Children's Services Act Meeting Minutes

City of Suffolk Children’s Services Act Community Policy and Management Team Meeting Minutes May 15, 2024 9:00 am Social Services Building, Third Floor Training Room A Members Present: Mary Bess- Parent Representative Jenny Hodge – Tidewater Youth Services Commission Jessica Joyner – (for Towanda Shirley) – Suffolk Public Schools (Secretary) Marli Laudun - Suffolk Health Dept. Rachel Lewis – CSA Coordinator Saniyyah Manigault-Westbrook – Suffolk Dept. of Social Services Sheridan Meriwether – Blakey Weaver Counseling Center (Vice Chair) Nicole Porter – City of Suffolk Wendy Warfel – Assistant Director of Finance, City of Suffolk Vonda Warren-Lilly – WTCSB Members absent: Kimberly Jennings – 5th District Court Services Unit (Chair) Guests Present: Roxanne Flamer – CSA Office Assistant Brandy Miller – Suffolk Dept. of Social Services 1. CPMT Secretary Jessica Joyner calls the meeting to order at 9:14 a.m. 2. CPMT Secretary Jessica Joyner entertains motion for the approval of the April 17, 2024 meeting minutes. Motion made by Marli Laudun to approve the minutes as written, seconded by Saniyyah Manigault-Westbrook. All are in favor and the motion passed. 3. CSA Coordinator Rachel Lewis reviewed the Financial Report as of May 15, 2024. CSA total expenditures to date $1,806,967.68, this amount does not include the cases on the agenda for today, adding an increase in the net YTD expenses. The City of Suffolk remaining budget is a total of $195,577.67. CSA has received over $30,000 in reimbursements. FY 2024 spending more but serving more children. Jessica Joyner stated that SPS is currently implementing interventions and using funds from SPED WRAP before placing children into private day schools. CPMT Vice Chair Sheridan Meriwether entertains motion for the approval of the financial report. Motion made by Jenny Hodge to accept Financial Report as written, seconded by Saniyyah Manigault-Westbrook. All are in favor and the motion passed. 4. CLOSED SESSION - CPMT Vice Chair Sheridan Meriwether entertains a motion to convene a Closed Meeting for the purpose of discussing cases before the Family Assessment and Planning Team in accordance with the provisions in subsection A of ş 2.2-3711 of the Code of Virginia as amended in 2001 and 2005 respectively. Only applicable exceptions as provided in section ş 2.2-3707 or subsection A of Section ş 2.2-3711 are to be discussed.  Jessica Joyner motions to enter closed session. Jenny Hodge seconds motion to enter into closed session. All are in favor and the motion passed. 5. RETURN TO OPEN SESSION – CPMT Vice Chair Sheridan Meriwether entertains a motion to move out of Closed Meeting. Jenny Hodge motions to enter open session. Marli Laudun seconds the motion. All are in favor and the motion passed. Sheridan Meriwether initiated a roll call certifying that to the best of each member’s knowledge only the following matters were discussed during the closed session: 1) public business matters lawfully exempted from statutory open meeting requirements and 2) public business matters identified in the motion to convene the closed meeting. All Affirmed. CPMT Vice Chair Sheridan Meriwether entertains a motion to approve all cases presented. Saniyyah Manigault-Westbrook enters the motion to approve all cases presented and appropriately discussed with the exception of the back payment invoice. Jessica Joyner seconded the motion. All are in favor and the motion passed. Saniyyah Manigault-Westbrook entertains motion to negotiate vendor’s (Serenity C & C) invoice of $66,677.77 to reflect an amicable rate for back payment and if that cannot happen, city funding will pay total invoice. Nicole Porter seconded the motion. All are in favor and the motion passed. Wendy Warfel will contact the vendor and report the outcome back to CPMT for a final decision. Total CSA request approved $41,927.35. 6. Old Business A. Contract with Teen Titians group home – Rachel Lewis updated everyone on the answered questions received from Teen Titians Director in reference to the concerns CPMT members had prior to approving the vendor to provide services. After further discussion, there are still some concerns. Mrs. Lewis will contact the vendor for clarification on the latest concerns. B. Items from Members – No items presented 7. New Business A. Review of Emergency Placement Policy – Rachel Lewis reviewed the Emergency placement policy and access to pool funds for foster care children. CSA policy limited the pool funds to children in foster care. Page 29 “The local department of Social Services is authorize to spend a maximum of $3,000 per child on an emergency basis within a fourteen day period within the guidelines of the policy for emergency placements”. Mrs. Lewis will meet with DSS staff to determine what needs to be changed to increase the amount of $3,000, and to be able to place other children that are not in DSS foster care. They will draft a revised emergency pool fund policy, get feedback from the City of Suffolk in reference to the amount and present the necessary changes to CPMT. B. CQI Dashboard Review – Jenny Hodge entertains motion to table discussion until the next meeting. Seconded by Vonda Warren-Lilly. All are in favor and the motion passed.  C. Items from the Members – Jessica Joyner’s last day of employment for Suffolk Public Schools will be June 30, 2024. Mrs. Joyner has accepted a new position with the City of Chesapeake as Assistant Director of Special Education. She has enjoyed being a part of CPMT and will continue to network. We wish her well with all future endeavors. 8. Adjourn – CPMT adjourned the meeting at 12:27 p.m. Motion to adjourn made by Jenny Hodge, seconded by Jessica Joyner. All are in favor and the motion passed. Recorded by Roxanne Flamer, CSA Office Assistant.