[nfbmi-talk] FW: important mcrs march 17 2015 draft minutes

[Terry D. Eagle]

DRAFT

  

MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR REHABILITATION SERVICES

3490 Belle Chase Way, Suite 110

Lansing, MI  48911

517.887.9370 or 877.335.9370

 


 

Business Meeting Minutes

MCRS Office, Lansing

Tuesday March 17, 2015

 

 

Members Present:  Ed Benning, Carol Bergquist, Sharon Bryant, Trina
Edmondson, Sara Grivetti, Deanna Middlebrooks, Caryn Pack Ivey, Anne
Riddering, Brian Sabourin, Zach Tomlinson, Jennipher Wiebold.

 

Members Excused:  Suzanne Howell (Department of Human Services - Michigan
Rehabilitation Services DHS-MRS), Michael Poyma, Ed Rodgers (Department of
Licensing and Regulatory Affairs - Bureau of Services for Blind Persons
LARA-BSBP), Mitch Tomlinson. 

 

Members Absent:  Adam Kaplan, Sheryl Diamond, Rod Jones. 

 

Guests Present:  James Bunton (DHS-MRS), Rodney Craig (Statewide Independent
Living Council), Margie Hadsell (DHS-MRS), Joe Harcz, Leamon Jones
(LARA-BSBP), Lisa Kisiel (LARA-BSBP), Mike Pemble (LARA-BSBP), David
Robinson (National Federation of the Blind of Michigan), Lydia Schuck, Beth
White (LARA-BSBP).

 

Staff Present:  Marlene Malloy, Shori Teeple. 

 

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order by Council Chairperson C. Bergquist.  Roll
call determined that a quorum was present.  

 

Welcome & Introductions

C. Bergquist welcomed council members and guests.  Introductions were made.

 

Agenda

The draft agenda (March 17, 2015) was reviewed by the membership.  

 

A motion, made by A. Riddering and seconded by T. Edmondson, was passed to
approve the draft agenda as presented.

 

Minutes

The draft minutes (January 20, 2015) were reviewed by the membership.  The
following edits for content in the Partner Reports section on page 2 for the
Parent Training and Information (PTI) Center were proposed:  .org needs to
be added to the website address and language should be corrected for the
PTI's biggest challenge within the last year to be 'addressing cases/helping
parents of youth with disabilities when the rules are not being followed'.  

 

A motion, made by S. Grivetti and seconded by A. Riddering, was passed to
approve the draft minutes as amended.

 

Overview - Partner Reports

A written report from the SILC was included in meeting packets.  

 

Public Comment

The public comment statement was read aloud.

 

Joe Harcz

I am a consumer advocate and this body and all the DSAs (designated state
agencies) and all the DSUs (designated state units) and everybody in here is
required to sign all statements, responses in everything that they put
before RSA (Rehabilitation Services Administration).  I have submitted
complaints about fraud, false records, and my own records, and they don't
just go to me.  They go to the entire body of BSBP.  Those complaints have
been made to Mr. Sabourin and he supplies false statements to RSA and that
they don't get any complaints.  There is no due process either.  I've been
given an administrative review to go before the very perpetrators of these
acts of discrimination, and by the way, these are criminal, statutorily
criminal, violations.  I've documented major, major and systemic violations
of the rights of the blind to access going on and on and on.  Those
complaints by the way also are in the hands of RSA.  They are also being
addressed by the Inspector General of the United States Department of
Education.  Ladies and gentlemen, we do not have a vocational rehabilitation
(VR) agency here, we have, and I do not use this term lightly, a criminal
enterprise, where millions of dollars of federal funds, VR funds, are
misappropriated.  We have major acts of discrimination in the hiring of
blind people.  We have major misappropriation of funds.  Your main duty is
to make sure that the State Plan is implemented, and yet I've documented to
you, and you can see in black and white, false statements made in the State
Plan.  This is the same problem that's going on nationally, with the
Veteran's Administration and the cover-up of activities.  Blind people, in
particular, but also other people with disabilities (PWD) are being denied
services, and yet these agencies are submitting false documentation.  They
don't even get it out to you people either in a timely manner, their various
reports.  In the Business Enterprise Program (BEP) alone, there's been
millions of dollars' worth of VR funds that have been steered into keeping
locations open and millions of dollars' worth of VR funds that have been
steered into sighted non-disabled personnel.  Again, we have non-delegable
responsibilities with the DSA making the final agency determination.  We
have a corrupted Michigan Administrative Hearings System, we have a
corrupted Michigan Protection and Advocacy Service, Client Assistance
Program (CAP) that refers us over and over again back to the very
perpetrators of the discrimination and fraud.  It is fraud ladies and
gentlemen.  I have submitted this in writing to many of you folks and
documented the fraud at great personal hazard, at great personal hazard.
People need to be fired; people need to have their funding cut.  It is a
massive, massive case of fraud and it's a violation of civil and criminal
law, by agents of the state of Michigan.  We've got blind people, blind
people alone, it's growing, and yet people are turned away for services, and
then we've got Assistant Managers opening up cases where people that we
haven't even been talked to.  It's fraudulent entries.  And then they submit
these things to RSA and ask for more money.  What in the world, ladies and
gentlemen, and you've seen it Mr. Sabourin, you've seen the complaints in
writing.  Nobody gets a call back from CAP.  And then you guys talk about
having consumer focus groups and Joe Harcz has delivered you on a silver
platter: fraud, false statements.  Oh and by the way, I don't get anything
within 30 days from any of you folks according to your so-called process,
and nobody else who makes public comments do either.

