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Iron County Human Services Board Meeting March 16, 2026 9:00 a.m. – County Board Room 1. Meeting called to order at 9:01 a.m. by Lauer. Members present: Karen Lauer, Doug Swartz, Jennifer Rye, Kurt Wolff (via phone) and Larry Youngs, County Board Chair. Members absent: Roy Haeger, Tom Innes, Lauren Snyder Staff members present: Cally Bucknell, Krystal Ferrell, Chanel Levra, Trista Olson, Diane Schmidtke, Becky Rein. Student members absent: Natalie Cane, Keira Koski, 2. Bucknell acknowledged the meeting was properly posted and advertised. 3. Public Comment – None. 4. Approval of minutes from previous meetings: Motion by Rye to approve minutes from the February 17, 2026 meeting, second by Swartz. AIF. Child Support 5. Child Support Overview – Separate minutes. 6. Child Support Report – Separate minutes. 7. Child Support AI Policy Discussion/Action – Separate minutes. Motion by Wolff to prohibit Iron County Child Support and Human Services from using AI for client information and data in their DCF contracts until a county-wide policy is in place. Second by Swartz. AIF. 8. Child Support Civil Rights Compliance Discussion – Separate minutes. Motion by Swartz for Iron County to develop a county-wide Civil Rights Plan. The responsible party assignment will be determined by the County Board. Second by Rye. AIF. Human Services 9. Budget Update 2025 and 2026 – Bucknell referred to handout #9 and advised that 2025 is not final. No questions were asked. 10. Adult & Children Placements 2026 – Bucknell referenced handout #10 and explained that we included 2025 placements because there were additional 2025 bills paid since the last report. Questions were answered regarding how costs were lower in 2025 vs. previous years and the likelihood of lower costs again in 2026. Bucknell explained it was partly due to worker management of their cases and partly due to the nature of the cases that presented themselves in 2025. We do our best to keep costs down but there’s no guarantee about what types of cases we’re going to get, and what will be available for placement locations. 11. Discussion/Action Contracts – None at this time. 12. Overview of Adult Protective Services (APS) – Chanel Levra, APS Social Worker gave an overview of Adult Protective Services cases. Levra reviewed how she gets notified of APS cases, reasons for immediate removal, steps taken to work with the person’s support system prior to Human Services involvement, how a placement setting is chosen & barriers to placing in-county, pay sources/Medicaid, POA’s/guardianships, competency evaluations, etc. A discussion was held and several questions were answered. Levra was thanked for her presentation. 13. Discussion/Action Resolution 2026-4064 – Approving and Advertising Economic Support Specialist Position - Bucknell advised that this vacancy is in our 2026 budget and was created when Candice Krall was appointed as Iron County’s Register of Deeds. This resolution is on the February 24th Finance agenda. Motion by Rye to approve Resolution 2026-4064 and forward to Finance, second by Swartz. AIF. 14. Discussion/Action Resolution 2026-4065 – Approving and Advertising for AODA Counselor Position – Bucknell explained that when the Northland Counseling contract ended, we were going to contract directly with those providers, however, the AODA counselor wasn’t comfortable with the requirements of our insurance company and opted to no longer provide services in Iron County. Questions were answered regarding the need for the position, number of hours this would entail, etc. Motion to advertise for this position by Youngs, second by Swartz. AIF. 15. Director Update – Bucknell asked Becky Rein, Program Manager to provide a Transportation reporting update. a. Transportation - Rein explained that - $6,275 was identified for the trust fund for the 2026 Iron County Transportation application. An employee from Wisconsin DOT called her and said we can’t do that. They said we must fully allocate the funds to projects and what’s left over at the end of the year can get rolled into the trust fund. Rein moved the $6,275 into the Volunteer Driver Program project. These funds will not be spent and will be rolled into the trust fund at the end of the year. Bucknell then advised that Pat at BART provided reports for the first two months of 2026. No questions. b. Agency Caseload Sizes – Bucknell reported that all workers wear multiple hats, so their caseload does not define their workload. No questions were asked. 16. Children & Families Update – Ferrell reported that staff have been training on many changes and updates in DCF. Ferrell then provided a summary of her report, case counts and update/status of placements. 17. ADRC & Aging a. Upcoming Meeting Schedule: Aging Advisory Committee – 6/9/26 Nutrition Advisory Committee – 6/4/26 Hurley Senior Center Board Meeting – 3/25/26 b. ADRC and Aging Services Update – Olson referred to handout #17a & b and reviewed caseloads and other ADRC & Aging updates: * Advised that other counties are assisting with regional phones until Abby is trained and ready to take cases. * Jerri Swartz has been very busy with tax prep and reported an economic impact of $58,862 in February. * Abby Vuorenmaa was hired as the ADRC I & A. She is training at this time and will assume a caseload in early April. * ADRC will be doing workshops to help people get enrolled in the County’s mass notification system. * Purple Tube Project – a purple tube that provides first responders information about their patients with dementia. * The ADRC newsletter will be released on April 3rd and quarterly thereafter in an electronic format. 18. Review/Approve credit card bill and vouchers – Bucknell referenced handouts for item #18. No questions were asked. Motion by Youngs, second by Rye to approve the Dec/Jan and Jan/Feb credit card bills and January & February vouchers. All in favor. 19. Future Agenda Items – April meeting will include interviews for the Economic Support Specialist position. 20. Set next board meeting date and location – Tentatively set for 4/27/26 @ 3:30 p.m. in the County Board Room. Bucknell will check to make sure 3:30 works for Board members who weren’t at today’s meeting. 21. Adjourn –Lauer adjourned the meeting at 10:36 a.m.