[nfbmi-talk] Fw: no impact on disability related services?

[David Robinson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: joe harcz Comcast 
To: Marlene Malloy MCRS Dir. 
Cc: BRIAN SABOURIN ; MARK MCWILLIAMS MPAS ; MARK CODY mpas pair ; Elmer Cerano MPAS ; Sarah Gravetti MISILC DNM ; terry Eagle ; Mark Eagle ; Mary Ann Robinson NFB MI ; David Robinson NFB MI ; Larry D Keeler ; Georgia Kitchen FANFB ; Mary JacksonFANFB 
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2015 3:12 PM
Subject: no impact on disability related services?


And I've got a bridge to nowhere to sell you all.

BTW are the new, consolidated facilities going to be anymore ADA compliant than the current ones which are not for the most part?

So many questions as Rome burns here in Michigan.
Joe
DHHS: Maintained services, no layoffs if offices close Justin A. Hinkley , jhinkley at lsj.com LANSING The state Department of Health & Human Services is promising

"a local presence in every county" and no state-worker layoffs as 15 office closures and consolidations are planned. A bicameral legislative budget committee

on this week approved language calling for $2.4 million in savings through the closure, reduction or consolidation of DHHS offices in the fiscal year that

begins Oct. 1. The closures now become part of the final 2016 budget bill lawmakers hope to finalize by next month. Department spokesman Bob Wheaton said

in an email Wednesday that nine DHHS offices where residents apply for public assistance and do other business with the state would close or consolidate

as part of the plan. Six Michigan Rehabilitation Services offices, where employees work with disabled individuals, also would close, Wheaton said. BACKGROUND:

DHS plans to close offices Instead of state offices, DHHS employees would work out of satellite sites such as schools to "allow us to serve our residents

in the environments where we can have a greater impact," Wheaton said. The arrangement would be similar to the state's Pathways to Potential program, which

Gov. Rick Snyder has often touted as a success. None of the proposed closures are in Greater Lansing. Pegged for closure are the DHHS offices in Redford

and Fort Wayne in Wayne County, the McCree District site in Genesee County, the offices in Alger, Montmorency and Presque Isle counties, and the office

at the corner of Glendale Avenue and Trumbull Street in Highland Park, Wheaton said. An office in Dickinson County will consolidate from two floors into

one. A centralized intake office in Kent County, where employees field phone calls, also would close. Rehabilitation offices in Genesee, Isabella, Ottawa,

Tuscola and Wayne counties would be affected, Wheaton said. RELATED: Merger of state departments promotes holistic approach Offices were chosen based on

location, caseload, impact on staffing the availability of community partners for satellite sites, Wheaton said. He emphasized "there are no layoffs associated

with the office closings" and said the move was about "putting people first. "There would still be a local DHHS presence in every county and we anticipate

most staff would work out of satellite locations or other county offices in close proximity," Wheaton said in an email. "While this would be a change for

some employees, the plan allows us to get more staff into the field and working with residents out of the office setting. But state employee groups and

others have expressed concern about residents' ability to reach DHHS services without centralized offices Census figures show about 8% of Michigan households

have no vehicle available. "We're all about efficiencies, so we're not wholly opposed to this whole idea, but we do want to understand how these services

are going to provided," said Dana Gill, governmental affairs associate for the Michigan Association of Counties. Gill also worries about the effect on

county governments. Alger County, she said, sold bonds to build the DHHS office there and the state would cancel its lease a decade early if the closures

go through. The county would likely default on its bonds without that lease payment, she said. The department had originally planned $5.3 million in savings

from office closures and consolidations, but had whittled down the list of closures in budget talks.