 

David Robinson

David Robinson, National Federation of the Blind of Michigan. I am calling
today representing the National Federation of the Blind of Michigan, and we
too are vitally concerned about the issues that Mr. Harcz just brought up.
I know a lot of his comments are related to his own personal case, and his
own personal statements, but they have been documented as true fact and we
are searching other avenues of fraud that have been created by the agencies,
and especially the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons.  We have been able
to make contact with a lot of blind people that have been denied service,
that have been refused service, whose cases have been compromised or have
been closed for no reason whatsoever.  We also have been investigating the
whole issue of the fraud and misappropriations of federal dollars with the
BEP and have documented several situations in that respect.  We also know
that the agency is moving forward to establish additional franchises and
other things in state buildings.  Our thought is that, and we believe it to
be true, that the agency fully intends to destroy the entire Business
Enterprise Program, remove all blind people from all state buildings and
potential for employment under the Randolph Sheppard Program, and either
make them being run by state employees or else employing some other types of
service into those food service areas, thereby denying a major source of
employment for blind people in this state.  We believe they are deliberately
intending to destroy the program, but in the meantime, they're using
vocational rehabilitation funds to do it.  We have many state buildings that
are using state-paid student interns that have no license, no certification,
do not pay sales tax, and otherwise virtually are unlawful activities within
those state buildings, and we intend, as an organization, to take this to
the Attorney General, to RSA, and to all the other entities that will say to
Michigan, 'you must either cease and desist, or we will shut you down,' and
we are not opposed to removing funding from these agencies in order to get
their attention.  We will do all we can to make sure that that happens.
Blind people do not come to the Client Assistance Program because we know we
won't get any action.  In fact, we even asked for literature about the
Client Assistance Program for our convention, and yet we never got it, and
we never got it in an alternative format.  So, if you want us to file
complaints and to do something about it, then the Client Assistance Program
has to get the word out to my people and to act on their complaints when
they come in.  It's a well-known fact among the blind population that it's
useless to go to the Client Assistance Program.  It's not just Joe and I
saying these things, this has happened over and over and over again, but I
propose because they're all part of the whole system, nobody wants to rock
the boat and ask the important questions.  I contend that the fraud will
continue until you and others take their responsibilities seriously and do
what you have to do to protect our funding that was given to you by the
federal government to assure that people with disabilities are getting the
services they need, otherwise you're just part of the problem, and we will
deal with that as it goes along.  So, thank you for the time and I hope and
pray that things will change here in Michigan for the sake of all people
with disabilities.

 

Executive Team (ET) Report

Members reviewed the proposed Final ET Minutes for January 13, 2015.

 

A motion, made by A. Riddering and seconded by B. Sabourin, was passed to
accept and place on file the final ET minutes as presented.

 

Financial Operations

Members reviewed the Financial Statement for January 2015 and the Final FY
2014 Financial Review.  An error was acknowledged in the Liability Insurance
line in the financial statement, which will be corrected.  It was also
stated that there were no exceptions noted in the financial review.  In
response to a question regarding the cost of the financial review, it was
reported that the financial review expense was $4,000.  

 

A motion, made by E. Benning and seconded by S. Grivetti, was passed to
accept and place on file the Financial Statement for January 2015 and the FY
2014 Financial Review as presented.

