Taylor County W-2 Community Steering Committee December 16, 2008 Chairman Arlen Albrecht called the December 2008 meeting of the Taylor County W-2 Community Steering Committee to order at 8:05 a.m. in the UW Extension meeting room. Members in attendance included Arlen Albrecht, Kris O Leary, Dave Hemke, Theresa Valenti, Dan Harrell, Jill Koenig, Sue Hady, Father Gerard Willger and Paul Thornton. A motion was made by Jill Koenig and seconded by Paul Thornton to approve the minutes of the March 18, 2008 meeting as printed. The motion carried unanimously. A motion was made by Father Gerard Willger and seconded by Jill Koenig to approve the meeting agenda with one addition agenda item: Proposed 2009 Meeting Dates. The motion carried unanimously. There was no public input but Arlen Albrecht took the opportunity to share with the committee the Wisconsin Counties Association s legislative agenda which included some modifications/improvements to the Wisconsin Works (W-2) Program. Dave Hemke also shared that he had seen a recent article in the Wausau Daily Herald concerning Marathon County s decision to not contract with the Department of Children and Families to operate the W-2 Program in Marathon County after its contract expires in 2009. Dave Hemke shared W-2 caseload information with the committee. The W-2 caseload stands at six cases. Payments for December totaled $2,863. There is 1 individual in a W2- T payment position that has significant barriers to employment. The other five participants are young mothers with children under 12 weeks of age. Dave Hemke passed out the supportive services information for the committee s review. The October FoodShare caseload stood at 721 cases, up from a year ago. This is the highest in 13 months and is likely an all-time high for the Foodshare Program. Benefits totaled $124,513 and not $24,513 as printed in his handout. The benefit amount goes up and down depending on earned income of families and the number of recipients but is also at an all-time high. The October Medicaid/BadgerCare caseload stood at 1531 cases, with 3246 recipients, also up significantly from last year. Medicaid/BadgerCare expenditures paid by EDS totaled $1,873,557 with 3231 of 33607 recipients receiving services in the month. The largest percentage of these expenditures continues to be for skilled nursing care, with HMO premiums and prescription drug charges the next largest expenditures. Dave also spoke about the performance standards. The performance standards are used to measure program performance and will likely be used to determine the right of first selection for the W-2 Program when contracts are renewed in 2010. The W-2 Program is now administered by a new department on the state level and a decision on the procedures for contract renewal has not yet been determined. Dave also commented that funding is very tight on the state level and that Taylor County has been asked to deobligate $10,000 in benefit funding as it was being underutilized. Dave stated he was willing to do so because Taylor County had benefited from other counties deobligating funding in previous contract years. Arlen Albrecht handed out the 2008 Economic Profile for Taylor County. The group also spoke of the unemployment rate of 4.5% in October and wondered what that rate would be for November and December based on the economic downturn.
Dave reported that applications are significantly ahead of last year at this time for the Taylor County WHEAP Program. Hopefully, though, the decrease in oil price may make those benefit dollars go a little bit further. Dave announced the tentative 2009 meeting dates for the Taylor County W-2 Steering Committee. They are: March 17, 2009 June 16, 2009 September 15, 2009 December 15, 2009 Next meeting date of the Taylor County W-2 Community Steering Committee will be March 17, 2009 at 8:00 a.m. A motion was made by Paul Thornton and seconded by Dan Harrell for adjournment. The motion carried unanimously at 9:28 a.m. Respectfully submitted, David C. Hemke for Arlen Albrecht, Acting Secretary
Taylor County W-2 Community Steering Committee September 16, 2008 Chairman Arlen Albrecht called the September 16, 2008 meeting of the Taylor County W-2 Community Steering Committee to order at 8:10 a.m. in the UW Extension meeting room. Members in attendance included Arlen Albrecht, Kathy Danen, Kris O Leary, Dave Hemke, Theresa Rismeyer, Father Willger and Paul Thornton. A motion was made by Father Willger and seconded by Kris O Leary to approve the minutes of the March 18, 2008 meeting as printed. The motion carried unanimously. There was no public input. Dave Hemke shared W-2 caseload information with the committee. The W-2 caseload stands at five cases. Payments for September totaled $2,059.00. There is 1 individual in the W2-T payment position that has significant barriers to employment. The other four participants are young mothers with children under 12 weeks of age. Dave Hemke passed out the supportive services information for the committee s review. The July Foodshare caseload stood at 681 cases, up from a year ago. This is the highest in 13 months and could be an all-time high for the Foodshare Program. Benefits totaled $100,619. The benefit amount goes up and down depending on earned income of families and the