John Sakowicz, omni-interested citizen in a county where few people pay close attention to purely local matters, posed an interesting question at the April 23 meeting of the Board of Supervisors. Sakowicz's query came after a routine discussion of training requirements for welfare fraud investigators in Health and Human Services Department.
Sakowicz: “I have been concerned since 9-11 about the expansion of law enforcement powers. My question to Mr. Martire [Chief of the Mendocino County Welfare Fraud Investigation Unit] is, When someone becomes a recipient of any kind of public assistance, be it TANF [a Clintonian acronym, Temporary Assistance to Need Family, aka welfare] or Food Stamps or what have you, do they give a right to privacy? Are there any privacy protections? Do you get to see medical records? Mental health records? Do you get to see bank records without the permission of the subject? Cell phone records? Do you get to conduct no-knock searches of their home? Etc.? There are a lot of questions about the powers of this law enforcement unit within the Department of Health and Human Services.”
Martire: “Thank you for those questions. No, you do not give up your right to privacy. We have due process in this state and in this country with regards to what law enforcement may or may not do. My agency is bound to those same standards and requirements. Generally, when somebody comes in to request public assistance they must provide proof of their income. They provide that proof through their voluntarily giving us their bank information, their bank statements. We do not ask for, in most regards or most programs, medical information. To my knowledge — I am not a program expert — but the medical portion of that is extremely private and it is guarded by HIPPA [Federal Health Information Privacy Protection Act] requirements. I have not seen in my 20 years of experience any medical records or anything like that. The only other way that we would obtain information — you mentioned cell phones or bank accounts — is if we have a viable search warrant which would be signed by a judge of the court authorizing us to do that pursuant to a criminal investigation and probable cause. So we do not actively go looking for welfare fraud. I can tell you that we have some 1200 open cases of welfare fraud that we are taking a look at and those are from referrals from members of the community or they are referrals from inside the program where an eligibility worker might have questions that need to be investigated by one of my members or one of my investigators.”
* * *
Board Chair Dan Hamburg clarified the County’s ongoing feasibility study of “Exclusive Operating Areas” for County ambulance service.
“The use of the term of art — Exclusive Operating Area — has created a lot of misunderstanding among the public because when people see that they think that somebody is going to come in from the outside and they are going to take over all these ambulance services. Even though that's not something we ever said, just the terminology is very misleading. For example, people don't understand that you can have more than one exclusive operating area in a county. People don't understand that there can be carve outs. If Coast Life Support District is doing wonderfully and they don't want to participate, they can be their own little carve out. Now, it's been pointed out to me by some of the Coastal Valley people that although that may seem very attractive at first glance, there may be problems with that because one of the things that comes with not being an exclusive operating area is that anybody can move into your territory and try to cherry pick your best accounts. In fact that's what we're seeing in Ukiah with this competition between the two ambulance services who are both going for the inter facility transfers of patients from one place to another which are very lucrative. So we have these two agencies chasing after each other to rake in whatever there is to rake in. So there is a lot of misunderstanding out there. I think some of it is our fault for not being out there ahead of this. I know when I went to the meetings last week I was kind of taken aback by the level of, well, concern by the public. I do want to publicly commend chief Colin Wilson of the Anderson Valley fire Department for a kind of speaking up in favor of the county's efforts in a fairly hostile crowd of people who were part of the Ambulance service. He actually pointed out what our CEO just did, which is that finally this comes down to County responsibility to make sure there is a base level of service throughout the county. I think what Chief Wilson said that night was that he thinks the County would be remiss to not be launching the kind of effort that we are to make sure that ambulance service continues in the County. So there is a huge amount of concern out there and I think we have to move through this very deliberately and very transparently.”
Supervisor McCowen added: “It was emphasized that the meeting I attended, and I'm sure all the others, that this is still very much something that’s in the fact-finding process and information is being gathered. But also because there is no new infusion of resources that's going to come out of this process. For most residents in the rural areas there is probably going to be no discernible change. The people who are providing the emergency services now are going to be the people providing them into the future. It is very much a patchwork system that does rely very heavily on community volunteers. Frankly, I don't think anyone familiar with the process really sees that changing. In some of the more urban areas where there is more call for ambulance services, depending on what information is presented and what recommendations are made and what direction the board chooses to go, there could be change. But for those folks in the outlying areas worried about their local ambulance service, keep supporting your local ambulance service because that's what you're going to have helping and responding to your emergencies for the future. I don't think anyone sees a change in that.”
* * *
Gina Connor, the County’s new Deputy Director of Child Protective Services delivered a few child welfare statistics in a PowerPoint Presentation along with a somewhat unique, not to say self-serving, interpretation of them.