 

Customer Service System Issues - Brian Sabourin, Vice Chair

Client Assistance Program (CAP) - B. Sabourin 

A written report was included in meeting packets.  There were no questions
or additions to the report.

 

DHS-MRS Administrative Hearings Manager

A written report was included in meeting packets.  There were no questions
or additions to the report.

 

Update - Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs - Bureau of Services
for Blind Persons (LARA-BSBP):  Lisa Kisiel, BSBP Training Center Director

and Mike Pemble, BSBP Deputy Director

Director Ed Rodgers was excused from today's meeting since he was requested
to testify at a House Budget Committee meeting about the BSBP State Budget.
Overall, things are going well at BSBP, with adequate financial resources to
provide VR, Independent Living (IL), and other services to customers.  The
Braille and Talking Books Library Services continue to expand and increase
services to citizens with blindness and low vision.  All were encouraged to
visit the Library and all that it provides.  Managers and staff are working
on implementation for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
and several staff will be attending the Michigan Transition Council meeting
in Frankenmuth this weekend.  

 

BSBP Training Center Update:  transition programs will take place throughout
the late spring and into summer, including personal adjustment training, an
"Are You Ready?" program, college assessments, and other programming.  Staff
is looking at offering a 4-day Older Blind/IL program in early September.  

 

A question was asked about the Bureau's Advisory Commission meeting schedule
for the remainder of FY 2015.  In response, it was stated that the
Commission does not have any further meetings scheduled for this year,
having just published a report to the Governor and BSBP.

 

Update - Department of Human Services - Michigan Rehabilitation Services
(DHS-MRS):  James Bunton, Division Director

Budget

MRS is waiting for the final budget to be released.  It is currently being
reviewed by the House and Senate.  MRS is currently on track for
expenditures at this point in the year.

 

Initiative Programs

Highlights were shared for the Swift and Sure Program, Business Services
Initiative (including the Governor's Summit during this month, which was
well attended).  Training will continue for Business Resource Specialists.

 

Leasing Projects

New building projects are being coordinated in Wayne County, with
anticipated completion dates in Detroit targeted for August 2015, with
move-in dates aimed for October.  In Detroit, the MRS Fort Street,
Hamtramck, and Porter Offices will be combined; the MRS Wayne and Taylor
offices will be combined in the Western Wayne District.  Regarding how this
will affect services to customers, offices are on the bus lines and will be
co-located with DHS offices and workers.  Mobile workers will continue to be
on hand as well.  Managers will continue to work with their 15:1 ratio.

 

Data

MRS is on track for production for this year.  At mid-year, across intakes,
eligibility, services, and rehabs, MRS is running close to 50%.

 

Advisory Work Team Reports

Customer Experience (CE) - M. Poyma (Chair), excused

A CE Work Team Highlights document and final CE minutes (October 21, 2014
and January 20, 2015) were included in meeting packets.  An update for the
work team was provided, including progress made on DSU dashboards, customer
satisfaction, transition aged youth, input anticipated for review from
customer focus groups. 

 

A motion, made by A. Riddering and seconded by T. Edmondson, was passed to
accept and place on file the final Customer Experience minutes as presented.

Regulatory Guidance (RG) - A. Riddering (Chair)

A Highlights document and final RG minutes (January 6, 2015) were included
in meeting packets.  An overview was shared of final steps for completing
the FY 2014 Annual Report, next steps for the Council's Annual Activity
Calendar, and the Team's work plan.   

 

A motion, made by T. Edmondson and seconded by S. Grivetti, was passed to
accept and place on file the final Regulatory Guidance minutes as presented.

 

Focus Groups (C. Bergquist and T. Edmondson (Co-Chairs)

A Highlights document was included in meeting packets.  An update was
provided for the Team's progress made during teleconference meetings to plan
and conduct focus groups with customers of MRS.  4 groups were identified
for focus groups to be conducted:  customers of MRS (currently in Plan or
those with successfully/unsuccessfully closed cases within 60 days),
shared/dual customers of MRS and Centers for Independent Living, transition
aged youth, and vendors.  A tool for environmental scanning is under
development.  Additionally, information obtained from the focus groups will
help inform the SILC's State Plan for Independent Living.

