Board of DD holds special session, approves contracts

The Highland County Board of Developmental Disabilities met in a special meeting Thursday night to consider the renewal of two employee contracts.

The meeting, held at Hills and Dales Training Center, was necessary following a misunderstanding of the original contracts. The board had hired Lori Moore in the business manager position, and Renee Guess as Service and Support Administrator (SSA) director in January. They are also employed with the Fayette County Board of Developmental Disabilities, as is interim Highland County Board of DD Superintendent Fred Williams.

Williams was hired in 2011 following the termination of the employment of former board superintendent Chuck Biggert in October.

The initial contract the board approved was for six months, and board president Linda Allen said they were under the impression that the contracts for Moore and Guess were not up for a few more months. However, the contracts were constructed to be for the duration of Williams' initial contract, which was up in April. The board voted in March to extend Williams' contract through Dec. 31.

During Thursday's meeting, Williams said that the organization's "major goal has been to reduce costs and increase revenue, and a big part of that effort has been on Renee."

Guess and Moore each receive $35,000 annually, Williams said, and they receive an additional salary from the Fayette County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

The previous business manager was paid approximately $76,000, and therefore the board has a savings in Moore. However, Highland County previously did not have an SSA director.

Williams provided numbers from Fayette County regarding their billing process and the work Guess has done. In 2011, 14,000 units were billed, which yielded $403,000.

"That was $203,000 more than was budgeted," Williams said.

In that same time, Highland County billed 6,000 units.

Allen asked for data for the time Guess has been in Highland County. Williams said that data was not yet available, but they were working on implementing the same type of system in Highland County.

The board questioned whether or not the SSA director was an expense they needed. 

"Personally, I don't have any problem with Lori. I think she's doing a good job," said board member Sam Snyder. "On Renee, you're going to have to convince me."

Williams said that he could only provide the data from Fayette County, and relate that there were "intangibles and quality of service" that she was able to bring, as well as positive finding from third-party evaluations that had recently been conducted.

The SSAs had previously been reporting directly to the superintendent, and Williams said that it was important to have a director for leadership and organization. The county could bring in additional funds with different billing and documentation practices. Moore and Guess both report to Williams, he said.

"The SSAs are the touchstone of the entire program," Williams said.

Board member Deb Tissot asked about the role of lead SSA Sue Honeycutt, and if she could perform the director's role. Williams said that was something the board could consider, however they would have to relieve Honeycutt of her caseload, which would mean hiring another SSA. Guess does not have a caseload, Williams said.

"Has anyone asked the SSAs how they feel?" Tissot said. "They're the ones who have to deal with the situation."

Williams said that he had not spoken to them formally, but that he has received positive feedback. Allen said that some staff have also spoken to board members on the situation.

"I'm not a frivolous spender," Williams said. "I wouldn't bring this to you if it was not something I thought was important, and this means thousands, hundreds of thousands of dollars for Highland County."

Williams asked that the board "depersonalize" the discussion and refer to the position rather than the employee. Some board members said that the employee may need to be part of the discussion. Williams said that despite who was hired for it, the position was one that Highland County needed.

"Show me an administrator everyone likes and I'll show you an administrator not doing his job," Williams said.

Tissot said, "Before we cram this down their throats, maybe we should find out if one of them wanted to step up. I don't know what she does. But we've gotten some flak for hiring an outsider, and I think we need to justify our decision."

"I don't know of any place where anybody gets to pick their own boss," Williams said.

Reviews regarding quality of service have been positive, Williams said, and the position has made significant improvements in the elimination of rights violations.

Williams later clarified that the phrase "rights violations" was not meant to evoke fear or to imply that anything negative had been happening to Hills and Dales clients.

"Rights restriction is probably a more appropriate term" Williams said. "These restrictions may consist of such things as restricting a person’s choice of diet, smoking, or visitation by friends. Nothing would rise to the level of abuse, neglect, mistreatment or restraint of individuals.

"If we're not about quality of service to individuals we need to pack up," Williams said. "If we're not willing to pay $35,000 to do that, we're in the wrong business. I feel very passionate about this."

"As long as it can be justified," Tissot said.

"It's about quality of service to people, cost effectively," Williams said.

Snyder said, "I wish the other board members could have been here."

Snyder, Tissot, Allen and board member Leo Kuhn were present, and members Karen Adams and Cheryl Lyle were not in attendance.

The board went into executive session to discuss personnel, and were in the session for approximately half an hour.

When the board entered back into regular session, they voted 4-0, in separate motions, to approve the contracts for Moore and Guess through Dec. 31, 2012.

Williams told The Highland County Press after the meeting that he, Moore and Guess are doing doing the work of two full-time jobs each. But while there are cost-savings to both counties, Williams said that the quality of work is not being compromised.

There is not a minimum amount of time they spend in either county, he said, and that what day is spent in what county is "issue based." Because the transition to Highland County is still new, Williams said they do spend a significant amount of time in Highland.

"I think, if anything, Fayette County is probably getting less of my attention than Highland County, just the because of the issues, the need to inculcate a philosophy that didn't exist with the prior superintendent," Williams said.

"I think it's issue based. Part of the goal here is to empower the rest of the staff, the leadership team and people at all levels to be the best they can. It's not about one person. You get the work done through how you motivate people to perform."

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has encouraged shared services in county programming when possible, and Williams said that 15 of the 88 counties have shared Board of Developmental Disabilities services.

"It is absolutely a plan that seems to be working," Williams said.

Regarding the work of Guess and Moore, Williams said, "They are both consummate professionals who are dedicated to the mission, both here and at Fayette County. I think their motives are beyond reproach. Renee particularly is all about services to people and doing it in a positive, hands-off way. We want people to be the best version of themselves, and that goes for the staff, as well as the individuals we serve."