##VIDEO ID:jNymsp1tFKE## everyone I'd like to call this meeting of the Cook County Public Health and Human Services Board to order on this chilly um Tuesday January 21st at 8:36 a.m. um uh first thing is to um get our uh officers elected it's both the chair and the vice chair um I'm willing to serve again as chair if there's another commissioner that would like or Rana is a board commissioner if you would like to serve chair I'd welcome that um is there any any interest here no I would nominate you okay are there I'll second that motion are there any other nominations including self- nominations are there any other nominations there any other nominations hearing none um all in favor for commissioner Mills as chair of the phhs board signify by saying I I I opposed motion passes unanimously congratulations thank you moving on to uh the vice chair position um may I ask for any interest there this is your chance no I'd be happy to serve as Vice chair thank you commissioner Selvin I'll nominate commissioner suvin to serve as Vice chair are there any other nominations are there any other nominations are there any other nominations hearing none I'll close oppose the nominations and ask for a vote for commissioner svin as Vice chair for the phhs board all those in favor signify by saying I I opposed motion passes unanimously or election passes unanimously and just a a heads up commission um I'm getting a note from Melissa that there's no audio on the live stream so I just want to make sure that that's restored before we take yeah sounds on in here for sure but there's something to connect it into the live stream Buton that may not be pushed well we'll just pause then until and then we'll redo the whole thing just kidding oh Alison P said she has audio so we must be good okay okay great thank you for the heads up there uh that uh for those who didn't hear um our audio we uh called the meeting to order and then had the election of board officers um commissioner Mill was elected as chair commissioner Sullivan was elected as Vice chair we're now on item three for the approval of the consent agenda uh that includes our meeting agenda um the minutes from uh December uh financial report uh year end donations report and um the resignation of our adult and uh Home and Community Based Services Supervisor are there any items uh commissioner would like to pull else I'd entertain a motion for the approval of the consent agenda I'll so move thank you commissioner white we have a motion as there support support thank you commissioner svin we have a motion and support any further discussion hearing or seeing none all those in favor I I opposed motion passes unanimously Mr chair yes please I would just like to make a comment that um folks sometimes aren't hearing us very clearly and so we want to make sure that we speak a little louder for the public and even for ourselves so that they can hear and know what we're saying so I would appreciate that thank you um and maybe closer even that's helpful all right well that moves us down to item four welcoming new staff and I'll pass it right on over to director McIntyre at this time thank you chair Mills just a note on the consent agenda as well I'm noticing that our donations letter didn't get attached to the consent agenda so we'll bring that back before this board in February so that you can see and recognize all of the donations that our department received in 2024 and my apologies for that Omission thank you you bet so really excited to welcome on board in the last month two new staff to the public health and human services team Liz started earlier this month as our new licenser and Community child care coordinator she comes to us with a great deal of experience in the child care industry as an inhome provider and with other Early Childhood experience we're also very excited to welcome Rose Downey to the Children's Mental Health Team in a position that we have had vacant for over a year now no not over a year over seven months um and Rose also brings great experience from her previous role as the social services designate at Northshore health and welcome either of you or your supervisors to share anything else I don't think no pressure well thank you for joining the team we're very uh lucky to have you and um hope your experience here is uh fruitful and uh uh fulfilling and um looking forward to to all the work good work that you do thank you any any questions from the board here just gratitude we appreciate you joining our organization thanks for taking time out of your busy Tuesday Mornings to come down for a brief welcome [Music] yeah it thank you looks like we're missing hilia but hilia is working a part-time schedule so we may have just missed the I've met hilia before so all right well that brings us down to uh item five our director report director McIntyre yes thank you I have a PowerPoint to share so I'm going to go over the screen you all should have that on your screens as well yep I can see that so um this morning I have prepared a year-end report report for the year of 2024 this is my seventh year in review for the board I have also uh Incorporated some elements of the new staff and new commissioner on boarding presentation that I give um to all new staff in the department and new Commissioners when they're coming on board since we have a new returning commissioner I thought it would probably suffice to just incorporate some that in my year- end report rather than do two separate presentations I think the last year I did that was in 2021 when commissioner Johnson was newly elected so I will follow a similar format as previous years share some staffing changes updates to uh major projects that our department undertook in the last year and uh some of the program development that we LED or partnered with other organizations in the community on and again incorporating some of that contextual information about how we operate with other governmental agencies through really using both sides of my brain on this Tuesday morning here all right and two computers to boot two computers yeah so we'll see if we can ADV the SL this way you may have to just click within the the presentation window that's up so if you just I think slide straight up I believe or maybe it's I don't remember if it's left or right yeah it's advancing on the computer screen but it isn't here is that you have to close it and reopen it maybe could be we could just start the day over oh that's a cool picture wow all right thank you J appreciate it Jan thank you all right thanks for your patience so in Minnesota the Public Health and Human Services System is State supervised and administered by counties tribes and nonprofit organizations mandated Human Services programs and the essential areas of Public Health are defined in State Statute notable in 2024 is that the Department of Human Services was reorganized into three separate state agencies those being the Minnesota Department of Human Services Department of Children Youth and families and the direct care and treatment Department which isn't reflected here on this slide Alo in addition to those two State agencies we also have oversight grant funding from the State Department of Health so in this structure in the state of Minnesota the state agencies provide leadership and policy development implementation standard setting training and technical assistance information systems program oversight and performance monitoring and compliance and the administration of services are delivered directly to the public by tribes counties Healthcare organizations nonprofits and other community providers all right uh locally our governance structure is that we are uh have oversight from this board the Public Health and Human Services Board which includes each of our five elected Commissioners and the citizen representatives of two our two citizen advisory councils those be the Cook County local mental health advisory Council and the Public Health and Human Services advisory Council again these councils are established in State Statute to make formal recommendations to the department and to the board as it relates to our budget Service delivery strategic goals and priorities both councils provide input about services and coordination of care they're involved in Department service planning and make recommendations regarding services provided in reports to the board on a regular basis both councils are recruiting additional members so as you are aware of constituents who are interested in becoming more involved in County government we are welcoming new members to both councils this is our 2025 organizational chart no changes from 2024 to 2025 uh I'll get into quite a bit more detail on our Staffing structure and Staffing changes within the last year uh our department is or organized into three primary areas those Being Human Services which consists of three units or teams uh Public Health economic assistance and Healthcare programs and the administrative fiscal and support staff who work across all program areas breaking that down by team or adult and home and community- Based Services team provides mandated services in the area of vulnerable adult protection investigation General Adult Services care coordination for older adults in long-term care settings or living in the community developmental disability and intellectual disability case management other waiver case management and Min choices assessment for determining public program payment of services for people with disabilities and older adults there are seven staff in this unit non-mandated services within this team include the inhome support program that is a state licensed program in which uh independent contractors are providing services to community members uh in the area of Transportation