 

Report of the Executive Director (ED):  M. Malloy

A written staff report was included in meeting packets.  Additional updates
were shared regarding involvement with the MRS Online Orientation Work Team,
MRS Marketing Team, and others.  Membership constitution updates were
shared, and updates were shared for plans for the MCRS Chair and Vice Chair
to attend upcoming conferences for the National Coalition of State
Rehabilitation Councils, Council of State Administrators of Vocational
Rehabilitation, and National Council of State Agencies for the Blind.
Follow-up was shared about successful meetings that have taken place within
the week with BSBP Administration and Managers.

 

Public Comment

The public comment statement was read aloud.

 

Lydia Schuck

I'm Lydia Schuck and I work for the National Secondary Transition Technical
Assistance Center.  Our new name is National Technical Assistance Center for
Transition.  We are the federally funded project that provides technical
assistance to state and local school districts.  We work with intensive
partners over certain periods of time, they respond to requests for
proposals, and request our assistance and we provide a lot of general
assistance through our website and documents that we publish.  I work there
as a research associate just doing technical assistance and professional
development, working out in the states.  I'm only going to be working there
a little while longer because the Western Michigan piece of it is getting
much smaller.  One of the things I wanted to bring to your attention is you
know the statistic, 1 in 68 for Autism?  That was identified in a big study
in Atlanta, a surveillance study, where at 8 years of age, they have been
interviewing kids and figuring out how many kids have Autism at age 8.
Well, the kids that were age 8 in 2010, they were born in 2002.  The 2002
birth kids are the ones that are 1 in 68, they are going to be 14 next year.
So you're going to see them; that's the edge of the wave.  I'm a parent of
one of those that hit the wave a little earlier, and so I have my own
personal concerns.  One of my concerns is that while I am very much in favor
of separate services for blind people because outcomes are better across the
board historically, mostly in higher earnings for people who have the most
severe visual impairments.  But, there is an issue of how well people in the
blind services will know how to work with students with Autism.  So I really
want to encourage you all to do whatever you can to cross-train and become
more familiar, because not only are 1 in 68 kids who are blind likely to
have Autism because they are just like the general population, it's also a
fact that a lot of blindness is caused by syndromes or prematurity that
include Autism.  So the same study produced a statistic that 6-7% of blind
people/youth, in that wave, 6-7% instead of 1.34%:  general population
1.34%, blind population 6-7%.  So we're talking about an issue that
hopefully will loom large in the blind community, because it should, and the
kids are employable.  So I talk to you from my transition hat person and
also as a parent who is experiencing this now with kids, seeing how it works
out.  I have a lot of contact with transition age kids; I'll give my contact
information to Marlene.  I'm working in Lansing a lot more, and I live in
Mason, so I'm going to try to be here a little more often.  Thank you.

 

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Panel Discussion - R. Craig
(SILC), S. Grivetti, M. Hadsell (DHS-MRS), L. Kisiel (LARA-BSBP)

WIOA Overview - M. Malloy

A WIOA Overview power point was shared and discussed with the membership and
guests (see Attachment 1 power point for reference).  

 

BSBP Implementation Plans - L. Kisiel

BSBP (the 'Bureau') has been engaged in work groups with MRS, as well as
other meetings for BSBP managers.  Consultation has taken place with the
Bureau's software case management company to assist with developing
parameters.  Since the new regulations have not yet been released, there is
some hesitation with making systems changes until the regulations have been
finalized.  BSBP has been looking at the 15% for transition: what money is
being spent, what services are already being provided.  BSBP currently opens
cases for youth at age 14, so they are already meeting this requirement.
Regarding the Workforce Boards, the Bureau has not had a large presence on
them, but will be advocating to be more visible and active on the boards.
BSBP is working on a monthly schedule with MRS and the Workforce Board on
the Unified State Plan, as well as the State Plan for RSA.  

 

Customized Employment, or job carving, continues to be in progress for
consumers. This requirement involves working with employers and looking at
the needs and talents of consumers being served and identifying whether
there are jobs within businesses that they might not have already thought
about in order to create new positions, often for people with more severe
disabilities.

 

BSBP is looking at performance measures for staff and vendors as referenced
in WIOA. Work teams have been developed, and staff are working on many
different aspects of expectations for implementation.  One of the work teams
includes the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), with a focus on
agreements with state workforce boards, as well as other entities including
Special Education, Community Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities
Council, and others.  Special consultant David Hoff has been providing
information about and interpretation of some of the provisions.  

 

BSBP is very aware of WIOA's requirements for 'return on investment'.  RSA
is paying attention to how federal funds are being utilized to meet job
market needs as well as consumer needs for placements, direct service,
transition, and more.  Various metrics and data are being requested, with
documentation requirements.

