00:00:04,530	All right. Um, we will get started here. Um. Good afternoon. Um, I will call to order the Burleigh County Human Service Zone meeting. Today is Tuesday, September 15th, uh, 3 p.m. We are currently in the Tom Baker room. Um, so we’ll do a roll call of members. Commissioner Bakken here. Senator Dever here. Tracy.

00:00:34,470	Famias here. Jim Hulm. Here. Trevor Vennett. Here. Keli Berglund. And Kayla Kershaw. Here. Um. I did just have, uh, Keli at MPO, and she’s traveling now. She said she was going to call in, so. Okay. Um, so next agenda item. We will, um, get approval of the meeting minutes from our June 15th, 2026 meeting.

00:01:18,130	Um, so could I get could I get a motion to approve, please? Move to approve. And a second. Second. All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed? Say nay. That motion carries. Um, our fourth item of business today is public comment. So we’re currently open for public comment. Going once. Going twice. Going three times.

00:01:56,270	Seeing no public comment. We will close. Um, our fifth agenda item is our the Director’s report. Um, so I will review here the our first item will be Economic Assistance Unit.

00:02:21,130	Um, so there’s, there is some stuff in the packet that is presented to you, but I’ll just go through a couple of things. Um, as of August 1st, the mandatory overtime was ended for all eligibility workers. Um, reportedly, there were over 18,000 hours of overtime that were worked between June 3rd and July 31st of 2026. During this time, all work was caught up.

00:02:48,470	The unassigned list was empty, and work items were being started within ten days of being assigned to a workers queue. However, working 8 to 12 hours of overtime weekly by the majority of our eligible eligibility workers in the state obviously is not sustainable. Um, so other solutions will need to be sought.

00:03:11,170	Um, they’re reporting that they currently have a growing unassigned list, but that is expected at the first of the month when that’s their busiest time in economic assistance. Workers are told to start at the top of their queues and work their way down each day. And for the most part, they are working items within 10 to 15 days of being assigned to their queue.

00:03:28,000	Some things that can hinder that process are when expedited Snap applications are assigned throughout the day and take precedence due to processing time frames. Also, all applications and many reviews must have interviews completed with the client. And while most workers try to cold call the clients to complete these interviews immediately, it’s not always possible.

00:03:50,970	Um, interviews generally take about 45 minutes to complete due to the amount of information that needs to be covered for these. Another statewide effort from the Economic Assistance Task Force team was that all eligibility workers will be trained in and will process all programs to include Medicaid, Snap, lie, heap and child care assistance.

00:04:17,370	Trevor, were you trying to say something? No. Okay. Sorry. Um, TANF is the only program that only a select group across the state will continue to process. Because of this mandate, a majority of our workers are undergoing a lot of training between now and February.

00:04:42,400	So, um, typically, as you guys know, the program administrators will be present during this meeting to give the updates for their programs. Um, gray is currently going through the C cap journey training today during our meeting. And so that’s why she can’t be present. So that’s one of the examples of them. They all have to go through the the training journeys.

00:05:02,670	Um, so only seven of our eligibility team out of the 23 currently known process, all programs to include the Child Care Assistance program. The remaining 16 are currently in those active training journeys and will complete them in the near future.

00:05:23,800	Um, of our team of 25 eligibility workers, three of those were newly hired since June. We currently have three more open FTEs, one of which, a conditional offer has been made and we are waiting on the background checks to clear. So due to all the training that’s taking place, our lead workers and supervisors have been extremely busy in these training efforts.

00:05:43,630	Um, so they and they’re still having to be available to current staff. And the remaining two FTEs will be filled later. Recently, Burleigh County Human Service Zone was notified that we were put on a cap, a corrective action plan. Due to the payment error rate.

00:06:03,870	So this was because it was higher than the national average. So according to the FY 2025 data, the national average is 10.62%, and any zone that was greater than that, um, had to be put on a corrective action plan. So Burleigh County was at 13.88%.

00:06:31,330	So in an effort to immediately reduce our, um, payment error rate and collectively work toward getting the state of North Dakota under the federal threshold, our cap consisted of each eligibility worker that processed Snap being assigned three trainings selected by their supervisor. We were expected to complete 20 case file reviews.

00:06:55,800	Um, gray and I discussed this, and what we decided to do was we had them do, um, one application and one review for the Snap program. And so that actually ended up being 24 reviews. Um, and finally, the supervisors needed to observe for snap interviews and provide feedback on strengths and areas.