resit homem making cleaning uh and then our staff provides coordin of that program ensuring that all of the standards are met and conducting the the matching of residents who are requesting that service with the independent contractors to provide that service again this is one of the few non-mandated services that we provide as an agency this is an area where the department and the board has made an intentional investment in supporting older adults and people with disabilities to help them remain in the community due to limited services our Behavioral Health Team also includes seven staff who provide services and coordination of care for residents in the areas of adult mental health Children's Mental Health substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders case management we also contract with Greg barer who is a licensed alcohol and drug counselor who provides Clinical Services within the Wilderness outpatient treatment program again a state licensed program where the county is a license holder this is another area where we're providing a non-mandated service uh counties are not mandated to provide substance use treatment services but without this service locally the nearest uh place to receive that service would be in Lake County this team has seen the most growth in recent years historically looking back 10 12 years we had just one adult mental health case manager and one children Children's Mental Health case manager we've seen significant growth in this area following the closure of the Human Development Center which previously provided a range of mental health services and was supported by the county through a purchase of service contract uh there are also new services available through the state through some of the substance use disorder reforms including substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders case management or treatment coordination um also the mobile crisis that is a began as a pilot program and while we strugg struggled to staff that position We are continuing to develop a more robust system we've recently received state certification uh to be a certified mobile crisis response provider so that service is also within this unit in Children and Family Services we have five staff providing mandated services and coordination of services to support Youth and families in the area of child welfare child protection assessment and investigation and the parent support outreach program which provides supports to help families maintain stability and prevent out of home placement uh this board supported the addition of an FTE in 2024 to be able to respond to increased volume of reports and uh families needing that level of support within our community uh licensing you met Liz this morning she has uh stepped into that lenser child care coordinator position that again was a reconfigured position back in 2022 I believe 2021 uh to add that child care coordination function to that role um so Liz um as she learns the licensing world will eventually be stepping into some of the Grant and program management in the area of those child care wage enhancement and child care professional development programs currently the supervisor is maintaining that during the onboarding process economic assistance and Healthcare program staff determine eligibility and enroll residents in programs that help with basic needs like payment of Health Care Services State and federally mandated programs administered by this team include a supplemental nutrition assistance program short-term cash and child care assistance programs for families general assistance and supplemental assistance for older adults and persons with disabilities since 2013 we've contracted with Carlton County to administer the child support program other contracted services in this area include with aeoa Arrowhead Economic Opportunity agent who provides the required employment and training services to families that are enrolled in cash assistance Minnesota chipa tribe also provides Employment Services to enrolled members but the the tribal Employment Services receives funding directly from the federal government rather than through our agency in our Public Health Team we have five staff providing coordination and Leadership across all six essential areas of Public Health statutory responsibility I'm not going to list those all off right now um but we do have staff designated to some of those primary uh areas of Public Health responsibility including infectious disease and emergency preparedness and um recently we've added another Health educator that positions fully funded through a state Grant to provide youth substance misuse and Suicide Prevention Services so all of our work within public health is is driven by those essential areas of Public Health responsibility and also responsive to the needs that are identified in our 5-year Community Health assessment and health Improvement plan which I'll say a little bit more about here uh contracted Services we contract out uh many of our Public Health Services as a department as a community those being s tooth Mountain Clinic are contracted to provide uh Outreach with which is the women infant and children nutrition program family home visiting and with Northshore health for home care services and in our structure the County Environmental Health Department is responsible for investigating Public Health nuisance and uh at a state level the Minnesota Department of Health has responsibility in Cook County for food pool and lodging licensing and compliance enforcement lastly the administrative and fiscal staff are providing support to all areas of the department including in leadership coordination customer service Grant and contract management fiscal staff perform mandated Grant reporting duties receipt of federal and state funds into our accounting system systems estate recovery billing for services provided by staff and licensed program and then our office support and case Aid staff uh are represented again on the slide as they provide administrative support across all areas and then specialized support to our economic assistance and Healthcare teams uh as there's a lot of systems data entry and scanning required for those programs so what changed in 2024 we had 11 positions turnover last year uh out of those 11 positions six of those were resignations so six people left the organization in 2024 from our department and five of those positions turned over because of internal promotions or transfers within the department uh this is a slight reduction over the 14 positions that turned over last year 23 that was the all-time high for our department and in 2023 eight of those staff so over half remained within the organization as they were changing positions due to transfers lateral transfers or promotions two positions remained vacant for over half of 2024 those being the coordinated crisis response worker which was vacant from April 2023 to September 2024 and the Children's Mental Health case manager that was vacated due to an internal transfer in July and just filled recently by Rose who you met this morning in January of this year so how did we continue to maintain services and meet our mandates amidst this turnover uh in large part our existing staff accumulated overtime so we had 2,47 hours of overtime or comp time paid out in 2024 the dollar value of that was $86,000 so of that amount of overtime 33,000 just over 33,000 was overtime or comp time paid out so in our pay structure uh staff have to earn a certain amount of comp time which they can use in lie of paid leave so they aren't really earning overtime until they hit that threshold of comp time earned uh 53,000 so well over half of that total amount paid out in 2024 was paid leave or comp time paid out to staff when leaving employment so again another impact of turnover on this organization is that staff who had been unable to take time off due to case loads and B managing their workload they may be leaving with a large volume of comp time or paid leave which is a significant liability financially for the organization uh in 2024 the board approved the addition of two positions due to the increased volume of reports and residents served through children and family services and with the support of competitive St State Grant funds to expand our work in youth substance misuse and suicide prevention so again those two new positions added in 2024 was the third Children and Family Services case manager and the third fourth public Health educator working specifically in youth substance misuse and suicide prevention the health educator position is fully funded with Grant funds and the family services case manager earns Revenue through their work but it's not fully funded so here is the breakdown including the names of the wonderful staff that we Welcome to our team in 2024 Ros oras Lily guber Katie paage Betsy blazel Christen Peterson and Marissa eckle all joined our team in 2024 and another six staff took on new responsibilities within the department through promotions in 2024 those being Isabella aen Leon Avery Laura Nelson Nancy Deming Ariel charlier and Marissa Chapman so that is the end of my staff updat so I'm moving the case load updates any questions pause here and take a drink of water Mr chair please Allison um on the uh you just mentioned the family educator position that they earn monies which we have uh Revenue sources in public health human services in the past sometimes are keeping up with the billing to get the revenues in you know for what's available to us was an important element of staying after the other thing in your comment with the family educator you said that position is funded in part by those Revenue opportunities but it's not fully funded have you had a chance to determine percentage