 

It is clear that WIOA is firm on communicating that VR and the Workforce
System will work together, they will collaborate with each other.  It was
agreed that Michigan can be a great example of how two separate agencies can
work well together and still maintain their autonomy.

 

MRS Implementation Plans - M. Hadsell

MRS is pleased to be able to be working with other bureaus and agencies
(BSBP, Workforce System) on WIOA implementation.  During MRS' transition
into DHS, transitions have been taking place to move MRS offices out of
co-locations with workforce centers in many places, resulting in some
challenges.  Moving forward and working closely with workforce partners will
be a real positive.  It's clear that MRS will truly work together with all
workforce programs to reduce silos and offer better opportunities for both
customers of VR: the job seekers and employers.  

 

With WIOA's focus on youth, it is anticipated that VR and workforce will be
better preparing kids to be invaluable parts of the workforce, so that once
transition youth leave school, they will have had opportunities to see what
the work world is like, with real-life experiences in work places.  MRS has
been working with Alliance, which makes their case management software, to
design software that will have pre-employment/transition and other
time-tracking components for staff to test in June and potentially begin
using in July.  For the requirement for service provision to transition
youth beginning at age 14, MRS does not currently meet with students at this
age.  However, they are evaluating next steps for its implementation.  With
50% of Supported Employment funds needing to go to transition youth,
discussion is taking place for how Community Mental Health might become
involved, as well as other options.  There is a new policy for
Pre-Employment Transition Services that will go out to staff at the end of
March, with training to follow.

 

VR is now considered one of the 4 core programs in the One Stop System.
MRS' performance measures will be changing.  A mechanism will need to be
developed for communicating with customers and tracking contacts post case
closure.

 

David Hoff (consultant for ODEP) was referenced as having written a brief
("The Institute Brief - WIA is now WIOA") in July 2014 for the Institute on
Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts, Boston.  In 4 pages, it
includes a quick study on the top critical issues regarding WIOA.  J. Bunton
added that the article has been very helpful in helping to educate MRS staff
and partners.  The article will be shared with the membership.

 

MRS is also communicating with other state VR programs about WIOA to learn
as much as they can from federal partners.  Many other states are still on
similar learning curves for moving forward with implementation.

 

A question was asked about how the agencies are training their staff for
changes related to WIOA?  Both BSBP and MRS will be implementing training
into manager/staff meetings, including additional pre-employment transition
services training for transition/all counseling MRS staff, followed by
Supported Employment training for MRS staff.  Additional education may take
place for MRS staff about the workforce centers and for all frontline VR
programs to help educate workforce staff about VR.  

 

Other questions were asked and discussed about changes and impacts to
caseload sizes for transition youth when VR services are to begin at age 14,
resulting in youth being on caseloads potentially for several years.  Also
asked and discussed was how Special Education at the state level will be
involved with pre-employment requirements.

 

SILC Implementation Plans - R. Craig and S. Grivetti

A SILC Implementation for WIOA power point was shared and discussed with the
membership and guests (see Attachment 2 power point for reference).  Changes
for Independent Living and the SILC under WIOA were described, including a
move for IL from RSA to the Administration for Community Living (ACL), which
is in the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  WIOA has
also created an Independent Living Administration, allowing IL to become its
own entity outside of VR and RSA.  HHS has been very open and excited about
having IL join their department.  An overview of Centers for Independent
Living (CILs) was provided, including the 5 Core Services, the newest to
include Community Transitions.  A question was asked whether Community
Transitions include those for individuals to move out of mental health
facilities and discharged into community based settings.  A response was
unknown but would be researched with CILs in those communities for how this
is being managed.  Changes for the SILC's State Plan for Independent Living
(SPIL) and newly Designated State Entity were described.  

 

MCRS Oversight Discussion   

Looking forward, MCRS next steps will include a full-day strategic planning
session in late April for the Executive Team to look at the new requirements
and determine how oversight can be managed by the Council.

 

Adjournment

There was no further business for discussion.

 

A motion, made by S. Grivetti and seconded by T. Edmondson, was passed to
adjourn the meeting.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 2:10 p.m.

 

NEXT BUSINESS MEETING: 

Tuesday May 19, 2015

MCRS Meeting Room, Lansing

 

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: clip_image002.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 14796 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbmi-talk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20150326/5ae8829a/attachment.gif>