“Total referrals to Child Welfare Services in 2011 was 2,959. Total in person responses was 1746. Average monthly caseload is about 341 cases which includes kids back home with their parents (116), children in out-of-home care who are in reunification (100), children in permanent placement foster care (111), and children who are non-minors who are 18 and over (14).
“In 2011 the rate of substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect for California was 9.1 per 1000 children. However in Mendocino County it was 19.1. This is consistent with the higher rate for the entire northern region of children in care.” According to Ms. Conner, “We believe this is because we care in Mendocino County. We are concerned about our kids. When we get a call we are more likely to go out and investigate and check out what’s happening and how we can help.”
* * *
Sheriff Allman explained why the Board needed to act quickly to allow him to buy a “modular” (trailer) left over from the temporary housing provided to the Health and Human Services staffers displaced when a broken water pipe in the Dora Street facility burst a few months ago and left them temporarily assigned to other quarters.
“Over the last several months, as I have mentioned to you previously several times, our jail population is increasing to the point where it is becoming a concern. Certainly officer safety is a primary concern. Secondary to that are the programs that we offer our inmates. In conjunction with AB-109 [prisoner realignment and prison sentences being served at County Jails] our ability to reduce recidivism as well as to fulfill our moral and legal obligations of offering programs to as many eligible inmates as possible. Unfortunately, when our jail was built, it wasn't built with AB-109 in mind. We have two and a half classrooms in the jail strictly for inmate programs. And to be quite honest we are out of room. As everyone in this room knows our Department of Public Health at 1120 South Dora has suffered a huge mess and when the modulars were brought in to replace the mess, we were able to talk to them and examine some classrooms and realize that if we could accelerate the ability to get a classroom when they are done renting to the county at 1120 South Dora if, using inmate services money, we could purchase it and bring it over, we would almost immediately be able to, not double but certainly increase by one half times, the size of our classrooms for inmates. … We are in a situation right now where one of the facilities we are looking at is scheduled to be shipped out on Thursday back to its home in the Sacramento Valley. … We think this is the right building to buy for our inmates right now and in theory we could have it up and running in about two weeks and improving the quality of programs we offer the inmates.”
“The finances for this will come from the inmates services fund which we have the money, and we are asking to approve it and we will work with the General Services Agency for maintenance and so forth. We do not intend for this building to be a financial burden on GSA or the County. We are prepared to work with GSA on all necessary costs of maintaining this building. We're not asking you to buy an expensive item and then asking them to maintain it. We understand what is necessary and we are willing to work with GSA on this.”
Sheriff Allman said that the total cost for the trailer would be $33,000 which would include the building and its transportation and set up. “It's a 12x40 modular to be installed on county property, which we are ready for.”
Supervisor Pinches: “That seems a bit high for a used modular. It’s used isn’t it?”
Allman: “It is used. However, last year a new roof was put on and in 2011 a new heating-ventilation and air-conditioning unit was added. The cost includes the transportation and the leveling and the skirting around it and Americans with Disability Act compliance and access. We do not have plumbing; we do not need plumbing because we have restroom and drinking water facilities next door.”
The Board approved the purchase unanimously.
* * *
Supervisor Dan Gjerde, the political pride of Fort Bragg, offered this statement as his Supervisor’s Report: “I was contacted by Don Armstrong, superintendent of Fort Bragg schools and Pilar Gray, the nutrition director in Fort Bragg. The funding for the gardens at the Fort Bragg schools as apparently perhaps all the schools in the county has been funded out of a state grant that was given to the school districts over the last 12 years. That funding is changing. Now instead of a handful of school districts throughout California receiving these funds, the state is going to allocate the funds on a formula based statewide. That means that instead of Mendocino County schools receiving $850,000 which they were receiving, the county Public Health Department will receive a total of about $100,000. That's a pretty substantial drop. It sounds like most of the supervisors if not everybody is already heard this. But for the benefit of our audience— It was also brought to my attention was that Humboldt County schools have submitted a proposal to the county government in Humboldt County that they would partner with the county to help sign up family members and parents with the CalFresh program. Although it's not exactly the same thing that the schools were doing with the garden program, it is related because they are both related to nutrition and the schools in Humboldt point out that they are already interviewing parents and asking parents if their children are eligible for free or reduced lunch. It sounds plausible to me that schools in asking that question would only need to ask a few additional questions to also sign up those parents for the CalFresh program. The schools also point out that they are doing nutrition education with the kids and with the families so that the families, rather than just receiving a CalFresh card, they would also get the benefit of understanding that, you know, you can buy these healthy items and actually improve your health. So it seems like a win-win. Finally, in the material they gave me, the schools included a report of a statewide organization which showed that in Mendocino County, although the allocation of funds to Mendocino County has grown each year, the amount of money that was expended through people signing up has actually gone down in the last three years. So there is a widening gap between the amount of money available to Mendocino County families and the amount of that money going to Mendocino County families. This all leads me to think, hey -- this Humboldt County proposal, if modified for Mendocino County schools could be beneficial. Schools are in a good position to sign up parents and this could help them partially fill that funding gap that they will experience this year. Every school in Mendocino County as I understand it adhasds a community garden, they have nutrition programs, and I think they are very well-positioned to deal with this. So I forwarded the information over to Doug Gerkin at Social Services and I hope that he can get back to us in evaluating the Humboldt County proposal. I understand it's working its way through Humboldt. If they go ahead with it, it seems like it would be possible that we could go ahead with something like that too. It seems like this has been a very successful program in Mendocino for the kids. And it looks like an opportunity for the county to help keep this program going at no cost to the county.”
