 . . . 3 It was the Committee consensus that time prevented a consideration of the proposed maintenance agreement with' Michael Mayor. The Committee explored the possibility of scheduling a meeting prior to the next scheduled monthly meeting. It was determined after consultation with everyone's calendar that a meeting before then would not be feasible. It was agreed that the next' meeting of the Township Committee would.be their regular monthly meeting on February 6, 1991. Ms. Jolliff requested that prior to that meeting members of the Committee who had more specific questions about the proposed maintenance agreement with Michael Mayer should try to submit those questions to her prior to the meeting so that she can have written answers out to the Committee well in advance of the February 6 meeting. The Committee voted to adjourn at 7:42 p.m. PRESENT: STAFF and OFFICIALS: PRESIDING: CALL TO ORDER, QMFT - NOT APPROVED Minutes TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE January 24, 1991 8:00 A.M. Ald. Drummer, Rainey, Washington, Wold, Wollin Supervisor Edna Summers, Veranda Jolliff, Jay Terry Ald. Drummer, Chair The meeting was called to order at 8:05 a.m. Ald. Drummer clarified that the purpose of this meeting was to consider the expedited approval of maintenance contracts for the computer software and hardware in the Township office, given the recent problems that had been experienced. Ald. Rainey requested to be brought up to date on the current status of the computer activities in the Township. Ms. Jolliff responded that Friday, January 18th she became aware that staff were unable to store certain material on the computer. She then called American Fundware to try and determine the problem. American Fundware replied they were not certain but that there were significant amounts of data missing which needed to be restored. The problem was determined to be that for over four months the computer has been indicating that staff needed to install another diskette and that did not happen, so staff have been entering data into an "empty hole" for the last four months. Ms. Jolliff stated she also spoke with Deloitte and Touche who indicated they might be able to restore some of the data which had been lost. Ald. Rainey questioned what was missing. Ms. Jolliff responded that the general ledger accounts for the last four months were missing. Supervisor Summers offered that Sherry Zhou was back from maternity leave, and Ald. Wold asked how long it would take for Ms. Zhou to get up to speed on the system. Ald. Drummer asked who would train Ms. Zhou. Ms. Jolliff said Michael Mayer would do that. Ald. Wollin reminded the Committee and Township staff that when the training was conducted on the system everyone who participated in the training got a large manual, which is very easy to follow, plus American Fundware's 800 number. Ms. Summers noted that Michael Mayer did not include with his contract evidence of insurance and she noted that is something which will have to be provided. TOWNSl1IP COMMITTEE Minutes of 1/24/91 . . . Page 2 Ald. Wold stated she had consulted with those knowledgeable in the computer field and that the pricing on the software contract seemed correct; however, she would recommend a reimbursement rather than paying Michael Mayer upfront. She recommended that he submit billings as he uses the hours. Ald. Rainey said she agreed with Ald. Wold's position; that it would be much better to pay for services rendered, and that he can invoice as he leaves the offices; that the 'township would, in fact, be willing to pay more if disaster warranted. Ald. Drummer was interested in knowing who would do the training. Ald. Wollin noted that the Township had other contracts. She was anxious to make sure that the staff used those persons first who are responsible as part of their contract to train staff rather than there being an automatic reaction to use Michael Mayer for training. Ald. Wollin indicated she was concerned about the willful neglect cause in the contract; that Mr. Mayer was not liable if there was evidence of willful neglect of the system. This was a concern given the level of Township staff. She felt that through her reading of the contract that Michael Mayer wanted S5,000 no matter what level of service he provided. Ald. Rainey said if that was true then it appears that what he really wants is a retainer. Ald. Wollin said she was not necessarily opposed to that because she thinks that is something the Township will need. Ald. Wold felt there was a need to change the contract; as it was originally drawn up it covered the months of November to March 31st, and would now covered the period of January ISth to March 31st so the total amount should be reduced. The Committee had a discussion as to whether the end date of the contract should be March 31st or whether it should continue given the likelihood that work will needed to be done after that period. It was agreed that the contract would be written as ending March 31st, but with an automatic rollover renewal clause if either party did not notify an intent to end it within 30 days. Ald. Rainey noted that Mr. Mayer was a small business man; that he should be anxious to get our payments and get the Township business. Ald. Washington felt it was appropriate to get a contract to commit his time. Mr. Terry noted that the reason we were having a special meeting was that the crisis in the system had occurred in the accounting and general ledger system. However, the proposed contract from Mr. Mayer to do software maintenance specifically excluded doing work on the software of the accounting and ledger system. Ms. Jolliff said she spoke to Chris Ryan of Deloitte and Touche. She felt that Michael Mayer could fix this problem. She noted that Deloitte and Touche's rate was $150 per hour. Ald. Wollin said we have spent so much money in equipment and software, but personnel was obviously the key; that if current staff can not run this system we need staff who can. Ald. Drummer attempted to clarify how many staff actually use the system. Ald. Wold noted if there was significant data entry work she did not want Michael Mayer doing this work. Ald. Wollin said if we approve this contract then we shouldn't end up paying Michael Kent for computer systems work. Ald. Rainey asked if anyone had talked to Michael Mayer. Ms. Jolliff said yes and no. Ald. Rainey and Ald. Wold both agreed that there was a need to 'TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 1/24/91 . . . Page 3 talk to Mr. Michael Mayer. Ald. Rainey said that someone needed to call Mr. Mayer, say "this is our problem - (1) will you fix it; (2) will you fix it under the purview of the contract you have submitted." The Committee then took a ten minute break while Ms. Jolliff left to call Mr. Mayer. Given the extent of error that was caused by a temporary employee, Ald. Rainey asked if it was possible to hold his company responsible for some of the errors he made. Ms. Jolliff returned to the meeting. She said she had talked to Mr. Mayer.; that he is not interested in an hourly basis contract for two reasons: (1) with invoices it takes two months, at least, for payment, and as a small business he cannot wait that long and; (2) he cannot appropriately allocate time without a contract which specifies how much time will be allocated. Regarding the current crisis, he noted he did not build the software system used in the accounting system; that the Township still needed to use American Fundware, but he can work on the current problem and it will be within the scope of his contract. He also felt that the total dollar amount of $5,000 would remain even though we were talking about a shorter period of time. He feels he will still have to put in the sane amount of` hours and is still looking for a total of $5,000. He is willing to roll the contract past March 31st if the total amount of hours are not used. Ald. Rainey stated the Committee had no choice but to accept this. She stated her displeasure with the circumstances of taxpayers attacking the City while the Township squanders money and the citizens give the Township a pass. She said she would hold the Township accountable for solving the computer problem and if problems continue, a revival of the notion of abolishing the Township will occur. Ald. Wollin made a motion for approval of $5,000 for Michael Mayer, with the contract ending March 31, with a potential rollover. Ald. Rainey asked that the motion be amended so that the Committee will receive a specific accounting of the hours put in by Michael Mayer, who will be required to submit invoices indicating what type of work he had done. Ald. Wollin accepted that amendment to her motion. Ald. Wold indicated she would oppose the motion; that her preference was a $1,000 per month retainer to Mr. Mayer rather than a $5,000 total up front payment. Ald. Drummer felt that Mr. Mayer's services were available now and because of the problems in the Township we needed to take advantage of his services. Ald. Wold questioned what would happen if more hours were put in, and did we need to put a cap in the contract. Aid. Drummer said he did not believe the contract should be altered but that the Committee was directing the Township Director to not exceed $5,000 worth of expenditures. On Ald. Wollin's motion, the Committee vote was 4 - 1, with Ald. Wold casting the dissenting vote. Ald. Wollin reiterated that she wanted detailed invoices describing why the work had to be done. "TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Mi nutes s . . ute of 1/24/91 Page 4 . Regarding the hardware maintenance contract with Michael Mayer, Ald. Wold said that while she considered the software rate acceptable, she felt the $75 per hour in the hardware contract was much too high for someone Just providing diagnostic services. Ald. Wold felt this should have been bid. Ald. Rainey recommended that staff check to see how the City does its hardware maintenance; that there were maintenance contracts available through many of the major hardware providers such as IBM. Ald. Washington noted that a small business person such as Michael Mayer could never compete with the same rates as IBM. Ald. Rainey still felt the Township needed to pursue the possibility of maintenance contracts. Ald. Wollin asked if it was normal to include travel expenses for maintenance. Ald. Rainey clarified that it usually depended upon whether or not you have a maintenance contract as to whether travel was included in what had to be paid. Mr. Terry indicated he would contact Jeanne Kornatz, Information Systems Manager for the City, and get a description of the hardware maintenance done by the City. It was agreed by the Committee that the hardware maintenance issue would be deferred to the next meeting of the Township Committee, which is February 6th. The Committee moved to adjourn at 9:05 a.m. Jay W. Terry 0 Minutes TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE February 6, 1991 7:30 P.M. Ald. Drummer, Rainey, Mold, Wollin Ald. Washington Supervisor Edna Summers, Veranda Jolliff, Jay Terry Michael Kent, Irwin Lyons Aid. Drummer, Chair The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. MINUTES The minutes of January 14, 1991 were approved unanimously. The minutes of January 24, 199I were approved unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Nana Hardware Maintenance Memo Ald. Wollin asked if the Township was in the process of securing bids for hardware maintenance. Ms. Jolliff assured that they were. Ald. Rainey clarified with staff that the City Wang contract covered both PCs and the Wang mainframe system. It was her suggestion that the Township ask Jeanne Kornatz for a Wang contact person. Ald. Drummer noted that the Committee will hold the proposed hardware maintenance contract issue, and directed Township staff to keep the Committee informed on the issue. He also noted that a communication was passed out from Michael Mayer which itemized the time spent on software support. The Committee noted that there was a line in the memo which stated Mr. Mayer offered to do a separate memo covering the reasons that the system was in its current state. The Committee decision was that they did not want that separate memo, preferring that Mr. Mayer's 65 hours of contracted time be used for system improvement. Chicano Tribune Article The Committee review this article on proposed cuts in General Assistance. Ald. Wollin clarified if we were a receiving township $165 would be the grant level to an individual. Disclosure Ald. Wold asked that Ms. Summers send the Committee a copy of the newspaper article referred to in the memo. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 2/6/91 . . . Page 2 Monthly Cgseload 6nA.]v$i5 and GAAS& Jent Information The Committee reviewed these reports. Ms. Summers noted that the problem with the old format was that it was compiled manually and often there were errors. Ald. Drummer felt that the information on the old report is what the Committee was seeking. Ald. Wold concurred. Ald. Drummer asked if this would be a problem and Ms. Jolliff commented that this would be an example of how the 65 contract hours of Michael Mayer would be used up because he would have to reformat the report. Ald. Rainey noted that the Township, despite comments about seeing increasing activity had, for January 1991, two less cases than it had a year ago in January. The Committee consensus was that the report should also eliminate the title of Inactive Cases. SEVIEW OF TOWNSHIP AUD u Mr. Irwin Lyons of FERS distributed copies of the draft management letter for the Committee to review. Ald. Wold asked Mr. Lyons to clarify some of the Donated Funds Initiative issues. Mr. Lyons noted that the DFI audit is for the previous three years; that the company (FERS) took the grant audit approach in doing the audit and reviewed all three years. He noted on page five a listing of the grants involved and that there were overlapping fiscal years. He pointed out that his firm was not offering a clean compliance opinion; that there were compliance issues listed on page three of the audit. Ald. Drummer asked for clarification of the tern "immaterial instances." Mr. Lyons said those are issues which are not significant cost items. He noted that the compliance issues identified primarily dealt with recordkeeping, and that they weren't necessarily cost items. Ald. Wold said she was very concerned about the Township response to recordkeeping. Ms. Jolliff noted that the response was in the management letter. Mr. Lyons said his major concern, in terms of the compliance issue, was that the grant application to the State to get the DFI funds specified that there would be units of service. He noted there are no units of service cost in the grants to the Community Action agencies. He noted that the opinion raises an issue without necessarily detailing what the issue is; that there is no available data which shows a direct link between the clients served by the agencies and the Township money. He noted that the firm did not call the Illinois Department of Public Aid (IDPA). He was not sure whether or not this would be a problem with the State of Illinois. Ms. Summers expressed her concern that each year in the Unified Budget Process she identifies agencies which are not serving Township clients, and she is instructed by the Trustees to fund those agencies anyway. She stated she has long protested funding recommendations to the Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. Ald. Wollin asked whether the available Township documentation was sufficient or whether they needed to move to a unit cost system; do all Township funded social services need to go to G.A. recipients. Mr. Lyons indicated they do if those social services are funded through the Donated Funds Initiative. Ald. Wollin asked whether this issue needed to be pursued with the State. Ms. Jolliff responded that representatives from the state of Illinois were coming to review the Donated Funds Initiative Grant; that the Township could not currently show that direct link between DFI funds and G.A. clients, but it is TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 2/6/91 . . . Page 3 something they will be required to do for 1991 and 1992. Ald. Wold asked if it was possible to have a system whereby getting reports coincides with the sending of checks; wanted to know why checks could go to community action agencies without getting the data. Ald. Drummer provided some history to the Committee of how the first DFI grants were received, and the role of Evanston's representatives in the State legislature in securing these funds as a way of getting a State contribution to the operations of Evanston Township. Ald. Rainey asked what we require from the agencies. She noted on page seven that the DFI requests from the agencies were missing. There was consensus that the Unified Budget requests for Township funding should be on file per agency and that there was a need to ask for monthly reports. Mr. Lyons said that in the future, the Township needed to identify for not -far -profit agencies which receive Township funds, which of those dollars are DFI dollars. He noted that for a lot of agencies they do not even realize that the DFI dollars are federal dollars and subject to single audit requirements. Ald. Wold directed Township staff that from now on unit costs must be developed for OFI funded agencies. Mr. Lyons noted again that the requests from the Township to apply for the grant identify a unit cost of service, but no data is available to back up that figure. Ald. Rainey reiterated that a monthly report is needed on any agency they fund on the people they serve. Mr. Terry raised a concern that not all agencies in town had a sophisticated client data system that would allow them to track G.A. or DFI funded clients in their system. Ald. Drummer felt a problem would develop for those who receive a Unified Budget grant that was part DFI and part other Township funds. Ald. Rainey said that we should ask for the reports to help justify the need for the service. Ald. Wold made a motion that there be a quarterly report of documentation of service to Township clients. Ms. Jolliff noted that would have to be effective with the new contract year. Ms. Summers clarified that there would be a need to tell each agency DFI money they are getting from the Township. Ald. Wold felt she wanted this quarterly information available to the Township Unified Budget representatives, and Ald. Rainey felt there was a need to clarify the matter for all Township funding recipients. There was a Committee consensus to approve Ald. Wold's motion. The Committee then went down a point -by -point discussion of the items listed in the management letter and the responses. Issue #1 - Authorized Signatures Ald. Wold noted the lack of authorized signatures for Township accounts. She certainly hoped that there had been no illegal use of signatures. I;sue #3- Fixed Assets Mr. Lyons felt this could be a larger problem next year as the Township continues to accumulate computer hardware. RecoMendation #4 - Monthjv VoucherinQ System Ald. Rainey asked for clarification. Mr. Kent indicated that a monthly vouchering system would begin in February. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE ' Minutes of 2/6/91 Page 4 11sjue #5 - Caseworkers Ald. Rainey asked whether the Township was still missing twa caseworkers. Ms. Jolliff clarified that the Township currently has two caseworkers and one casework supervisor position vacant. Ald. Rainey said she was very concerned about the short staff in the Township and wanted to know how the Township was able to keep up with its workload. Ms. Jolliff responded that the Township had finished interviews for those positions; that in the next three weeks she anticipated all those positions being filled. Issue #6 - Unauthorized Expenditures Ald. Rainey expressed her concern that this citing was a repeat of one cited in last year's audit, and at the time the Committee had been assured the problem would be taken care of. Ald. Drummer asked for clarification of how unauthorized expenditures might occur. Aid. Rainey noted she was not looking for thievery, but rather for professionalism. Mr. Lyons said these are vendor bills paid without authorized invoice. He said the proper signatures were there for a system of internal control. He is not saying that there is anything done inappropriately. Ms. Jolliff noted that what can happen is that there are often stacks of bills needing to be authorized and checks to be signed following each Council meeting, and that errors can happen. Issue #7 - Personpel File Ald. Rainey noted that citing 07 an Personnel Files was also a repeat from last year. Ald. Drummer said he hoped Ms. Jolliff would be making progress in cleaning up personnel files. Ms. Summers noted that a personnel manual is in development. Aid. Rainey expressed her relief that ADP is now doing the Township payroll. js4ue #8 - Time Cards Aid. Rainey felt that the letter citing #8 on the lack of time cards was a very scary citing; that with a small staff like the Township maybe the Director or someone in authority to call in the payroll to ADP. Ms. Jolliff indicated that in the future she will have a procedure whereby the Account Clerk will not transmit the payroll to ADP until she has approved all the timecards. Aid. Wollin noted that she felt seven out of 16 timecards being out of compliance was a large number. Aid. Drummer noted that last year at this time, the Committee was talking to a new director and he did not feel the Committee should have unreasonable expectations on Ms. Jolliff and her ability to respond to some of these issues. Aid. Rainey asked if there was any concern about vacation and overtime, and as to how much testing was done. Mr. Lyons said no problems had been identified. Aid. Drummer felt in his opinion there were less citings than last year. He felt that records retention was still a significant problem for the Township. He was also anxious to see a new table of organization for the Township. Mr. Lyons noted that the format of the audit had changed to comply with new standards of FERS. He indicated he will be sending bound copies of the audit, and that the FERS engagement would be completed. Aid. Drummer said there r TOWNSHIP C"ITTEE Minutes of 2/6/91 . . . Page 5 would be no motion to transmit the audit to the City Council at present; that when the bound audits are -received, there will be a motion to approve distribution of the audit. Aid. Rainey wanted it noted for the record that she felt Ald. Drummer's comments were implying that the situation had improved. Aid. Rainey said she totally disagreed with any implication that conditions have improved, and is not thrilled to read the audit. Ald. Drummer disagreed with Ald. Rainey's interpretation. The Committee thanked Irwin Lyons for his work. CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSAI TO UTILIZE TOWNSHIP P FUNDS TO SUPPORT SENIOR CITIZEN D.ICAS PROGRAM Ald. Drummer noted this was a reference from the Administration and Public Works Committee and the Supervisor was aware of the issue. Ms. Summers said she was pleased that this may lead to better service. She believed that all taxicab companies should be involved with the program. She is hesitant about the Township taking on an additional funding responsibility. She felt the Township should be cautious in incurring additional financial liabilities; that her preference would be to not get involved in this program. Aid. Rainey clarified the Administration and Public Works Committee was suggesting a 50t per ride level for a maximum of 33,000 rides which works out to $16,500; that one of the reasons motivating this support was that everyone who used the system reported that the drivers are rude, and the reason for that is they are taking a financial loss on the coupon program; that under the plan envisioned the total coupon would be increased to $3.50; the senior's portion would be $2.00; all cab companies would be required to participate. She noted that in the current Township budget there was $20,000 allocated for relocation. This was money the Committee knew the Township would not spend. It was her motion that there be $16,000 out of that line item allocated to fund the Senior Citizen Taxicab Program for the first 12 months of the new program's operation; from the effective date of the ordinance to be considered by the City Council. Ald. bold said she could only support this with mixed feelings. She was concerned about the tendency to turn to Evanston Township for extra dollars; she doesn't like the idea that the City turns to Township every time we need to balance the budget. However, she was equally concerned that the taxicab drivers were being forced to subsidize the program; that she will support this so long as it will provide better services to senior citizens. However, she noted that it is a bad habit to get into to go to the Township budget for financial relief. Ald. Wollin asked if 33,000 was the current level of rides and Ald. Rainey said no, it is much less. Ald. Drummer said he is also concerned about the proposal because there were very few, if any, Township clients who would be served by this. Ms. Summers said the City is always dumping on the Township and that is not right. Ald. Rainey said the reason is the Township always over budgets; there is no TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 2/6/91 Page 6 , historical justification for the amounts we levy in the Township budget. Ald. Drummer clarified we are discussing a new program and spending real dollars. Ald. Brunner felt the people needed to be aware of the extra expenses taken on by the Township. Ms. Summers said that the Township gets accused of raising taxes. Ald. Rainey disagreed with Ms. Summers and said it was her opinion the taxpayers held a positive opinion of the Township. After additional discussion the Committee voted 3 - 1 on the motion with Ald. Drummer, Rainey and Wold voting aye, and Ald. Wollin voting nay. Ald. Wold suggested that seniors needed to be aware that the dollars came from Evanston Township and if possible, when the coupons are printed there should be language on the coupon which says the dollars came from Evanston Township. TQWNSHIP MONTHLY BjJU Ms. Jolliff said there needed to be a deletion of $153.92 from the Bills List for ADP invoices when that was an automatic deduction. Ald. Wollin asked for a clarification of the Romac bill and the hours put in by the temporary employee. Ald. Wold questioned the language of the Bernsten Brothers bill as office supplies, that in fact, it was a coffee set up. Ald. Mold stated Bernsten is not cheap and suggested using someone else. Ald. Rainey clarified that the rent for Family Focus was still $366. Ald. Wollin requested an updated list of the rents paid, similar to the one that had been passed out at the previous meeting. Ald. Wold clarified the March rent should not go out until the end of February. Ald. Rainey asked what the expenditure for Prior Resources was. Ms. Jolliff said it was a professional workplace. Ms. Jolliff noted that last month the Committee decided not to approve an expenditure for IBM for S266 because they had questions. She clarified that this was for service on the typewriters in the Township office. Ald. Rainey asked why a typewriter maintenance contract had not been used. The Committee reviewed the Revenue and Expense Statement included in the Bills List, wanting to know why a certain caseworker's line item expenditures were so high. Michael Kent said that included severance arrangements with the caseworker who had resigned. Ald. Rainey indicated she would like more information as to the extent of that severance agreement. Mr. Kent assured that cash is flowing into the Township from the levies and that any concern there might have been about having to borrow money is unnecessary as that will not have to occur. Ald. Rainey said she wanted more information on the payout to the clerk -typist position as well. Mr. Kent noted that client payments are way under budget. Ald. Rainey noted that on page five there are only two expenditures in the entire month in the Work Opportunity Program (WOP). She wanted more TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 2/6/91 Page 7 information as to what was going on with this program. It appeared to her that we are paying rent for a program but not doing anything. She indicated she wanted some detailed answers of what is going on with the WOP. She also has the same questions about the Clerical Training program. She felt the lack of expenditures would seem to indicate that nothing was going on. Ald. Drummer asked staff to provide answers to Ald. Rainey's questions. Aid. Rainey noted they had an agreement with the previous Director that monthly program reports would be submitted. The Monthly Bills List, with the one deletion, was approved unanimously. Ms. Summers noted that there is a memo in the packet on clerical training roam equipment; asked if the Committee intended to approve that. Aid. Rainey, noting a number of typographical errors in the memo, questioned a number of words. The Township was unable to explain what the original intent was supposed to be. Aid. Drummer indicated that Ms Summers should get back to the Committee with a more descriptive memorandum. MONTHLY ME21CAL PAYMENTS The Committee noted medical payments in the amount of $15,253.18. Aid. Rainey indicated that she wanted staff to arrange for the provision of a legal opinion. She was requesting the information regarding the medical condition for certain clients for which the Township was paying medical bills; that she wanted the diagnosis - not names, just a case number; wanted a legal opinion as to whether the provision of that information to the Township Committee was in violation of privacy laws. She challenged the Committee to say that if they were unable to get the diagnosis of the clients for whom they were paying those medical services, she had no idea what basis could be used to review those medical claims at all. Aid, Woliin noted that the CPTR code is provided, but that you need to have faith that the services have been provided and the diagnosis is correct. Aid. Rainey then questioned going to the expense of xeroxing all these listings of bills. Ms. Jolliff indicated that she had asked staff if more information could be put into the medical report. Aid. Rainey noted that the response she received from her previous request was that it was none of the Committee's business. Aid. Wold indicated she would be interested in receiving the medical bills with a narrative for clients who receive more than $2,000 worth of Township funded services; or a client summary of the five clients who receive the most medical services. Ms. Jolliff pointed out that for one of the cases in which there were high expenditures, it was emergency treatment following an automobile accident. Aid. Wold again stated she would like just a brief summary. Ald. Drummer clarified that it was the Committee's desire to receive descriptive information on those clients in which the Township paid over $2,000 in medical bills. Aid. Rainey had some specific questions about the Vendor Detail list. On page six there was a St. Francis bill that said "inpatient", but that the payment trail did not look like inpatient; that on page 12, she wanted an explanation as to why they were still paying 1989 dates of service. On page 14 in the Client Detail list, it would appear that there was a client that used the TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 2/6/91 Page 8 emergency room six days in close proximity. Ald. Rainey noted on Case No. 8424, the appointments are on a very regular basis and she would like to know the diagnosis. The Committee approved medical bills unanimously in the amount of $15,253.18. The Committee had a brief discussion on the schedule they wished to follow for approval of the Township budget. It was agreed that the next regular meeting of March 6th would meet at 7:00 p.m. and that the agenda would be approval of monthly bills and review of the Township budget. Committee members were encouraged to submit any significant questions they had about the budget to Ms. Jolliff ahead of time so that responses could be sent out prior to the meeting. Ald. Mold indicated she might have some difficulty in attending that meeting and again reminded Township staff that she wanted all information prior to Township Committee meetings submitted prior to the meetings so that she would have an opportunity to review that information and have an opportunity to raise questions. The Committee voted to adjourn at 10:05 p.m. Jay W. Terry 0. � _ A PRESENT: AUSENI: STAFF and OFFICIALS: PRESIDING: CALL TO ORDER 2RAFT - NOT_ APPROVES Minutes TOWNSHIP COMMITTE€ March 6, 1991 7:00 P.M. Ald. Drummer, Rainey, Wollin Ald. Washington, Wold Supervisor Edna Summers, Veranda Jolliff, Jay Terry, Michael Kent Aid. Drummer, Chair The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. MINUTES The minutes of February 6, 1991 were amended as follows: Page 6, paragraph 8, line 2 should read "professional workshop" rather than workplace. Ald. Wollin indicated she did want to follow up to a number of the requests that were mentioned in the minutes. She wanted to know if there would be a follow up report to the visit to the Township by the State of Illinois; wanted to know if the communication from the Township had been sent to the not -for -profit agencies; about documentation of Township clients; wanted to know the status of the caseworker position. She was still looking for a list of rents which she had not received and wanted to know why Bernsten Brothers purchases were still being listed as office supplies. Ms. Jolliff indicated the Bernsten Brothers notation would change with the budget documents for the new fiscal year, and that there would be responses to other questions later on in the meeting. Ms. Summers indicated she had asked her attorney for a legal opinion relative to Ald. Rainey's question about obtaining diagnosis information for G.A. clients who are receiving medical services. Ms. Summers indicated she had asked Greg Pellini for an opinion. Ald. Rainey expressed concern about the expense involved in engaging Mr. Pellini for that request. Mr. Terry indicated that following the February meeting he had asked Herbert Hill for an opinion which he had been unable to provide to date. Ald. Drummer said the Committee would review both opinions when they are submitted. The minutes of February 6, 1991 were approved unanimously with the one correction. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 3/6/91 . . . Page Two f fQMMUNTCAT O S Ms. Jolliff passed out a communication which responded to some of the questions which had been raised by the Committee in the previous meeting. Severance Policv Ald. Rainey asked for clarification of the Township's severance policy. Her understanding of severance pay was usually an effort made by an employer to make an involuntary separation a little easier; that she had never heard of a severance pay policy if there was a voluntary resignation. Ms. Summers indicated the Township has always had a severance pay policy. Ald. Rainey asked how that policy was defined and how it could be justified for an employee who resigned. Ms. Summers said it has always been the policy and that the employee who received the severance pay gave adequate notice. Ald. Rainey said she was not aware of other employers who do this. Ald. Drummer indicated he was aware of various separation plans, but was not aware of severance pay for voluntary resignations. Ald. Wollin noted there is no City policy to do this. Ald. Drummer said we need to take a closer look at this policy; do we wish to continue this? He believed that Ald. Rainey's concern were valid ones; that he did not believe that people should be rewarded for leaving voluntarily. Ms. Summers said she would rather pay a good worker than someone who she had to fire. Ald. Drummer felt there were other options available to the Township and that a two month severance pay for an employee who resigned was excessive. Ald. Wollin asked if the Township Committee would ever be receiving a copy of the Township New Personnel Manuel. Ms. Jolliff said yes. 1988-89 Medical Bills Ald. Rainey asked why there were still unpaid 1989 medical bills. She wanted to be certain the Township staff were verifying that when the expenses were incurred, the clients were active G.A. clients. Ms. Summers indicated that staff did make that verification. Ald. Drummer asked whether these bills were being received from providers or collection agencies, and Ms. Summers responded collection agencies. Ald. Drummer said he agreed with Ald. Rainey; wanted to know how Township staff could be sure that some of these bills were not duplicates. He wanted to know whether any of the lost data had ever been restored. Ms. Jolliff said yes it had. Ald. Drummer felt there was a great need to scrutinize 1988 and 1989 bills to make sure the Township has not already paid them; that there needed to be further assurances from staff that they haven't been paid; that there needs to be a policy stating there will be no payment of 1988 bills. Ald. Rainey thought that such a policy had been articulated. J9b Club Data Summary Ald. Drummer asked for clarification of this communication. Ms. Jolliff provided an explanation of some of the statistics on the report. She understood concerns about the format of the report and indicated a more detailed report would be available for next month's meeting. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE .�' Minutes of 3/6/91 Page Three ikemp from Edna Summers Ald. Drummer noted that Ms. Summers' memo referred to a memo the Committee members had received from Ald. Washington requesting some consideration of Ms. Jolliff. He appreciated the sentiments of Ald. Washington; however, he didn't believe that the Township Committee was not being considerate of Ms. Jolliff; they were supportive of her efforts to streamline Township operations. Ald. Rainey indicated she had spoke to Ald. Washington and felt her memo had been unnecessary; that it was upsetting to her that an Alderman would suggest that the Township Committee not do its functions; it was inappropriately sent. Ald. Rainey felt there was a need for the Committee to ask Ald. Washington if she intended to continue as a Township Committee member. Ald. Drummer said he had and that she said yes. Ald. Wollin said this is the second time this sort of thing has happened; that it is the Committee's role to go through things of this nature; that Ald. Washington has not been at the last three meetings. Ald. Wollin said she has no intention of waiting six months to review Township progress; we still have not had appropriate responses and answers to questions; she did not believe the Committee was an obstacle, but rather the Committee is supportive. Mr. Terry provided some clarification as to how Ald. Washington's memo had been distributed and the policy of distributing memoranda regarding Township. Herbert Hill Memo Reaardino Illinois Deoartment of Reui$tration Ald. Drummer noted that Supervisor Summers did not believe any further action on this was required. Ald. Rainey requested an update on the status of the matter, which Mr. Terry provided. ff&EIPT OF BOUND COPY OF FY 1990 TOWNSHIP AUDIT The Committee unanimously approved distribution of the bound copy to the entire City Council. Ms. Jolliff indicated she was prepared to provide some follow-up information to the State audit which was held; the big issue remains that there is no correlation between General Assistance clients and the agencies who are receiving DFI funds; they are very concerned that PEER Services has not submitted any invoice for service for months; that there may be a need to redirect PEER Services funding to another agency; she has raised this issue with Kate Mahoney and has received no response. The State is recommending that there be no new contract with PEER Services. If any agency contract does not show a direct correlation between receiving DFI funds and G.A. clients served that contract needs to be revised. It was noted that PEER Services had a sliding scale and that under the DFI plan no fees can be charged. Ms. Jolliff reiterated that there may be a need to redirect PEER Service funding. Ald. Wollin noted it was planned in the new fiscal year of the Unified Budget Process (UBP) to ask for age and sex of agency clients, and that would be the time to bring up the need to identify which clients were G.A. clients. Ms. Jolliff noted for agency contracts units of service were never provided; the agencies have never been asked to separate out G.A. clients and cost per unit R TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 3/6/91 Page Four was never defined. Ald. Wallin noted she was concerned about this; however, drug treatment was clearly a badly needed service for G.A. clients. Ald. Drummer noted the DFI funding for PEER could be eliminated with PEER funded with Township funds, and other agencies like GRASP or OATES could be targeted to receive the DFI money. Mr. Terry noted that whatever agencies were chosen for this the problem would be that agencies are not used to providing unit costs for the service they provide. Ald. Drummer asked whether it would possible to fund the City's Emergency Assistance program with the DFI money. Mr. Terry said it was a possibility and was something he and Ms. Jolliff could potentially work out. Ald. Drummer emphasized the need for staff to begin working on the new contracts with the two agencies and directed Ms. Jolliff and Mr. Terry to work that out. fL A,S. SYSTEM Ald. Wallin wanted to know if anyone knew why there were so many new clients. Ms. Jolliff speculated it was seasonal. Ald. Rainey wanted to know if anyone knew what the difference was between 1990 and and 1991 figures for the month of February. She questioned whether there were enough caseworkers to do intake. Ms. Jolliff reported there are two caseworkers now on staff; one is a Charles Combs who is working as a job developer, and a Rosemary Jean Paul, formerly of CCLAF. Ald. Rainey asked where the Job Developer came from and the response was he was a former employee of Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Ms. Jolliff noted the position still requires carrying a caseload. Ald. Drummer said he would expect Ida Fitzgerald and Charles Cohns to be working hand in hand in developing new private sector initiatives. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS The Committee considered a bill from Phil Radtke. Ald. Drummer noted this was for equipment to be designated for Room 2800, and he was under the impression that some rearrangement of equipment for Room 2800 had already been made. Ald. Wallin asked if Mr. Radtke was paid to evaluate the computer equipment. Ms. Summers said no. Ald. Drummer asked what the need was here. Ms. Jolliff said it was for the caseworkers to track client information. Ald. Drummer said he thought the Township paid for a system to correct that type of thing and do that connection and asked if the Township now had two systems which accomplished the same thing. his. Jolliff said no, this new equipment would be designed to do a word processing function such as the Monthly Client Case Summary currently done by clerical staff. Ald. Drummer asked if that meant the second floor could not talk to the basement. Ald. Wallin said that in the Deloitte and Touche Computer Needs Assessment they never told us we need this. Ms. Jolliff felt that she recalled Deloitte and Touche mentioning the need for a word processor but they said there was no need to connect it with a LAN. Ald. Drummer said he was still unclear as to what the need was. Ald. Rainey asked why Mr. Radtke said in his memo that he needed to know as soon as possible? Ald. Wallin noted there is much new hardware available that are IBM clones which are much less expensive. Ald. Drummer recommended the Committee hold this and take no action at this time until these questions are resolved. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 3/6/91 . . . Page Five Ald. Drummer clarified this would be for this year's budget; wanted to know which line items would be charged and whether or not there was money in the budget; clarified this equipment would be placed in the Family Focus building. Ald. Rainey questioned whether the clerical trainer had six desks at the present time. Ms. Jolliff responded that she has four, but purchasing equipment for six desks was more economical at this time. The Committee went into an extensive comparison of the memo sent for the February meeting and the one for the the March meeting. Ald. Drummer felt that Township staff needed to clarify which memo and which costs were the cnes that were currently operative and that they need to get it to the Con-nittee for the April meeting so it can be approved. Aid. Rainey noted again that she has been reviewing expenditures in the clerical training program, but there is no expenditures listed. She would like more information as to what is going on in the clerical training program. Ms. Summers said she talked to Sherry Zhou and it is quite possible that the clerical trainer is expending money but it is being charged to other line items. Ald. Rainey said she still wanted a full report on this program. She also requested a written report on the last fiscal year as well. Ald. Drummer said he would like a similar report on the Work Opportunity Program. Ald. Drummer directed the Township staff to provide those reports on those two programs for next month's meeting. MONTHLY BILLS Ald. Rainey noted the number of bills from Romac Professional Temporaries; that she wanted to see one complete of invoices relating to the temporary account clerk; would like to see an itemized list. Committee members concurred that it had proven to be a very expensive service and not of good quality. Ald. Rainey moved for removal of all Romac bills from the Bills List. Ms. Jolliff noted that in the last invoice received from Romac, she had subtracted the days which the Romac employee had not shown up for work. Ald. Rainey wanted an explanation of the difference between the various weeks' charges. The Committee concurred withholding payment on this bill. Ald. Wollin again noted that the Bernsten Brothers description should be changed to coffee setup and recommended that the Township staff seek a more inexpensive vendor. Ald. Wollin wanted to know why there were three invoices to Bennison's Bakery at one time. Ms. Summer noted she had just received these invoices, and noted that the client participating in the 50/50 program had been hired by the bakery fulltime. Ald. Drummer hoped the job developer could come up with new ideas and a new program. Ald. Drummer noted no entry on the bills list for the Infant Welfare Society. Ms. Jolliff indicated they have been paid through the end of the fiscal year. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 3/6/91 Page Six Ald. Rainey wanted a further clarification for the difference between the categorical and the emergency food program. Mr. Terry explained that he was not sure why there were separate billings; that they were both for emergency food, but there were different types of clients. Ald. Wollin noted that the Bernsten amount was now $275.10; that it was a lot to pay for coffee. The Committee had an extensive discussion concerning the coffee, and the Committee consensus was to encourage the Township to consider engaging a coffee service. The Committee unanimously voted to remove the Romac invoices in the amount of $1,714.67. The Committee added a bill for the accounting firm of Friedman, Eisenstein, Raemer & Schwartz (FERS) in the amount of $4,400. The Committee unanimously approved a month bills list in the amount of $92,031.50. BEVENUE ND EXPENSE STATEMENT Ald. Rainey asked a number of questions relative to the payroll expenditures for the month. Mr. Kent responded that the higher amount in the Director's line item included payments to the Mental Health Board for the services of Harvey Saver; that the account clerk line item included both regular salary and all of the paid invoices for the Romac service; that in the caseworker line item it was both the caseworker's paycheck and his severance pay, and the clerk typist line item was two different employees. Ald. Drummer felt it would be helpful if the Committee received a listing of monthly payroll payouts by position. Mr. Kent distributed the February Revenue and Expense report as well. MONTHLY MEDICAL BILLS Ald. Rainey made a motion to remove all 1988-89 date of service bills. Ald. Drummer asked if everyone was certain no duplicate payments were being made. Ms. Jolliff said Township staff were as sure as they could be; Valerie Tatum has checked all of she bills. The Committee had a discussion on how to verify some of these amounts. The consensus was that the 1988-89 bills should be pulled off this month's medical bills list. Ald. Rainey asked for a reconfirming statement from the Township that all of these bills have been checked to see if the money is, in fact, still owed and that the clients were G.A. clients on the date the service was provided. Ald. Rainey again stated she wants more information about bills over a certain amount; that the Committee had already voted; when the cost is billed at over the $2,000 the Committee should get an explanation. Ald. Wollin noted there may be a time to make decisions when the City sees patterns of use and abuse. Ald. Drummer cautioned that the Committee could not affect decisions made at a hospital; that the Committee could be putting a lot of work in to have no impact. Aid. Wollin and Ald. Rainey did not agree with Ald. Drummer's caution, with Ald. Wollin saying it would be an opportunity for the Committee to see some broad patterns. Ald. Rainey clarified that what she wanted was just a simple diagnosis for the clients who have those expenditures above the $2,000 level. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 3/6/91 Page Seven The Committee unanimously voted to approve all bills for medical services except those where the date of service was 1988 or 1989. Township staff were to get a revised final figure to the Committee prior to the Monday night City Council meeting. The Committee had a discussion as to which of the various reports they receive in order to review monthly medical bills were still necessary. Aldermen felt that the Client Detail Report and the Vendor's Summary Report were the most useful. Ald. Drummer recommended to Township staff that the Vendor Detail Report and the Client Summary Report not be distributed, but only a single copy held in the Township office. Mr. Terry clarified with the Committee that they are interested in receiving a proposal from the FERS firm for audit services for the next Township audit. The Committee consensus was that would be appropriate. FISCAL YEAR 1991-92 TOWNSHIP BUDGET Mr. Kent provided an explanation of significant items in the budget; noted that this proposed budget had no budgeted reserve line time; that the Assessor was going to be having a higher budget. Mr. Terry indicated he had talked to Stephen Engelman and relayed Committee concerns and that a revised budget would be forthcoming from the Assessor. It was clarified that there was no line time in the budget for the Taxicab Subsidy Program because it was all being funded out of this fiscal year. Mr. Kent noted that as proposed, client payments would go up; that the individual client grant would be increased to $330 if this budget were passed, and that the payroll is up 6%. Mr. Kent noted that on page three, the Revenue and Fund Balance Projections should be very close. Ald. Rainey asked why the transfer from the Town Fund was projected to go up. Mr. Kent said he could not explain that but would have an explanation for the next meeting. Ald. Rainey emphasized that she needed to know the reasons as to why that figure was proposed to be higher. The Committee had an extensive discussion relative to the absence of a S400,000 budgeted reserve and why that figure didn't show up as an increase in the fund balance. Aid. Drummer and Mr. Kent attempted to clarify the Impact the abatement had on the total income received by the Township in this fiscal year. Mr. Kent noted the abatement resulted in $500,000 less income for this fiscal year. He also clarified that the $200,000 for the Township Special Housing Fund is part of the Town Fund; noted that the Township is down a total of S600,000 in total income. There was clarification needed on the figures listed on page six of the budget in terms of why the budgeted reserve line item was removed from this fiscal year's budget figures. Aid. Wollin asked whether the proposed grant increase was going to go to the client or the landlord for housing. Ms. Jolliff indicated the increase in the grant amount would be targeted towards the landlord. Aid. Rainey asked on page 16 of the budget if she could have the legal audit portion broken down with more explanation. a�. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 3/6/91 Page Eight Ald. Wallin indicated that if staff were going to contact the Township Assessor; in addition to the previously raised questions about his salary line items why there were no proposed expenditures for postage, no budget or actual figures for phone expenditures. Ald. Rainey noted that last year the Township Assessor needed a higher printing and duplicating budget becauso of all the public information activities he had conducted relative to the reassessment, and since there is no reassessment this year, why that line item needed to come in at the same level as last year. The Committee agreed that a further budget session was necessary to review the budget prior to the April Township meeting. After much discussion, the Committee decided that March 27th at 6:00 p.m. would be the date for the budget review session. The Committee unanimously moved to adjourn at 9:55 p.m. Jay W. Terry PRESENT STAFF and OFFICIALS: 28ESIDING: t;ALL TO ORDER 09FT - NOT AUMM Minutes TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE April 3, 1991 7:30 P.M. Ald. Drummer, Rainey, Washington, Wold, Wollin Supervisor Edna Summers, Veranda Jolliff, Jay Terry, Michael Kent Ald. Drummer, Chair The meeting was called to order at 7:37 p.m. The minutes of the meeting of March 6, 1991 were considered and the following corrections made: Page 2, Paragraph 2, line 17, add Mrs. Summers indicated the oolicv was f,pntinued in the new oerso0nel manual. Page 4, paragraph 2, line 6, the name Charles Combs should be changed to Charles Cohns. Ald. Rainey said she did not have any corrections to the minutes, but had some questions. Ald. Drummer noted there were a list of questions coming out of the minutes; questions relating to severance pay, medical bills, reports on the Job Club, clerical training and the Work Opportunity Program (WOP). Ms. Jolliff said the personnel manual is available and copies will be distributed; she still expects to provide a narrative report on the Job Club program; an evaluation of the clerical training program is scheduled with Pat Coyne soon and she will then have a report available for the committee. Ms. Jolliff distributed a memo dated April 3rd entitled Summary of Vocational Activities. Ald. Wald sought clarification on the number of participants in the program. Ms. Jolliff indicated there was a client who participated in February and was placed in training in March. Ald. Wald sought clarification on the difference between "referred for training" and "placed in training," Ms. Jolliff noted the Township was going to begin special work with the Safer Foundation. Ald. Rainey noted that on page 5 of the Monthly Bills there were still invoices from Romac. Ms. Jolliff distributed copies of the actual invoices for Ald. Rainey`s review, TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/91 . . . Page 2 The minutes of the March 5, corrected. 4F , L 1991 meeting were approved unanimously as Apnouncement of Cook County Townshin Suoervisors' mee_tiflq The Committee sought information as to who regularly attended these meetings. Ms. Summers indicated that she and the Township Director. fi,LA.S. Client Informatiion Ald. Drummer noted the change in the client load; wanted to know who was inactive. Ald. Wollin reminded the Committee that category was going to be taken off the report. Ald. Drummer asked about the 24 suspensions; wanted to know what the nature was of those clients' activities that caused the suspensions. Ms. Summers said it is usually for lack of cooperation with the program. She stated they can reapply; there is no rule they cannot reapply. Ald. Drummer asked if there was any way to deny benefits to people who are chronically misusing the system. Ms. Summers said no, all clients are eligible to reapply. Ald. Drummer asked if there were any other ways to limit who was on G.A. Ms. Summers replied no, there are a number of clients who rotate on and off G.A.; if a client is eligible they can always reapply. Ald. Drummer still felt it was important to have a program that had rules and to make sure that all clients follow those rules. Ald. Rainey noted that by being a non -receiving Township, the Township was not governed by State rules and expressed her concern that the Committee had not seen a clear set of rules governing General Assistance policies in Evanston Township. Ald. Drummer said he fully expected all clients who could work to get appropriate training and get off G.A. He questioned as to who was rejected for G.A. Ms. Summers said there were a number of different reasons that clients would be sent to other programs such as Unemployment Compensation and if they have other benefits coming first they will never return and be placed on G.A. Performance Based Contract with the Youth Job Center (YJC) Ald. Rainey felt Ms. Jolliff's memo communicating this contract contained some excellent points. She believed that job retention was critical to this contract. However, she questioned whether given the Township track record the amount of money involved was a realistic incentive. She did not believe $100 reward for a one year placement was realistic. Ms. Jolliff responded that it depended upon the type of client that is sent to the YJC. She felt the Township would send the most potentially successful clients to YJC. Ald. Rainey said she could accept that but needed an analysis of the typical Township caseload, how many were chronic substance abusers, how many were chronic G.A. users, how many were medical cases. She wanted some sense of what the demographics were of the Township's client population. Ald. Wollin felt the incentive part TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/91 . . . Page 3 of the contract should be improved. Ald. Washington asked if the Township was still trying to send chronic medical cases to SSI. Ald. Wallin inquired as to where this item was in the proposed fiscal year budget. Ms. Jolliff said it is not in there yet. Pe]] 1LJ Lggal Doinions Ms. Summers summarized by saying that the medical diagnostic information requested by Ald. Rainey was, according to Mr. Pellini, not confidential. Ald. Wollin Felt that the amount of work done by Mr. Pellini and the amount of documentation provided was in excess of what the Committee had originally requested, and she characterized herself as being overwhelmed by the amount of material he provided. Ald. Drummer felt Mr. Pellini's opinion was very extravagant; he couldn't believe that much research was necessary. He instructed Ms. Summers not to use Mr. Pellini for opinions of this nature; he did not want to see any more single opinions that cost $2,000. He encouraged Ms. Summers to use the Township attorney, Mr. Hill, for opinions of that nature. Ald. Rainey noted in the minutes of last month's meeting it indicated that Ms. Summers was contacting Mr. Pellini for this opinion; that the Committee should have interceded at that point and told her not to seek that opinion. Ald. Washington noted that Mr. Pellini's opinion was consistent with previous ones by Mr. Hill and felt the Township had then paid for what we already knew. Ald. Rainey noted that while she felt Mr. Pellini's research and bill was not necessary, the format of his billing was very descriptive and useful and she suggested that staff show this bill to the City Manager; it was probably the type of information, format wise, that Ald. Paden was seeking from Mr. Siegel. Ald. Wollin clarified that this bill has already been paid and the answer was yes. Definition of Severance,Pay Ald. Drummer noted that the personnel manual had just been distributed for this evening's meeting and he recommended the Committee review it later. RESOLUTION 32-R-91< REGARDING SIGNATORIES FOR EVANSTON TOWNSHLE Ms. Summers said that following the last audit it became clear the signators for the Township on file were obsolete and it was discovered that a resolution needed to be passed by the City Council to document who was authorized. Ald. Rainey had concerns with the resolution because it identified titles as opposed to individuals. Ald. Wold was concerned that the resolution did not require that all Township transactions have more than one signature. Ms. Summers said the resolution was for transfers within accounts and did not involve checks. Ald. Wold noted that the resolution listed checks. Ald. Drummer felt two signatures on all financial transactions in the Township was important. Ms. Summers said all of the client checks have a two signature requirement but those are produced by the check -signer; however for large deposits and major transfers between accounts the auditor felt more than one signature was required. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/91 . . . page 4 Mr. Terry noted there had been some concern on the part of the Finance Director of the City as to his role of being a signator for Evanston Township; that if, in fact, two out of three signatures would be required for every transaction he would recommend an assessment from Mr. Shank as to how much work would be involved. The Committee agreed that a communication from Mr. Shonk was appropriate. Ald. Rainey asked why the resolution was required; asked if both the Supervisor and Director weren't already signing documents. Ms. Summers said usually all checks coming out of the Township have two signatures. Mr. Kent noted that so far as the bank was concerned, they will accept one signature on a check; that a review of all the checks submitted in February showed that approximately one half of them had one signature and one half had two signatures. Ald. Wold again sought clarification as to why this was an issue now. Ms. Summers again stated she needed to have signature cards signed at the bank. Ms. Summers indicated there had already been an extensive delay due to the review by the City's Law Department. Ald. Drummer directed staff to hold this resolution over for future Committee consideration; first, to have the resolution amended to require two signatures and second, to check with Mr. Shonk as to his agreement with becoming the signator for the Township. Ald. Wold indicated a key question was who has access to the check signing machine, if it were possible for one person to process both signatures. Ms. Summers indicated that one machine does sign both names and the Accounting Clerk has the key to that machine. Ald. Rainey reminded Township staff about concerns in management letters of previous audits regarding concerns about the access to the check signer. Ald. Wold felt that if the machine signs both names and the access to the signer is with one person, no real controls were present. Ald. Drummer reminded the Township that the Committee had real concerns about that issue. Mr. Terry indicated he had distributed at this evening's meeting two communications relating to a pending vacancy in the Township Assessor position. AUDPROEOSA# FROM FR UDMAN. FLUM EIN. RAEMER & SCHWARTZ (FERS) FOR TOWNSHIP Ald. Wold made a motion that the Committee accept this proposal for the next Township audit for the fiscal year 1990-91. Ald. Drummer asked for clarification of how the fees compared. Mr. Terry indicated that per the cover letter from FERS the cost of the DFI audit was less but the cost of the annual audit would be greater. Ald. Wollin asked if there had ever been a medical payment audit. Mr. Terry indicated that his assumption was that FERS considered the medical bills review by Deloitte and Touche, in 1990, as having the same affect as being an audit of those medical bills. The Committee unanimously approved the recommendation that FERS conduct the Township audit for the year ending March 31, 1991. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/91 . . . Page 5 PROPOSAL FOR CONTINUATION OF MI9HAEL KENT AS THE TOWNSHIP ACQQUKjANT Ald. Wollin noted the proposal states billing will occur at the same hourly rate but does not say what that hourly rate is. Mr. Kent said the rate is $60 an hour for a partner and $30 an hour for a staff person. Ald. Drummer noted that it says the fees will not exceed $1500 per month. He asked if the accounting work necessary for the Township shouldn't be decreased as things are getting better. Mr. Kent said things are improving. Ald. Drummer said he was disappointed given all of the funds that were spent on computers, that the accounting services for the Township can still be over $18,000 per year. Mr. Kent stated if the computer equipment works it will cut down his time. Mr. Kent expressed some concern that he had not received a final copy of the FY 1990 audit; that the treasurer's report for the State could not be filed until he had received it. At this point there was considerable discussion as to when the bound copy of the audit was sent down to the Township; when Ms. Jolliff and Ms. Summers actually received it. Mr. Kent indicated he had recently received a phone call from Mr. Lyons indicating there was an amendment to be made to the audit. Mr. Terry indicated he was not aware of this. Ald. Rainey directed Mr. Terry to call Irwin Lyons the following morning to see if the bound copy of the audit was the final copy. Ald. Wold moved approval of Michael Kent's contract. Ald. Rainey asked if when we approved the last contract, did we allow for renewals, and whether or not the price on the current contract would be different if there were an opportunity for a two year renewal. Mr. Kent said no, $1,500 will be the cap on his services. Ald. Rainey asked if it was true that if his costs exceed $1,50O he would still only bill $1,500. Mr. Kent responded yes, unless he came to the Committee and asked for special consideration. Ald. Rainey asked what is the point of the cap if there is always an opportunity for special consideration. Mr. Kent said a cap is like a budget, if there are good reasons for exceeding it, you do it. If, for example, the Accounting Clerk in the Township should leave that would result in more work for his firm. Ald. Rainey indicated that in the past year there had been no example of Mr. Kent having in excess of $1,500 in bills and not billing those services to the Township. She did not believe there was such a thing as a cap on his services. Ald. Wollin said the Committee could seek prior approval and Ald. Rainey felt that was not very realistic. Following brief, further discussion, the Committee unanimously approved the contract with Kent, Given and Barnes for accounting services for Evanston Township. UYNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Ald. Wald wanted to know the expense for Unified Budgeting. Ms. Summers said that was a sharing of expenses. Mr. Terry explained the Mental Health Board incurred all the expenses for UBP such as xeroxing, purchasing of supplies for the process and that when the entire process was over they divided their cost equally and billed the Township, the United Way, and the City for their share of UBP expenses. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/91 . . . page 6 Aid. Wold asked about the bill for car liability insurance for Sherry xhou. Ms. Summers said it is for her trips to the bank, that the Township only pays for the extra expense. Ald. Wold-clarified that there was no extra covorage for her personal car insurance. Ald. Wold asked what Crime Insurance was. Ms. Jolliff said it was the bonding for the Township employees. Ms. Summers said all Township employees are bonded. Ald. Rainey requested a copy of who was covered on the Crime Insurance policy and what for. Ald. Wollin asked about the tuition reimbursement expense for Kendall College; wanted to know who it was for and for what courses. Ms. Jolliff said to was for Amir Tarik; he is taking accounting courses and a full caseload. Ald. Wold asked how he was taking a full caseload and working at the Township. Ms. Jolliff said he goes to class on his lunch hour. The Committee consensus was that it was difficult for Mr. Tarik to be a full-time employee. Ms. Jolliff said he goes to class certain mornings from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and on those days he works through his lunch hour. He has another class on certain days from 12:00 Noon to 1:00 p.m. in which he goes to class on his lunch hour. Ald. Drummer asked if there was a disruption of the workload and Ms. Jolliff responded no. Ald. Wollin asked when Mr. Tarik was eating if he was working or going to school on his lunch hour, and wanted to know how he was making up this time. Ms. Jolliff said Amir was working until 5:00 p.m. and not 4:30 where he had time to make up. She noted this arrangement was still in its first week. Ald. Rainey asked how the Township Director intended to handle other employees who come to her and request the same thing. She felt this type of arrangement would prove popular. She felt this was a very unusual situation. Ald. Drummer suggested the Committee trust Ms. Jolliff to try and work this arrangement out. Aid. Washington did not support the idea of an employee leaving the job during work time. Ald. Wold and Ald. Rainey expressed concern that a tuition reimbursement program involved reimbursement after the fact, after a course had been successfully completed. Ald. Wold did not like the fact that this person was being paid ahead of time; she recommended this be taken off the list. In addition, her motion was that employees taking courses need to take during non -working hours. The Committee and Township Supervisor discussed clarification of when starting time was; shouldn't there be an incentive for employees bettering themselves; if it did not upset job performance wasn't school attendance something to be encouraged. Rid. Washington asked if upon accepting tuition reimbursement the employee wasn't required to sign a contract saying that they would stay with the Township for a period of of time. Ald. Rainey felt most metropolitan Chicago institutions of higher education were catering to full-time workers; these courses are available at a variety of times and places so an employee could work a full day and take courses at night. Aid. Wollin read the policy from the Township manual that indicated half of the bill would be paid on registration and half of the bill would be paid if you receive a "C" grade or better. She noted that in previous Committee discussion the Committee had directed that tuition reimbursement would only be paid at a State institution tuition rate; that they had discussed this before when an employee wanted to go to Loyola University. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/9I Page 7 Ald. Drummer indicated this should be pulled off the bills list and that the Committee needed to know what the total cost was of the tuition reimbursement to Mr. Tarik; what was the State rate; can't he go to class at other hours. Ald. cold indicated she was very concerned that there appeared to be no effort to look for the least expensive institution of learning - only the most convenient, and she is concerned about the precedent that would be set. The Committee voted to remove the tuition reimbursement cost of $959 from the Monthly Bills List. Ald. Rainey noted an item on the list for ADP. She said she thought all ADP costs were an automatic deduction. The Committee removed $26.85 from the Bills List. Ald. Rainey asked for clarification of the Romac bill. Ms. Jolliff indicated that upon receiving the bill the staff went back and verified that this was a bill for Freddy Walker's services and verified it wasn't paid. Ald. Rainey noted that on the billings for Romac two different rates were charged. Ms. Jolliff said this was overtime versus regular time. Ald. Rainey indicated she had a concern that perhaps this Romac bill should be held. Ald. Drummer asked questions about the Crest Computer Supply bills; wanted to know what those were. Ms. Jolliff said this was an order house in which it is possible to get mail order lower prices. Ald. Wollin noted that PEER Services' billing seemed to be up to date. Ms. Jolliff said yes, the staff of PEER Services had explained that there had been a shortage of staff and that was why they hadn't billed appropriately. Ald. Drummer noted the line item bill for the Infant Welfare Society for the Teen -Baby Nursery. He indicated this would be funds for the new fiscal year; that since the budget had not been approved, he asked how that money could be spent. Ald. Wollin indicated that since the Nursery was so dependent on Township funds for its major operating revenue, she moved approval of the payment of this bill, even though the new budget had not been passed. That motion passed unanimously. Ald. Drummer said it was still not clear to him as to what exactly was on the Checks Report, and why checks were listed in this way. He sought clarification of why checks were listed that had been approved in the previous month, and asked if this didn't artificially inflate the dollar amount on the bills list; items getting counted twice. Ald. Wold felt the only thing that should be approved was cash requirements section and payroll. Aid. Drummer said the question is whether the Checks Report contains all pre -approved checks or those approved last month, or a mix of both. He felt that for next month's report, the Check Report should not include those checks which were approved by the Committee in the previous month. Ald. Rainey disagreed; she wanted to see the entire Checks Report; did not want to see the report reduced. She wants to see if any checks go out which the Committee did not intend to approve. Ald. Rainey and Ald. Drummer had a discussion as to the content of the Check Log. They asked that TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/91 Page 8 all of the checks be listed, but that there be a separation of which checks were pre -approved and required the Committee's okay, and which had been approved by the Committee the previous month. After further discussion the Committee indicated that all of the bills owed to Romac were appropriate; that all bills for Romac had been signed by the Supervisor and, thus, owed by the Township. The Committee consensus was that bills for Romac held during the last Committee meeting of $1,714 should be added and paid for a Bills List total of $112,988.98. REVENUE EXPENSE STATEMEE Ald. Rainey sought clarification on the month -to -date figure. Mr. Kent reminded the Committee he is using an accrual method of accounting; that the bills have not necessarily been paid. Ald. Rainey asked for more information about the year-to-date figure, specifically in the Tuition Reimbursement line item. Mr. Kent said he didn't recall putting tuition reimbursement payments in the year to date column. Ald. Wold indicated she wanted documentation that the State tuition rate was paid for those things which had been paid and placed in the Tuition Reimbursement line item. Ald. Rainey asked what the expenditure in the Contingency Account was. Mr. Kent read off a list of those bills that had been charged to both the Contingency and the Miscellaneous line items. Mr. Kent gave a general overview in which he noted for the 12 months just ended, expenditures exceed revenue by $440,000 for the year. He indicated this would be the last 12 month report; there would be no more fiscal year 1991 reports until the audit is done. Ald. Rainey asked about the expenditures in Clerical Training; it looked to her like all Township office supplies for March were charged to the Clerical Training account. Mr. Kent conceded that it was a mixture of items; why they were all coded to the Clerical Training program he didn't know. Ald. Rainey indicated she wanted clarification on that. Ald. Rainey asked what was the SI,000 for a management study. Mr. Kent indicated the check had been made out to Smith and Associates. Ms. Summers said she spoke to Cyrus; they said they don't do space planning; Mr. Smith has come in and measured space. Ald. Rainey asked if he had been paid without the Committee's approval. Ms. Summers said yes, we needed it done. Ald. Rainey asked where the checks were that are being written that the Committee doesn't see. Ms. Summers said he will be back in 90 days. Ald. Rainey stated this was out -of -control spending; there can be no auditing function of the Township Committee if we don't know these expenditures are occurring. Ald. Drummer concurred. He told the Supervisor she must come to the Committee; these are expenditures which we want to see. Ald. Wald asked If there were any other expenditures the Committee had not seen. Ald. Rainey said we don't know what the charges are; was there a request for qualifications; was there any bid for this? Ms. Summers said she stood reprimanded. Ald. Wold asked who was Mr. Smith. Ms. Summers said it was Zirl Smith. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/91 Page 9 Ald. Drummer asked where the bill would be for the Township's portion of the Taxicab Reimbursement Program. He asked if it was possible to get another column on the Revenue and Expenditure statement which indicated what last month's expenditures were. Mr. Kent said he would see if it was possible within the format. TOWNSHIP MONTHL"EDICAL BILLS Ald. Wallin expressed her appreciation for the summary information which had been provided. Ald. Rainey felt the first two conditions must be misspelled and wanted a better explanation of what they are. Ald. Rainey noted that she felt expenditures for glasses and frames were still high. She thought there was going to be a Township staff review of that issue. Ms. Jolliff said she is looking at it. Ald. Rainey expressed her concern that for one of the client expenditures, the bill was one year old. Ald. Drummer reminded Township staff that the Committee wanted staff to scrutinize these bills and insure that there has been no duplication. The Committee unanimously approved monthly medical bills in the amount of $22,906.30. Mr. Terry commented that regarding the expenditures for psycotherapy for clients, approximately a year ago there had been some discussions between the then Township Director, Jeanne Fox and himself in terms of working out arrangements with the two hospitals for clinical psychotherapy services for G.A. clients and it may be time to initiate those discussions again. TOWNSHIP BUDGET FOR FISCAL Y AR 199j--U On page nine of the budget, under G.A. Administrative, Ald. Rainey wanted a Justification for the 44% increase in the Merit Cost line item. She questioned why the Contingency budget needed to be $5,000 if it wasn't spent this year; that the Committee unanimously agreed that the $5,000 for Contingency in G.A. Administrative should be deleted. Ald. Wallin agreed with Ald. Rainey; she wanted clarification of what the Merit Cost increase was. Ald. Wald wanted more information on the formula by which merit increases are awarded. On page 10, Ald. Wald noted that for Unemployment Compensation line item, expenditures this year were high and wanted an explanation. Ald. Drummer wanted to know what contingencies had required spending in this line item; this was high. Ald. Wallin and Aid. Drummer asked why Office Equipment Maintenance was so high. Ms. Jolliff said it was based on what was spent this year and also includes new equipment. Ms. Jolliff said that under Office Equipment Purchases, that involves the copier; they have secured quotes for a lease and purchase, the Printing and Duplicating line item would decrease if they leased or purchased a copier; it would appear at this time that leasing a copier would be the most advantageous financially. Ald. Wald asked for information about the proposed $20,000 budget in Professional TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/3/91 . . . Page 10 Services. Ms. Jolliff referred to the statement attached to the budget; this would involve new efforts to get G.A. clients off the roles. Ald. Wold asked whether this would be staff training or for clients. Ms. Jolliff said it would be for both. Ald. Wollin said she understood the frustration and motivation for the proposal; wanted to know what the plans were for client motivation. Ald. Washington wanted to know the number of 18 - 25 year olds that appeared to have drug and alcohol involvement. Ms. Jolliff said she was not able to provide information on any set pattern at the present time. Ald. Drummer asked if there had been any Township follow-up to the offer made by the Chamber of Commerce last year to assist in working with that younger age group. Ald. Rainey indicate she wanted to know what justified the increase in the Insurance line item this year; she wanted a break out of which insurances were increased. Ald. Washington asked if Township employees contribute to their health insurance. Ms. Jolliff said yes, but it is a nominal fee of $5.00 for single and $10.00 for family coverage. On page 11 of the budget, under G.A. Administrative Overhead, Ald. Wold wanted to know what "Bank Expenses" were; did not see any reason why there should be bank expenses at all. The Committee voted to delete the $500 budget for bank expenses. Ald. Wold wanted to see a total break out of how many times Seminars and Conferences were a line item in the _tire Township budget; wanted to know how many budgets it was listed in, and the total amount of money. Ald. Rainey indicated she had no confidence in the 12 month actual for Seminars and Conferences. She indicated that Seminars and Conferences includes travel, the cost of the conference and the per diem; was hoping to get accurate figures on how much had been spent in this area. The Committee concluded their discussion of page 11 of the budget. The Committee consensus was there was a need for a special meeting of the Township Committee to be held to discuss the budget. Ald. Rainey indicated she wanted to remind Township staff that she was concerned that warranties of the new equipment be monitored so that expenditures are not incurred in machine repair that would normally be covered by these warranties. Mr. Terry reminded the Committee of the governor's proposed cut in the DFI program, which would have an impact on the Township. He also informed the Committee of a conversation he had with a member of the Illinois Senate Democratic staff who stated there had been discussions with the Illinois Department of Public Aid on how they could contribute to the Township's G.A. grant, and that a formula was being discussed whereby the State grant level might be willing to contribute an amount up to one half of the current State approved grant level, up to a six month time period; he hoped there would be more information available soon. 11 TOWNSHIP COMMITTED Minutes of 4/3/91 . . . Page 11 The Committee agreed to hold a special meeting to continue their review of the Township budget for April 17th at 6:00 p.m. The Committee unanimously voted to adjourn at 11:20 p.m. Jay W. Terry DMET - NOT APPRQVED Minutes TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE April 17, 1991 6:00 P.M. PRESENT: Mayor ,Joan Barr, Aid. Drummer, Rainey, Washington, Wold, Wol 1 i n STAFF and Supervisor Edna Summers, Veranda Jolliff, Jay Terry, OFFICjS: Michael Kent, Herbert Hill, Judith Aiello, PRESIDING: Ald. Drummer, Chair 2U TO ORDER Ald. Drummer called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. Ald. Wold made a motion to go into executive session to consider a personnel matter. Ald. Wollin seconded and the vote to go into executive session was unanimous. The Committee reconvened into open session at 6:35 p.m. Ms. Summers left the meeting at this time. Chairman Drummer announced that Supervisor Summers had submitted her resignation effective April 30, 1991 and that Mayor Barr had accepted that resignation on behalf of the Township. Ald. Wollin asked for clarification on the process for filling the position of Township Assessor. Ald. Drummer indicated the Committee had been operating under an incorrect impression as to how that Assessor would be appointed. He noted that five persons have made inquiries as to that position; it was now his understanding that the Mayor would make a recommendation to the Township Trustees as to who should fill that position. Ald. Wald indicated she had a conversation with the Mayor and the Mayor had been willing to explore the possibility of some sort of joint interview process with the Township Committee, though she was not sure that would occur. Ald. Rainey said she was not interested in any kind of confrontation on this issue, but she was interested in hearing a citation from Mr. Hill as to where it states in the statute that the Mayor is, in fact, Chairman of the Township Trustees. Mr. Hill indicated there was no citation; however, it has been the practice in Evanston for at least the last 15 years that the same mechanisms for the City applied to the Township; this practice has been followed in other co -terminus townships; the same structure and format would apply for both; the statute merely says the Trustees fill vacancies; it doesn't say how they will fill vacancies. Ald. Rainey indicated she understood that process; her only other concern was whether or not the whole town was aware there was a vacancy in the Assessor position and whether or not there may be some qualified individuals out there who were not aware, and TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/17/91 . . . Page 2 therefore, could not express their interest in the position. She suggested perhaps an article in the Evanston Review which would highlight the need for those who were interested in being Township Assessor to apply. Ald. Drummer said he disagreed that an article was necessary; this was not a normal personnel recruitment process. TOWNSHIP BUDGET REVIEW Aid. Wold noted that maybe tonight would be too early to make any determination, but there may be fewer clients in the Township in the next fiscal year and there may be a need to cut the budgeted amount for client grants. Ald. Drummer indicated that the budget review discussion would begin with page 12 of the proposed budget which was where the discussion had concluded at the previous meeting. Ygrk Q000rtunity Program (WOP) judget The first budget to be considered was for the Work Opportunity Program (WOP). Ald. Washington asked how many people were in WOP this year. Ms. Joiliff responded the program had just been reactivated in February; that it was inactive for quite a long time. Ald. Rainey said she has been waiting for a report on the WOP for a long time; the recent report on the Clerical Training Program was not satisfactory. Ms. Joiliff said she would be forwarding a report to the Committee very soon, and in that report there will be recommendations for the program. She felt the program should not be cut; there was a possibility that such a program could be of service to two employees; the problem in the past is that caseworkers tended to Just stick clients in the program and did not use Judgement as to who was likely to be successful in the program, and who was appropriate to be in the program. Ald. Drummer was also interested in getting a report from the new ,job developer as to what his duties would be. Ald. Rainey wanted, in addition to whatever evaluations on these three programs came, Ms. Jolliff's recommendations for the future of those programs. Ald. Drummer indicated he expected those reports to be available for the next meeting. AWssor's Office Proo sed Budget After some discussion, the Committee did not believe the work load in the Assessor's office Justified a part-time summer aide, and felt that since there was going to be no reassessment, it would be possible to have the Assessor's assistant carry some of that workload. The Committee approved deletion of $3,200 for the part-time summer aide. Ald. Wallin was concerned about the amount of $3,000 budgeted for distribution and the Committee approved a reduction to $1,000 indicating it would probably not be necessary for any Township wide distribution of material as their was in the previous year. The Committee was concerned why there was still no telephone expense showing up in the budget; asked staff to clarify who was paying for the Assessor's telephone bill. Ln TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/17/91 Page 3 The Committee had a discussion as to whether or not the Assessor's salary needed to remain the same, in light of the fact that a new`Assessor would be coming on board. The Committee consensus was that the workload of the Assessor's office outstripped the current reimbursement and the salary should remain. Other Committee actions related to the Assessor's budget were to reduce Contingency to $150; reduce Travel and Education to $1,000; recommended that the FICA line item would need to be adjusted to reflect the elimination of the part-time summer aid position. The Printing and Duplicating line item was reduced to $1,500; the Postage charge was reduced to $150. Townshio Supervisor BudggJ Ald. Rainey expressed her concern at the amount of funds that had been allocated by the current Supervisor to Travel and she moved reduction to $1,000. Ald. Drummer questioned whether that amount would hinder the Supervisor from performing duties. Ald. Rainey felt her analysis of those meetings in which the Supervisor had attended and utilized her travel budget did not justify attendance; felt there was little relationship to what was done in Evanston. The Committee consensus, after some discussion, was that the line item for Travel should be $2,000. Mr. Kent reminded the Committee that in previous budgets Legal Audit was one line item and in this budget it was being split. Ald. Rainey asked for some examples of what the $5,000 in the Legal line item might be spent on in future years. Mr. Hill noted that in previous years, the City has always given advice to the Township and that the City's Legal Department has never charged the Township for the legal services that it provided; however, the difference in viewpoint between the Supervisor and the Trustees in the last year has resulted in legal services being charged to the Township when the Supervisor sought outside legal opinions. He also noted there was the annual Township allocation to the lawsuit defense fund from the Township Association for the suit in which all Townships were involved. Ald. Rainey directed staff to come up with an accounting of what our obligation this year was to provide funds for that suit. Ald. Rainey asked for more clarification from staff as to what was included in the Dues and Subscription line item, particularly Subscriptions. Ms. Jolliff indicated she has asked that a list be compiled. Ald, Rainey told Ms. Jolliff she was anxious to see that total list of subscriptions. The Committee concurred that the budget discussion would begin on page 17, G.A. Medical Programs, at their next monthly meeting. Aid. Drummer indicated this would be the last Township Committee meeting that Ald. Wold would be attending and he wanted to salute Ald. Wold for all of the fine work she has done on behalf of the Township Committee, and that her TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 4/17/91 Page 4- � - :. service had been of the highest caliber and the Committee members would miss her participation and insight into Township affairs a great deal. He asked that the record reflect that the Committee commended Ald. Wold for all of her service. The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m. Jay W. Terry a I. L. PRESENT: ABSENT: STAFF and OFFICIALS: PRESIDING: CALL TO ORDER 2RAFT - NOT APPROVE, Minutes TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE May 1, 1991 7:30 P.M. Ald. Drummer, Esch, Washington, Wollin Ald. Rainey, Brady Mayor Joan Barr, Veranda Jolliff, Judith Aiello, Irwin Lyons, Herbert Hill, Jay Terry Ald. Drummer, Chair Ald. Drummer called the meeting to order at 7:40 p.m. MINUTES The minutes of April 3, 1991 were considered. Ald. Drummer noted that there were a number of items in the minutes which Ald. Rainey had requested including the analysis of the typical Township caseload. Ald. Drummer noted there were questions about the tuition reimbursement policy. Ms. Jolliff responded that the staff person had dropped the class in question; he could not afford the tuition for the class if it meant reimbursement later. Ald. Drummer indicated that it was not the Committee's intention that the staff member not receive an education; was concerned that impression not be given out. He noted also in the minutes that Ald. Wald had asked for the formula for awarding merit increases. He asked whether Mr. Terry had heard any more about a potential State contribution and Mr. Terry responded he had not and needed to contact Senator Berman. The minutes of April 3, 1991 were approved unanimously. Regarding the minutes of April 17, 1991, Ald. Drummer noted that on page two there are questions about the Assessor's Office budget, and that the Committee had since received information about the Assessor's budget. He noted that in these minutes Ald. Rainey had asked for a complete listing of Dues and Subscriptions. Ms. Jolliff indicated that list would not be available yet; that the old list was completely void because so many subscriptions have been cancelled. The minutes of April 17, 1991 were approved unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Resumes Ald. Drummer noted that two resumes had been passed out this evening, one for the Assessor's position and one for the Supervisor's position. He directed the Committee to keep them in their file. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 5/1/91 . . . Page 2 Ald. Drummer announced there would be an executive session later to consider personnel matters and pending litigation. G,A.A.S, Client Information Ald. Wold noted she was pleased that the numbers have gone down. Ms. Jolliff pointed out her concern that there is still a growing number of applicants 25 years of age and younger. Ald. Drummer asked if there were any particular reasons for that. Ms. Jolliff said no, and the Committee agreed there was a need to pay special attention to that. D.F.I. Review Ald. Wollin noted that the review called for a response within 30 days which would be May 13 and asked if the Township staff were going to be able to make that deadline. Ms. Jolliff said there would be a response but she has not had an opportunity to meet with agencies to discuss their ability to allocate and show that G.A. clients are the ones receiving the D.F.I. funded services. Ald. Washington noted that the report indicated that PEER Services had a surplus; wondered if that were true and what the money could be used for. Ms. Jolliff said it really related to an invoice problem; PEER Services had not invoiced on a regular basis and she has met with the Director of PEER Services to rectify that problem. Ald. Wollin noted that surplus was probably the wrong term; most agencies need to have a positive cash flow. Job Club WOP Report Ald. Drummer congratulated staff that 12 clients were placed in unsubsidized employment. He asked where they were being placed. Ms. Jolliff said she had asked Ms. Ida Fitzgerald for more details and hoped to have it prior to the next budget meeting. Ald. Wollin said it would also be interesting to measure job retention. Ald. Drummer asked if any support services were available for those who had just obtained employment. Ald. Wollin and Ald. Washington believed there were instances in which clients who just started a job could still access medical insurance. Ald. Drummer asked that staff congratulate Ms. Fitzgerald for her work in placing those clients in unsubsidized employment. Clerical Training Resort Ald. Drummer said he appreciated the candor and direct approach in Ms. Jolliff's memo, and he was in full support of her efforts to improve that program. Ald. Wollin concurred and also expressed her support for Ms. Jolliff. She asked whether or not there should be minimum qualifications in place for referrals to the clerical training program; also questioned whether a more intensive approach might be more effective. Ald. Wollin and Ms. Jolliff had a discussion clarifying Ms. Jolliff's proposal for a new internship program. FISCAL YEAR 1990-91 AUDIT Ald. Drummer asked staff as to the reasons for having this discussion. Mr. Terry indicated he had sent the memo to the Committee discussing the expectations and the level of scrutiny related to an audit so there would be F TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 5/1/91 . . . Page 3 no misconceptions later. Ald. Drummer said one of the reasons he wanted to meet was that there was a clarification that the auditing firm is, in fact, working for the Trustees. He wanted to clear up any misunderstandings that might occur on that issue. He asked Mr. Lyons if the last two audits were standard audits. Irwin Lyons of FERS said the last two financial audits were set up as a standard procedure. He gave some background that the State law requires an annual audit of all tax supported public organizations; this is to ensure financial compliance; the auditor determines the level of testing; that for the last two audits of Evanston Township there was no specific direction to look at something; it was possible for the Trustees to tell FERS to focus on either a certain type of transaction or a certain month. He said that in a standard audit every test is done at random; every transaction has an equal chance of being picked. He said Trustees could direct FERS to look at every transaction; however, even if that were the case you would still need a general audit done. Ald. Drummer asked that if anytime a condition were found which would warrant further investigation FERS notified the organization being audited. Mr. Lyons said that is the case. Ald. Drummer asked if that meant FERS did not find anything in the last two audits, and Mr. Lyons said all concerns were put in the management letters and the special audit of internal control procedures. Ald. Wollin noted that many of the items in those letters were rather large items; the missing number of time sheets; there was no notice until the Committee received the letter; there had been no intermediate report. Mr. Lyons said it did not impact the end result of the audit; if there are no signed time sheets there is nothing FERS can do to verify the worker was there; there were no cash discrepancies; the problems in Evanston Township were in the administration of the Office. Ald. Wollin said her great concern has always been the check signer machine; it is unsupervised; there is a potential for problems there. She asked if FERS philosophy was that because the balances came out they presumed inappropriate things had not been done. Mr. Al White, a member of the audience, asked Mr. Lyons what was the maximum exposure to the abuse of the system, based on what FERS saw. Mr. Lyons said it was a range from one employee's entire salary to no loss at all. Mr. White asked if he was talking about "nickels and dimes." The Committee asked Mr. White to let them conduct the questioning. Ald. Wollin asked what would be the cost if you were to investigate on a more thorough level. Mr. Lyons said there would be a much greater expense; three to four times the cost of the total audit; it depends on what the Committee would ask FERS to look at, whether it be three, four, or six months of transactions. He said for example, if you had an organization where someone had forged a check then destroyed the check, you would have to pull all cancelled checks, compare them all to bank statements, have the bank pull out microfilm of all their cancelled checks and compare each one. The expense on a total exhaustive review could get considerable. Ald. Washington asked if this was the case, why was an audit done at all. Mr. Lyons said if you want a 100% test you are talking about going through an entire year's work. If that is the case it will be a very expensive audit. He reminded the Committee that the language in an audit is always "fairly represent;" that all an auditing firm can do is suggest that this fairly represents what is happening in an organization. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 5/1/91 Page 4 Ald. Wollin asked Mr. Lyons what his recommendation was for the next year's audit of Evanston Township. Mr. Lyons said based on the number of people looking at the records already, the Committee would have to asked if it was cost effective to have a more comprehensive audit. He would recommend staying with the regular audit; it depends on what other reviews are going on in the Township right now. Ald. Wollin asked what the cost would be of a focused audit and Mr. Lyons responded that one one month could be an extra $3,000 to $5,000; a focused audit on six months of transactions would be a great deal more. He said FERS does have experience in conducting fraud audits, white collar crime and cited a problem with marriage license fees in Lake County which FERS had investigated. Ald. Wollin asked Mr. Lyons what his time frame was. Mr. Lyons indicated the audit would be completed by September and in the Committee's hands by then. Ald. Drummer noted that the Committee and Council have approved the engagement with FERS but that the engagement letter had not been executed; there was a need for the Township Committee to go back to the City Council and report to them. Ald. Wollin noted there was a need to do it on Monday, that there was some urgency. She again cautioned Mr. Lyons that the Township Committee is his employer; there needed to be interim communications if problems were identified. Mr. Lyons clarified that any communications with the Township staff are only to check facts and that there can be some agreement as to what facts are. He felt that FERS never changed the audit based on conversations with Township staff unless some additional evidence is brought up. Ald. Drummer again told Mr. Lyons that the Committee would need to communicate with the City Council to determine their pleasure. Mr. Lyons asked that FERS be notified if the scope of the audit changes. Ald. Wollin asked if the language which is used in management letters and audits is standard. Mr. Lyons said some of the language is and some isn't. He reminded the Committee that if it was in the management letter at all it is an issue; that the Committee needed to decided the cost benefit; is the fix more expensive than the problem. Ald. Wollin read from one of the audits in which the language was "more than a relatively low risk" for something which Ald. Wollin thought was fairly serious. Mr. Lyons indicated that was, in fact, standard language. The Committee then excused Mr. Lyons and thanked him for appearing. Ald. Washington made a motion to go into executive session at 8:50 p.m. There was a roll call vote and the motion passed 3 - 0. The Committee reconvened into open session at 9:20 p.m. Mayor Barr was present at the meeting at this point. Ald. Drummer said the Committee needed to have a conversation with the Mayor about the selection process for the new Township Assessor and Township Supervisor. Mayor Barr said it was her recollection from previous vacancies that this had been a Council responsibility handled by the Human Services Committee. The reason there had been some miscommunication was the First Assistant Corporation Counsel Mr. Hill had informed her that she was the appointing authority and told her that she had 60 days to make that appointment. She was not comfortable with the role of being the appointer; questioned whether the Corporation Counsel's opinion was the correct one. She said as exofficio member of all committees she would like to sit in on the Supervisor interviews, but she felt the Township Committee should make a " TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 5/1/91 . . . Page 5 recommendation to the full Council. Ald. Drummer said the Committee had a need to get the word out to tell potential candidates what the job entails; there was a need to advertise; the Committee didn't have a lot of time and they have to fill the position in 60 days. Ald. Drummer asked if there was a need to keep the candidate information confidential. Mr. Terry indicated that was not necessary. Ald. Drummer indicated he would inquire with the Evanston Review about putting some notice in. Mr. Terry expressed his opinion that a story highlighting the two vacancies and indicating the Committee was reviewing applications was more appropriate than a specific advertisement; it would be difficult to write a specific job description. Ald. Washington asked what were the statutory qualifications of Supervisor. Ald. Drummer said the Supervisor must be a one year resident and a registered voter. Ald. Washington suggested there be a minimum amount of paperwork involved; that a simple letter of intent or notification could be sent to the Township Committee. Ald. Drummer indicated he would contact the Evanston Review and ask them to do a story. Ald. Drummer asked if there were any other specific organizations that needed to be contacted for recruiting of both positions. The Committee consensus was that they are interested in receiving comments from all interested parties. The Committee discussed as to when the process would begin. A special meeting of the Township Committee was scheduled for May 23 at 6:00 p.m. to begin the process on whether to review resumes or actually begin interviews. The Committee had a discussion on the qualities they were looking for in a Township Supervisor. They suggested that Mr. Terry and Ms. Jolliff produce a list of technical questions that candidates might be asked regarding the administration of General Assistance. The Committee also discussed the qualifications they would be looking for in a Township Assessor. Aid. Drummer suggested that Ald. Engelman be used extensively given his experience, and directed staff to contact Ald. Engelman. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS LIST The Comnittee noted the Manual Check Register had been included in the packet, but the Committee took no action. Regarding the regular Monthly Bills List, Ald. Wallin asked if the total was still an artificially high total reflecting checks which had been approved last month as well. Ms. Jolliff said yes and that Michael Kent would be the one to remove that, but he had not been in town. Ald. Wallin asked questions about the Michael Mayer repair bill. Ms. Jolliff said there were two expenses for Michael Mayer. One was a hardware repair to the G.A.A.S. system after it malfunctioned and that another was assistance he had provided in producing a hard copy of the whole year's worth of financial transactions for backup purposes; that this was a recommendation of American Fundware. Ald. Drummer asked why there was still no hardware contract and why that had been held up. Ms. Jolliff said they were still waiting for a bid from IBM; they are also trying to get the bids; she was seeking a bid from Elek-Tek as well; she did not think she would be recommending Michael Mayer because he cannot purchase certain parts himself; he has to go through another vendor to get them. Ald. Drummer asked that the hardware contract be ready for the next Township Committee meeting. C TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 511191 . . . Page 6 Ald. Wol11n questioned the Taxicab Subsidy reimbursement to the City; why it was $16,875. She did not remember that being the figure which had been approved by the Committee; recommended that only $16,000 be approved. She raised questions about the $1,312 for the Township Officials of Cook County. The Committee unanimously voted to remove that amount from the Bills List. Ald. Wallin asked why the monthly amount for Emergency Assistance to the City was so large. Mr. Terry clarified that normally the Emergency Assistance had submitted three monthly invoices; one for housing, one for food, and one. for categorical; that all three monthly debts were combined into one monthly reimbursement. Ald. Wollin noted for the record that the seminars attended by Ms. Summers should have received Committee prior approval and they did not. The Committee also voted to remove from the Bills List approval of the purchase of a microwave oven from Highland Stores. Ms. Jolliff indicated that an amount needed to be added to the Bills List; that a $26.85 charge for ADP needed to be added; that the first few months the Township utilized ADP there was no automatic deduction; this was an old bill that needed approval by the Committee. The Committee voted to add that to the Bills List. The Committee unanimously approved a Monthly Bills List of $155,419.13. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY MEDICAL BILLS Aid. Drummer noted bills were being requested in the amount of 510,594.20. The Committee expressed concern over one client number 8428. It appeared that two doctors had performed the same service. The Committee voted to hold medical payments in the amount of 51,130.30. After considerable discussion the Committee unanimously approved payment of monthly Medical Bills in the amount of $9,463.93. Ald. Drummer noted his concern that it was late in the evening and the Committee would adjourn and yet had not had a budget review session that was s- on the agenda; they faced a June 30th deadline for approving the Township budget. He suggested a special budget session. After consulting calendars the Committee agreed to schedule a 6:00 p.m. May 6th special budget review session. Ald. Wallin noted that she expected that the Committee and the Council in general would be delving into more questions about the potential for abolishing the Township and the procedure for becoming a receiving Township. The Committee unanimously voted to adjourn at 10:25 p.m. l Jay W. Terry DRAFT -NOT APPROVEQ ; MINUTES TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE June 5, 1991 7:10 P.M. Room 2402 PRESENT: Ald. Drummer, Brady, Wollin, Washington, Warsaw, Newman, Esch Rainey, Mayor Barr, OTHERS Betty Payne, Joanne Zolomij, Michael Kent, Jay Terry, PRESENT: Veranda Jolliff PRESIDING: CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m. The minutes of May 1, 199I were considered and it was noted that two points attributed to Alderman Wold should be changed to Alderman Wollin since Alderman Wold is not on the council any more. The minutes were unanimously approved with that correction. RECOMMENDATION FOR AN APPOINTMENT TO TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR POSITION Joanne Zolomij asked for an opportunity to speak. She indicated she was withdrawing her name from consideration for the position of Township Supervisor. Her interest in being Township Supervisor was not an attempt in any way to be divisive or have a position taken away from the Black community. She indicated she had a long record of standing for empowerment of blacks and women. She wanted to thank those persons who supported her in her endeavor to be Township Supervisor and she felt that the Township was curr-aptly in good hands with Director Jolliff. Alderman Drummer thanked Ms. Zolomij for her consideration and said that the committee did recognize the contribution she has made to the community and were very appreciative of the sentiments behind her statement. Alderman Brady asked to be recorded seconding those remarks. Alderman Drummer noted the criteria for the Supervisor position had been distributed and was in the packet. The process he envisioned was that the Committee would take a vote with a recommendation to Council. It would take only a simple majority for a recommendation to come out of the Township Committee. Alderman Brady moved that the Township Committee recommend Betty Payne to be the Supervisor of Evanston Township. Alderman Washington seconded the motion. The committee voted five to zero to recommend to the City Council that Betty Payne be the next Township Supervisor. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 6/5/91 . . . Page 2 AU SSOR POSITION Alderman Rainey moved that Norris Larson be the Township Assessor. That motion failed for lack of a second. Alderman Wallin moved that Steve Bernstein be considered the Township Assessor. Alderman Washington seconded that motion. The vote was three - two in favor of that motion. Alderman Brady, Washington, and Wallin voting aye, Alderman Drummer and Rainey voting no. Alderman Drummer asked that the initial vote be considered a straw poll and the committee get a better sense of the difference of opinion on the assessor position. The committee conducted another, written straw poll, in which each committee member was asked to identify their top two choices in rank order for the Assessor's position. Mayor Barr tabulated the results of that straw poll and indicated that the persons receiving the most votes for consideration were Steve Bernstein and Norris Larson. Alderman Wallin again moved that the recommendation be made that Steve Bernstein be the Township assessor, Alderman Washington seconded and the motion passed with a vote of four to one. Drummer, Washington, Brady, and Wallin voting yes, Rainey voting no. Alderman Rainey asked that her vote be changed to make it a unanimous Committee recommendation. TOWNSHIP PROPOSED 1991-1992 BUDGET The first budget reviewed was the Assessor's budget. Alderman Drummer noted that there had been question about the hourly wage paid to part time employees. Ms. Jolliff clarified it was two people, -one getting 55.00 an hour and the other 57.0O an hour. Alderman Drummer clarified that they would be eliminating the distribution line item in the Assessor's budget to reduce printing to $500.00. Committee asked questions about why there is no telephone costs. Mr. Terry informed the committee that he had found out that the Township Assessor's telephone bill had been historically charged to the City Clerk's office. Alderman Drummer and other committee members suggested that this be broke out next year and charged to the Township budget. The Committee consensus was to allocated $350.00 for telephone expense to the Assessor's budget. Regarding, the Supervisor's budget, Alderman Drummer asked if there was further information on dues and subscriptions. Ms. Jolliff indicated she did a review and the vast majority of funds in that line item is for dues for the Township Officials of Illinois. Alderman Rainey noted that this is assessed dues determined according to population. She really felt that the members of this association had very little in common with Evanston Township; that some of the Township official events that she was aware of, she was not impressed with the nature of these events and was hoping that Evanston Township could avoid participation. Ms. Jolliff pointed out the benefit is the training programs put on by the association. Alderman Drummer felt that it should remain in the budget. Alderman Rainey agreed, with her hope that the new Supervisor will scrutinize participation in the organization. Alderman Brady suggested changing the line item to 52,100.00 with the hope that the new Supervisor will scrutinize the budget. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 6/5/9I . . . Page 3 MEDICAL P YMNT BUDGET Alderman Drummer noted that there had been a number of changes within categories. Michael Kent and members of the Committee engaged in a discussion as to which fiscal year charges would be allocated to which budget. Mr. Kent indicated if the bills come in prior to an audit being down for that fiscal year, they do get charged to that fiscal year. Alderman Washington indicated her concern about the charges for detox. She directed staff to look into potential free detox services at State facilities. Alderman Brady questioned whether the Township captured any of the lump sum payment paid back to clients when they are put on SSI. Ms. Jolliff clarified that they were. The Committee decided to remove the funds in the contingency line item noting that it had never been used and did not appear to be needed. Alderman Rainey suggested reducing transportation down to 5250.00 to reflect the Township experience; the Committee concurred with that. Ms. Jolliff noted there were no bills within the past six months. Alderman Rainey felt that the line item for appliances should be reduced to zero. The Committee consensus approved that. Alderman Rainey asked if staff knew why there was an increase in hospital outpatient charges. Ms. Jolliff said that she was assuming that there would be a decrease because of getting rid of some chronic clients. CQMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAMS Alderman Drummer noted that for the Infant Welfare Society and Teen Baby Nursery, he would like to see a budget. Alderman Drummer noted that all the emergency assistance charges have been reduced to a single line item for the City`s Emergency Assistance Program. Alderman Wollin questioned the expenditure identified for Youth Job Center. Staff noted that it had not gone through the Unified Budget Process but that it was a proposed reimbursement for placements and retention. A special agreement worked out with the Youth Job Center. The Committee discussed whether or not the contingency budget for Community Action needed to stay. Alderman Drummer felt that in the past the contingency line item had been an opportunity to fund same new emerging human services need. Ms. Jolliff indicated that she would like to see the contingency line item stay and she is very concerned about the number of GA clients whom appear to be HIV positive and feels that there may be a need in the coming year to expand some programs with the BE -HIV to provide services for that population or provide case work for those individuals to facilitate their getting on SSI. Alderman Wallin asked if BE -HIV is having any better success in reaching ,minority clients. Ms. Jolliff and Mr. Terry both indicated that a new outreach worker hired by BE -HIV appeared to be having great impact. GA OVERHEAD BUDGET Michael Kent indicated there needed to be a separate line item for payroll processing for $1,000.00 and correspondingly reduce the line item for office supplies to 56,500.00. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE " Minutes of 6/5/91 . . . Page 4 Committee went over again the pages in the budget and Alderman Rainey moved to reduce the assumptions in the budget line item for client payments to $942,000. She felt that $942,OOO. represented 250 clients at the current grant level. Alderman Drummer said that he had no problem with reducing the assumption to 250 clients, but he did support the proposed raise in the grant level. The proposal was to raise it 516.00 to 533O.00 per month. Alderman Rainey felt an extra 516.0O which was supposed to increase housing support, would make no difference with the current landlords. She felt that it was the Township notifying the landlords that it is willing to pay more. She is in support of the current grant level staying. Alderman Wollin felt that an increase in housing was appropriate. She could support an increase in the grant level for housing but not support of personal needs. Ms. Jolliff noted that the Township had received notification from the YMCA that rent is going up $15.00. Alderman Rainey indicated that she had a problem raising the rent. She noted that a mother with a child on public aid takes home less than a single individual who is on Evanston GA. She opposed the increase. She felt that it was inappropriate; she was not interested in making Evanston GA more attractive. Alderman Brady indicated she supported Alderman Rainey's motion. She did not feel that this was the year to raise the grant level. She noted a State proposal from the Governor's office to limit GA to six months. Again, she just felt the timing was not right. Alderman Rainey's motion passed unanimously. Alderman Rainey asked why the Township distributed food vouchers. Ms. Jolliff indicated that it was an emergency situation and under the current program, the clients must repay any amounts given for food vouchers. It is taken out of their check. The Committee discussed whether it should be identified in the budget since it is not an additional expenditure. The consensus was that it should be removed from the budget. Alderman Rainey raised questions about the twelve month actual in the merit cost line item. Ms. Jolliff indicated the assumptions were three percent cost of living adjustment and a four percent merit increase for those employees who were eligible. She indicated revised figures for this would be distributed in a revised budget to come out following the meeting. Alderman Drummer noted that just because it is in the line item, does not „ean the employee will automatically get it. Alderman Rainey indicated that she was concerned about extra dollars sitting in a salaried line item. Noted the concerns about severance pay which had come up in this year's budget. Alderman Drummer reminded the Director that the severance pay policy needed to be issued. He did not believe that the budget amount was excessive for cost of living and merit increases. Alderman Washington asked if the Committee was still interested in the vacation day and leave day policy. Alderman Rainey indicated that after counting the number of employees in the budget, she was concerned about the size of staff. Ms. Jolliff indicated she shared that concern and that she would propose that the administrative position in the budget could be possible for elimination, but that there were some personnel issues related to that budget decision. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 6/5/91 . . . Page 5 Alderman Drummer suggested an executive session might be appropriate to discuss those personnel matters. On a roll call vote, the Committee voted unanimously to go into executive session at 8:42 P.M. to consider a personnel matter. The Committee convened back in open session at 9:00 P.M. Alderman Drummer moved that the Administrative Assistant position in the budget be reduced by seventy-five percent; it was seconded and approved by the Committee. Mr. Kent noted that on page ten of the budget, there was a need to add $1,000.00 to Unemployment Compensation to meet the Township's obligations. Alderman Drummer felt, regarding the budget, that he was not in a position to support any tax abatement this year. Alderman Brady said if that was the case, the Committee needed to be prepared to discuss on the Council floor why that was so. Alderman Brady felt that the Committee needed to explain that in last year's budget, expenditures were $400,000.00 over revenue because of the abatement. Alderman Drummer felt the significant saving in this year's budget was the elimination of the Budgeted Reserve line item. He felt the Committee would need to monitor Township expenditures this year. Alderman Rainey did not feel that the abatement discussion was over; that there would be other opportunities for the Council to discuss a decision to abate. Alderman Drummer announced that the budget was going to be in the City Council for introduction at Monday night's meeting with a schedule for approval at the meeting of the 24th. AUDIT Fiscal year 1990 - 1991. Alderman Drummer noted that when the Committee first started, that Hill Taylor was in the process of conducting the Annual Township Audit; there was concerns identified over internal control and pay -outs; noted that the FERS audit for that same time period was almost the same. Deloitte and Touche conducted a medical review; that FERS had done an internal control audit, a regular audit for the 1989 - 1990 fiscal year and a DF1 audit. The Committee in the last year and a half had incurred over $80,000.00 in audit costs and felt the Township had been audited extensively. He felt that he was prepared to stand by the Committee's original audit recommendations. Alderman Brady indicates she was willing to let items in the past rest, but wanted to be sure that all clients who are currently on GA have no place to be but on GA. She felt that there needed to be some sort of internal management control review; that she could be comfortable if there had been an internal objective management review of all General Assistance clients. Alderman Wollin indicated she shared Alderman Brady's views; she needed to know the best efforts had been made to purge all ineligible clients off the rolls. She was concerned that there had been no more follow-up to the status of previous investigations. Alderman Washington indicated her concern at the numb r of new clients who are under the age of 25. Alderman Brady indicated there can sometimes be reasons why young persons are General Assistance if there are trying to get their GED or they have been taken off their mother's Public Aid benefit. M TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 6/5/91 . . . Page 6 1 r, Alderman Rainey indicated that was one of the reasons she had always wanted a program audit; she noted that a presentation was made at a previous meeting by the Clerical Trainer and WOP program which indicated only five Township clients had ever received their GED through the GRASP Program. Mr. Kent indicated that, in his opinion, the Committee needed to focus on the eligibility review and not a stronger financial audit. He felt that because of time issues and familiarity with the Township procedures that it would be appropriate for the firm of FERS to continue with plans to do the Township audit. Alderman Wollin felt that the Committee perception that lead to the recommendation not to engage FERS, was in fact, related to perceptions about the Deloitte and Touche firm rather than FERS. However, she was concerned about any response on the City Council floor to a Committee recommendation to go back with FERS. She did not believe that a fraud audit was fiscally responsible and did not think it was warranted. Alderman Rainey indicated that she prepared to hold in abeyance some of her earlier recommendations for a stronger audit. However, she still has great concern about internal controls in the Township; she felt an advantage to using FERS this year would be consistency. She felt that FERS would be in a position to give a report on compliance with the previous recommendations that were made. She felt if there was a staff internal recertification of clients, it was not enough to know that the clients were still eligible for GA, there needed to be an active case plan for getting persons off General Assistance, that the Committee needed to promise to the City Council that every effort would be made to reduce the client rolls and have plans in place, for clients to improve their situation. Alderman Drummer felt the Committee would then be confirming that they recommended a standard audit. Mr. Terry clarified the issues which were held on the Council's yellow agenda. Alderman Rainey moved that the Township Committee recommend that the engagement with FERS proceed and that the recommendation be a standard audit; that it be accompanied by an intensive, extensive, case by case, management review, with a report back from Township staff in ninety days. This review will include a case history, an evaluation of a client's current situation, and a case plan. The Committee unanimously approved that motion. Alderman Wollin recommended that a Sub -Committee of the Township Comwmittee be appointed to meet with Ms. Joiliff and oversee and monitor this internal review. The Committee approved that by consensus. Alderman Drummer appointed Alderman Rainey and Alderman Wollin to serve on that Sub-Co.nittee. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Wollin asked about an expenditure for the Asbury Market. fps. Jolliff indicated that it was for coffee and supplies noting that Asbury Market was less expensive than Bernsten's an expenditure which the Committee had not approved of previously. e TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 6/5/91 . . . Page 7 Alderman Rainey asked about the expenditure for Michael Mayer for the software repair. Ms. Jolliff indicated it was related to an intake form on the client information system. She noted that she had ordered some Norton Utility software to try and highlight problems in the system. Alderman Wollin asked if there were any contracts in place for hardware or software. Ms. Jolliff said no that the Township currently had no hardware or software contracts in place. Ms. Jolliff indicated that the agreement with Michael Mayer had expired and it was not her recommendation to renew it. There were some concerns that she felt hindered Mr. Mayer's accountability. Alderman Rainey asked that staff the copier bills to make sure that the Township was not double paying for a bill. Alderman Rainey also clarified that the rent check for Family Focus for July, would not be mailed until July. Alderman Rainey asked what documentation the City had provided for the taxi cab coupon program. Ms. Jolliff indicated the city invoiced. Mr. Terry clarified that in order for the Township Committee objective of having it charged to the last fiscal year be met, the City had to move quickly to collect that money from the Township. Alderman Washington inquired if the tuition payments for security training indicated some type of guarantee of placement. The Committee then unanimously approved Township monthly bills in the amount of $65,976.64. MEQICAL BILLS Following a brief discussion, the Committee unanimously approved monthly medical bills in the amount of S14,038.11. Alderman Brady indicate" that she had spoken to Alderman Drummer earlier in the day and had asked that an addition to the agenda be made to discuss the possibility of Township funds currently set aside for housing could be utilized for a HOME project if the City Council approved. Alderman Drummer gave a history of the original $500,000.00 that had been set aside for housing issues by the previous Township Supervisor and the $200,000.00 still available. Alderman Brady felt that if the project was approved by the City Council, she was assuming that the transfer of dollars from the Township to City was automatic. Alderman Rainey indicated that she had some concerns with the HOME project; that the building in question on Jackson Street currently could in fact be the residence for some GA clients. She was concerned about the low to moderate income persons living in the building now that would be displaced by this project. She felt that the HOME group had an insensitive attitude toward the displacement issue. She had great concern that the Township money should not be used for displacement. Michael Kent clarified that between now and oeginning of September. the Township in fact, did not have the money to give; that there was no amount sitting in a bank account somewhere. Alderman Brady said her inquiry was only to determine if the money was there if Council approval was obtained. Alderman Washington expressed her concern there be a public hearing; that she and Alderman Kent felt that the neighbors needed to be heard on this project and that had not occurred yet. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 6/5/9I Page 8 Alderman Brady noted in the HOME documents both Alderman Washington and Alderman Kent were identified as supporting the project. Alderman Washington felt that she had only a short phone call from the HOME group and any expression support was of a general nature; that she had always assumed there would be some kind of public hearing or opportunity to review the project with the neighbors. The Committee moved to adjourn at 9:55 P. M. vV► Jay W. Terry RA T- OT-APPROVED MINUTES TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE July 3, 1991 6:30 P.M. Room 2402 PRESENT: Alderman Drummer, Brady, Washington, Rainey ABSENT: Alderman Wallin OTHERS Betty Payne, Veranda Jolliff, Michael Kent, Jay Terry PRESENT: PRESIDING: Alderman Drummer CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m. Chairman Drummer welcomed Ms. Payne to her first meeting as Township Supervisor. The members of the Committee indicated they look forward to a productive working relationship with the new Supervisor. The minutes of the June 5, 1991 meeting were approved unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS G.A.A.S. Client Information Alderman Brady suggested a number of format changes to this report. She suggested the clients between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five could be moved up as a sub -category under active cases; there should be a total number of applicants with sub -groups listed for new and returning, and pending. She asked what the term pending meant on this report. Alderman Rainey noted that new applicants should be changed to new clients this month. Alderman Brady suggested that Ms. Jolliff clarify what categories mean. Ms. Jolliff indicated that returning clients are former clients who are receiving again. Alderman Brady and Ms. Jolliff agreed after further discussion that there was a need to clarify what these categories mean. Ms. Jolliff noted the category "rejected applicants" was a cumulative total but no one could determine at what point in time this figure was originally calculated; there was a need to eliminate it as a cumulative figure and report only a monthly figure. YI TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE , Minutes of 7/3/91 Page 2 Alderman Rainey asked if the ninety -days suspended figure would was also a cumulative figure. Ms. Jolliff said yes. Alderman Rainey asked for some examples of what could cause a ninety -day suspension. Ms. Jolliff indicated it would be missing OATES appointments, or not verifying that you have been involved in a job search. WOP/Job Club Alderman Rainey noted all clients eighteen to twenty-five were being sent to the Youth Job Center. She asked if we assessed those clients at all before we send them over. Ms. Jolliff said yes, normally we would only send those people who are assessed by the Township as being job ready however, for this month, all clients in that age group were being sent over in order for the Youth Job Center and Township staff to compare if they have the same working definition of job ready. Alderman Washington provided the Committee with a description of the training program that she has for travel agency students, and noted that she does have currently a G.A. client who is learning the business from her. She noted that Mr. Combes has been creative in developing the program with her. She felt that with this type of effort there could be many small businesses in Evanston that could be able to help out the Township. Alderman Brady asked if the restructured Clerical Trainer Program is based on the model as presented at a previous Committee meeting, Ms. Jolliff said yes, and the Township is in the process of trying to seek a new Clerical Trainer. The Committee discussed the processes whereby necessary personnel shifts would be made to implement the changes in the Clerical Trainer Program. BE -HIV Prooasal Alderman Brady noted that BE -HIV had just come to the Human Services Committee asking for permission to go through Unified Budgeting; wanted to know if this proposal was in any way part of Unified Budgeting. Ms. Jolliff responded that this was outside of UBP, as a separate request. Alderman Drummer asked about the requirement for clients to get a physical; is that something for new clients? Ms. Jolliff indicated that it was something she would like to see in place for all clients however, since an c HIV test cannot be mandatory, the best opportunity to get consent for that type of test is with a new client who is motivated because he or she wants General Assistance. Alderman Drum er asked if that is Iegal. Ms. Jolliff said yes it is, however there is a need to change the intake form and staff have to be very clear with the client because the Township has to insure that the clients understand what they are signing. Alderman Drummer asked when a person with AIDS is eligible for SSI. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 7/3/91 . . . Page 3 Ms. Jolliff said only when they have AIDS, not when they are HIV positive. Alderman Drummer asked for additional information on educational programs. Ms. Jolliff said the Township has regular sessions at Family Focus for the G.A. Clients and they are hoping to incorporate BE -HIV into those educational programs. Alderman Drummer asked if the legalities of exchanging information had been clarified. Ms. Jolliff indicated the information about clients HIV status will not be shared with their caseworker. She acknowledged there is a problem that clients feel caseworkers do not treat sensitive information with discretion and confidentiality. Alderman Rainey asked if BE -HIV would be willing to do inservice training on AIDS for the Township staff. Ms. Jolliff responded yes. Alderman Brady clarified the source of funding was the contingency line from the Community Action Program. She wanted to know if approval of this contract would go to the Township Board of Trustees. Alderman Brady noted this was a grant so she hoped there would be regular monitoring reports submitted, as there was a need to monitor their progress with General Assistance clients. Alderman Rainey indicated that she had a concern if the Township was going to giving $5,000.00 to BE -HIV, there needed to be some sort of contract or agreement in place against which their activities could be measured; the Township needed to know what BE -HIV would specifically do for General Assistance clients; that we should be in a position to tell them what we would like them to do with our dollars; that this contract should be monitored at least every six months; in-service training fc,r staff should be a requirement of BE -HIV. Betty Payne indicated that the Township needed to know what it wanted for the clients in return for giving the money to BE -HIV. Alderman Brady made a motion to recommend approval of a $5,000.00 award to BE -HIV to work with General Assistance clients. That motion was approved unanimously. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Rainey asked what the significance of the date after the invoice was on the Cash Requirements report. Mr. Kent indicated it was the due to be paid date. Alderman Rainey indicated that she had a conversation during the day with Veranda Jolliff about a number of entries on the bill's list for Michael Mayer. Ms. Jolliff indicated she still has concerns about using Michael Mayer, paying him for all of his travel time, she is still trying to find a local vendor for software maintenance, and software repair. She would still be willing to use Michael Mayer for software development but not for maintenance and repair problems. Committee members encouraged Ms. Jolliff to move on finding that replacement as quickly as possible. Alderman Rainey asked about a charge for Bernsten Brothers for 5104.91, asked if that was still a coffee charge. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE 4 Minutes of 7/3/9I page 4 Ms. Jolliff indicated she had explored a number of coffee services, Asbury Market, etc. They were the same price range as Bernsten's Brothers, but she is still working on finding something more economical. Alderman Rainey asked about the phone bill listed on the Bills List which appeared to be unreasonably high. Ms. Jolliff indicated that bill had an large amount of long distance calls. There are pages missing from the phone bill which itemize those long distance calls and she is trying to obtain a copy. In the meantime, she has instituted a long distance phone log in the Township office in which staff have to enter in long distance calls. Alderman Rainey asked about the expenditure for G.A. training. Ms. Jolliff indicated that was three new caseworkers getting training in G.A. and the Supervisor will also be trained in General Assistance. The Committee clarified the Family Focus rent was getting approved a month ahead of time though not actually transmitted to Family Focus until the appropriate month in question. Alderman Rainey expressed her concern that the Committee had still not seen a budget or narrative report from the Teen Baby Nursery. Ms. Jolliff indicated she had had a conversation with Mary Jane Chainski of the Infant Welfare and that a budget would be forthcoming. Alderman Drummer indicated that in addition to a budget, he was interested in hearing a presentation by Ms. Chainski on the program, and would like to see her scheduled for next month. The Committee moved to approve a Monthly Bills' List for S62,845.03. Michael Kent indicated the May 31st payroll was not included in the May's Bills List nor was it included in the June Bills List and it needed to be included. The amount was around $11,000.00. Alderman Brady stated that she wanted the exact figure on Council members' desks for the Monday night Council meeting. The Cnmmittee unanimously voted to approve the existing Monthly Bills List with an expenditure for an additional payroll of around $11,000.00. REVENUE AND EXPENSE STATEMEUT FOR JUNE. 1991 Michael Kent indicated there were some entries which could cause some confusion. Journal entries were made for June which clarified that the Clerical Trainer and the Work Opportunity program were assigned to their appropriate budget and in their old budgets large negative entries would appear. The July Revenue and Expense Statement would be clear in terms of the expenses for those line items and year-to-date figures. He indicated that everything else in the Revenue and Expense Statement was in line with where the budget should be at this point in the year. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 7/3/91 Page 5 Alderman Brady asked about the expenditure for Bank Fee Expense. Michael Kent indicated that was a service charge, charged by the bank for the processing of the client checks. Alderman Brady asked what time period the $456.62 covered. Michael Kent indicated that was a three month figure. The Committee expressed some concern noting they had removed bank fees from the budget because there was not any reason for the Township to pay bank fees. Alderman Rainey made a motion that the new Supervisor make an appointment with the bank to notify them that the Township is shopping around to where they can get service without being charged a fee. Alderman Drummer indicated he did not feel the motion was necessary, that the Supervisor had every intention of going to the bank, and raising the issue with them herself. MONTHLY MEDICAL BILLS Ms. Jolliff noted that one of the two clients for whom a description was provided was in process to receive SSI. Alderman Washington expressed her concern again, there should be State services available for both drug and alcohol detoxification that are low cost or free; that the services of a private hospital should not be necessary. Alderman Rainey noted that the Committee wanted to see the diagnosis not only for those clients who the Township was paying over 52,000.00 a client, but also those places where the original bill for services exceeded 52,000.00. She also expressed some concern that the medical descriptions in the diagnosis listed were meaningless terms even to those persons who had some familiarity with medical terms. She did want to note that staff appeared to be keeping up with the bills in a more timely manner. Committee unanimously approved a motion to approve medical payments for 513,958.41. RESOLUTION 32-R-91, TOWNSHIP SIGNATORIES Chairman Drummer noted that this issue before and asked for a motion to approve. motion to approve Resolution 32-R-91. The Committee moved to adjourn at 8:00 P. M. �uw . Jay W. Terry had been discussed in Committee Committee unanimously approved a PRESENT: Dom: OTHERS ERESENT: DRAFT -NOT 8,PPROVED MINUTES TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE August 7, 1991 7:30 P.M. Room 2402 Alderman Drummer, Brady, Rainey, Wollin Alderman Washington Betty Payne, Veranda Jolliff, Michael Kent, Jay Terry Mary Jane Chainski EUSIDING: Alderman Drummer CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 1:35 P.M. The minutes of July 3, 199I were considered. Alderman Drummer asked if Ms. Jolliff had received any further information on the missing pages from last month's phone bill. Ms. Jolliff said she did find the missing pages. She reminded the committee that she has instituted a long distance phone log, that the question of inappropriate phone use has been handled with staff. Alderman asked if Ms. Jolliff had been successful in identifying who had abused the long distance phone privileges and Ms. Jolliff said, not as of yet. The minutes of July 3, 1991 were approved unanimously. REVIEW OF TEEN -BABY NURSERY Chairman drummer then called upon Mary Jane Chainski of the Infant Welfare Society to talk about the Teen Baby Nursery Program. Ms. Chainski indicated that she would give brief remarks given that most of the members of the committee were well aware of the history of the Teer, Baby Nursery. The nursery has been in place for twenty-eight months; in those twenty-eight months has served forty children. She distributed a list with a description of the clients. She noted that of the forty children, the mothers of twenty nine children nad graduated from ETHS or were still enrolled. She described the collaborative process by which the nursery operates and indicated that the agencies involved had worked through a number of issues, that the trust between the five agencies had been more fully established. There are currently three types of agency coordination meetings taking place. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 8/7/9I Page 2 One involved case coordination with the front line workers of each of the agencies, second the Teen Baby Nursery Advisory Committee, and third the six agencies heads meet to discuss policy issues. As the relationship between the agencies has improved, an increasing amount of information on the girls has been shared. Two of the agencies, (the high school and 4C's) will have new individuals assigned to the program so the Fall will be used to develop relationships with those persons and also some new parent training programs will be explored utilizing video tape. She indicated that she was hopeful that the new federal dollars coming into the community for child care will enable the nursery to significantly reduce its request to the Township for the next fiscal year. Alderman Wollin asked for what fiscal year that request would be lower and Ms. Chainski and Mr. Terry responded that there should be a reduction in the 1992-93 fiscal year. Alderman Brady asked about the ratio of staff at the nursery. Ms. Chainski indicated that she had currently five staff, that if the nursery is full, part time staff are hired to help out; she said that often the nursery has several two to three month old babies. Alderman Brady asked if any of the staff effort was directed towards the teen mothers and Ms. Chainski said yes, though she noted it was more appropriately the responsibility of some of the other agencies that participate in the nursery. Supervisor Payne indicated that she felt that the program was costly and was hoping that as many efforts as possible could be focused on prevention. Mr. Terry responded that the two agencies that are part of the network agreement for the nursery, the Evanston Department of Health, and Family Focus had primary prevention responsibilities. Alderman Rainey asked if we had information on the teen births in Evanston; how many were second babies. She was interested in comparisons with the other muncipalities such as Oak Park, and the State rate. Mary Jane Chainski noted that the total number of girls in Evanston Township High School that were mothers were thirty eight, that the nursery was only serving sixteen of those students. Supervisor Payne again indicated her strong concern that there been improved prevention activities related to teen births. Alderman Drummer indicated he had those concerns as well. The Committee discussed for some time who had primary responsibility for prevention activities. Mr. Terry indicated that the Department of Health had family planning activities and Family Focus was also funded to engage in teen pregnancy prevention programs. Alderman Drummer noted that we knew how many of the girls graduated, wondered how many continued their education beyond high school level. . TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 8/7/91 Page 3 Ms. Chainski said that quite often the success in the program is not measured in immediate activities following high school graduation, but felt that as babies got older, the mothers were then in a position to pursue education or employment and if they had their high school diploma they have an advantage when that time comes. Alderman Drummer indicated he is concerned about looking at the success further down the road and wanted to know what that success is. Mr. Terry indicated that a rough review of what we knew about the people who had been to the program thus far is about one-half go on to apply for State ADC whereas it is assumed that the other half are able to achieve employment. Alderman Drummer asked if we knew what the drawbacks were to further success. Ms. Chainski said that in her opinion a number of the girls who were mothers and participating in the nursery, had some sort of learning disability. Alderman Rainey said that she was not concerned about the girls going on to college, that there could be other measures of success. She agreed yes, the purpose was to provide day care for graduation, but graduation was supposed to have a purpose. She did not believe that graduation should be an end in itself, she wanted the teen baby nursery program to be a lot more, somehow to have a component built in to track these girls until they are 21. She asked if it was possible to know more about the mothers of the mothers, and what their conditions were. Alderman Brady indicated she was not surprised that fifty percent were on Public Aid, she noted that applying for Public Aid provides access to medical benefits, she agreed with Ms. Chainski that these girls are served better down the road if they do, in fact, have a high school diploma. She was in support of attempting tracking of all the girls who go through the nursery, but she said achieving that kind of tracking would be a significant undertaking. Ms. Chainski indicated that she would love to be able to have the resources and the mechanisms to be able to track these girls until they were 21 or 25. She suspected that many of the mothers of the girls were not now on Public Aid. Betty Payne asked what kind of follow-up there was after graduation from ETHS, where there referrals to other agencies. Mary Jane Chainski indicated that yes, after graduation the formal role of the nursery ends, but the other agencies follow-up, that the high school and Family Focus have responsibility for providing job referrals for the girls as they graduate and that the Evanston 4C's does what it can to insure day care continues for the mothers. Betty Payne indicated that these girls need that support, believed that they are capable if the supports were provided after graduation. Mr. Terry noted that the type of tracking that was being discussed is often difficult given the value that the community places on client confidentiality. Alderman Drummer noted that a financial incentive is often important, that one program he is familiar with involves making a $1,000.00 available if you go to Oakton Community College. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 8/7/9I . . . Page 4 Alderman Rainey asked whether from the experience in the program that there was any significant identification of classroom problems at District 202. Ms. Chainski indicated that an area of concern in terms of School District participation would be that of District 65. They are still looking for greater input from School District 65. Mr. Terry indicated that 65 was represented on some of these committees by Carol Blackwell -Curry. Alderman Rainey said she would like to see regular representation and participation by District 65 and that thero may be the need�to develop special curriculum on pregnancy prevention. Alderman Drummer thanked Ms. Chainski for coming to the meeting. Alderman Rainey asked if the Township Director could tell the committee how many clients have a high school diploma. Ms. Jolliff indicated that the client records are supposed to indicate the highest education level attained. However, she was fearful that the records were not accurate as it was information based on a self -report by the client themselves. Alderman Rainey indicated that she had a degree of frustration at how the Township allocated funds to community action agencies. She is concerned about the goals that are set by these agencies whether they are realistic and agencies are held accountable. She has the same concerns about the FIT program of the City. She was hopeful that there will be a greater scrutiny of programs such as GRASP during the Unified Budget Process. GAAS CLIENT INFORMATION Alderman Brady clarified with Ms. Jolliff what certain categories meant. Alderman Rainey indicated it would be useful information for her to know how many clients are not longer active because they are now employed, or how many clients are no longer active because they are now accepted on SSI. MONTHLY REPORT OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES Alderman Woliin asked about the Youth Job Center, asked about the contract per client, and whether or not there was a longevity rate built in. Ms. Jolliff said not yet, but one would be negotiated. Alderman Rainey agreed that a rate should be negotiated, but she encouraged the Township staff to analyze the situation before you decide not to pay. She was concerned a placement agency not be held totally accountable if a client ceases to show up at a job. There needed to be caseworker follow-up by the Township to determine why that happened. Ms. Jolliff indicated that follow-up was occurring now that in fact, three people would currently follow up if a person stops attending. BANK FEES Alderman Brady asked what the average daily balance was in the NOW account. She indicated that in her place of employment she writes two hundred checks a month in three accounts, and she is able to get interest and does not pay a fee. E n! . TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE ! Minutes of 8/7/91 Page 5 She felt that given the requirements reinvestment, it should be possible for financially attractive arrangement. Betty community reinvestment, fees are not one of for the Township the income exceeds the fees an issue worth pursuing particularly, if it Evanston banks. that banks have far community. the Township to have a more Payne responded that regarding those things covered. She noted and she did not feel that it was meant removing bank accounts from Michael Kent indicated that it varies in terms of the accounts. That the Township has one NOW account in which a significant amount of interest is earned however on the client account, the fees charged exceed the interest earned. Alderman Brady indicated that it was up to the Township Supervisor however, she wanted to note that many non -for -profit agencies do not pay fees. Betty Payne again responded that she is not willing to pull the Township bank accounts out of Evanston banks. Alderman Rainey asked the City staff to produce a report on the fees charged for bank accounts which the City maintains. The Committee then requested information about criminal cases that had been initiated. Mr. Jolliff noted that a former temporary employee with the Township had made restitution. The charges against him have yet to be adjudicated but in light of the fact that he has made restitution, leniency was expected. Regarding the former client that pleaded guilty to misrepresentation the question is whether he would ever become eligible for GA again. Alderman Rainey suggested that an inquiry be sent to the State Department of Public Aid to find out what they do in terms of a client who has been convicted of a felony against the very system from which he is seeking aid. RECERTIFICATION Ms. Jolliff indicated that she has made a list of verifications that should have been done within the past six months regarding a client and wanted to know if that list should be implemented for every single client. Committee consensus was, yes. Ms. Jolliff asked as of what date. Committee consensus was that for all current clients, the information should be obtained. Alderman Brady asked if Ms. Jolliff was going to pursue a credit check on these clients. Ms. Jolliff said that it was not her intention at the present time however, there was a need for current employment history. Alderman Brady asked if there was a statement on the application that made it very clear that misrepresentation was wrong. Ms. Jolliff said that there was a very general statement to that effect. Alderman Rainey said that she was aware of another County or Township where clients who are applying for GA are actually required to bring over proof that they have applied for SSI first. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 8/7/9I . . . Page 6 She noted that this was a way to start the process for some individuals who may be qualified and reluctant to pursue it. Alderman Brady emphasized that the residence verification was very important. Betty Payne indicated that she was interested in exploring the new State nine month limit on General Assistance, that this in fact, could be a policy that the Township could pursue. Alderman Rainey cautioned that while she is not necessarily opposed, that is the kind of policy issue that would require a significant amount of committee discussion. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Rainey asked a question about the coffee service bill. Ms. Jolliff indicated that was a meeting which took place in March 1991, in which the former Township Supervisor had a meeting with all clients. The charges were for coffee and donuts. Alderman Rainey asked about the St. Anthony's publications charge. Ms. Jolliff indicated it was for a medical diagnosis manual and other document which she could not immediately identify. Alderman Rainey asked that before the check be sent, a report come back to the committee as to what those charges were for. Alderman Rainey asked about insurance reimbursement for Sherry Zhou. Ms. Jolliff indicated that she needed to be covered because she had many trips to the bank on behalf of the Township. Alderman Rainey expressed her concern that this was another customary activity in the Township regarding expenses that have always been paid by the Township. There was a need to take a look at this because there are many, many examples of private employers who require a car on the job and require the employees to bear the cost of insurance. Betty Payne agreed that this was a policy which would need to be looked in to. Alderman Rainey asked for the City to provide a report as to whether it ever pays liability insurance. She wanted to remove paying this from the bills list. Betty Payne indicated that she did not believe that the item should be removed from the bills list but she would review it as a policy. Alderman Drummer suggested that the insurance bill be left on the bills list with the understanding that the supervisor will reevaluate that policy. Alderman Wollin asked who would be attending the American Fundware Seminar bill entry . Ms. Jolliff said Sherry Zhou. Alderman Drummer asked about the bill entry for an ad to the Chicago Tribune. Ms. Jolliff indicated that it was the clerical trainer ad. Alderman Rainey asked questions as to why Michael Meyers's services were necessary in the Township so frequently. Ms. Jolliff noted that there were services on June 26, 1991 and July 23, 1991. She distributed a copy of Mr. Meyers' invoice; she has had an opportunity to develop a relationship with a computer analyst with the accounting firm FERS as a result of the audit. She asked that person for a copy of a suggested bid list from FERS and asked FERS if they were interested in submitting themselves. She noted that Michael Meyer has recommended replacing the oldest machine in the Township. She asked for a second opinion from the FERS staff who responded that there were program problems but not a hardware problem. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 8/7/9I . . . Page 7 Alderman Wollin wondered whether if it were not a machine problem maybe it was a personnel issue. Mr. Jolliff indicated it was an issue of corruption of data. Michael Meyer indicated that the system was running out of space, that. it was not capturing backup information. The Committee went into further discussion of the Michael Meyer invoice. Ms. Jolliff indicated that the second opinion from FERS would be available the following week. Alderman Drummer indicated and Ms. Jolliff concurred that both FERS and Michael Meyer had agreed that the problems were not staff related. The Committee members expressed their frustration that there was such a small number of people with the knowledge necessary to improve the Township system. Mr. Kent indicated the bills for maintenance of the system would exceed the budget and would be very, very high. He expressed his previous concern that the Deloitte Touche system installation was not worth the funds expended. Alderman Wollin asked if American Fundware had been contacted regarding the service contract which the Township had with them. Betty Payne and Ms. Jolliff both responded, yes, both those contacts had been made, but the type of improvements that are needed, are not covered in the American Fundware contract. Alderman Wollin asked if there would be any benefits to calling Deloitte and Touche and tell them the system is not working and see if they would be interested in fulfilling a commitment to come out and keep the system going. It was the consensus of Committee members that Ms. Jolliff would tail Chris Ryan of Deloitte and Touche. Alderman Rainey asked of the payment to GRASP what kind of report was received from GRASP and how frequently? Ms. Jolliff indicated that the monthly report was received but it was not Township client exclusive. Alderman Rainey indicated she wanted more information from GRASP on their services to Township clients. Alderman Drummer said that should be in place for all Unified Budget Township funded agencies. Alderman Rainey agreed, but indicated that she had a special concern about GRASP. Alderman Wollin reminded Ms. Jolliff that when the final contract was established with BE -HIV that should be shared with the Committee. Alderman Rainey asked a question about an advanced paycheck which was listed in the check report. Ms. Jolliff indicated that it was an emergency situation which received the approval of the supervisor and that a six-month- repayment plan was in place for that emergency. Alderman Wollin said it would appear that it was a loan, not an advance. Michael Kent clarified the terms of the financial arrangement. Alderman Rainey asked if the Township had a policy on this, whether this was an opportunity available to all staff. betty Payne responded that this was a personal emergency which she bel4eved the circumstances warranted approval, that a policy was not necessary. That if another employee had a similar emergency she might be inclined to r,iake another approval. Alderman Brady asked for a report on the potential of the mistake on the entries for the bills list for Hinkley and Schmidt. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 8/7/91 Page 8 Regarding the Revenue and Expense Statement, Michael Kent indicated all accounts are at or under budget however certain elements within those accounts such as printing and GA administrative overhead are sufficiently over -expended. He indicated that the cash status on July 31, 1991, was approximately $300,000. available. The next major revenues will come in at the end of August as tax bills are paid, August and September could result in income in excess of a million dollars. He saw no need for the Township to borrow money however, he noted that if enough cash receipts are not received in August, there would be a dipping into the "theoretical" housing fund. He noted for all intents and purposes the Township is utilizing housing fund dollars now. Alderman Drummer felt there was a need at some point to separate the housing fund dollars out into an account that could not be utilized for other purposes. Mr. Kent noted again that the maintenance contracts line item is spending at a rate that will exceed the total budgeted amount soon. Betty Payne indicated it was her hope that the Township at some point would have a person on staff who was adept at computer issues and also felt that a maintenance contract needed to be in place. Mr. Kent indicated that the FERS has come in during the audit and made the entry adjustments necessary. Alderman Woilin recalled the presentation by Ida Fitzgerald regarding optimism over jobs available in the suburbs. Asked how many clients had actually secured jobs. Ms. Jolliff said one person had been able to obtain a job, that issues of transportation and shifts that persons were asked to work, had presented obstacles to more people taking the jobs. She stated the corporation had indicated some problem with clients car pooling. Alderman Wollin indicated that she was disappointed that a corporation would not be more understanding of car pooling needs. A motion was made to approve bills in the amount of $80,617.56. That motion was approved unanimously 4 to 0. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY MEDICAL PAYMENTS Alderman Rainey noted several occasions in which a certain medication had been prescribed, wanted to know if the medication was prescribed for birth control purposes and if it was, weren't there other low cost publicly funded alternatives to secure birth control. Alderman Brady noted a diagnosis for asthma and wondered whether asthma was an eligible SSI illness. Ms. Jolliff indicated that for the client in question, the Social Security Administration was making a determination that the client could still work. Alderman Rainey asked for some clarification of the medical notations for the client with asthma. The Committee also had a brief discussion of a client who had expenses related to AIDS. A motion was made to approve medical bills in the amount of 522,103.42. Motion passed unanimously. } TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 8/7/91 Page 9 Alderman Rainey noted that on several occasions Morseview Pharmacy was paid the entire amount billed but there was no description of the medications dispensed and she would like to see them. The Township Committee meeting adjourned at 9:45 P.M. 4k w 7TZ-�t ,lay W. Terry 5 f<< DRAFT -NOT APPROVED MINUTES TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE September 4, 1991 7:30 P.M. Room 2402 PRESENT: Alderman Drummer, Brady, Wollin ASSENT: Alderman Rainey, Washington OTHERS Ald. Newman, Betty Payne, Veranda Jolliff, Michael Kent, PRESENT: Irwin Lyons of FERS, Russ Kovin of FERS PRESIDING: Alderman Drummer CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. The minutes of the meeting of August 7, 199I were approved unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Bank Fees Alderman Brady indicated she still had some concerns but recommended that the Committee accept the communication and hold it for discussion at some point in the future. GAAS Monthly Report Alderman Brady felt she now had a better understanding of the various categories used in this report. Teen Birth Rate Alderman Wollin noted she wished Evanston`s teen birth rate was declining. CONSIDERATION OF THE TOWNSHIP AUDIT Mr. Lyons noted FERS was offering an unqualified opinion, as in the past. He wanted to point out to the Committee that following the abatement, there was a significant reduction in the Fund balance, as was planned by the Committee. He noted on page eight of the audit some concern over what resources or assets were collateralized. He noted that the Committee may want to consider a formal investment policy at some point. Alderman Brady asked about something that was labeled a Housing Fund Balance at $400,000. Mr. Kent and Mr. Terry noted that the labeling on that was probably incorrect; the S400,000 was the budgeted reserve. Alderman Brady wanted to know why the Community Action Program agencies had different expenditure totals than what was budgeted. Mr. Lyons said he wasn't sure but noted that certain amounts were not vouchered by those agencies. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/91 . . . Page 2 Alderman Wollin noted calls she had received from constituents since the real estate tax bills had come out regarding the substantial increase in the Township portion of the tax bill; noted that the increase was caused not by an increase in expenditure but because of the difference in this year's tax rate and last year's when the abatement took place. Alderman Brady and other Committee members noted that the minutes should clearly reflect that the Township budget did not increase expenditures, that it appears to be a major increase because of the amount that was abated back to the taxpayers last year. Ald. Drummer noted there was no budgeted reserve in the budget for this year. Mr. Lyons noted that on page 21 of the audit there was a five year review of tax rates. Regarding the management letter, Alderman Drummer felt that the letter reflected that the Committee and the staff of the Township had done a lot of work; had come a long way; a lot of things have been improved. Mr. Lyons noted that in certain thin-- in the management letter, certain items may have a cost associated with theia; that is a staff and Committee decision as to whether they should be implemented. He said of certain items, if there is an agreement by the Committee that they shouldn't be done or action shouldn't be taken, there should be some sort of formal vote taken on that so that in the future, FERS will drop that as something that needs to be noted rather than carrying it on from year to year. Alderman Brady asked for clarification on the procedure used by the Township Committee in the past for responding to the audit; whether staff recommendations are sought. She felt that the recommendations from FERS were pretty basic for a well running township. Alderman Drummer said he was hopeful that the Township administration would be able to report back to the Committee in three to six months on the items noted in the management letter. Alderman Wollin asked if staff were comfortable in the skips in the number of checks; were they sure they had been voided? Supervisor Payne said she was concerned about that and felt there should be a better explanation for what happened. Ms. Jolliff indicated that Sherry Zhou felt that perhaps a box of checks had been opened inadvertently. Mr. Kent clarified that the missing checks were in the client check account; that it was probably part of a computer problem; that there are no checks floating out there unaccounted for; that the checks were not kept; they were probably destroyed after a computer misfeed. Alderman Wollin, Mr. Lyons and Mr. Kent clarified that the recommendations regarding Cash Disbursements in the Medical Payments had been implemented. Alderman Wollin expressed her concern that any discrepancy still existed; that this was a consistent problem where the Committee did not want to approve something, yet payment was made anyway, ter. Kent noted that certain checks are sent out without Committee approval. Ms. Payne felt that certain checks can not wait until the first Wednesday of every month. Alderman Drummer noted that for certain things such as stamps and tokens, sometimes the office runs out. He felt it was impossibile for the Committee to approve everything; that t TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/91 . . . page 3 expenditures were within the Supervisor's authority and that the administration of the Township could not be bogged down by having to get back to the Committee on everything. He felt it was not a major concern; that the Committee has identified those things it is really concerned about. Alderman Wollin noted, however, that there were times when bills were held and they were paid anyway. Supervisor Payne said she understood the role of the Committee approval, but asked, however, what happens if the Township obtains a service and the service has been provided and then the Committee does not approve it, what is then done with that bill. Alderman Wollin responded that the Committee has never denied a bill for service; however, it has in the past questioned the validity of the service level provided. Alderman Drummer noted that in the end the Committee will approve payment of the bill. Alderman Wollin clarified with Township staff that there was now a manual check log for G.A. She also felt the issues regarding client files will be taken up as part of the recertification process. The Committee had a general discussion over the fact that 32 G.A. checks had not been cashed; over the time period allowed for which the checks were still good. Alderman Brady noted that the 32 check names should perhaps be given to the Recertification subcommittee. Alderman Drummer suggested that staff should assume that responsibility. Alderman Brady made a motion that the Supervisor and Director report after a 60 day period on implementation of the recommendations of the management letter from FERS; regarding those that; (1) had been implemented;' (2) if not, why not; (3) last years recommendations as well; and (4) that the Committee is requesting a written report. Alderman Brady's motion was passed unanimously 3-0. Alderman Wollin clarified that regarding last year's recommendations, those that are labeled this year as no change, there were none that the Committee felt was not necessary and that they all needed to be done. Alderman Brady asked regarding the procedure of the distribution of the management letter and a Township response, whether that should be held. Alderman Drummer clarified that members of the Council had already received a draft copy of the management letter; when the final audit is done it will be formally transmitted to the members of the City Council by the Committee; that any response from the Township regarding the audit and the management letter would be distributed as well. Mr. Lyons informed the Committee that the Donated Funds Initiative (D.F.I.) audit is just about complete; so far there was only one finding; regarding the lack of signed contracts and that there are still no defined units of service. Alderman Drummer noted that this entire discussion also highlighted the importance of the Township continuing to tighten up internal controls. REFERENCE REGARDING EVANSTON TOWNSHIP BECOMING A RECEIVING TOWNSHIP Alderman Drummer stated he was not inclined to have a significant discussion on this issue; that it had been reviewed thoroughly by members of the City 1 TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/91 . . . Page 4 Council a few years ago; there' had been a great deal of discussion and that Evanston's State Representative and State Senator had both come in and indicated that it was not something that was an advisable proposition. He said he did not know that anyone's opinion had changed in that regard. Mr. Terry distributed an update on the State's General Assistance program and changes that would be implemented as a result of the new State budget. Alderman Newman indicated that he was well aware that the issue had been discussed four years ago; he had participated fully in those discussions; that there had been a series of memoranda; that he had participated in meetings with Senator Berman, Representative Bowman and Supervisor Winfield. His proposal was that Evanston become a receiving township but maintain the grant level to the client; that the G.A. grant would be cut to the mandated state level but the City could develop a housing program which would be the supplement to the G.A. grant. He felt there was enough basis to ask the Illinois Department of Public Aid (IDPA) if they would consider such a proposal; that the Township would tax at its one mil level, and that all other expenses above the one mil level (staff, medical payments, etc.), would be covered by the State. He said it was also a legitimate question to ask whether or not the Township wanted to maintain the current grant level. He felt, depending upon the proposal submitted, that the savings could be anywhere from $500,000 to $1 million dollars. Alderman Wollin clarified that we would still be taxed at the one mil level. Alderman Newman indicated that if you are a receiving township, the local taxing bodies only pay one mil. He said there is a certain fairness question involved; in most townships general assistance is paid for by the State of Illinois. He said if there is a grant level of only $165 you would see more individuals going to apply for Social Security, as takes place in Chicago. He felt there needed to be an economic incentive to get off of G.A. Alderman Drummer said he recalled from a previous discussion of the issue that there were a couple of significant drawbacks: (1) a total loss of control of G.A.; Evanston Township would be obligated to follow all State rules and regulations and; (2) if you created a housing assistance program the State would mandate that a housing assistance program would have to be open to more than just G.A. recipients. Alderman Drummer and Alderman Newman indicated they had significant disagreements as to what happened four years ago. Alderman Newman felt it came down to a lack of political will to challenge the Township Supervisor at the time. Alderman Drummer disagreed and indicated that the City was merely following the advice of Senator Berman and Representative Bowman, both of whom were profoundly against the proposal. He noted that the Township receiving D.F.I. money was related to the Township not becoming a receiving township. Alderman Newman said he agreed with the loss of control as being something that would happen, but he did not necessarily feel that was an undesirable outcome. He felt that the only problem he saw was that this whole thing could not be done with the support of the IDPA and he was hoping the Township Committee would seriously consider this proposal; that the taxpayers do not like the current arrangement. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/91 . . . Page 5 Supervisor Payne asked if anyone knew the percent or number of townships that currently are receiving. Alderman Newman and Alderman Brady both indicated that there were very few townships similar to Evanston's situation. Alderman Brady said she would like to see a continuation of the discussion of the receiving issue. She is open to learning more about it. She felt there were some issues that needed to be considered: (1) she was outraged by the new cutbacks in the State G.A. program; that she could never support Evanston becoming a receiving township if it meant Evanston residents would receive only the services as now described by the State. She has concern about the residency requirements for eligibility; the spectre of everyone moving to Evanston to receive a higher G.A. grant is something that she remains concerned about, and the difficulty of defining who is a resident. She said she will be monitoring very closely the recertification process of every G.A. recipient. She was very anxious to see the result of who is on and where they are going to be going. Alderman Newman indicated he too was concerned about the new program of IDPA but he felt there was a way to develop a City program with residency as a requirement, to provide a supplement to whatever the G.A. background is. Mr. Terry indicated that a file regarding thfs matter had been found in his office; that he had reviewed all the memoranda that had been written, and the written record that was available would be distributed to members of the Council. He indicated that based on what the file reflected, the strong opposition of the IDPA appeared to be the major stumbling block at the time. Alderman Newman believed that the opposition of the IDPA reflected an intensive campaign by the Township Supervisor and the Township Director at the time to fight the receiving proposal; that IDPA was only responding to letters they had received; that he had been present at a meeting in May of 1987 with representatives of IDPA where they indicated a City supplement program was possible; you could have a housing voucher program, the funding just could not come from the G.A. Fund. He felt a program could be designed that would not mirror the G.A. program and still serve all those individuals. He noted that the Supervisor at the time had her own attorney who represented her position and argued for it. He still believed the receiving proposal was worth pursuing. He supplied the staff a listing of the various grant levels in various townships and asked that the information be confirmed and then a copy distributed to the members of the Council. Alderman Drummer indicated he wished to respond to a couple issues that had been raised. He said regarding the change in the state regulations and this fear that Evanston will get flooded with new G.A. recipients, the word has been out for years that Evanston has a higher grant level and that has never happened. He felt the major obstacle to that occurring is there simply were not housing resources for this population in Evanston. He felt that we are on an ongoing basis reducing the G.A. rolls. He said he believed the numbers are small regarding long term G.A. recipients; it boils down to either you have compassion or you have no compassion and historically, Evanston has always voted that it did have compassion. He said again he recalled from 1987 that both Senator Berman and Representative Bowman said it is not a good idea to become a receiving township and that a lot of Aldermen at the time did not think it was a good idea. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/91 . . . Page b Alderman Wollin clarified how the funding mechanism would work. She asked if it would eliminate all the Community Action programs. She asked whether the State had any sort of employment support programs. Supervisor Payne responded the employment support programs would not be cost effective. Mr. Terry responded there could still be community action programs provided they were funded through a Town Fund, we still had the right to levy a Town Fund. Alderman Drummer felt there was a need to get more information and get back to the Township Committee. He said he is always in favor of saving money but not at the expense of poor people. Alderman Newman agreed. He felt there were two approaches to this issue; one was harsh, one was not. Alderman Drummer felt that no one could make it on S314 as it is. Mr. Terry asked what was the next step regarding contact with IDPA or other entities. The Committee consensus was that there needed to be a great deal of information. They wanted to see copies of the file from 1987. ' They would like any legal opinions on receiving townships that have been provided to date; also wanted to see legal opinions on abolishing the Township; wanted a status report from Mr. Seigel on the Reingruber residency case as it related to G.A.; no contact should be made with any officials until this background material had been reviewed. Alderman Drummer indicated that a further consideration of this issue would be scheduled for the next Township Committee meeting. TOWNSHi-MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Wollin asked about the payment for American Fundware; clarified that this was the support network that she had been referring to. She asked about the expenditure for public storage. Ms. Jolliff responded it was for boxes of records that had been stacked up in the office; that space was a real problem; there was great fear there would be a client accident at some point. Alderman Wollin and Alderman Brady inquired about the high reimbursement to the City's Emergency Assistance program of $17,000. Mr. Terry indicated that the higher level than usual was due primarily to two fires in multi -unit buildings which had occurred during the billing period, as well as a significant slowdown in the response rate of the local office of the IDPA due to the state budget crisis, both of which had placed increased demands on the City's Emergency Assistance program. Alderman Wollin asked if there was any followup on the car liability insurance issue. Supervisor Payne said she had requested an opinion on the issue from Mr. Hill, and that he would be getting back to them; that Mr. Hill had expressed a concern about the liability of Township in the event of an accident. Alderman Wollin asked regarding the Check Report and why a check had been issued to Public Storage already. Ms. Jolliff responded that it was a deposit for the space that had been secured. Alderman Wollin asked about the American Fundware seminar, again inquiring as to who would be attending. Ms. Jolliff indicated Sherry Thou would be TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/91 Page 7 representing Evanston Township. Alderman Wollin reminded Ms, jolliff that Sherry Zhou should ask every possible question at that seminar, and that any questions that have come up in the Township in the past few months should be put on a list. The Committee amended the Bills List to add the late invoice from FERS on their audit costs. The Committee unanimously approved a monthly Bills List for August 1991 of $97,840.58. MONTHLY REVENUE AND EXPENSE STATEMENT Mr. Kent said everything is under control except for some very small items, and that he expects very shortly to receive a significant amount of property tax revenue. MONTHLY MEDICAL PAYMENTS The Committee had some questions about one client who is diagnosed as having Cancer, and when Cancer became something eligible for SSI. The Committee unanimously approved monthly medical payments in the amount of $12,455.96. RECERTIFICATION SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT Alderman Wollin noted that half the subcommittee had been unable to make their previous meeting; there was a need to establish another time. She noted she had discussed with Alderman Rainey a number of issues and Alderman Rainey had identified two concerns: (1) to make sure that all information regarding a client is in the file and; (2) that information had been evaluated, the file should reflect that the staff person had made some sort of professional judgement about the information in the file. She also felt the client file should have some cumulative medical history on the client which could be helpful in leaning towards a recommendation for SSI. Ms. Joiliff noted that the process had begun with a small number of clients; that 35 had been done so far. Alderman Brady clarified that a home visit is done during that recertification process. Alderman Drummer notified staff that the Committee is more interested in their doing a thorough job rather than meeting some self-imposed deadline. SPACE NEEDS OF THE TOWNSHIP Supervisor Payne indicated the office space for the Township had been a concern ever since she started. She is very concerned that the Township operations are not all on the same floor; that it is difficult to monitor the operations of the second floor office. She felt the client base of the Township had tripled since they moved into the Civic Center, the staff had tripled and the amount of equipment required had tripled. She felt it was time for the Township offices to move so the Township could operate more efficiently; that she has contacted a broker. She distributed to the Committee a list of the properties that the Township had looked at; that she is very interested in the 1227 Dodge building; it is a very unique building; it looks like a house but it is, in fact, an office; that the space would .TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/9I . . . Page 8 allow for space for the clerical trainer program and G.E.D. programs. She felt, however, it was important to get the input of the Township Committee before proceeding on this issue. Alderman Brady indicated her first reaction, without studying the issue further, was disbelief that the Township office would actually consider purchasing a building. She would be much more in favor of renting space. She couldn't imagine how an expenditure of that nature could be justified, as well as removing a building from the tax rolls. Alderman Drummer felt that purchasing was very much a viable option. Alderman Brady felt it would be inconsistent with the City's budget policy; that the City is in the process of assessing all of the property it owns with regards to perhaps putting it back on the tax roll. She felt the whole focus of the City right now was against this type of purchase. She said it would never occur to her that such a thing would be contemplated right now. Supervisor Payne cautioned that if purchasing is considered an inappropriate option that commercial rental leasing costs are anywhere from $14 to $24 a square foot. Alderman Brady inquired of Alderman Drummer the status of the building currently occupied by the Evanston Community Development Corporation (ECDC). Alderman Drummer said the CD Committee had made no decision on that building; that ECDC is on the second floor; modifications would be required before anyone else could utilize that building. Alderman Wallin noted it would be very helpful for future consideration of this issue if there were cost comparisons involved; the cost of leasing versus the cost of purchase. Supervisor Payne indicated that the sole purpose of this evening was to inform the Committee. No decision was necessary. Alderman Drummer inquired as to the space needs of the Township. Ms. Jolliff and Ms. Payne responded at least 4,000 square feet. Alderman Wallin felt there were other options available in the City, and Alderman Drummer concurred and felt there was a need to look at other buildings. The Committee also had a discussion of the status of the current Civic Center leases for other organizations. Alderman Wollin noted that the Township should do more site visits; there might be other space available. Alderman Drummer cautioned, however, that the Township must be in a central location. In summation, he felt the Township needed more space and that a move was appropriate; however, there needed to be more options explored. Supervisor Payne provided some anecdotes which highlighted the space needs of the Township and stated she felt that having the clients come in to pick up their checks, created the needs for more space with some unique space requirements. Alderman Drummer directed Supervisor Payne to keep looking; felt the ECDC building was an option, however there were some big ticket capital expenditures to have that building utilized. Alderman Brady felt that it was not the time to buy a building and expect to receive the support of the Council. She felt even if the numbers of lease versus purchase are favorable, it would be taking another building off the tax rolls and now is not the time to do that. Supervisor Payne felt she still had an obligation to inform the Township Trustees of the space needs of the Township; that it is very much in need; if the Trustees felt that was inappropriate they should at least be I TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/91 . . . Page 9 aware of what the needs are. She, however, reminded the Committee she is not committed to purchase and is very willing to explore lease options. Alderman Wollin suggested that as this building search is going on, there be a focus on public buildings. Alderman Brady noted they