Approved

 Board Members Present:  Charles G. Rose, Bob Krogman, Cynthia Luxton, Eileen Dubin

                                          Doug Fraley, Dr. Kirts, John Rogalin, Ken Ritchie                        

Board Members -Excused Absence: Donna Schoenfeld

Board Members - Absent:  None

Other Persons Present:  Jerry Lane, Joe Gastiger, Barry Schrader, Kate Shaw, Tom Matea

Office Staff Present:  Kathy Ostdick                                                                          

1.  CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order by the President, Mr. Rose, at 7:05 p.m. 

2.  AGENDA

Mr. Rogalin moved to approve the agenda; seconded by Ms. Dubin.  The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

3.  INTRODUCTIONS

There were no introductions at this time.

4.  MINUTES 

Mr. Rogalin moved to approve the minutes of the September 2009 Board meeting; seconded by Mr. Fraley. The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

Dr. Kirts moved to approve the minutes of the October 14, 2009 Special Board meeting; seconded by Ms. Dubin.  The motion passed unanimously on a voice vote.

Safe Passage’s financial request from New Business was moved up to this position. 

Jerry Lane, Interim Director of Safe Passage, and Joe Gastiger, Minister of the First Congregational Church of DeKalb and Safe Passage Board Vice-President, introduced themselves.  The Mental Health Board members introduced themselves to Mr. Lane and Rev. Gastiger.

Mr. Rogalin asked if Safe Passage has a plan.  He stated that the State is delayed in payments and what is the Safe Passage plan if the State doesn’t pay for months?

Mr. Lane stated that the State situation is unprecedented and that Safe Passage has weathered the State budget cuts.  As of today, they have received approval from their bank to extend their line-of-credit one more time.  They are only paying bare-bones expenses, no staff travel, freeze on only essential office supplies, etc.  They are intensively and actively looking at other ways of support to continue as long as they can until the State pays.  The State is not even passing through their Federal grant money.  On the State Comptroller’s website, even the November checks are posted and approved but nothing has been disbursed.  The State said that they just finished paying the FY09 bills.

Mr. Lane also stated that they will be looking at all possible ways that they can to earn some additional income.  After the Wednesday meeting, there was an article in the paper and a local charity called and offered some additional support, but it is not known how much.   

Mr. Rogalin said that Mr. Lane explained the financial end of the situation, but that he was interested in the service end.

Mr. Lane stated that they are considering telling the utility companies that they may not pay their bills on time.  Most of the staff are funded by several different funding sources that are being held by the State.  Safe Passage would work with sister agencies to take current residential clients if the situation worsens and new clients may be referred to other county agencies or out-of-county if needed. Rev. Gastiger added that Jerry Lane has only been Interim Director for about 2 weeks.  Mr. Lane said that Safe Passage is in crisis mode and working as fast as they can with what they have.  Added to this is the fact that many of their key administrative non-direct labor staff had to be layed off.

Mr. Rose asked Rev. Gastiger to explain the situation as the Safe Passage Board sees it and what are they planning to do. 

Rev. Gastiger said that their board has anticipated this for some time and have talked about fund raisers and reaching out to churches.  As for a long term financial plan, Rev. Gastiger was not sure where the Executive Committee stands.  Mr. Lane has only had one meeting with their board.  Rev. Gastiger also stated that it was not easy to make decisions as to lay offs.  He feels that the board and the staff have done everything they could to preserve services for the clients.

Ms. Dubin asked why the board did not have a reserve.  Mr. Lane explained that more than 80% of their funding comes from local, state and federal grants and is restricted.  If all the money is not used, it has to be returned.  They do receive some funding from places like the United Way and private donors.  Safe Passage also writes grants all the time.  Most of any flex money comes from private donors and goes to overhead.  They had a small reserve and last year the board started an endowment fund.  They are looking at fund raisers but it is a time consuming thing. They are having a retreat soon to make plans.  Rev. Gastiger said that members of their board have volunteered to help more.