as to the funding that comes as a result of the activity of that position and how much then is goes into the the budget that is funded by taxpayers yes I can break that down for you as best as I can it's a lot clearer with the health educator position as that one is fully funded through Grant funds so that Health educator their the materials associated with the program Service delivery part of the supervisor time all of that is covered by the state Grant so that's the public health educator on the Human Services side our children and family services case manager uh these staff provide targeted case management and are able to generate state revenue for their time reporting and the work that they do with families and I believe the breakdown it's less than 50% reimbursed by the state the reimbursement rate is a bit higher for our financial workers working in economic assistance and Healthcare programs those are about 50% funded through the state so it's a little less than that for the Social Services Time study and um targeted case management okay thank you I presented some of that along with the request to the board late last year um I showed historically the number of reports the case loads the staff hours and the revenue generated by that team so I'd be happy to follow up with a link to that presentation so you can see some historical data on our Revenue generation thank you you bet okay moving along more on case loads across all Social Services programs again overall across all human services we saw a dramatic increase in individuals served from 365 in 2019 on the far left end of that chart up to 647 in 2024 you can also see in blue and an orange the B breakdown of unduplicated clients in work groups I'll say too a work group is uh a case essentially within our social services information system or ssis it's the system that we're required to use as County agencies all other counties are reporting their client work um and this is also the system for billing targeted case management uh so across that time frame we have historically had more adults in cases or work groups than children you can see 2024 that breakdown is 491 adults and and 156 children unduplicated in work groups in 2024 so again while our department serves more adults than children there was an increase in unduplicated children served uh the increase from 2019 represents 152% increase from just 62 children in 2019 to got to zoom in that's a tiny number 156 in 2024 so that's is that just about 10 a little less than 10% of our population or I'm sorry a little more than 10% of our population another way to express our um work in Social Services beyond the cas loow data is through intakes an intake is a call a request for service or referral from another agency to our department again this has steadily increased over the last several years from 318 in 2019 to 509 in 2024 of the 59 intakes recorded in 2024 40 of those were within adult mental health 42 in Adult Protective Services 167 in general Adult Services 42 in chemical dependency or what we would Now call substance use disorder Services the state technology system hasn't quite caught up with the terminology there uh 120 of those intakes were in the area of child protection services and 44 child welfare what's the difference between child protection and child welfare you might ask Child Protection um is the category that we would give to a a case coming in before it has been screened or assessed as to what service track or whether or not it meets the statutory guidelines for male treatment so chop protection is a broader category whereas child welfare would be Services provided to a child or family after that report has been screened Wilderness outpatient treatment program again the county is the license holder and we contract with Greg barer to provide Clinical Services in 2024 there were 80 appointments scheduled for comprehensive assessments comprehensive assessment is a state standard tool for determining a substance use disorder diagnosis 28 of those 80 appointments were cancelled where the individual didn't show up for the appointment just one of those cancellations was canceled by the provider likely due to illness or Courthouse closure weather or other factors a 52 comprehensive uh assessments were conducted in 2024 and 32 people received treatment coordination Services through our substance use disorder and co-occurring disorders case manager Brenda Port uh looking back to how this changed over time in 2023 there were 62 appointments made and 50 comprehensive assessments conducted so a pretty big increase in both the appointments and the cancellations and Nosh shows about the same number of people uh received a comprehensive assessment in 2023 as in 2024 economic assistance and Healthcare programs case Lo data caviat here I did not update these numbers for year end uh so this is the same data that was presented by dakara in November of last year um I can get the year-end data and include that as uh additional slides in Amendment to the presentation that goes out with the um minutes so in economic assistance we're seeing an increase in households participating in snap the federal nutrition program as of October 136 households are enrolled in Cook County this is higher than any other year in the last four years with the exception of 2022 uh where we are serving the most residents in this area is through Healthcare programs and we're seeing a pretty significant decrease in the number of households served through medical assistance Minnesota care and Medicare Savings programs due to the unrolling and unwinding of the pandemic related waivers that were in place from 2020 until earlier this year you can see the threshold there where the the the Gray Line 2024 crosses the deadline of 2020 so in April and May we return to those prepandemic levels of enroll these with 559 households enrolled as of October so I mentioned the community health assessment and health Improvement plan earlier this is our strategic plan as a department that drives our resource and Staffing Investments it also serves as the category through which we issue the request for proposals for the public health fund each year 2024 marked the second year of our 5-year Community Health assessment cycle um a lot of the public engagement was conducted in 2024 and 2023 as we developed the six Priority Health areas of affordable housing Mental Health Resources and support for well-being affordable child care affordable quality Child Care Transportation options affordable healthy foods and physical health services uh the plan and the information on how we gathered Community feedback to inform this plan is all posted on our website so in the next few slides I'll give a snapshot of our program development efforts within each of these Priority Health areas so in the area of housing our staff uh partnered with local agencies and led program development in the healthy homes program this is a state Grant sponsored program in which our Public Health educators are conducting inhome Health assessments and connecting residents who are eligible with grant funding to help mitigate some of the health hazards in their homes this was year three of that grant program uh in 2024 we also part Ed with the Housing and Redevelopment Authority or HRA on an envelope pilot project to help connect residents with funds to address uh issues with their Windows uh siding roof and other parts of the envelope of the house in 2024 we also partnered with Land Services on a wellwater testing program using Grant funds to connect residents with well water testing in the area of mental health and again the this is just a snapshot in 2024 our staff led the development of a prevention coalition to increase public engagement and inform our prevention efforts as a department harm reduction access was a major priority of our prevention work in 2024 with the addition of cabinets throughout the courthouse emergency overdose response supplies at multiple County buildings um Outreach on what does harm reduction mean and why it's important that everyone consider having access to these life-saving medications on hand uh we also welcomed our youth prevention specialist Ros Aras in 2024 through that state Grant opportunity uh Rosio is leading efforts to convene a cohort of young adults in our community Through the young adult life leaders cohort um again these young people will help inform our prevention efforts to ensure that they are responsive to the needs of young people coordinated crisis response program development was a major project in 2024 recruiting for that position continuing to build the infrastructure including an electronic health record for that program and in 2024 we also uh took over the um facilitation of the lgbtqia 2 Spirit Plus youth group which is a weekly uh youth support group that's um facilitated by one of our children's mental health staff in the Priority Health area of child care our wage enhancement pilot was year two of that pilot program and a number of child professional development grants and programs were delivered by our child care coordinator Nancy Deming in the area of Transportation 2024 saw the kickoff of the Boreal Partners Transit project in which our department used State Grant funds to purchase an accessible vehicle that can be used by inhome Support Program volunteers as well as volunteers through Care Partners of Cook County Alison yeah um we might be behind on slides or are you oh I forgot to advance thank you m forgot I have to do that twice thank you commissioner uh also in the area of Transportation a number of safe routes to school active living initiatives including the first ever Bike Rodeo in Grand Portage in the area of nutrition access in 2024 our department led the formation of a food access