HSD Board Minutes 04.23.26

1 MANITOWOC COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT BOARD MEETING MINUTES CALL TO ORDER: The Manitowoc County Human Services Department Board met at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, 2026 in open session at the Manitowoc County Human Services Department, 801 Jay Street, Manitowoc, WI. Board Members Present: Agnew, Bruns, Klein, Ruggirello, Schiesl Board Members Excused: Board Members Absent: Shimulunas County Board Members Present: County Staff Present: Ader, Fure, Hang, Johnson, Kubec, Thielbar, Whitney, Williquette, Martell PUBLIC COMMENT ON ANY MATTER PERTAINING TO THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT: None APPROVAL OF THE MARCH 26, 2026 MINTUES: A MOTION WAS MADE BY AGNEW, SECONDED BY SCHIESL TO APPROVE THE MINUTES FROM THE MARCH 26TH MEETING. MOTION WAS CARRIED. EDUCATION TOPIC – ECONOMIC SUPPORT – Deb Williquette and Ma Hang: Deb Williquette and Ma Hang provided education about the structure of our Economic Support Division, the Call Center, the programs administered and the East Central Income Maintenance Partnership (ECIMP), which is a 9-county consortium that includes Manitowoc. As part of the ECIMP, Manitowoc County must cover 52.5 call center shifts each week and must manage all of their own cases. Experienced workers have caseloads of 600-700. Programs administered include: Badger Care, Medicaid for individuals age 65+, blind or disabled, Medicaid for Long Term Care, Medical Assistance Purchase Plan, Medicare Savings Programs, Family Planning Services, Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy, Caretaker Supplement and Foodshare. Each program has distinct rules and requirements that change. A new worker can start working in the call center after 6 months of training. It takes at least a year for a worker to get a solid understanding of the all the programs and the system. Training is ongoing. Ma Hang provided a demonstration of the three-step case process: completing an assessment, determining eligibility, and verifying and documenting all required information. Thorough documentation is essential so that workers from other counties can clearly understand the status of a case if they receive an inquiry. Cases often require extensive verification, with up to 26 documents needing review. Manitowoc County currently has 3,784 open Foodshare Cases; 2,503 Elderly & Disabled Medicaid Cases; 5,277 Badger Care/Family Planning Waiver cases; and 74 Child Care Families. FINANCIAL REPORT – Daniel Whitney Dan Whitney presented on the current status of the 2025 budget, which is showing a surplus. It is early in the 2026 budget cycle; we have just billed out January for CCS and other programs. 2 DIRECTOR’S REPORT ON AGENCY OPERATIONS - Lori Fure Last year was a record-breaking year for Adult Protective Services referrals. So far this year referrals are 12% higher than they were last year. In April our after-hours crisis workers were extremely busy. There was another weekend in April when daytime staff were called in to work over a weekend. We were notified that Brown County accepted Change of Venue for a high-cost placement. This mean Brown County will assume responsibility for the $1400/day placement on June 21. We have another pending situation that is likely to require a similar level of care. As of today, we have 14 vacant positions with 8 being in clinical services. Lori is concerned about the toll this is taking on staff. A client filed a civil rights complaint with the state against our department. Last week the complaint was found to be unsubstantiated. This was a hardship for the department due to the hours of time required to review records, create timelines, summarize correspondence and provide a narrative response to the state. QUESTIONS FROM BOARD MEMBERS ON THE STATUS OF THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT There was a question that since HSD keeps track of drug related CPS cases and recently had a lot of youth arrests relating to drugs can we ask for more Opioid funds. Lori indicated those funds are limited and the real problem is meeting our legal mandates with the amount of tax levy our department is allotted. DATE OF NEXT MEETING: The next regular meeting of the Human Services Department Board will be held on May 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Manitowoc County Human Services, 801 Jay Street, Manitowoc, WI. ADJOURNMENT: A MOTION WAS MADE BY SCHIESL, SECONDED BY AGNEW TO ADJOURN THE MEETING OF THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT BOARD AT 5:41 P.M., MOTION CARRIED.