County Board 3/27

A lot of dire news on the Nursing Home at last night's County Board meeting. From the News-Gazette today (meeting notes write up below):

Champaign County Board OKs up to $210,000 in loans to nursing home
Champaign County Board members Tuesday night agreed to loan up to $210,000 immediately to make payments to support the Champaign County Nursing Home.

In one vote, board members approved, 15-5, a plan to use the county general fund to cover ongoing nursing home payroll costs...

In the second vote, the board OK'd making $94,038 in structured payments out of the county's general fund to vendors at the nursing home. That resolution passed, 16-4.

Republicans on the board warned that the financial conditions at the institution are worsening monthly, and that the nursing home expenses may require cuts elsewhere in the budget.

"We're headed toward the financial disaster I've been talking about for the better part of the year I've been on the board," said Mahomet Republican Jim Goss, who argued that the county budget might have to be cut to afford the payments to the nursing home. "This thing is running away from itself and it's a snowball that we're not able to stop at this point. We've got to come to hard decisions here in the next 30, 45 days at the very slowest."

The full article, here, has more information about the canceled Rosecrance negotiations to lease a wing of the Nursing Home for drug treatment as well. A write up will be added here later today (hopefully) in an update.


Meeting Notes: (video link)

The meeting was called to order at 6:31pm. All present except R - Jon Rector and D - Lorraine Cowart. One of the agenda items was canceled (Rosecrance lease) "no action" today. Agenda and next meetings approved. Highlight: There is going to be a Justice & Social Services Committee Meeting on April 10th.

There were no takers for Public Participation tonight.

Member Goss asked for a Nursing Home related item to be taken off the consent agenda (which requires unanimous support to pass). Motion carried. In Communications it was noted there was a comment from the HACC and a report from the Champaign Economic Development Corporation in member's material for the meeting.

The Re-Entry Annual Report and Presentation (direct video link) was presented by Bruce Barnard of Rosecrance tonight (who was also with the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration). Champaign has been deemed an "innovator county" due to its stepping up on these issues. He explained that this was something to be proud of. He provided a list of reentry council membership (see video when available). He pointed out that the number of people in jail is down significantly while mental health services are up significantly. "Do we have more work to do? Yes."

He thanked Allen Jones (Deputy Sheriff) and State's Attorney Julia Rietz for their efforts on the program, as well as Celeste Blodgett who has recently moved on to another related job in the community for her work on the program over the past three years.

Most of the report itself and followup questions relied on the Power Point presentation, so watching the video link is probably the best approach.

After that presentation there was a motion required of the previous reentry contract (soon to expire) to make notification to renegotiate for the next contract as required. Basically to renew the contract this bureaucratic step is required in the contract. It passed by voice, all ayes.

In finance there was some question about late fees associated with some credit card payments made (as opposed to writing checks) that Member Stohr wanted more details on from the Auditor. The Auditor will be sending that information via e-mail to the board.

On the Nursing Home payroll loan Anderson requested a roll call. In the discussion, the treasurer explained that the funds would be used immediately as payroll is due tomorrow and the Nursing Home does not have the cash on hand to cover it in response to McGuire's question. Petrie had a question on why the payroll was higher was answered due to overtime by the interim Administrator Busey. Anderson asked if it was a majority vote to pass. Chair says yes. Passed 15-5 in roll call with Clifford, Harper, McGuire, Mitchell, and Clemmons voting no.

The next questions came up with a truck purchase pulled from the consent agenda by request of Goss who didn't believe now was the time for the purchase given the budget crunch. The Chair and Administrator pointed out that the funds in this case were "restricted use" from the Transportation Fund and not generally available for items outside of transportation. The voice vote was too close to discern. The hand count was 14-6, passing.

The approval of using federal funds for mass transit needs had a motion to suspend the rules as it had not passed through committee first. The motion passed all ayes. The discussion included a question by McGuire on where the furniture was to be purchased to avoid a conflict of interest. The amount has been set, not the source yet (no apparent conflict). He asked for a quick explanation of the funding which is from a federal grant that is either "use it or lose it" that they are going to be using for software, furniture, and equipping buses with bike rack/mounts. Passes voice, no nays.

On the Juvenile Detention Center agreement with Correct Care Solutions the Chair noted a date correction. Stohr asked if the company was local and using local facilities. Busey noted it was based out of Nashville and selected via a competitive bid process via the Sheriff's Department. Passed by voice vote, all ayes.

On the Addendum item for Nursing Home settlement payments there was a long discussion towards a 15 vote Roll call vote. Petrie asked for additional information from the auditor in the e-mail she was planning on sending on the previous issue.

Goss wanted to know what happens if this fails. Busey explained that the County would likely be sued due to requirements of consent decrees and contracts. Services such as food and communication services could be stopped with possible difficulty in finding another vendor to provide such services.

Republicans generally pointed out that we are in dire circumstances and this is the beginning of the budget death spiral with the Nursing Home they've been warning about. Goss said that within the next 30-45 days the board would need to make some hard calls. Other Republicans agreed that cuts, layoffs, and furloughs while needed services aren't added is in the future. The Democrats overall remained noticeably silent. Roll call vote passes 16-4, with Clifford, Harper, Marsh, and Clemons voting no.

The remaining item passed with no action on the Rosecrance lease agreement that for now is canceled due to state requirements through the Department of Public Health. It did not seem certain that the issue would be raised again.

The board adjourned at 8:48pm.