Ms. Dubin said that she is sure that the Mental Health board wants to help but also wants to make sure that the money doesn’t go down the drain.

Mr. Lane said that the money is there, at the state level, but not disbursed.  Money from the Mental Health Board would buy them time.  If they would need to shut down, it would only be temporary. 

Dr. Kirts said that even if they have to shut down, he does not feel that the money we would give would be wasted. 

Rev. Gastiger said that fund raising takes staff time.  They are looking at coming up with a cost break-down of services, say feeding everyone for a month, as a donation stream, because it is easier to ask people for a specific amount for a specific thing or service. 

Mr. Rose asked how long would $65,000 last?  Mr. Lane said it would take them through the middle of December. 

Ms. Dubin asked if letters had been sent to core donors.  Mr. Lane said they are looking at this, but typically when you ask consistent donors for emergency funding, they just move up planned funding and give it early.

5.  COMMUNITY INPUT

Mr. Schrader asked if there were going to be any vacancies on the Board.  Mr. Rose said yes.  Then Mr. Schrader asked if the Executive Director position had been posted and where?  Mr. Rose said that was a personnel issue and will be discussed in closed session.

6.  CORRESPONDENCE AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

Ms. Ostdick pointed out an announcement from the Braden Counseling Center which started four new groups in response to our Community Assessment.  Mr. Krogman said he attended a brown-bag lunch on mental illness that was presented at the Gordon Center and was very informative.  Ms. Dubin said she attended a Drug Court graduation ceremony that was well attended and very moving.  Mr. Rose said that he had just heard on MPR that several NIU students formed a group to go around and talk to students about mental illness and stigma, especially their own mental health issues.

7.  FINANCE REPORTS

Mr. Fraley moved to approve the September 2009 agency claims in the amount of $172,097.64; seconded by Ms. Dubin.  The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

Mr. Fraley moved to approve the September 2009 office claims in the amount of $3,135.45; seconded by Dr. Kirts.  The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

8.  BOARD MEMBER ISSUES

There were no board member issues at this time.

9.  PRESIDENT’S REPORT/OFFICE REPORT

Mr. Rose reported that he had gone to the Health and Human Services Committee meeting to give a report on the Mental Health Board.  Ms. Ostdick reported that the County has asked that any departments that were still going to purchase computer or printer equipment out of their 2009 budgets, to please do so by December 1^st so IMO has time to get these ordered.  A printer is needed for the Executive Director’s office and Ms. Ostdick will gather several options to present to the Finance Committee in November.

10.  COMMITTEE REPORTS

Executive Committee: 

There was no Executive Committee meeting in October.

Finance Committee: 

There was no Finance Committee meeting in October.

11.  OLD BUSINESS

A.  Executive Director position: 

This will be discussed in closed session.

B.  RFP:

The deadline is this Friday and so far only one has come into the office other than the Safe Passage request.

C.  Strategic Planning - goals:

This will be discussed in the next Executive and Finance Committee meetings.

12.  NEW BUSINESS

A. Safe Passage financial request:

This was discussed earlier in the meeting with the Safe Passage representatives. 

Ms. Luxton has concerns about funding an agency that may not remain open.  Mr. Lane explained that even if Safe Passage has to close, it will be opened again as soon as State funding is received or other funding is found.  Mr. Lane went over issues of concern that he had discussed earlier in the meeting.

Mr. Rogalin asked if Safe Passage was the agency that was confused on their numbers at the allocation hearing and, if so, he had concerns.  He had just read in the paper on the 26^th that Mr. Lane was taking over as interim director and their finances looked good and two weeks later they are in crisis.  Mr. Rogalin said he is inclined to support them, but that the Mental Health Board should do so as a loan. We should be aware as to how they run things and let them know we are concerned.   Ms. Dubin said she had the same feeling at the funding hearing and wondered if it was being run as efficiently as it should be.  On the other hand, we should certainly help them. 

