Approved 

Board Members Present:Charles G. Rose (arrived 8:21 pm), Doug Fraley, Eileen Dubin, Robert Krogman, Cynthia Luxton, Donna Schoenfeld (arrived 7:09 pm), Thomas Kirts

Board Members -Excused Absence:Janice Abizaid,

Board Members - Absent:None.

Other Persons Present:John Rogalin

Office Staff Present:Elizabeth Carney, Kathy Ostdick

I.  CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order by the Vice-President, Ms. Luxton, at 7:03 p.m.

II.  AGENDA

The agenda was approved by consensus.

III.  INTRODUCTIONS

The Board members introduced themselves to Mr. Rogalin as they arrived.

IV.  MINUTES

Mr. Krogman moved to approve the minutes of the February 2008 Board meeting; seconded by Mr. Fraley. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

V.  COMMUNITY INPUT

There was no community input.

VI.  CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Mr. Carney presented the letter written by Mr. Rose to all the agencies, thanking them for their NIU involvement and offering to assist with financial resources if possible.

A letter was also presented from Lorrie Rickman Jones, Ph. D., Director of the Division of Mental Health, Illinois Department of Human Services, written in response to the Board’s recent letter encouraging increased DMH financial support for psychiatry services at the Ben Gordon Center. Dr.

Rickman noted that additional funds are not available.

(Ms. Schoenfeld arrived at 7:09 pm)

VII.  FINANCE REPORTS

Mr. Fraley moved to approve the March 2008 agency claims in the amount of $120,032.74; seconded by Ms. Dubin.The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

Mr. Fraley moved to approve the March 2008 office claims in the amount of $12,543.50; seconded by Ms. Schoenfeld.The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

VIII.  BOARD MEMBER ISSUES

Mr. Fraley discussed the Paul Wellstone Mental Health & Addiction Equity Act that was passed in the House on March 5 that establishes parity in mental health services in many insurance plans. The members expressed awareness of the importance of parity and appreciation that Congress is working on this issue.

IX.  DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Ms. Carney gave a brief report on the involvement of the Mental Health Board in both NIU and community mental health activities in response to Governor Blagojevich’s declaring the February 14^th shooting at NIU an emergency.She also reviewed the Division of Mental Health’s offer to fund a community staff training in psychological first aid and noted that the training was well attended.

X.  COMMITTEE REPORTS

Executive Committee

There was not a quorum present at the March 10, 2008 meeting.Mr. Fraley gave a brief update on the Community Assessment.The Annual Plan was discussed.Mr. Rogalin, the candidate for the Board Opening was asked to attend the March 17 Board meeting.

Finance Committee

There was not a quorum present at the March 10, 2008 meeting.The Grant Year 2009 funding process was discussed.It was noted that the Funding Guidelines need updating. As the Board is sponsoring an Outcomes Management Training for agencies, it was suggested that the Board members could benefit from education about Outcomes Management.

Personnel and Nominations Committee

The committee did not meet this month.Mr. Krogman did ask that the present Board Members please mail in their Executive Director’s evaluation.

XI.  OLD BUSINESS

Community Assessment proposal: Joel Cowen of Health Systems Research will communicate with the Board prior to implementing each of the sections of the Assessment.He will attend Board meetings as requested, or if necessary, communicate via email. He will also report on the preliminary findings at the end of each section, and again when the final report is completed. Ms. Carney is clarifying the insurance issue in the contract and will report back to the Board when she has the needed information.

Board openings: The Personnel Committee will be interviewing an interested candidate.

Annual Plan:The members reviewed the plan and discussed the following:moving ahead with education for the Board members about outcomes management; not waiting for the Community Assessment to be completed prior to scheduling the agency training in outcomes management; and

encouraging agencies to send clinical and financial directors to the agency training.Ms. Carney was asked to identify someone who can give a brief presentation to the Board on outcomes management.

The date for the training will be established once a person is identified.

Agency Outcomes training:The Board asked Ms. Carney to develop a proposed expectation of each agency’s involvement in outcomes reporting. Ms. Carney was also asked to put together a survey to identify Board members’ educational needs.

Dr. Kirts moved to approve the Outcomes Training Proposal for Agencies by Sharon Mills for

$1,143, plus up to $220, for up to 5 hours of telephone consultation at $44 per hour on a billing basis with agencies that participate in the training.Seconded by Mr. Fraley.The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

XII.  NEW BUSINESS

GY09 Allocations:The Board determined that they would review application materials on as-needed basis for this transitional year, and thus complete binders for each Member would not be needed.

Ms. Carney reviewed the transitional year funding process previously adopted by the Board.Programs that have no significant programmatic or staffing changes qualify for the “Fast Track” funding and will be considered for a vote this evening.Programs with such changes, or requests for expanded or new funding, will be reviewed by the Finance Committee and a recommendation for funding made to the Board. Ms. Carney has meetings scheduled with agency directors that have programs in the second group, and will communicate information about the requests to the Finance Committee.

The Board reviewed the following funding requests, Grant Year 2009 “Fast-Track” Programs.

Mr. Fraley moved to approve the above Agency programs that are indicated as Grant Year 2009 Fast Track programs for continued funding with a 2.5% COLA from line item 8201; seconded by Ms. Schoenfeld.The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

(Mr. Rose arrived at 8:21 pm)

XIII.  EXECUTIVE SESSION

Mr. Fraley moved to go into Executive Session at 8:22 pm; seconded by Dr. Kirts. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

The Board returned to open meeting at 9:55 pm.

XIII.  ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

_________________________________

Cynthia Luxton, Vice-President

_________________________________

Kathy Ostdick, Recording Secretary

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