Council to map nutrition resources and convene uh community members around um access to healthy nutritious affordable food and in the area of physical physical health services a couple highlights of our initiatives include the agef friendly communities initiative in 2024 Cook County was recognized by AARP as an age-friendly community and one of the priorities of those listening sessions included access to physical health services for aging community members we also partnered with satth mountain clinic on a sexual and reproductive health program which um allowed us to increase access to services and um again funded through a state Grant some of the more internal facing projects that our department undertook in 2024 was the implementation of a new electronic document management system we migrated economic assistance and Healthcare programs from onbase the system that we've been using for the last 10 years to caseworks which is increasingly the the system that is being used by most counties throughout the state um and then we also move from paper records to paperless records in Social Services I mentioned earlier some of the substance use disorder reforms that are being uh implemented at a state level how that impacted us locally is that uh we had to go through a process with the state to certify that we meet the American Society of addiction medicine's level of care care and uh also had to update our license with the state to indicate that we are able to meet the standards to specialize in the treatment of persons with a substance use disorder and mental health disorder we were very well positioned to respond as we had already added treatment coordination as a service within our department uh towards the end of the year we began implementation of the Credible Electronic health record system this will be the system of record for mobile crisis response and substance use disorder Services um our staff Grace grager was a participant in the C County cannabis committee uh along with a few other members of the public health Team and as of the end of the year was co-chairing that committee and every year we issue a request for proposals to local nonprofits to uh increase services in the areas of our community health assessment and in 2024 we recommended the granting or that subcommittee rather recommended granting $190,000 in grant funding to those local organizations uh Outreach continues to be a priority for our department ensuring that community members know how to access Services what services are available how to get involved with the department so we've continued to push out information through social media both internally and partnering with Todd Ford the county uh Communications coordinator on a monthly basis we're submitting articles to the Cook County News Herald monthly wtip interviews on Thursday mornings our department distributed or contributed to content to distribute 20 media releases last year and uh are engaging with community members on a more direct basis through some of our advisory C ILS the prevention Coalition age friendly communities engagement work I like to include a reminder of how to connect with staff and services you don't have to come to the court house to get services or to learn about what resources are available through our department or through other organizations um I also like to remind Commissioners that if if your constituents have questions or concerns um we have some specific processes in place from a state standpoint for uh rights for individuals to file an appeal or to report a grievance so it's important to contact our department directly if you are aware of those concerns um we have a number of different ways to reach out to us via email general information and then uh email addresses that are directed to our intake worker of the day uh both for economic assistance and social services and that is it a lot of information thank you thank you Alison questions from Commissioners I presume we'll be able to access this slideshow yeah MH thank you all right well if there aren't any questions um thank you again very comprehensive and um if there are any questions in the future please feel free to reach out to Allison and um she can either answer the question directly or connect you to the resource that can chair Mills yes please uh just a a comment for Allison um I wouldn't be surprised if once we hire a new HR director that there is a contact with you um just to make sure of how the um communication flows from phhs to the HRA and uh so I just wanted to advise you that hopefully sometime this week there may be someone reaching out to you great glad to hear that your recruitment efforts have been successful look forward to connecting all right well let's move on to five B staff updates please all right so I don't have much to share in my director's report there's only been a few weeks yet of 2025 and that was my comprehensive 2024 report so you met Liz and Rose this morning they both started since our last meeting in December hilia Iverson is providing temporary support for one of our staff who's on leave um she's working uh with Care Center residents and community members who are receiving care coordination through one of our health plans for older adults we're also working with a licensed social worker through the temporary social work agency that you approved Contracting with in 2024 Tammy mat is on board with us providing temporary support to Children's Mental Health given the length of time to backfill the position and some of the complexity of the needs of families that we working with in that area uh we reposted the coordinated crisis response worker position following the resignation of David ritmo in December um we had an interview on Friday of last week so I'm hopeful to have a a hiring recommendation or more information in the weeks ahead and we also conducted an interview for the children and family services case manager position following Lily Carlson's resignation and again anticipate making an offer on that position um significantly since our last meeting we received the resignation of Martina Johnson who is our longest serving staff member in the department she's been with us for 18 years providing services to residents of Cook County Martina started with Cook County as a recent graduate of Social Work school really had her entire career here to date she served for eight years as a social worker in adult mental health and was promoted to a supervisor in 2015 when the board approved the reorganization of our social service unit into two teams uh Martina is going to be working for the state so staying within the field in the uh Aging Services Division so we wish her the best in her new Endeavors she uh is one of a number of Staff who is making the transition from County to state agency work in recent years as the increase of telework has become more pervasive and there are many more opportunities at a state level given the division of the agencies and also want to be transparent with you all as the board that Martina just did cite the stress of her job as a factor influencing her decision to leave any questions on staff updates before I move on okay uh again not much to report in terms of agency updates for the first few weeks of the New Year the legislative session started Ed last week uh the governor's proposal was also released the bud Governor's budget proposal that is was released late last week uh and that budget proposal includes many cost shifts to counties specifically in the area of Human Services for the 2026 and 2027 B anym so encourage those of you who are signed up for the AMC weekly legislative updates to take a look at the the update that went out yesterday um also want to let you all know that over the weekend our staff were planning and preparing for the potential to set up an emergency warming house or shelter due to the prolonged power outages uh we in coordination with the emergency manager Sheriff Community Center Director sent out a public notice to uh to advise residents to contact dispatch if they needed a warm place to stay uh due to the prolonged power outage and extreme cold we did not receive any requests for emergency shelter so did not establish a warming shelter but are recommending that we convene an after action review process to talk about what we learned what went well and how can we ensure that communication and coordination is improved going forward no major issues to report but always room for improvement that's all I have for Department updates thank you any questions for Alison like just a comment on what a wonderful job you do and all of this it's very a lot of information and very clearly presented and thank you for doing that Mr chair Public Health has always been a challenge um how to add address real needs to do it effectively and uh manage the costs and partnership being so that we have revenues to be able to do that one of the big frustrating things that we've always faced is when state legislators or federal government mandate what we do and don't provide the funds to do it and um I'm of the opinion that if the legislators believe that this is an important thing that they should find the funding to be able to support what they are proposing if fellow Commissioners have reviewed the AMC um update relative to our present legislature and the governor's budget we see that there are several programs that you've addressed that uh in this present budget are the governor is proposing that we reduce our funding to counties by 200 million so when we're looking at budgets we look at what we know to be true based upon what we're responsible for and the present landscape I would say um however when we have these moving pieces and we've identified things that um it's it's very hard for us to manage in