might also want to review where the local not -far -profit agencies in town are leasing space. TOWNSHIP FUNDING LEVEl. FOR THE 1991 UNIFIED BUDGET PROCESS UB Mr. Terry provided an overview of the funding levels established by the City's Human Services Committee, the expected funding level out of the Mental Health Board and what the United Way would have available for UBP. Alderman Drummer asked whether there was a way possible, in light of that, to Justify a reduction. Alderman Wollin wanted it clarified, and the Committee concurred, that after UBP last year, $5,000 was allocated to BE -HIV she wanted to ensure that was shown as part of the Township's total current purchased service allocation. Mr. Terry indicated that would be the case in the documents passed out to the UBP panel. The Committee had some discussion that the contract for the Youth Job Center (YJC), given that it is a unit cost contract and not for a fixed grant amount, would not be reflected in the Township UBP allocation for the coming year, but would be separate. Alderman Wollin suggested that in light of that, that the Township not fund the YJC any further amount through UBP and that any further funding for the YJC would be considered of the context of the current contract. Alderman Brady inquired as to when the Infant Welfare Society would be coming back to the Township Committee to consider what its funding level would be. Mr. Terry indicated that he hoped to have some further information for both the Township and the Human Services Committee on the needs of the Teen Baby Nursery in the fall. Mr. Kent clarified which agencies received D.F.I. funds and the Committee discussed as to what was appropriate support allocation of the D.F.I. funding. Alderman Brady recommended that the Township needed to be consistent with the overall budget goals in the City; a proportionate cut in the Township's Human Services funding was appropriate. Alderman Wollin suggested there was a burden to place Township dollars where they can most benefit Township clients. Alderman Brady made a motion that the Township allocation to UBP be -reduced by S9,800, and Alderman Wollin seconded. That would make the UBP amount S186,659. The Committee wanted it noted for the record that last year was a rather significant increase in UBP funds by the Township, and that this year's level would be still higher than the amount two years ago. Alderman Brady's motion was approved 3 - 0. Alderman Brady said when the Supervisor meets with the four representatives to the UBP panel from the City there should be a significant effort to put Township dollars to benefit Township clients. She said an argument can be made that if there were less programs to audit and monitor, there would be a greater opportunity to have those agencies you are working with to do the TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 9/4/91 Page 10 things you want them to. She suggested that two representatives on UBP that were also Township Committee members look at that direction. The Committee unanimously voted to adjourn at 10:10 p.m. 4��, W:7t-j�k Jay W. Terry DRAFT -NOT APPROVW If OFFICIALS AND jUfF PRESENT: CALL TO ORDER MINUTES TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE October 2, 1991 7:30 P.M. Room 2402 Alderman Drummer, Brady, Washington, Wollin, Rainey, Esch Betty Payne, Veranda Jolliff, Michael Kent, Jay Terry Alderman Drummer The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m. The minutes of the meeting of September 4, 1991 were approved unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS Receiving Township, Alderman Drummer directed the Committee to read the information carefully. Alderman Brady asked when this would be an agenda item again. She was interested in receiving updated information from the facts as presented in 1987 and 1988; that there had been new legislation passed; there should be some idea of what the Illinois Department of Public Aid's current stand on the issue is. Alderman Drummer directed staff to prepare the information. G.A.A.S. Client Report Alderman Brady expressed surprise that the number of G.A. clients had gone down, given what everyone is hearing about the economy in the country. Mr. Jolliff noted that the decline in clients is related to efforts on the part of Township staff to hold clients accountable for the benefits they receive and insure that they are in compliance with all Township rules. She perceived that certain clients felt that the Township was demanding too much of them. Mr. Terry noted for the Committee's information that Emergency Assistance for September experienced an exceptionally high volume, and that next month they would be seeing a substantially larger bill on the Bills List; that it was related both to a higher number of persons applying for unemployment compensation and a number of problems with the State benefits programs; a number of clients whose food stamps or ADC had been inadvertently cut off through computer or State staff error or whose applications were not being processed in a timely manner. Alderman Brady asked if a report on Emergency Assistance had been submitted to the Human Services Committee lately, and Mr. Terry indicated no, it would be something we should probably schedule in the Fall after more analysis of the demand on Emergency Assistance had been done. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 10/2/91 Page 2' Alderman Rainey entered the meeting at this point. Final Township ud t Alderman Drummer noted that there was a 30 day follow-up report from the Supervisor in the packet. Alderman Rainey Indicated a concern on the second page of the Supervisor's response. She noted that the Township Committee had numerous discussions regarding the issue of approval authority of expenditures; that except for payroll matters, items for payment must be approved by the Committee; that it may be inconvenient for certain vendors, however, planning is the key; that with effective planning you know what your expenditures are going to be and that everything should be on the Bills List for prior approval by the Committee. Alderman Drummer said he agreed with the past need for prior approval by the Committee but felt there was a difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. He saw the need for the Township Supervisor to be able to make decisions on expenditures; the Committee needed to understand that there were certain things that needed to be done; if an emergency was in place he would expect the Supervisor to make decisions and expenditures that would be necessary. He did not see it as a need for the Committee to be rigid. Alderman Rainey said she had served for nine years on the Administration and Public Works Committee; that there was no one than her more aware than the reality of an emergency but she did not want the Township Committee to fall into the old trap of looking at a Bills List and saying what can we do, she's already spent it. She believed that there was a conceptual and legislative nature to the Committee's right to approve expenditures. She wanted rigidity in terms of not allowing payments to go out without prior Committee approval. She told the Supervisor that she did not have the experience of having sat on the Township Committee for two years and could not appreciate what the Committee went through. Supervisor Payne said she had no intent of sitting for two years and having the past thrown up to her; it was brought up in every meeting. She felt she could not run an office that way; were payroll expenditures to be the only ones not allowed to be spent without prior Committee approval? Alderman Rainey responded rent, payroll, and the grants to clients are the only allowed expenditures. She felt the Committee's authority was in the statute. Supervisor Payne responded that the statute said the Trustees have auditing authority, not prior approval. Alderman Rainey said the Supervisor needs the benefit of legal memos the Committee has seen before; that the Committee had total control of Township funds; that she felt the Committee absolutely had to approve payments; government is different from private industry, Alderman Washington indicated that her understanding of the Township statute was similar to Supervisor Payne. She felt that the extent to which the Committee exerted authority only happened because the previous Supervisor allowed the Committee to do it. She encouraged the Committee to forget about the past; that it is not fair of the Supervisor that she has to listen to past misdeeds. Alderman Brady said she did not serve on the Township Committee during that period, however it was a very important subject. She wanted to review past legal opinions; wanted clarification as to what authority the Committee did have; would like to head off a disagreement. She requested that staff contact Mr. Hill in the }' TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE r� Minutes of 10/2/91 . . . Page 3 Law Department to get an opinion as to the authority of the Committee to require prior approval of expenditures on all non -fixed costs in the Town Fund and the G.A. Fund. Michael Kent noted that for the sake of clarification in this entire fiscal year, every bill has been sent to the Committee; some have been prepaid but the Committee is seeing every bill. Alderman Drummer still felt there was a concern of the practicality in business sense of the Committee requiring prior approval on everything and felt that a 30 day billing cycle was not an effective way to operate. He felt no matter which way the legal opinion came down there was a need to work cooperatively with the Township. Alderman Brady agreed but still felt a written policy would clarify things. Alderman Drummer felt that opinions had already been issued that showed that once the transfer of funds is made from the Town Fund to the G.A. Fund the Supervisor has the authority and control over those funds. He felt that most Town Fund payments are fixed costs and felt the Committee was getting all the information it needed about those expenditures. Alderman Brady suggested that this be deferred to be an item of discussion after the legal opinion is issued. Then the Committee should discuss it with the Township Supervisor. Alderman Rainey felt there was a grave philosophical difference between her and Alderman Drummer. She viewed taxpayer money as sacrosanct. She was adamant that the legal opinion be secured from Mr. Hill. She had great respect for the Township Supervisor; however, everyone needed observation and approval; that there were no unimportant expenditures and that any emergencies which resulted were the result of bad planning in the Township. Alderman Rainey and Supervisor Payne had a further discussion about the level of approval which was required. Supervisor Payne felt that if the Committee was demanding this level of oversight, there was no role for the Township Supervisor and that the Township Director could report directly to the Township Committee. Alderman Rainey felt the Supervisor's role was one of policy and overall control; noted that the Mayor of the City did not have prior expenditure authority. Alderman Drummer felt the A & PW Committee did not have prior approval over every expenditure. Alderman Brady noted, however, that the City did asterisk anything that has been prepaid; that the City does not send out checks and expenditures until the Council has approved it. Alderman Drummer said he did not believe that covered every expenditure. He agreed, however. that the Committee should seek the legal opinion in question. Alderman Wollin had a question about a notation in the audit that G.A. client checks are voided after six months and asked if it wasn't usually 90 days. Supervisor Payne responded that it was up to the issuer of the checks. Alderman Wollin asked if it was printed on the checks and Ms. Jolliff responded yes, the new ones. Supervisor Payne noted that often it depends on the bank policy as to whether they will honor the check anyway. Alderman Rainey said given the fact that G.A. checks are supposed to be payments of last resort for people who desperately need them, what 1 TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE` Minutes of 10/2/91 Page 4 y would be wrong with stamping on the check "Void after 30 days." Alderman Drummer and Ms. Jolliff expressed a concern that most of the checks in question that had not been cashed were landlord checks rather than client checks. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Lj,S,s Alderman Wollin questioned the G.A. Fund expenditures for Michael Mayer. Ms. Jolliff responded that the $852 charge was a continuation of the repairs on the system; the $525 charge was to generate reports for the audit. Alderman Wollin asked why that was necessary and Ms. Jolliff said it was part of the independence of the audit; that there were certain reports that needed to be generated directly from the computer to the auditors without Township staff being involved. She noted that next month she would have an opinion from FERS as to the condition of the system and what was needed to repair it. Alderman Drummer asked if FERS would be seeking a software contract. Ms. Jolliff said she simply asked FERS for an overall opinion of the system. Alderman Rainey asked if FERS would be charging us. Ms. Jolliff said they had to come out twice to install software packages of DOS 4.0 and DOS 5.0. Alderman Rainey asked what requires them to come out and Ms. Jolliff responded FERS came out to load the system. Alderman Rainey felt that what FERS was really providing the Township was a consultant's opinion. Alderman Washington asked that if there was new software involved was that software guaranteed. Ms. Jolliff noted that the Township has a customized program and when it is customized there are more problems. Alderman Wollin noted that at the previous meeting there was a discussion of calling Chris Ryan of Deloitte and Touche and they responded that there was nothing they could do and they were not, in fact, surprised to hear about the problem. Alderman Washington noted that Michael Mayer came via Deloitte and Touche. Alderman Rainey made a motion that she wanted a letter sent to Deloitte and Touche stating it would be a waste of time to ever give the City or Township of Evanston as a reference for their services. She wanted the letter to go directly to the Deloitte and Touche partnership; that they had been so confident that the system had been okay. She characterized Deloitte and Touche's services as a "box and drop" operation. Alderman Washington seconded that motion. Alderman Rainey asked that the letter be written in as threatening a tone as possible. Alderman Drummer cautioned and felt the letter should be more diplomatic. Alderman Wollin noted she had gone through old correspondence with Deloitte and Touche which said they could be available as backup. Alderman Drummer noted that Deloitte and Touche had made the Committee promises; wanted to see if a phone call could be more effective than a letter. Alderman Rainey felt there was a need for Deloitte and Touche to live up to their agreements. The Committee had a discussion as to whether or not Deloitte and Touche should be contacted by phone or letter. Alderman Drummer indicated he would be calling Deloitte and Touche. Alderman Rainey asked about the payroll tax and wage law seminar, and who went. Ms. Jolliff said she and Sherry Zhou went. Alderman Rainey asked who was the seminar targeted to. Ms. Jolliff responded payroll policy people, those who work in wage law; there were certain elements of wage law in which t !. TOWNSHIP MINUTES Minutes of 10/2/91 . . . Page 5 the Township was not in compliance; felt it was important that both she and Sherry go; that there were payroll issues which had been raised involving the former Supervisor, including paying for overtime which wasn't overtime, and how to handle wage garnishments. Alderman Drummer asked why it was approved without Committee approval. Ms. Jolliff responded it was merely a matter of timing; the notice of the meeting was received after the last Township Committee meeting, but the training was held before this month's meeting. Alderman Rainey asked for clarification of the checks for SSI reimbursement. Ms. Jolliff responded that the checks are issued to the Township. The Township takes out the money that is owed them for having provided G.A. and then cuts a check back to the client. However, she noted that from now on the process would involve the Township only receiving a check for expenditures that were incurred. Ms. Jolliff noted that there would be an addition to the Bills List of an interim bill for $4,000 from FERS related to the audit. With that addition, the Committee unanimously approved Township monthly bills in the amount of $99,119.91. REVENUE AND EXPENSE STATEMENT Alderman Rainey said she wanted information on the Client/Education Expenditure line item. She wanted to know who, what, when, where was paid out of that line item and how much. She had questions about the Clerical Trainer year-to-date figure; wanted to know where the clerical trainer plan was;, how many hours the program would involve, and what was the program to be. Mr. Kent noted that the expenditures in Client/Education related to Phillip Radtke. Alderman Rainey noted her request for information on that line item remained. Alderman Washington sought clarification between Township expenditures for Phillip Radtke and the UBP allocation from Township for GRASP. Alderman Brady asked why some of the medical categories were overbudget. Ms. Jolliff noted that hospital inpatient, in fact, was lower primarily, she felt, due to people being put on SSI. Alderman Rainey indicated she again had a concern with the issue of glasses; that Dr. Speigel was a vendor who charged a lot of money. She still is concerned that clients can go anywhere they want to, and that a public aid type rate for glasses Was not paid. his. Jolliff suggested that the program could be reformed by having a limited selection of glasses from which G.A. clients could choose, or placing a cap on the reimbursement level of the type of glasses for which the Township would pay. Alderman Brady asked for clarification as to why Township clients had total freedom of choice for medical services. She noted that even an HMO plan or private medical insurance has a fully delineated statement of what is covered and what is not. Alderman Drummer asked for more information on the freedom of choice and a cap issue from the Township staff for the next Township meeting. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 10/2/91 . . . Page 6 TOWNSHIP MEDICAL BILU Questions were raised about expenditures to Elite Look, Inc., the City of Chicago, Dr. Cheeks, Premium Dental. The Committee had a discussion about one client with cancer and the expenditures incurred from that. The Committee unanimously approved medical expenditures in the amount of $19,570.73. CONSIDERATION OF OTHER BUSINESS Alderman Washington inquired as to why the Committee was going through the Receiving issue again; felt that it was something the City Council had decided years earlier. Alderman Brady indicated she had some concerns about Unified Budgeting and the process that would be used to approve Township allocations. It was her belief that the City and the Township Unified Budget representatives should begin a process of shifting funds so there could be primary funders and primary monitors. For example, the City and Township could agree that one or the other would fund GRASP totally, so that only one staff person would be the primary monitor for the GRASP program without cutting the total dollars available to the agency. Alderman Wollin noted she had a concern about the BE -HIV satellite in Arlington Heights in guaranteeing that no Township funds were used to pay for that. Her preference was still that there be a performance contract for certain agencies outside of the UBP. Mr. Terry asked regarding the receiving Township issue, as to who is responsible for making informal contact with the IDPA. Mr. Terry was directed to make an inquiry with Larry Suffredin or Senator Berman as to how that should be done. Supervisor Payne announced that the Township was still looking for a place to - move. She felt that the City owned building on Church Street where ECDC is located was filled with Code violations; that the Township has asked the City for a list of all vacant commercial property in the City and was hoping to get E it soon. Alderman Brady said she would still be interested in a proposal whereby the - Township would take over the Lekotek space in the Civic Center, provided proper notice was given to Lekotek. Alderman Rainey said she would like to see a proposal which makes the case for more space; that she has never seen_ one. She personally does not condone the Township seeking larger space; that many managers are able to manage operations on two floors. She didn't �k understand why there needed to be space to have all 225 clients come at once. She was currently not in favor of any space for the Township beyond what was available in the Civic Center. Alderman Drummer felt it was still important E for any organization to have space conducive to their basic mission and smooth E operation. _ TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 10/2/91 . . . Page 7 The Committee unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:25 p.m. *\1, (111� Jay W. Terry Q9AFT-NOT APPROVED MINUTES TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE November 6, 1991 7:30 P.M. Room 2402 PRESENT: Alderman Drummer, Brady, Washington, Wollin, Rainey, Newman, Esch OFFICIALS AND Supervisor Betty Payne, Veranda Jolliff, Michael Kent, STAFF PRESENT: Jay Terry OTHERS Irwin Lyons, Karen Pornoy (FERS) PRESENT: PRESIDING: Alderman Drummer CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. MINUTES The minutes of October 2, 1991 were considered. Alderman Rainey noted a number of questions raised in the minutes, the answers to which the Committee had not received. One was the Client Education program; members were expecting a staff report, as well as one regarding freedom of choice of medical services. Alderman Wollin noted the minutes contained a number of questions about medical bills which had not yet been answered. Ms. Jolliff reminded the Committee that the Township was still pursuing the issue of a cap on all reimbursement levels. She also noted that the Client Education line had been charged inadvertently for Phil Radtke's summer services. Alderman Rainey said her questions about Client Education still stood. She wanted to know the number of hours, the number of clients, and what is going on in the program, Alderman Drummmer reminded the Committee that the changes had been discussed during the budget preparation period; however, he felt a status report at this time was appropriate. Ms. Jolliff responded that the first class was still in session but there had been no placement results as of yet. Alderman Rainey indicated she wanted information on what was being taught, what type of skills. Alderman Drummer asked Township staff to update the memo sent during the budget process. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 11/6/91 . . . Page 2 Alderman Wollin noted the Phil Radtke GRASP question related to questions that she had about GRASP, as to whether there was no other GRASP program during the summer when the Township pays Mr. Radtke. Supervisor Payne reminded the Committee it is a special program for the Township. Alderman Rainey asked if the City and Township representatives to the Unified Budget Process had been able to determine how many GRASP Township clients there were; wanted to know if the Township Committee could get copies of the data which the UBP representatives had reviewed. Alderman Wollin indicated she had that information and would transmit it to Alderman Rainey. Ms. Jolliff reminded the Committee that the Township's allocation to GRASP was for more than just a special class. Alderman Rainey and Alderman Brady repeated questions they had previously raised regarding client freedom of choice related to medical bills. Alderman Drummer said he recalled hearing that it was a statutory requirement. Alderman Brady said she could not understand why that would be so. She would like a memo from staff which clarifies the legal rights of the Township clients to medical services, and asked that a special report be prepared for the December Township Committee meeting. Ms. Jolliff indicated she believed the issue would be worked out if the Township simply made sure every provider knew that the Township would only pay the Illinois Department of Public Aid reimbursement rate. Alderman Brady indicated she still would like to see it as an item for discussion for the next meeting. Ms. Jolliff noted that clients generally don't tell Evanston Hospital that they are General Assistance clients when they come in for service. Even the issuance of cards has not solved the problem as clients don't necessarily show the cards. Alderman Washington recalled the question she had about a client who had a job and the Township paid the balance of the bill. She wondered what the special circumstances were that Justified that payment. Alderman Drummer agreed that there were many questions and felt it was appropriate that it be scheduled as an agenda item for the December meeting. The minutes of October were unanimously approved. COMMUNICATIONS G.A.A.S. Client Report Alderman Brady expressed her congratulations to Township staff for scrutinizing the client rolls. Alderman Drummer indicated his surprise that the client rolls could be reduced to this level this quickly. He asked further questions regarding clients who were seen as pending. Ms. Jolliff noted that not all pending clients get approved. She noted that in September, of the 31 pending clients, 16 were ultimately accepted. Alderman Drummer inquired the number of rejected clients was going up, and was that why the total number of clients was going down. Ms. Jolliff said rejection can often occur on the first screening so it wasn't necessarily a direct factor for the client load going down. Alderman Rainey indicated it could be a reflection that the initial interviews are now much more accurate. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of I1/6/91 . . . Page 3 ¢rticle on Food Stamp Usage This article was accepted without comment. fl linois Deoartme.nt of Public Aid Ii DPA1 Procedures Alderman Brady sought some clarification in the difference between the two procedures. Ms. Jolliff stated one was the procedure in place for Chicago, but basically they were the same policy. Alderman Rainey noted that she has been hearing a public service advertisement on behalf of the Social Security Administration telling people that if they have been rejected for SSI in the past that they may be eligible now because guidelines have changed. SEVIEW OF TOWNSHIP COMPIITFR SYSTEM Alderman Wallin reminded the Committee that Alderman Drummer h:d been asked to contact Deloitte and Touche and asked if that occurred. Alderman Drummer responded yes, he'd been involved in a conference call with Ms. Jolliff and Brian Fugel of Deloitte and Touche who offered to send Chris Ryan along with Michael Mayer to the Township to review the situation. Alderman Drummer indicated that he had a lengtl--i discussion with the Deloitte and Touche staff as to what he perceived Their obligations to the Township to be. Ms. Jolliff indicated that Chris Ryan was currently out of town; that Deloitte and Touche had requested that their visit be the following week. She noted that Alderman Rainey had suggested to her that Karen Pornoy of FERS be present when Deloitte and Touche came out so that everyone could hear the same story. Alderman Drummer asked if Township staff had any contact with Michael Mayer. Ms. Jolliff said no and she felt it was more appropriate that Deloitte and Touche have the contact with Michael Mayer. Alderman Wollin asked if Deloitte and Touche acknowledged their responsibilities towards the Township. Alderman Drummer said it was a mixed reaction; they thought maintenance costs were a reasonable expense for the Township to incur. However, Ms. Jolliff said Mr. Fugel did seem uncomfortable hearing the types of problems that the Township had been experiencing. Ms. Pornoy of FERS then gave a report regarding the communication FERS had transmitted. She said that her first contact with the Township system had come from an audit standpoint, in terms of analyzing the system's data as to whether it could be relied upon. In discussions with Veranda Jolliff she became aware of the problems, the delays, the procedures that were required within the system. She did an onsite review with a FERS programmer, and had discussions with staff. It was her determination that for the most part the problems were not operational problems. For example, one feature which should have been built into the system was a purge mechanism. Currently the Township data system has no ability to purge data and consequently, the data keeps growing and memory keeps getting consumed; that there were errors in the source code in the Township system; that there was no ability to get out of a print routine. Consequently, if a mistake is made in the print order there is no way to stop the printing once it starts. She felt there were also hardware issues that needed to be addressed. She noted that the Township had been told that they needed a TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of I1/6/91 Page 4 t new computer. Alderman Rainey asked who had told the Township staff that and Ms. Jolliff said Michael Mayer. Alderman Wollin noted that purging of General Assistance client files would not be wanted, and asked why the printer couldn't simply be turned off. Ms. Pornoy indicated that even if you turn the printer back on it would retain a memory of the print function it had been given. She indicated that there were other issues such as one of the reports, which FERS tried to process twice with the same information but received a different report each time, which would indicate there is a problem with the logic of the system. She noted that in terns of purging the G.A. files, at a certain point you would want to maintain disks outside the system or a paper file; that there was no need to maintain all this information on the file at the same time. She indicated that there are basically three options which the Township could pursue in trying to address these problems. Option one would be to just repair what needs repairing on the current system, in which FERS would use its own programmers. Option number two would be for the Township to scrap this current system and look for a less expensive "off the shelf" alternative; that there may be systems out on the market which takes you where you are and maybe further. Option number three would be to admit there was nothing out on the market and begin developing a new, custom made system for the Township. She said regarding the fees related to each one of these options: Option number one would mean going into the "guts" of the system and trying to understand it so it could be repaired, and would require a lot of time; option number two was the recommendation of FERS and appeared to be the least expensive option. She noted that if you were able to get a program off the shelf, it was not tied to specific people for maintenance support; that the problem the Township is experiencing so far is that it costs them a lot of money for other people to come in and fix the custom made system. Alderman Wollin noted that the Committee had been told by Deloitte and Touche in the past that there was nothing on the market. Ms. Pornoy noted that FERS had also bid on that project; that there may not be a program which meets 100% of the Township needs, but there may be a program which meets 98% of the Township needs and noted the other 2% could be very expensive to try to achieve. Mr. Lyons noted that FERS had made the suggestion that the Township staff and the Committee contact Deloitte and Touche before any work is done by FERS. He noted that once the Committee receives the information from Deloitte and Touche as to what will be required to solve the problem, the Committee can then make an intelligent decision. Ms. Pornoy indicated she knew that there were new i ports the Township would like to have, and if those reports were needed by the Township she was sure Deloitte and Touche would say it was not within the scope of their original engagement. She said it was her personal goal for Evanston Township to be as self-sufficient as possible. Mr. Lyons noted that the General Ledger software in the Township was off -the -shelf software and it seemed to be running very well. Alderman Brady asked what it would cost the Township for FERS to at least try to go out and identify the software that they would recommend for the TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 11/6/91 . . . Page 5 Township. Mr. Lyons and Ms. Pornoy indicated that in the proposal they had submitted that portion of the proposal was identified to cost $2,000. Alderman Brady said it would seem to her that it would be a good $2,000 to spend; that ultimately the Committee would be faced with the choice of fixing the existing system or go for a new one. She felt that the Township needed to have its options available. Alderman Drummer said he suspected he would end up agreeing with Alderman Brady, but there was a need to get the Deloitte and Touche assessment of what needed to be fixed. Ms. Pornoy reminded the Committee that FERS has done no analysis of the medical bills system and that potentially could be another "can of worms." Ms. Jolliff provided a description of some other minor problems with the system that the Township was experiencing. Alderman Drummer cautioned everyone to be realistic; that with any system there will be bugs and problems. Ms. Pornoy said she agreed but she noted that repeated problems can be a very critical fault. Alderman Rainey said she believed that the consultation with Deloitte and Touche first was a good idea, but she was looking for a comprehensive approach to managing the system and she believed that if Deloitte and Touche can fix the current problems, fine, but then felt that FERS should be in a position to make the additions which are sought to the system. Alderman Brady said she could go along with but she needed to know what all of the options were that were available to the Committee. Ms. Pornoy noted that FERS would be waiting for the Deloitte and Touche consultation as well. She noted that even if Deloitte and Touche is able to fix the existing problems, another issue is going to develop since the Township system is still a custom made program. Ms. Jolliff noted the Township staff were not requesting any action at this evening's meeting. Alderman Brady questioned who would be meeting with Deloitte and Touche and Alderman Drummer said it would be Ms. Pornoy, a FERS programmer, Ms. Jolliff, and Supervisor Payne. Alderman Wollin noted that it might not be bad to have an elected official present who heard the promises made by Deloitte and Touche. Alderman Drummer indicated he had already reminded Deloitte and Touche that he thought they had an understanding as to what their commitment was. He felt if an elected official wanted to be present that would be fine. Ms. Jolliff suggested an exit interview following the review might be appropriate so that both sides can know what the understandings are. Alderman Washington suggested a fear that the system could be deliberately broken in order to insure the engagement of Michael Mayer. She wanted to know if that happened could the FERS programmer fix any intentional damage to the system. Ms. Pornoy indicated probably, but deciphering the problems in the systems can be an intricate process. Alderman Drummer directed Ms. Jolliff to let the Committee know when this meeting would be set up. Alderman Rainey said she wanted to make a motion that Alderman Wollin be present at this meeting if at all possible. Alderman Drummer said he didn't believe a motion was appropriate; however, anyone on the Committee was welcome to attend; that he would let every Committee member when that meeting has been set up. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Iinutes of 11/6/91 . . . Page 6 Mr. Lyons encouraged the Committee, when they met with Deloitte and Toucho, to have Deloitte and Touche identify costs involved in getting tho additional information that would be necessary. Supervisor Payne indicated that her concern was if the system got fixed, how long will the information be useful. Ms. Pornoy felt that discussion should be held in conjunction with the determination of what kind of purge function on the system. She asked the Committee members how long they wanted the information and felt there were various options available. Ms. Jolliff noted that there was an additional immediate need; that Ms. Tatum was out of space on her computer; that if there was no decision on the system improvement for a month she would no doubt run out of memory on her computer and wanted to know what the Township should do on an interim basis. Ms. Pornoy noted that there were a couple of options available; that she had talked to her staff; felt there were some adjustments that could be made to clear up some of the memory in Ms. Tatum's machine; that there was always the possibility of purchasing a larger disk but there was a cost involved in doing this. Ms. Pornoy and Mr. Lyons indicated that FERS would provide the Township, the following day, with a cost sheet outlining the options available to the Township. EM OPINIONS ON BILLS APPROVAL Alderman Drummer indicated that the legal opinions which the Committee had received on the approval authority of the Committee and the Supervisor would be held for discussion at a future meeting. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Rainey received clarification of Dues bills and Clerical Instructor costs. Alderman Wollin asked about the latest bill of Michael Mayer. Ms. Jolliff indicated it was related to a problem of a power failure in the Civic Center and corruptions in Ms. Tatum's system. Alderman Brady asked about the Safety Shoes expenditure. Alderman Washington also asked about the cost of Safety Shoes. Mr. Kent indicated it was going to be charged to the Work Opportunity Program (WOP). Ms. Jolliff indicated that four pairs of shoes had been purchased. Alderman Washington questioned if City of Evanston seasonal help receive the safety shoes why the City couldn't pay for those shoes. Alderman Wollin noted that by her calculation there are almost S4,000 in bills on this list alone related somehow to supporting the computer system. She asked that a grand total be prepared of all of those types of expenditures in the current fiscal year. Mr. Kent indicated that he would prepare that list. Committee members asked Mr. Terry about the large bill for the City of Evanston Emergency Assistance program. Mr. Terry indicated that the program was not yet over budget; that per an agreement with the Supervisor and the Director, the Emergency Assistance Program was providing more detailed documentation along with its monthly invoice to the Township; that requests for food and housing had increased dramatically, both related to the economy and delays that existed in State Public Assistance processing. He said front line caseworkers in the Illinois Department of Public Aid TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 11/6/91 . . . Page 7 (IDPA) were indicating that there was up to a two to three month backlog in food stamp applications; noted that when someone successfully applies for SSI, while they are removed from the G.A. rolls they are eligible to apply for Emergency Assistance. Mr. Terry said that all of these factors combined produced an unreasonably high emergency assistance expenditure. The Committee unanimously approved monthly bills in the amount of $62,608.64. TOWNSHIP MONTHLY MEDICAL BILU Alderman Wollin noted that on page 116 of the detailed client list there appeared to be four identical medical examinations; asked staff to check that. Alderman Brady asked about the charges for physicals. Ms. Jolliff indicated that all clients, after they are determined eligible, are asked to get physical examinations. Ms. Jolliff and Alderman Brady clarified the costs of those examinations, and Alderman Wollin noted at least a base line physical would then be in every client's file. Ms. Jolliff noted that staff are finding that many of the Townships clients could benefit from various wellness programs. Alderman Rainey asked if the Township was satisfied with the client reports thzy are getting from the Rogers Park Clinic. Ms. Jolliff said yes, they have been very cooperative. Any information the Township has asked from the clinics has been provided. Alderman Brady indicated that this, once again, raised questions about the freedom of choice issue. She wanted to know why, in theory, the Township couldn't mandate that the Rogers Park Clinic be the provider of choice. The Committee approved medical expenditures in the amount of S21,233.05. However, the Committee asked Township staff to examine expenditures on page 116, 117, and 56 to insure that there were no duplications of expenditures. Approval of those pages was contingent upon that review. MONTHLY REVENUE AND EXPENSE STATEMENT Mr. Kent noted that the Township nad 31 million dollars in the bank; that he expected another $100,000 coming in; that there would be no need for the Township to borrow money at all. He noted that at the end of seven months if expenditures are on target you would expend at the 58% level and noted that every item is within that budget except the Supervisor's budget because all of the FERS bills have been paid already. Alderman Newman noted that the Township budget had been budgeted for 275 clients; that the Township is now down to 195 and expected that there would be a surplus. Alderman Rainey clarified that the budget was for 250 clients, and by her calculations the line item for client grants and rent had been underspent by S43,000 thus far in the fiscal year. DISCUSSION OF THE ISSUE OF RECEIVING TOWNSHIP Alderman Newman felt that the staff update on other Townships' assistance levels was a good start. He felt there was some missing information; that A TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 11/6/91 . . . Page 8 many of the Townships mentioned on the chart were not coterminous. He felt there was demographic information available on some of the Townships. He particularly would like to see comparisons with certain other Townships such as Thornton; needed to know the number of clients; needed to know the population size of Townships so some comparisons could be made. Alderman Drummer and Alderman Rainey expressed questions in terms of which Townships were appropriate for comparison. Alderman Brady indicated a concern that G.A. was an entitlement program and the demographics really didn't make a difference. Alderman Newman indicated that comparisons were still worthwhile such as in Oak Park where Workfare was a requirement but in Evanston it was not. Alderman Brady felt that was a different type question. Alderman Newman felt comparisons were appropriate because he felt demographics were appropriate. Alderman Brady felt that if possible she would want to add the 48 and 49th ward as areas worthy of comparison. Alderman Washington expressed her concern; she still did not understand the point of making Evanston a receiving Township; felt that if Aldermen wanted to pursue it that the Township Committee should appoint a subcommittee. She felt there were more homeless, more hungry and was not interested in pursuing the receiving township issue and asked that time not be taken up with this issue. Alderman Drummer indicated that the Township Committee was going to give this issue a fair review. He did not intend to appoint a subcommittee and did not feel extra meetings were necessary. Alderman Brady noted that even if you are a receiving Township you must still levy your 1 mil for G.A. Alderman Drummer said there is a need to know what other Townships are doing. Alderman Newman indicated that he wanted to apologize if any Aldermen felt it was not worthy of their time to pursue this issue, but felt it was of concern to the community. Alderman Washington indicated her concern that the reviews of the receiving Township were targeted at specific populations. Alderman Newman noted there might be other models worth looking at; that it was not his point to consider cutting the grant level. He said there are those out in the community who might argue that; that there were those who could argue that receiving a grant of $314 a month and being eligible for food stamps, and complete medical and dental coverage was better than a poor person who is working in a $4.00 an hour job. However, that was a philosophical question. He felt that anyone who could say his position was an attack on poor people was an unfair criticism. Alderman Washington expressed her strong concern that review of this issue was not appropriate for the Committee, and she was vehemently opposed to some of the methods used to analyze the issue. Alderr,�an Drummer indicated that discussion on this matter would cease for the evening, and that he would discuss with staff whatever steps would be appropriate for pursuing further information. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 11/6/91 Page 9 �,ONS;DERATION OF RFSOLUTJffl--W-0-91 TAX LEVY ORDINANCE FOR THE TOWN OF EMNSTON. COOK COUNTY AR BEGINNING_APRIL 1. 1991 Alderman Wollin made a motion to approve this resolution, Alderman Brady seconded, and it passed unanimously. The Committee voted unanimously to adjourn at 9:35 p.m. 1 f�r Jay W. Terry PRESENT: ABSENT: OFFICIALS AND 5MEF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: PRESIDING: C&L TO OfI P3AFT-RIOT APPROVED ' MINUTES TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE December 4, 1991 7:30 P.M. Room 2402 Aldermen Drummer, Brady, Woliin, Aldermen Rainey, Washington Supervisor Betty Payne, Michael Kent, Jay Terry Cheryl Judice-Powell Alderman Drummer The meeting was called to order at 7:35 p.m. The minutes of the meeting of November 6, 1991 were considered. Alderman Drummer noted that there were items in the minutes that reflected information which the Committee still wished to have. He asked Committee members to give specific requests for information to Supervisor Payne so the Committee could receive those answers. He noted that one of those was the entire issue of freedom of choice for medical services for Township clients. Mr. Terry indicated he had asked First Assistant Corporation Council Herbert Hill to provide some legal research into this question, but he had been unable to provide the information in time for this meeting. Alderman Wollin noted a memo which had been sent by former Supervisor Summers in November of 1990 which cited an intent to use all IDPA funding guidelines. She felt that so long as we were capping reimbursement at the IDPA rates the remaining issue was to establish a written poi icy on glasses and dental services. Alderman Brady felt there was a larger question than just the reimbursement rates; that there was a question of control. She wasn't interested in denying access to medical care to any Township clients but felt the Township needed to have a little more institutional control; perhaps limiting which doctors could be seen. She noted that in the current situation clients can pursue their own medical needs without intervention from the Township at any step. She felt there might be an advantage in enrolling clients in an HMO type setting with the Township paying the TOWNCHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 12/4/91 . . . Page 2 premiums, She wasn't necessarily advocating that but felt it was an issue worth pursuing. Alderman Drummer felt that most, if not all, HMOs would be reluctant to take Township clients but agreed it was a proposal worth looking at. Alderman Brady noted that the Township was already using the Rogers Park Clinic; it could be identified as a clinic of choice. She again stated that a full discussion on the issue was appropriate; that there might be ways for the Township to be more efficient in the expenditure of its medical care dollars. Supervisor Payne cautioned that she or no one else in the Township had that type of expertise on medical insurance or HMO type programs. Alderman Brady felt that talking to the Rogers Park Clinic might be a good first step. The Committee consensus was, however, that no discussions would be hold until Mr. Hill's legal research had been provided. The minutes of November b, 1991 were approved unanimously. COMMUNICATIONS GAAS Client Information Alderman Drummer noted that client rolls were maintaining a lower level. He expected, given the state of the economy, to see an increase which had not yet materialized. CONSIDE.PATION OF APPEAL OF UNIFIED BUDGET ALLOCATION FOR GRASP Alderman Wallin noted that the memo submitted by by GRASP reflected accurately a phone conversation which took place between her and Cheryl Judice-Powell; however, felt there.were a couple of other points which the memo did not reflect. One, the City and the Township had to allocate funds with a lower base because of cuts in the budget, and also that GRASP's lower allocation was a reflection of priorities; that the Township and the City were committed to fund BE -HIV as a new agency to address the issue of AIDS in the community, and that by setting that priority certain agencies would receive less funds. Alderman Drummer noted that this was the first Unified Budget appeal being considered by the Township Committee. It was his belief that the appeal should be reviewed by the Supervisor; that the Committee should defer to the Supervisor and the Township Committee could follow that lead. Supervisor Payne acknowledged that she was part of the allocation process. She felt that all the reasons which had been previously stated for GRASP's allocation were good reasons; that there was a need to try and fund new agencies. Her initial reaction upon receiving GRASP's appeal was there were no funds available, but she went back and reviewed the allocations made to the agencies; that reductions in budget tended to average around l%; acknowledged that GRASP received the largest cut; felt it was unfortunate that happened. It was her personal intention when developing the next Township budget to factor in an additional $2,000 for GRASP; felt that the brunt of the budget reductions fell unfairly on one agency. Alderman Brady questioned whether the Township Committee would be reviewing the entire Unified Budget allocations for Township funds similar to Human S e. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 12/4/91 Page 3 Services' review of UBP allocations for City funds; questioned what the process would be. Mr. Terry responded that all Council/Trustees had received copies of all the allocations. Alderman Brady acknowledged that but wondered what the approval process was; noted that she would like some follow up discussion of the Township Committee recommendation to have certain agencies be funded with City funds and other agencies with Township funds. Alderman Drummer said there was no set Township Committee approval process but there could be. The relationship between the funders and Unified Budgeting has always been a little unclear; that there wasn't necessarily an approval process until the budget was passed. Alderman Wollin felt that the Human Services Committee had already approved the City and Mental Health Board UBP allocations and that it would be appropriate for the Township Committee to review. The Committee discussed whether that would occur separately or part of the overall Township budget review process in the Spring. Alderman Brady felt the Township Committee should perform the same role for the Township as the Human Services Committee did for the City. She commented to Alderman Wallin, noting that S2,000 additionally in Township money was promised to 4Cs's outside of the UBP. Alderman Wollin noted that commitment was made only of the funds were available. The Committee had further discussion as to whether or not GRASP's appeal should be heard. Supervisor Payne noted that even if the UBP allocations were considered to be binding on the funders, she still has taken a look at the numbers and feels that they are lopsided and wants to allocate an additional $2,000 to GRASP. Alderman Wollin noted that the $50,000 that GRASP would be receiving was a sizable contribution; that Panelists were concerned about the dependency of any agency on the City and Township funds for their total survival. She noted that money will not be increased in the coming years; that the $50,000 represented a substantial allocation for literacy. She said she would reluctantly concur with Supervisor Payne's decision, but cautioned the representatives from GRASP that dollars will not be there in the future; that they were giving the agency fair warning; apologized if the GRASP review was not as comprehensive as it could be. Mr. Terry attempted to clarify that the $2,000 for GRASP would be adding S2,000 to the total funding for all agencies or would there be reallocations among agencies. Supervisor Payne said she is adding S2,000 to the entire pool. Alderman Brady questioned this, noting that a figure had already been identified for all purchased Community Action programs; that a figure had been identified in keeping with the spirit of the City budget policy. Alderman Drummer responded, however, that the Committee could always reconsider that. Alderman Wollin noted, however, that is exactly what the United Way asked the Mental Health Board to do. She noted that there are times when you must draw a line in the sand and say we can't increase budgets. She again said she was uncomfortable with the Supervisor's decision, but would reluctantly go along with it. Supervisor Payne noted the $2,000 which had been identified for 4C's as a commitment that had been made outside the process. Alderman Wollin noted, however, that those were anticipated savings for the Teen Baby Nursery as a result of federal funding which would be coming; federal funding which is made possible, in part, because TOWNSHIP COMMYTTEE Minutes of 12/4/9I Page 4 of the community match to 4C's and it that since 4C's UBP request is a match, it was important to keep that match at a constant level; that is not the case in the GRASP funding allocation. Alderman Brady indicated she would like to have the GRASP allocation considered in the same way as all agencies. She said in order to implement the budget pol icy for the City and the Township, there was a need to hold back tears while listening to pleas from agencies; that she would not be in favor of adding an additional S2,000 to the community action total. She was unclear as to the authority of the Supervisor or the Committee to make that decision; however, speaking as an individual she is not in favor of that S2,000 increase. Supervisor Payne indicated that it was her personal decision, and her personal feeling was she thought it should be done. Alderman Drummer noted the Township Committee is not bound by the City's budget policy. He noted that the reduction in Township purchased services was done in the spirit of that policy, but there was not a need to follow the letter; felt that the overall Township budget would be well within the budget policy. He was not anxious to draw a line in the sand; felt that the Township budget was the last budget with the ability to support some social service agencies and felt that some compassion should be shown towards these agencies. He supported the Township Supervisor's decision to add $2,000. Alderman wollin noted she would encourage the Township to work very closely wi th GRASP and that she is not at all impressed with the test results on Township clients which she has seen thus far. Supervisor Payne said the agency is well aware of the Township's concerns; noted that perhaps no one has asked GRASP to be accountable before. Alderman Drummer indicated that no final decision had to be made this evening; there Was still some time. Alderman Brady and Alderman Drummer engaged in a discussion of what the approval process should be for this recommendation from the Supervisor. Alderman Brady requested clarification as to what the procedure would be; indicated she still had concerns about adding this S 2,000. Alderman Drummer said that the Committee has now received the opinion from the Supervisor that the numbers should be changed. He would anticipate that increase would be reflected in the Supervisors proposed Township budget for the next fiscal year; said that the Township Committee will have an opportunity to review that allocation as part of its overall consideration of the proposed Township budget. Cheryl audice_powell expressed her gratitude to the Township Supervisor for the allocation of the extra $2,000. CONS IOERAT 0 OF TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS - NOVEMBER 1991 Alderman Brady and Alderman Wollin inquired about the bill for a car liability insurance; asked if the Township secured proof that the Township was listed as an additional insured on the employee's policy. Supervisor Payne assured that was done. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 12/4/91 . . . Page 5 W Alderman Wallin asked about the bill for Smith Enterprises Client Workshops; asked about the topic, how many clients, and how often. Supervisor Payne indicated that the topics included self esteem and other topics related to job preparation; to the best of her recollection, there were 15 clients that were involved. Michael Kent noted an error in the Bills List; two payments were listed as going to ACORN, when in fact, one of them should be for the Evanston Community Defender. The Committee directed Mr. Kent to insure that two checks were not also sent to ACORN. Alderman Drummer asked about the expenditure for Robinson Bus. Supervisor Payne noted that the bus was taking clients to an Operation ABLE job seminar in the Loop. Alderman Brady asked about the expenditure for First Commonwealth. Supervisor Payne indicated that was the new dental plan for the Township employees and would be a regular item on the Bills List. Mr. Kent noted that the Bills List should have a payroll addition; that there were three payrolls, not two, in the month of November, and that a figure of $11,201.50 should be added to the line item for payroll. On the Revenue and Expense Statement, Alderman Brady noted that token expenditures had already exceeded budget and asked for an explanation at the next meeting from the Township staff. Mr. Kent felt all categories were within the budget. While certain line items might exceed the budget, each one of the general budget categories was well within budget. He noted that thus far, based on expenditures, the Township is averaging 223 clients for the year, and also noted that if you divide the medical expenditures by the number of clients, the Township, thus far this year, is spending S75 per client per month for medical services. Alderman Wallin noted regarding the previous discussion about an HMO that one of the details that would have to be worked out would be to let the HMO know about clients who are on suspension. Alderman Wallin noted a high expenditure for Printing and Duplicating. Alderman Drummer cautioned Committee members to look at the broad budget categories and not be concerned about particular line items. Mr. Kent noted for one of the expenditures which exceed budget, last year a lot of dental work had been included in hospital in -patient charges, but now more dental work is being done by dentists outside of the hospital setting and that is why that line item has been exceeded. Alderman Brady said it should be noted that while the Committee is very pleased that the budget is down, given the decrease in the client caseload there is every expectation that the budget should be down, and she would not expect to see 100% expenditures in all other categories at the end of the year. TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE Minutes of 12/4/91 . . . Page 6 CONSIDERATION OF TOW 51UP MQ Y MEDICAL. BILLS Alderman Drummer said, after reviewing certain clients with high billable time within the hospitals, how appreciative the Township and City should be that the hospitals are willing to accept the Public Aid rate for in -patient services. The Committee identified questions on certain medical expenditures on which they wished to have further information. One was the bill for the City of Evanston, the second was the City of Waukegan Fire Department, and the third was an expenditure for Abbey/Foster Home Health Services. Alderman Brady and Alderman Wollin both expressed strong concern about the case histories which had been attached, shoaling that at least two families were on the G.A. rolls and were being served. Alderman Brady felt there was no reason for families to be on G.A.; that they should be covered by other State or federal programs; asked for a further explanation on how it was that these families were on G.A., and also whether there were any more families on the Evanston Township G.A. rolls. Alderman Wollin noted these were the bills which had been questioned at the previous month's meeting, and the Committee had been right to question these last month. Alderman Wollin said she would like a further explanation of page 135 of the client detail report, a Fetal Assessment; wanted to have a further explanation of that client's situation, and whether that client should be on Public Aid rather than G.A. The Committee unanimously approved Township monthly bills in the amount of S17,675.51. OTHER BUSINESS Alderman Wollin noted that, based on her review of past documents and her analysis of the budget, it would appear to her that the Township staff have negotiated a new schedule of payment or figures with the Youth Job Center; that she would like to receive for the next meeting a description of what the current reimbursement rate and schedule is for job placements through the Youth Job Center. Alderman Wollin also noted she would be ready for the meeting to be held with Deloitte and Touche the following day. It was confirmed that Michael Kent would be there as well. Alderman Wollin indicated she had attended a briefing session on the new PIC City Recycling Center, and thought it was a well thought out training program. An issue which came up during this training program was the persons who will be working at the Recycling Center under the PIC program will not have medical insurance coverage. She was sure the question might come up at some point of whether the Township could cover their medical expenditures while clients would be participating in the program. Alderman Brady felt they should be eligible for Medicaid. The Committee felt f ' TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE ' Minutes of 12/4/91 . . . Page 7 Township staff should pursue whether these clients would be eligible for Medicaid and felt that Township staff Mr. Combs should pursue that issue. Alderman Wollin noted her concern over one issue which had come up was PIC's willingness to define as an Evanston resident someone who had spent even one night in the homeless shelter and was therefore eligible to participate in the program. Alderman Brady indicated she was still waiting for an in-depth discussion and a status report on the residency issue and pending Township litigation. She was anxious to have that discussion. After some Committee discussion it was the consensus of the Committee members that Chairman Drummer would call Jack Siegel and invite him to come to the next Township Committee meeting and provide that update on residency issues. The Committee consulted their calendar and noted that the first Wednesday in January was New Year's Day. It was the Committee consensus that the January meeting of the Township Committee on January 8th. The Committee unanimously voted to adjourn at 9:00 p.m. Jay W. Terry