Supervisor John Pinches: “I can't believe this; you said at one time that this state was giving out money to put gardens in this county at around $850,000 and now it's down to $100,000?”
Brown: “It's just partial funding. It's the funding that comes to the county and gardens were partially supported by staff as well.”
Pinches: “My point is, I have put in quite a few vegetable gardens in my life, and it only takes a few bucks to put in a big garden. I don't get this. You have a labor force, you have the kids in schools. I don't see where it takes that much. All of a sudden it takes state money to a school to have a garden plot? I don't get it.”
Supervisor Carre Brown: “It funds the garden coordinators and their helpers and the curriculum and so forth.”
Pinches: “That's what I'm saying. A garden coordinator? I think they should be funding a schoolteacher! And the garden should be put in as an effort between the schoolkids and maybe a couple parents or somebody who knows a little something about plantin’ corn. I don't get this where all of a sudden we are stymied about putting gardens in our schools because there's not hundreds of thousands of dollars coming in. I can't believe we've come to that as a society.”
Supervisor Dan Hamburg: “Well, maybe we should have the Gardens project come before the board.”
Brown: “That would be great!”
Hamburg: “We could hear from Miles and whatever else.”
Pinches: “There's a lot of good gardens out there.”
Brown: “There's Ukiah Unified.”
Pinches: “This is really a school district issue. But it just appalls me.”
Hamburg: “Before we get appalled, maybe we should learn more about it.”
Brown: “And the grant funding.”
Hamburg: “I've been pretty impressed with what they've done. I mean, they’re not like, you know…They’re very expensive.”
Pinches: “For $850,000?”
Hamburg: “I don't know. I don't know about the cost. But…”
Pinches (sarcastically): “Yeah.”
Hamburg: “We could have them come to the board.”
Supervisor John McCowen: “It is a lot more than just putting in a garden. There is a nutritional education component that does go to it. I think it may be very appropriate to have an agenda item to go into the issues that Supervisor Gjerde has raised.”
Brown: “I would like to work with Supervisor Gjerde to bring that forward.”
Pinches: “My point is, We always talk about how there's not enough money to fund our schools and everything and yet we are spending, like, the state is spending $850,000 in Mendocino County for a few garden projects?”
Hamburg: “The supervisors just said they want an agenda item on it so you can ask all your questions of the people who actually have the information.”
* * *
During his Supervisor’s Report Supervisor McCowen provided an update on the North Coast Railroad Authority on whose Board he sits as Mendocino County’s representative. After some minor interruptions, Supervisor McCowen tried, unsuccessfully, to explain why the Railroad Authority without a railroad doesn’t think they need an Environmental Impact Report to resume railroad operations on the Northcoast.
McCowen: “The North Coast Railroad Association met.”
Pinches: “Is it still a railroad association?”
Board Chair Hamburg: “Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Johnny! Don't you have something to do?”
Pinches: “No. Isn't it a railroad authority?”
McCowen: “I said enough for you to know what it was, didn't I? So we will call it the NCRA.”
Pinches: “Okay.”
Hamburg: “Let's not… Come on.”
McCowen: “I believe you are right, Supervisor. As always. We did meet. Some of you may have heard we did revisit a resolution that was passed by the NCRA in June of 2011 that certified an EIR and approved the project for the resumption of railroad operations from the southern end of the line north to Willits. The NCRA was promptly sued by Friends of the Eel River and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics. That lawsuit has been winding its way through the legal process. The attorneys for the operator of the rail line, Northwestern Pacific Company, presented a letter, essentially a demand to NCRA that said, You didn't need to certify an EIR in order to resume railroad operations. The approval for railroad operations was already accomplished by the lease that NCRA had with NWP Company and also with approvals that were given by other federal agencies. Following a review of that letter NCRA passed a resolution that rescinded — it didn't touch the EIR, but it rescinded those portions of the June 2011 resolution that purported to approve a project for the resumption of rail operations. Again, on the theory that no further action was needed by NCRA to approve a project for the resumption of rail operations. So that no doubt will be the subject of further legal arguments and more will be revealed about what the court system thinks of that argument.”
Be First to Comment