this area which is Public Health Human Service and the emotion Associated that in real people's lives it is very frustrating when uh the funding agencies they partnership with us mandate things and then withdraw the funding and so it's early on in the process there's a lot of chaotic uh maneuvering that is going on but nonetheless we're responsible for anticipating and trying to determine what are we going to do when we have burining expenses in this area when we look at what's mandated and we look at the funding that's being withdrawn you look at the Cannabis and the funding that was there and so often the carrot that is held up is connected to a string that uh you have to look at is this good or is this not good and we can't make assumptions that the funding that originates with programs will always be there and this is certainly evidence of that so it's something that's on our radar that uh we have to look look at and my position is that we should be proactive in addressing this with the legislature so we don't just take these hits uh to reduce spending elsewhere and then our taxpayers have to pick up that burden it's a real issue going into 2025 well said yeah yeah much as we can participate in AMC I think the better because of the amount of advocacy that we need to do to the state legislature I'm just Mr chair what I what I would say is that I mean the association of Minnesota counties which is the collective of 87 counties is certainly beneficial because our Collective voice Bears weight and we identify our priorities and when we go to the legislative um uh conference uh it's certainly an opportunity for us to do that I always say we need to be forthright but gracious I think in doing that that um there's u a responsiveness that comes that's healthier than if we just kick and shout and scream because we're not happy with what's going on and so we we need to frame our our our narrative in in a way that that respects processes but still emphasizes is the importance of a dealing with these issues the uh statement I think that came out um from AMC AMC and and Micah and Minnesota rural counties uh address this saying several of the governor's budget proposals represent significantly higher cost to County governments and property taxpayers including changes that would create several new County funding responsibilities related to State mandated programming for Minnesota um the proposed deletion of local cannabis Aid hampers County and City's ability to support complicated interactions with cannabis licensing zoning so um it's enough to deal with things on the local level but the the impacts of things that are happening that theoretic appear to be out of our control we need to realize we have to do what we can to say this is this is n fair if you as legislators believe this is an important thing find funding to put money behind what you're saying so yeah yeah I agree I I also think much like you referenced uh Minnesota rural counties there are other organizations Beyond AMC whether they be Statewide or or regionally that can really bolster our voice um with dealing with the Statewide issues chair what I what I would say in in past experience as a commissioner is that that up here in the arrowhead region um if we have associations that are Statewide those certainly are beneficial but it it's difficult when the voice that is heard is the Metropolitan voice that finds it very easy to head over to the legislature and we're up here and for the citizens and even as elected officials or representative department heads for us to travel down and have a voice and hope that we're given an opportunity to speak is challenging so recognizing those things it's how do we go about doing this so we don't abdicate our responsibility to represent our best interests at the local level so y yeah there's a a strategic planning session for DCF um January 30th in St Paul and um for me to go down there uh and participate as as really just not practical versus some of the other uh County representations that are that are closer um I fully expect their participation that being said um the relationships uh that that we've developed in in these working groups I feel like does does Us justice in that they can carry some of that um but still I would much prefer to you know be directly involved there um some of the virtual opportunities have helped but it's not the same um so the Nuance of being there just facial expression and Body Language communicate some times more powerful than our words absolutely yep yep thank you that's it's all very well said um any any other um questions or comments from Commissioners uh we'll move on to item six which is quite easy today there's nothing there for board action that moves us on to item seven committee reports we'll start with the active living steering committee commissioner white uh it was cancelled because of illness thank you move on to AOA econ Arrowhead Economic Opportunity agency commissioner white the executive committee was cancelled but we did have a vote by mail on six different uh resolutions um for supporting or not supporting uh Lake County bone Builders Excuse excuse me for supporting Lake County bone Builders Roundup grant for um for rental rehabs this is for a number of different agencies um asking for uh aoa's uh financial support to help them forward their projects so um I'm assuming that um everybody was in favor of these different projects but I do not know what the vote was so to the executive committee okay thank you and the next day eoa meeting is not until next month sometime and just just to clarify um I I was never on the AOA executive committee are you oh okay I was going to say out well she reached out to me and wanted to know so I thought oh well I guess I've moved up in life well I think it's a great position to be in if you're well available let me take this step yeah I would she was asking our input to forward I'm mistaken I'm not on the executive commit but they wanted to know yeah so the executive committee could actually do this so I take that back I'm not that special no no I was I was that's what I was wondering is if I was like well that's awesome but thank you for clarifying yeah um let's see Arrowhead Health Alliance commissioner white I we will be we did not meet okay we did not meet last month and we will be meeting uh having a special meeting next week week next week okay thank you and so and it is I believe about the contract okay with the building oh okay yeah it is your impression that's it's been ongoing for quite a while okay is that or I think so I kind of that's what I when I left that's the impression I had but I just didn't know if right and it's it's uh center city owns the building and they're looking at it's like how long will the lease be and who is paying for What percentages of the operating expenses so some of the details yes thank you um Arrowhead Regional Corrections uh commissioner Campbell thank you Mr chair um when I was commissioner previously I I was on this board and I I can remember the first year there were two of us because it's rotating so that the county rotates and smaller counties can have two representation otherwise larger Counties have more representation on that board so that first year as a commissioner I was on that that board and commissioner Hall was also on that board at the end of the year the executive director said we want to thank commissioner gamble for his service and I had no clue that uh I was going to be off that board there was no heads up kind of thing um so I felt a little bit awkward the reason I say that is simply because uh um commissioner white this year is also because it's our year now to have two and so she was present as well and we had our regular executive board meeting and then we had The Advisory board that followed and um our focuses on a presentation that was done at the advisory committee on recidivism which is How likely is it that an offender going through the program would reoffend and um just quickly on that if there's information that people would like to know specific there was a PowerPoint presentation but I think what's important you know probably to the board and to the public is that in 2021 uh there a 64% uh incidence of recidivism reoccurring F or um it could be a number of different things fell gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor offenses so 64% in 2001 and we've seen a decline that's taken place ever since about 2007 and our 2020 statistic based upon this report was down to 19% so we've seen a drop in that which simply means that the programming is is effective in trying to prevent the reoccurrence so I'll just say that if there's any questions particular this this report is available that outlines it more specifically the other thing um that was brought up uh to commissioner white and myself was a ner program for dealing with uh substance abuse and uh commissioner Johnson had been part of this conversation and um in the vote that was taken as to nk's um response to ongoing opiate abuse was to introduce a program uh the use of sublocade and sublocade is uh an injection that is given that um it's a prescription inject and used to treat moderate to severe opiate use in adults and initially in the budget that was presented to us that we get from Arc each year the cost for that was built into the budget but it was determined that we should pay if we use it meaning that the counties that participate in Arc if in fact you have individuals that are in the program if they uh agree to because it's voluntary uh to use suade as an injection to help with the opiate abuse that the counties will be build and so the injection is about $2,100 I think and and uh uh the vote that was taken uh that commissioner Johnson you know agreed to that my