MN HIV Services Planning Council
Meeting Minutes for April 8, 2003
Division of Indian Work

 

 

I.       Welcome and introductions; lighting of the candle

Paul Tucker called the meeting to order.  Introductions were made and Gwen lit the candle.

 

II.     Review the minutes and proposed agenda

Minutes from the last meeting were passed by unanimous consent.

 

III.   Open forum

Community Forum

Colleen Bjerke from MAP, Director of Programs.  She is also a community member of the Planning Council and is the community co-chair of the Planning & Priorities committee.  She is here as a representative of MAP to talk about the benefits counseling program.  The Benefits Counseling service area was prioritized towards the end of the list during the prioritization process last summer.  The program provides direct client service, helps with public and private benefits and social security if they are having trouble obtaining them; increases the capacity of the system to help people with benefits – this piece is targeted to case managers; and it also does systems advocacy on a limited basis.  Colleen provided this background on the program.  Benefits counseling ranked close to the bottom during the last prioritization round.  During this time the staff person in this position left MAP.  MAP was hesitant to rehire, as they weren’t sure the contract would be extended.  Through a plan with DHS they came up with an interim plan to use MAP’s existing staff to run the program to ensure that it was still available for some support, but it meant that MAP could not continue to work with case managers and do advocacy work.  During this time, the AIDSLine staff has tracked concerns related to benefits counseling.  Twenty – three percent of the calls on the service side during the last six months were related to benefits (ss, disability, private insurance, etc.)

18% of referrals made in the same time frame had to do w/ benefits.  Colleen then fielded questions from members.  Bubble sheet data ending in June 2002 supports that there were 150 clients who used this service (via the AIDSLine) for that year. 

 

IV.              Co-chair update

Before the co-chair update, ballots were passed out for the supplemental election of new members.  Two additional members were proposed to add to this membership round.  Results from the supplemental election approved both Steven McIver and Bob Hansen in as new Planning Council members.

 

Paul then continued with the co-chair report.  Title II has received their award, which was slightly reduced this year, so we will be making some very important decisions later on today – please refrain from voting on that issue if you have a conflict of interest.

 

The Planning Council is being asked to change its meeting time.  The proposed change will be from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month.  The new meeting time will be 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon on the second Tuesday of the month.  MOTION:  Paul moved David B. seconded approval of the meeting time change.  Passed unanimously.

 

The joint co-chairs have been meeting.  We will have a joint vision statement for review at the next Planning Council meeting.

 

The Planning Council co-chairs then passed out a diagram illustrating the appropriate times to add an item to the agenda or comment on an agenda item.

 

V.       Title I update - Jonathan Hanft

Jonathan passed out an outline of the update.  He reviewed training that will be conducted in the next few weeks.  He then shared information about the grant award.

 

VI.     Title II update - Jeff Buckles

DHS’ temporary position has been filled – Amy Mosier will be taking over Lori’s position during Lori’s leave of absence.  They’ve also filled the clerical position that was open in the HIV/AIDS section.  MA Dental has taken over the Delta Dental contract as a cost saving measure.  DHS will also be re-applying for the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse Mental Health Service Administration) grant to increase service to African Americans.  Linda Atlas has been accepted for a month long June 15^th to July 13^th – two-year treatment education program.  Project Ujima continues to progress.

 

Jeff passed out a G-HAT proposed carryover plan.  Dave then reviewed the decision-making process for carryover planning that the G-HAT is presenting for 2003.  Members expressed concerns about various aspects of the carryover planning including the timeframe involved.  MOTION:  Paul moved Norm seconded having the Planning & Priorities Committee review the carryover planning proposal presented at their meeting tomorrow.  Additional clarification of acronyms being used and a little background of the budgeting and carryover process were requested for the benefit of new members.   AMENDED MOTION: Dave moved to amend the motion Eric seconded to refer the plan for Title I and II carryover planning to P&P and to give that committee authority to approve the plan.  Motion carried with three dissenting votes.

 

Discussion then moved to the grant awards for both Title I and Title II that were received this year.  Jonathan passed out a comparative summary of the funds from this year and last year.  He reviewed the information, as well as the carryover plan that was passed by the Planning Council last month, for members.  This is the first year that MN has received less than was anticipated.  The PC needs to address the larger issue of reduced funding.  Jonathan then passed out proposed funding options for this year’s awards. Option one was cut up on the prioritized list of service areas from the bottom.  Option two specified no new service areas or activities, option three included keeping the new service activities, but reductions in areas based on underspending, and option four no new activities and reductions in service areas based on underspending.

 

MOTION:  David B. moved Megan seconded approving option three and use 2002 carryover funding to fund the services that would otherwise not be funded.  Motion passed with twenty-one ayes and five abstentions (Schut, Hanson, Rybicki, Rompa and Velez)

 

VII.   Linkages work group final presentation - Large Group

Julie passed out information including copies of the report, a print out of the PowerPoint presentation, recommendations summary and proposed motions.  Julie began the presentation by reviewing the history of this project.  An early recommendation was to integrate prevention into the Continuum of Care.  A joint meeting of the Planning & Priorities Committee and the Prioritization Committee of the Task Force will be meeting on April 23^rd to review the final Continuum of Prevention and Care document.  Further emphasis on “high risk negatives” and “prevention for positives” were other areas discussed.  The report identified key themes, some regarding administrative activities that could be handled by government agencies or service providers, others that were joint activities of government agencies and service providers, and those that involved planning activities (Planning Council and Task Force). 

 

The tri-chairs (Julie Hanson, Kevin Sitter and Nick Metcalf) will attend the May meeting to discuss the components and answer questions that members might have.  The goal is to have a vote on forwarding the plan to the G-HAT for implementation at the May meeting as well. 

 

VIII.    Committee  – written reports, time for questions, discussion

·        Executive Committee

·        Planning and Priorities Committee

Megan updated the group – we are continuing the process of reviewing prioritization.

·        HIV Positive Committee

·        Needs Assessment and Evaluation Committee

·        Community Participation Committee

·        Operations Committee

 

IX.     Announcements, next agenda, meeting evaluation

The Empowering Heroes Conference will be April 11 and 12 at the Northland Inn.

 

Linda announced that there is a major fundraiser this summer – the Red Ribbon Ride.  Nine Minnesota organizations are sponsoring this fundraising effort.  Pledges can be made online at mnredribbonride.org

 

Julie announced that the new epi update is available online.  Tracy will be here next month to give an update.  MDH is conducting a training next Friday, April 18^th on effective facilitation and effective participation in groups.  Please RSVP to Julie as soon as possible.

 

Documents distributed at or before the meeting:

·        Agenda and February 11, 2003 meeting minutes

·        Title I update outline

·        Title II update

·        Carryover proposal

·        Committee meeting summaries

·        Comprehensive Plan minus resource listings

·        Statewide joint conference committee meeting minutes

·        Work plans for all of the Planning Council committees

·        Statewide Plan motions

·        Proposed edits to the Statewide Plan motions

·        Parliamentary procedure handout

·        Linkages Workgroup Recommendations for Linking Prevention & Care

·        Meeting evaluation

 

MOTION:  David moved Andrea seconded adjournment of the meeting.  Passed unanimously.

 

Adjourned at 3:35 p.m.