00:07:18,770	So all of the items that were within our corrective action plan have already been completed as of September 3rd, 2026 and submitted to the state. Um, lastly, the Medicaid program will see big changes in the near future due to the H.R. one bill. So beginning October 1st, Medicaid eligibility will be limited to US citizens, lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants, and migrants of Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau as a part of the Compact of Free Association.

00:07:49,230	For those individuals currently receiving Medicaid that do not hold one of the mentioned statuses, their Medicaid case will close on 930 of 26, and certain non-citizen statuses can reapply once their citizenship status changes to a lawful permanent resident.

00:08:12,730	They will still need to meet all other eligibility criteria at that time to become eligible for Medicaid. Once again, emergency Medicaid services will still be available for non-citizens that meet the eligibility criteria. However, this is not ongoing Medicaid coverage. Uh, beginning January 1st of 2027, Medicaid will introduce work requirements for new applicants ages 19 to 64 who are found eligible for expansion. Medicaid.

00:08:43,430	Current Medicaid expansion members will have the work required work requirements applied at their new review period beginning on February of 2027. The work requirements will be similar to the ones already required by the Snap program, with some small differences.

00:09:06,630	There is a website as well that has been created to keep medicaid members, zone team members and other stakeholders updated with the most current information. That was a lot. So any questions? Um, on the economic Assistance update. So Kayla. Regarding the Medicaid eligibility, January 1st, how significant is that? Or do we have a lot of people in our area not eligible? I don’t.

00:09:47,270	Is that hard to say? Yeah, it’s hard to say. I don’t have stats or numbers. I mean, I feel like the more conversations that happen between the workers and our constituents will have a better idea of that. Um, that is something I can get for the board, though, if they would be interested in in knowing that information for sure.

00:10:06,700	Yeah, maybe as it comes about and regarding snap. It’s only been since the 3rd of September that you accomplished the action plan. Correct. But it’s been sometime since, um, we were flagged by the federal government. Has that improved.? It’s.

00:10:32,570	Yeah, it’s I mean, it’s slowly improving, right? That I mean, these are some of the efforts that are happening as a, as a target to hopefully get all of us going in the right direction.

00:10:53,400	Um, I will say, you know, they had a, a team come in from the state that is trying that they’re contracting with, that we’re trying to come up with continuous efforts that can be ongoing to help things continue to go in the right area. So we just did that last. Week.

00:11:12,400	Um, so the team was able to come in and meet with some of our supervisors, eligibility workers, our front desk staff, um, just to do interviews to find out what processes they feel like are working and what processes they feel like need improvement. There will be additional interviews with other zones throughout the state, and then additional observations of interviews that will also take place. Okay. Yeah. Good questions. Good bye.

00:11:38,600	Can I make a call? But I, I think that part of the biggest problem for all the zones is the state’s not letting the zones have local control. And I feel that the zones like taking a pay stubs and stuff down there in they lose them sometimes, you know, we give them and then they get lost in the shuffle.

00:12:03,170	So I think they need to include the zone board in some of those discussions, because we’re the local people on the ground. They’re not there. Yeah. Thanks for that, Trevor. Um, our second order under the director’s report is the child welfare unit update. So in your packet that you got, there’s a lot of graphs, a lot of standards of administration.

00:12:36,270	This is something that when I have observed past, um, board meetings, there’s been conversation about these being sent out on a more regular basis. So the memo these would be the ones that are stapled together. But the memo that was sent out is essentially acknowledging from the state that these were not sent out in a timely manner.

00:12:54,970	Um, and so these would be the last three quarters of standards of administration that are included in this packet. Um, that was sent to you guys. So I will I’m not going to go through every single one of these. I know you guys have seen this at least one time before.

00:13:13,100	Um, if there’s specific questions, I will certainly address them. The ones I do want us to look at, though, are going to be measure three. And. We’ll just start with measure three. So measure three.

00:13:41,400	Um, the reason I want to bring this one to your guys’s attention is the numbers that are being pulled from our power BI system in regards to our in-home cases are not counting visits accurately. So the power BI, which is our the state’s tracking system, in order to keep track of our in-home cases. These are like in-home cases, kinship cases.