question has there been any discussion uh on the board on that as opposed to affirming that that vote most counties are using monies that I believe the state had provided um I don't know if our substance abuse disorder program if we had funding that was granted and those funds then are the funds that other counties that are in Arrowhead in the corrections program they're just taking those Monies to pay so uh uh I think that U at some point we we should affirm that agreement that we along with the other counties agree that you can go ahead and Bill us and which department will be build should we use this to date we have not had anybody and so um I do have um um let's see the arc board passed a resolution which reduced the arc budget as I mentioned by $50,000 that had been budgeted for subid and they stipulated that they would build the individual companies or counties so we would respectfully request that we be permitted to invoice Cook County if and when we have a Cook County nerk resident receiving suade and which department would you like it build and they showed uh the uh history since 2020 through 2024 um that uh we really have had very little use in that regard and this program is a new program so we don't really anticipate it but should we have an individual in the program that chooses that voluntarily then we would be build so at some point I think we should just reinforce commissioner Johnson's support of that that's all I have unless you and for the community the other option if not the injectable would be a daily pill medication which has its downfalls because um you can't be certain that the medication is at actually being swallowed when it's being given I'm told it takes a lot more time and uh and uh for efficiency it does the same thing but it's a daily pill that has to be dispensed so that's that's the tradeoff commissioner I just wanted to for commissioner Gamble's um sake indicate that we had spoken about this and had agreed as Commissioners that we thought this was the best route to take thank you uh then my recommendation is that uh it it be communicated how we determined that that should be build yep and uh director McIntyre you had your hand up to yeah I was just going to add my recollection of the conversation was that there was broad support on this board for that request and that the funding stream that we would utilize would be the opioid settlement funds so the funds that we're getting from opioid manufacturers uh and that this would be in align with our funding strategy that the board has approved thus far of saturating the market and Community with overdose pre prevention medication and this would be in line with that as it's supporting residents Mr chair Allison the uh and so was it determined then where that billing would go my recommendation would be that if this is the board's direction that they'd like to take that that invoice come to the public health and human services department all right and that's what the other counties basically said we're just going to take it out of that funding so I'll just communicate uh Arc has had change in leadership uh through retirement individuals that were there when I was there previously and uh I had the opportunity and actually the privilege of interviewing the present administrator um and uh uh on the Personnel committee and uh I was very impressed with her and she's moved her way up to now be in that position very capable very passionate and very uh competent individual so um she's doing her followup and making sure that we're communicating and have everything so I appreciate that I'll just communicate that thank you thank you uh just one question I had I'm very uh happy to hear the report on the reduction recidivism um one of the things I've learned through learned about through AMC and I apologize for not having more information locally about the meeting was just the restorative justice um program I didn't know if Arc um or nerk had strong ties into that program or if it's um still more of The Fringe situation or I know they have their own programming but just I was hoping there's some kind of integration there I can't answer that at this point but what I would say is that um certainly U the connection between the boards that the that Commissioners sit on and things that we have locally that um we're always stronger when we link those resources and in some cases if we if there's redundancy then we can try to figure out a way to do that which reduces resources of people's time and dollars but doesn't abdicate the responsibility of meeting you know what we're focused on as far as need but I can ask I can ask about that but at this point I'm too new into it to know yeah and I think how much communication is going on thank you and I I I just like to spread spread that word more um my understanding of the program is it's restored Justice is largely used before long hopefully long before against Arc but just having that you know awareness and and you know getting that out I think would be helpful the um on that front that uh Northern County's land use Coordinating Board that um in that transition that Grand Portage wants to be sure that they are you know part of that process of discussion for things that affect them and so I've had discussions with uh Margaret and uh uh look forward to I sent her the schedule for the year and I will discuss that and given the previous experience uh the en Club board was certainly welcoming and I I think that's the other thing is just saying if they like to your point if there are other interested organizations that have the vested interest that we want to include their voice so we have that perspective so thank you um child care solution subcommittee commissioner Starley will will be meeting in February okay thank you uh Community Health Health Board uh will be meeting in February um uh local advisory Council for mental health R we met but I don't have my notes from it and I could share a couple highlights it was a brief meeting there were a number of members who were not able to attend so we did not have a quorum and weren't able to have a vote on officers for 2025 we'll be addressing that in February um let's see Andrea orist shared that she recently completed a milestone in training as a prevention professional and Rosio also went through that certification so kudos to those staff for expanding their skills and education in that area um we I could share a bit more detail on the young adult life leader cohort that's a newly established group of local youth age 16 to 18 we have four participants this is a peer educator model designed to give teens the training experience and confidence to talk to their peers about mental health and how to use 988 the National Suicide Prevention line as a resource uh public health staff distributed a survey to other organizations in the community that serve youth to to uh help inform our prevention activities ensure that we're best meeting the needs of young people in our communities the Cook County prevention Coalition continues to meet on the third Tuesday of every month at higher ed with a zoom option uh our next meeting is this afternoon Andrea orist is the lead for that meeting and we are talking about adding that to the list of committees that are on the Public Health and Human Services Board and having a commissioner design for that group so I'll come prepared to our next meeting with a request for the board to have some discussion on designating a commissioner to that group thank you commissioner white anything you wanted to add or no okay um let's see restorative justice as as I mentioned I was unable to give um commission gamble any meeting info there wasn't may you we haven't met yet okay thank you and I can give on that commissioner Mills the the meeting was canell this month as all of the staff were participating in a training in Grand Portage January 10th through the 13th and I had the privilege of participating in that training as well was a restorative justice Circle keeper training with K pranis who is a international trainer in restorative practices and it was really a gift to be able to be a part of that thank you uh there's a big state Grant pending um for restorative justice to provide some ongoing stable funding and continue on with development of that program uh into a a Northshore initiative so cook and Lake counties are partnering on this great um councel on Aging commissioner right um nothing new to report from last year or last year last week's um okay thank you um emergency preparedness commissioner svin so if you'll recall we had a combined meeting in November and December for that organization um but just an update on something you may have heard in the media um our Emergency Management uh director Mike kort is working closely in the area of radar and one of the things he's attempting to do is um work with other emergency managers in the state of Minnesota to um eliminate the r radar Gap that we have here in Cook County um radar is impacted because of the curvature of the earth and there is a large portion of Cook County where you can't find out about precipitation high winds um storms that are at a lower elevation and it really impacts Public Safety and um so Mike will be working um with other emergency managers to ensure that there's some funding in the state of Minnesota and this is one of the things that we know there is an appetite for at the legislature so we will be uh testifying there and that was mentioned at our commissioner's meeting last Tuesday um Mike Keyport will be coming out to the airport to talk with the airport manager because one of the potential sites is the Cook County airport north um just north of the devil track Lake area so anyway more to come on that um but a lot of conversation about it