number of recipients but is also at an all-time high. The July Medicaid/BadgerCare caseload stood at 1535 cases, with 3194 recipients, another all-time high. Medicaid/BadgerCare expenditures paid by EDS totaled $1,520,996 with 3015 of 3541 recipients receiving services in the month. The largest percentage of these expenditures was for nursing home care, with HMO premiums and prescription drug charges the next largest expenditures. Dave also spoke about the performance standards. The performance standards are used to measure program performance and will likely be used to determine the right of first selection for the W-2 Program when contracts are renewed in 2010. The W-2 Program is now administered by a new department on the state level and decision and the procedures for contract renewal have not yet been determined. Dave also commented that funding is very tight on the state level and positions created through retirements and/or resignations are not being refilled. Kathy Danen handed out the Wisconsin s Job Outlook 2006-2008 and the County Snapshot. The group spoke of the unemployment rate and wondered what will be happening in the next couple of months. Dave is concerned with a long cold winter and utility costs up 10-30% depending on the type of fuel used by an individual. The WHEAP allocation has been reduced. Last year, the WHEAP Program served more individuals than ever before. Arlen stated that there is a Home Energy Conservation Workshop in Rib Lake sponsored by the UW-Extension and others on October 11 th at the high school. Everyone is welcome and pre-registration is encouraged. Next meeting date of the Taylor County W-2 Community Steering Committee will be December 16, 2008 at 8:00 am.
A motion was made by Father Willger, seconded by Dave Hemke for adjournment. The motion carried unanimously at 9:18 a.m. Respectfully submitted, David C. Hemke for Kathy Danen, Secretary
Taylor County W-2 Community Steering Committee March 18, 2008 Chairman Arlen Albrecht called the March 18, 2008 meeting of the Taylor County W-2 Community Steering Committee to order at 8:00 a.m. in the UW Extension Meeting room. Members in attendance included Arlen Albrecht, Kathy Danen, Kris O Leary, Dave Hemke, Jill Koenig, Len Hamman, Sharon Ludwig, Father Gerard Willger and Lauri Medina. A motion was made by Jill Koenig and seconded by Len Hamman to approve the minutes of the December 18, 2007 meeting as printed. The motion carried unanimously. There was no public input. Dave Hemke shared W-2 caseload information with the committee. The W-2 caseload stands at four. Payments in March totaled $888.00. One individual is a mother caring for her newborn baby. The others are all young mothers that, at this time, have some significant barriers to employment. The benefit budget, overall, appears to be in good shape. Dave Hemke passed out the supportive services information for the committee s review. The January FoodShare caseload is up to 636 cases, up from a year ago, and is the highest in 13 months. It may be at an all-time high but is definitely the highest it has been in recent memory. Benefits totaled $90,715. The January Medicaid caseload is at 1503 cases, another all-time high. Medicaid expenditures reported by EDS show the total number of Medicaid recipients in Taylor County was 3211. They reported that 2621 of them using the card in January resulting in a total of $1,154,105 in expenditures. The largest percentage of these expenditures was for skilled nursing home care while capitation payments to HMOs were the next largest percentage of expenditures. Dave also spoke about performance standards. The Taylor County W-2 Program did not meet all of the performance standards established for 2006 and 2007. It is likely that Taylor County will not receive the right of first selection and will have to compete for the opportunity to operate the program after 2009 if it chooses to run it at all. Effective February 1, 2008, the BadgerCare+ Program is in effect. The Department of Health and Family Services has said that the impact of local agency caseloads should be minimal but time will tell. The FSET Program is now a voluntary program. At this time recipients are not required to participate in this work program. Volunteers to the program are taking advantage of mileage reimbursement while looking for work or attending adult basic education classes. They may also receive assistance in paying for tests related to acquiring their GED/HSED. They might also receive assistance in paying for short-term training at Northcentral Technical College. Kathy Danen handed out copies of Workforce Observations with information on the unemployment rates for Taylor County, spoke of the new changes to FMLA and also gave out the new Wisconsin Jobs 08. Kathy also has scholarships to give out to Taylor County employers to attend the Northwest Wisconsin Workforce Investment Board s Business Development Conference in Cable. Lauri Medina from BRI reported that Paul Thornton has assumed the position of director there effective April 1, 2008.
Next meeting date will be June 17, 2008 at 8:00 am. A motion was made by Len Hamman, seconded by Kathy Danen for adjournment. The motion carried unanimously at 8:40 a.m. Respectfully submitted, David C. Hemke for Kathy Danen, Secretary