00:14:04,470	If you remember from previous board meetings, these kiddos need to be seen twice a month. So with the tracking system, we are essentially having to go in and manually pull these numbers because the power BI system that is supposed to track them is not accurately representing the numbers that are in the system. That and the work that has been done by the child welfare workers. So, um.

00:14:34,300	Essentially, our child welfare program manager is working very closely with our field service specialists through the. state to figure out how we can accurately reflect these, aside from having to manually pull them every single quarter.

00:15:02,030	Um, so these numbers, I would tell you, especially for measure three, are much better than what is on than what’s on this graph. Um, so I’m hoping to be able to send you guys an updated and updated number once we get all of our numbers manually pulled for that specific measure.

00:15:27,670	Well, this is a big DLC that that it seems to me there’s a little mishap between the state, you know, the there should be easier ways to do this stuff, and it makes us look bad too. So I don’t really like that either. You know, I, I want us to make sure we’re getting accurate data. You know? Yeah. We would agree, Trevor. I mean, it needs to it needs to improve and to reflect the actual work that’s being done.

00:15:50,800	So we will continue to work hard to, um, get that tracking, um, accurate and reported timely. Um. So that everybody. Oh, go ahead. Turn. It seems to me last session, we have the same issues during the budget.

00:16:22,600	We gave them new technology that seems like it’s disappointing to hear that, you know, for this specific issue. I, I remember that specifically. So I’m disappointed to hear that that’s going on. Any other comments on the standards of administration? Um, the next agenda item is other zone updates. Um, so in this one, I will just talk briefly about our remodel.

00:17:11,330	Um, so we continue to look forward to the completion of the remodel, um, where our child welfare teams and economic assistance teams are able to move up to their, um, remodeled floors. So we look forward to having an update. I should actually have an update at the end of this week, beginning of next week on progress. With that. And, um, moving dates.

00:17:35,800	So we’re hopeful for that. Um, other business I just wanted to mention I have reached out to Tracy and Jim individually. Um, their terms are up in November for the board.

00:18:09,570	Um, and so I will speak for both of them, but, um, they, they have decided to resign from their positions after their terms are up in November. So communications have taken place with both of them. Um, and since they’re planning to resign, efforts will be sought to bring, um, potential board candidates to an upcoming county commission meeting so that we can get those, um, spots filled. So I have a I have a question on that. Uh, we’re.

00:18:35,000	So who are we looking for? Are we looking for people in the sheriff’s department, or do you want another community member for that, or what are we looking for? I mean, I guess I would open that up to the board.

00:18:54,200	Um, I would really like to continue to focus some of our efforts on those community stakeholder relationships. I do think that, um, continuing to have somebody within the law enforcement realm, um, along with the schools, is important. It’s it’s important to have that representation on our board.

00:19:18,730	Um, those are two of our stakeholder relationships within the Bismarck community that in Burleigh County that we value. Um, so I would welcome any other feedback on that. Maybe, maybe we could talk to the police chief or one of their resource officers, or one of the officers you work with there through the police department. My suggestion was after speaking with Kayla, just very briefly.

00:19:44,370	Um, I think it’s a natural fit to have a representation from a law enforcement agency. We do have an individual that’s interested from the sheriff’s department. Again, considering the working relationship we have just across the street. Um, I guess my suggestion was to try to keep that if we can.

00:20:04,070	Obviously it’s up to the board, but that is my suggestion. And I would echo that from the school perspective. Um, it’s a very valued relationship between the two agencies, and I think it also gives the school an opportunity to learn a little more in depth about what the zone does.

00:20:28,170	Okay. So I would just say if there’s any suggestions on, um, on reaching out or anybody that’s shown any kind of interest, we welcome those suggestions for sure. Okay. So I think ultimately it’s up to the county commission who they approved. Right. We might wonder why I’m here. Well, I.

00:21:00,270	Would echo that the relationships we have with the schools and with the relationships we have with law enforcement are vital, um, for those roles. And, Kayla, I’m sure you probably echo that it’s, you know, having that insight is invaluable when it comes to what this board is trying to push forward and making your role, uh, a little

00:21:20,500	bit easier. So. For sure. Okay. I don’t know if we do. You need to review the any of the financial report or. Anything. Nope. Those are just the program service information provided in the packets for the under the director’s report. So if there’s any questions, though, you can certainly ask I can do my best to answer those.

00:21:50,900	Okay. Did anybody have any questions on the, um, human service, the monthly budget report? Otherwise, um, we will adjourn.