and it would definitely Ben benefit um the public and the visiting individuals who come to cook so we'll look forward to hearing more about that in the future you um has there been any discussion about just flattening the Earth no discussion about that no discussion about that quite some time ago there was a discussion but it wasn't around um actually the the discussion right now is do we do it at the airport should it be um Northwest of the airport should it be East closer to hoveland um and there's lots of possibilities so it's a matter of getting experts up here to actually look at the topography and the terrain that we have and determine what would be the best location for that device and it's um there's one currently at an airport in Minnesota the other handful of small radar units they have are on top of water towers they're about 100 ft tall they're not real significant in height um but the main thing is you want them in a place that does provide benefit commissioner Mills if I may add one more update from emergency preparedness before we move on Andrea tofy who is our department lead for emergency preparedness is working with a designer through the community health board on a magnet project with safety tips for extended power outages the idea is that this would be both for residents and for people visiting and staying at a vac rental that they would have readily available phone numbers and some basic tips on what to do and who to reach out to for help thank you yeah it's a great idea especially for the high number of vacation rentals we have um healthc care planning committee commissioner Starley we did not meet this month anything from no yes okay so on um January 3rd the 119th Congress began and um as of yesterday we have a new president there's a lot of things happening in N who come before uh many legislators Senators representatives to um represent all of us in the 30,50 counties that I meet with every month um I would say there's going to be some major changes um one of them is going to be with the Medicare telea health and I don't know if anybody's been able to participate in a telea health uh conference with their doctor but um evidently that depending upon your geography and original site requirements is going to be looked into quite steadily later on um this spring and um probably not till after April 1st but more to be um reviewed on that I know that the money for that is um lacking and so that is the reason for um more um looking into um how they can help and maybe we're in a good geographical place maybe we're good to be on a curve because of where we are in northern Minnesota we'll have to see um uh there's going to be Medicaid cuts and according to Allison this morning our Medicaid folks here probably in Cook County will be affected um there again that won't be discussed for a while but right now on the table will be 2.3 trillion Cuts in Medicaid but it's just right now on the table to be discussed so we need to keep our ears and eyes open on that there are a lot of other um funding that's going to be available but I'm not going to go into into those details because they don't happen until um the end of this month February and the end of March so by next month maybe I'll know some good news about some of the funding that would be um maybe like Behavioral Health Workforce education and training programs you know um that's an important thing um healthy tomorrow partnership for with children's programs um and speaking of children we had a extensive conversation about social media and how social media is affecting our young people from I don't even want to know how young I'm hearing five years old up through high school and one of the things that wasn't on that and it doesn't affect the younger younger people was gambling as a social problem so um we kind of touched on it I think there'll be more said um next month when we reach convene but each time I am part of this conversation I'm always amazed at what other people bring up and I'm saying oh yeah it affects all of us too so we'll hopefully have better news next month we'll see thank you yeah I have um I have a friend who I learned spends uh $40 a week on eaps yeah which blew my mind um supposedly um a break even situation for them but um it's just um more than I think is healthy and um but it's that's not my judgment to to make um at that at the same time um another I guess I'd call a friend um who said they just lost $800 on one of those e gambling devices and I again um I that really um alarmed me um to say the least but I know it's more accessible and um and it's a part of the whole addiction um psychology and um and it's uh of course it's an issue right now but I my understanding is that issue is increasing as well so um just something we should be aware of our state really hasn't said anything about legal the gambling for um online gambling and all of that so we have to wait and see what they do too in the state to make it even more viable for people Mr chair please uh on that topic gambling um we had a resident um and uh in talking with the family because the resident passed away the amount of money that that IND individuals spent in gambling was it it's crazy um when we look at its effect on young people whatever is happening in the culture that becomes acceptable and takes priority and in Focus those of us that are sports fans that have followed Sports year after year the the incidence of gambling and everything in the dialogue nowadays is talking about over and under we're not talking about who's got the strength in the running back position or the wide receiver it just the focus on gambling because it is such a money maker so my point is that if the culture has given profile to these things they can't help but shape the thinking of everybody young people and everybody but it it's it's interruptive uh to what we used to enjoy because of the the occurrence of it is just unbelievable and everybody's getting in on it because they see it as an opportunity and what's so shortsighted about that is the effects on people's lives you can make the money but what are you doing as a society when we make these things so prevalent it's just part of the culture everybody does it so consequently where is the right or wrong and what's good for us in this decision commissioner mil does anyone know I was watching football right and does any all of a sudden as commissioner gamble said it's all over like you can uh play you can you know punch in this number now when when did that become acceptable I mean I don't recall that happening last year Watching up to the superp but all of a sudden it's we are a wash with that on the football games yeah Mr chair commission it's U what happens in in some of these things is that there are there are people that have vested interests that push legislators to open that up it can be a number of different things that we've seen that all of a sudden as a society value we protected it and then we were became LAX and then people that have a vested interest influence and so then legislation gets compromised and it opens the door and once that door is open then everybody gets on board and that's that's the problem so wisdom and discernment says we need to see what's really happening do we really want to do this because of the ripple effect but yeah it's it's it's unbelievable now how much we have to put up with the pushing and pushing of pushing of and the incentivizing to you'll get this much money if you you know da D it just it's crazy and Once Upon a Time gambling and sports events was illegal yeah because of the possibility of you know Corruption of someone throwing a well boxing like someone throwing a punch or you know taking a fall or you know and now it's we don't care anymore I it's I I'm sure somebody got in with enough power and they're going to make money and it's where we are yeah changing culture it's it's very alarming to say the least um I'm sorry I'm back on track here um Northeast Minnesota office of job training commissioner again didn't haven't met thank you um no sure collaborative uh not yet met um I believe that's in February here um phhs advisory Council um Frank's not here today I don't know if you have anything you'd like to report Mr gamble or if Allison which one I'm sorry it's the phhs advisory Council and maybe that did not meet either Allison can jump in here too but it was my first first meeting and an organizational meeting and so there was significant discussion about how we um uh our our policies our bylaws Define you know how we determine our leadership and um so um that was uh like I say a significant part of our discussion Ellison anything else then I'm just going to pull up the notes and see if there's anything to mention here Beyond commissioner Gamble's report oh we're going to have a new we'll have a new representative from The Hub Jess Rodney will be stepping into that role representing the the board um we had reports from gr Portage Health Services on the violence prevention center as well as Sawtooth Mountain Clinic we had some technical difficulties with the virtual for some reason that's what's standing out to me right now you spend considerable TR to figure out how all this new technology it's just better to show up on your horse and come in uh similar to the local mental health advisory Council we did not have uh full enough membership represented at our first meeting of the year to have a election so that'll happen at our March meeting okay okay um moving on to the food access Council uh that was my first uh attendance uh with with this group and um uh I was I was there virtually it was it was held at higher ed uh there was a fair number of people attending virtually so I think there was appreciation for that option um also um attendance