Mr. Fraley mentioned that if they have made permanent lay offs, they have made some real tough decisions and tightened up the ship. 

Mr. Rogalin said they were a little weak in how they would go about phasing out the service operation.  He did not get a sense that it was thought out by Safe Passage.  Mr. Fraley said that Mr. Lane mentioned that residents would go to other places, that they have agreements with other service providers.  They may need to look at the clinical side and triage who needs services the most.

Mr. Fraley stated that it was not the fault of Safe Passage clients and that it was our responsibility to help people and to the tax payers and maybe that means keeping it open another month. He also said that he had no question as to whether to give Safe Passage the money or loan, maybe half given and half loaned.  Mr. Lane could come back next month to report on progress.

Dr. Kirts felt that when the State would pay is questionable.  He is hoping that if the situation calls for closing, that clients would be placed in appropriate settings. 

Ms. Luxton asked is we knew what the impact would be if the agency closed.  How many clients would be affected?

Mr. Rogalin suggested that the money be loaned to Safe Passage but tell them that our Board has questions about a number of things and let Mr. Lane and his Board know what those things are.  When they get the money, then they can pay us back.  We can then give it to them as a contingency fund if they have met the objectives that we have given them. 

Ms. Luxton reviewed the Safe Passage monthly report for numbers on the reported services. 

Since Mr. Lane had already left, Mr. Rose called him and asked him to return for more questions.

Ms. Luxton asked Mr. Lane about long-term services for clients and went over the monthly service report for clarification.  Also, she asked about looking not only at the current need but looking at the bigger picture, prioritizing, concerns for not eliminating a service that is essential to the community.  What is the reality of clients being served that are at high risk that other agencies can serve?

Mr. Lane said that they have clients that other agencies can not serve.  Women trying to leave an abusive relationship are the most at risk with death as the most extreme risk.  Most clients want to stay near their support system.  The police departments need to have somewhere to take domestic abuse victims locally.  There are other high risk groups such as walk-ins, kids, folks in transitional housing.  Sometimes the shelter is full and additional clients need to be transferred out of county and sometimes it is not full. 

Mr. Lane said that they layed off 5 FTE employees.

Mr. Rose asked if their clients could go to other agencies.  Mr. Lane responded that it is possible that a client could go to Hope Haven but that there is no security there and the abuser could just walk in.  Hope Haven is not set-up for security like that.

Mr. Rose asked if this was a fair statement: a woman runs out of her home, after suffering a severe beating, to the neighbors, who call the police.  The police know they have to take her to a shelter but Safe Passage is closed either permanently or temporarily. The police are looking at the time to transport her out of the county.  The woman is looking at being transported outside of the county, away from friends, family and any support.  Is that a fair statement?  Mr. Lane answered yes.

Some further discussion followed regarding the actual number of clients in programs.

Ms. Luxton asked what actual assets Safe Passage has.  Mr. Lane described six buildings that are all mortgaged and are the security for the line-of-credit. 

Mr. Rose asked each board member of his or her feelings about the request.

Mr. Rogalin moved to give Safe Passage a loan of $65,000 at the rate of 2% interest to be paid back no later than June 1, 2010; seconded by Mr. Krogman.  The motion passed unanimously on a roll call vote.

13.  NEXT BOARD MEETING:  11/16/09

14.  CLOSED SESSION

Mr. Fraley moved to go into Closed session; seconded by Ms. Dubin.  The motion passed on a voice vote.

Mr. Fraley moved to leave Closed session and return to the open meeting; seconded by Mr. Rogalin.  The motion passed on a voice vote.

15.  ADJOURNMENT

The meeting was adjourned at 9:26 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

_____________________________________                      _________________________________

Charles G. Rose, President                                                       Kathy Ostdick, Recording Secretary

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