uh good attendance at higher ad and just um I'd say it was a lot of strategic thinking and um kind of looking at the Mission Vision of of the group um and what people are hoping to accomplish and um just a lot of good discussion and um so this this Council had had a number of meetings prior to this um and so there was some history that I was um just kind of catching up on in discussions but um a lot of discussion around Ruby's Pantry um and the future of that uh the importance of that and the services service that it provides to the community as well as um the food shelf and and um Northland Food um and just kind of how everything comes together and and the opportunities for efficiencies there and and collaboration um one of the um points that was um brought up a number of times was just the quality of the food um and and issues there and how it's it's believe that that is driving um some lower participation uh in in um particular in the Ruby's Pantry um program and um there's broad agreement about that um and that it puts the whole program in Jeopardy because with the lower participation numbers there's a minimum and I'm sure you've seen this in in media just about the ins and outs of that but um it's largely out of our community's hands as far as I I shouldn't say largely it's it's entirely out of the community's hands as far as what is brought in from Ruby's Pantry um so there's frustrations there and um and and as I said the need is still there um so the fear is that the people who are hungry and the people who need sheer calories are going to be impacted the most if those who have the luxury of choosing to participate or not are not participating um and so just trying to work through options and opportunities there um collaboration with Farmers was discussed um it's not a a huge um um there's not a huge number of farmers in our community but it is uh a passionate number uh of farm fers and um trying to integrate some of the the locally produced food and what we do have in our community and and just what is happening in Grand Portage and um and trying to fit everything together so it was a really good conversation I'm really excited to be a part of that um hoping we can find some some better Solutions um immediately as well as the long term so learned a lot and um yeah be excited to report more yeah please Mr chair thank you um as Allison identified in her report healthy food options um and uh we have had participation with Ruby's Pantry uh before Ruby's Pantry had actually begun U I had researched and talk with the the individuals uh who um orchestrate rubies and uh trying to identify need up here whatever else we met with a number of people and whatever and then and then we began um at Harbor viw uh we had uh sponsored shares so that we would pick it up all the time bring it over there that sponsorship um ended and uh we do have new sponsors that are going to be sponsoring it but as a result we've had the overflow brought over and uh so I communicate with them and I had that discussion this past week that um we are required to have 160 shares and right now we're at about 100 so we're picking up that Tab and paying it in order to keep it coming but as you said that part of the problem is is that if the quality of the food isn't there then the individual isn't going to want to pay the money because they don't get the they're looking for and U so I think that they're given who Ruby's Pantry is and their I'll call it mission that I think they're certainly receptive to understanding that if foods have been diverted because of needs elsewhere because of things going on and but we they still want to fulfill their commitment to other communities that might be part of it if we understand that then we can say well we've got to find a balance in that regard but um so uh my wife went over to pick up all of the extras this last rubies and there was a box of hamburger buns they were so thrilled cuz everything was gone W so it might be that that we're seeing that that people because of need or something changing that participation was up they were just so happy so hopefully that that Trend will consider there's no question that the need exists it is to the issue of what is what are we getting for what we're paying and so it's commendable that in the community we're picking up the difference in order to keep it coming but the ultimate is to get it working the way it should work and meet the need that exists so yeah yeah I appreciate that that too yes please yes there was a social Blast for that and uh it really helped so that you you need 150 particip um participants and that it was 144 and so they filled it up and that's why you got hamburger buns so yeah I think communication is a huge part of that it is yeah yeah well thank you and uh yeah again I'm learned a lot there and very excited to to learn more and to try to connect all these um Parts together and if there's ways to supplement one program or another with whether it's different food or higher quality food or whatever is needed um you know there of course everyone's heart is in this um it's just connecting those dots and and seeing what we can make happen and maybe it's just your communication that is that that was a missing part um but I think yeah there's that quality issue yeah but I really appreciate the and Mr chair I I would say too in looking at this um we know on radio that uh there are community service you know spots that are you have to comply with enough of those things in in our local Publications and things our newspapers and whatever that come out maybe if we had a conversation in that regard that there could be something that is uniform visually and format that people become accustomed to looking at to see options relative to Food Source within within the community and it even can be like the farmers market or whatever takes place any place where you have options for food and the more that we communicate that I think the more you know we meet the the need uh because people become aware so yeah I think it's something we should talk with different media about their willingness to do that if we were to put that together yeah yeah I'll bring that up with uh The Next Food access council meeting too yeah thank you all right I think that's uh brings us down to the good of the order if there's anything else um commissioner would like to bring up commissioner sty please thank you Mr chair I'm wondering about Frank's position if um that needs to be filled is he uh um I I guess I'm not aware I can update the board on our discussion at the meeting in January um we discussed uh whether there was interest among the council for serving on a leadership position Frank indicated his willingness to continue to serve but recognized that his he wasn't as available as he would have like to have been in 2024 so wanted to offer it up to other community members on that Council uh we talked uh as commissioner gamble indicated about our bylaws and whether or not those are unnecessarily prohibitive of including new members and the uh length of service requirements prior to serving as an officer we talked as a strategy of removing language in the bylaws as they're written that the vice chair uh must both the chair and vice chair have to have served a year on the council before becoming an officer and we discuss the possibility of making a modification to that so that the vice chair could serve a year as the vice chair with mentorship from the chair even if they don't yet have a year of service on the council so that they could earn that with the intention of moving into the chair seat and 2025 but the the council didn't make any formal motions or recommendations so I expect we'll have an update at our February if not our March Public Health and Human Services board meeting okay in terms of any bylaw changes and whether or not we have a new chair okay okay thank you thank you Mr chair the uh in that discussion uh my encouragement was that we look at our bylaws and whatever informed that policy initially that we understand that moving forward because if we find that we're in a particular year where it's hard to find people that are willing to step up to that position the first thing is to communicate what the role and responsibility of the position is and as Frank said there's really not a whole lot that you have to do as as Vice chair it's just if I don't show up but because of the concerns and Frank had had said this that he can't show up as much as he really wants to uh and so we emphasize that the vice chair would understand in that role that they would step in when the chair couldn't do that so that the representation would be at at this meeting and so it it was something that was noted it was just we should step back and take a look at our bylaws and we don't have a want to have a knee-jerk reaction if in fact we don't find a pool if the reason that we wanted to have the oneyear tenure before they could move into the chair position that it might be if we do make a change in that regard important to emphasize that part of it is that the chair will Mentor in that year that Vice chair so that they would be prepared even though they hadn't had the year prior to and that we would have the representation on the board here okay well thank you and yeah we'll stay tuned for for next month and see what uh what we find out so anything else for the good of the order well for not having any action items we sure used our time uh but there was excellent discussion and I really appreciate everybody's input and um we have our 10:30 committee the whole meeting coming up and um uh we're at the end of our agenda so I'll call us adjourned thank you thank you what's the format of the committee of the whole so we're going to [Music] yes conversation I'm going