02/25/2020 (2) - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Board of County Commissioners February 19, 2020 Page Four Board have it within their discretion the ability to appoint, at a minimum, a majority of the committee members, therefore County staff recommends the Board adjust the current committee as detailed above. Executive Director and Committee Staff Currently, pursuant to section 103.22(6) of the Code, the County Administrator appoints the executive office director to the children's services advisory committee. Per section 103.30 of the Code, the office of the executive office director consists of a director and adequate staff to perform all duties assigned by the children's services advisory committee. Under this Code provision, the executive office director provides "all services needed to complete reports and activities required to meet the objectives of the children's services advisory committee. These activities will include, but are not limited to, secretarial support for the children's services advisory committee meetings and be the official record repository for said records, keeping other records, monitoring agencies receiving funds, writing appropriate grants, producing written materials, reviewing applications for funding, reporting to the children's services advisory committee, preparing annual budgets, writing and presenting annual reports." It is unclear in the proposed ordinance, how the Executive Director is chosen or the Executive Director's duties. The proposal states that the Director grants approval for Board members to incur expenditures chargeable to the County and reports the amount of revenue to be generated by the dedicated millage to the committee. In further discussions with the representatives supporting the referendum, it appears that the advocates wish to have the Executive Director have a more active role in children's services other than monitoring grants. The Board needs to make a policy decision on whether the director position should be expanded to include an advocacy role and coordination role between agencies. County staff is concerned about an overlap with expertise in the children's health arena, a role more appropriate for the Indian River County Hospital District, and school children's programs, a role more appropriate for the Indian River County School Board. If the funding level for children's services increases, more money will be needed for staffing even if the director position is predominately a grant monitoring position. Staffing needs and responsibility levels may vary depending on the millage established. Currently, the director spends 60% of her time on children's services advisory committee matters, which increases to 80% during the grant review and award process. If there is an increase in funding, more staff time will be dedicated to reviewing grant applications and reimbursement requests. See attached spreadsheet, which is provided for illustrative purposes only. In order to limit the inefficient use of taxpayer funds, more oversight and day to day monitoring will be needed as the millage rate increases. County staff recommends that the administration of the program be funded from the millage. Use of Funds In the current ordinance there is not a clear list of the types of programs and services that can be funded with the children's services money. The proposed ordinance sets forth the following list of the different uses of the funds. (1) To allocate and provide funds for agencies in Indian River County which are operated for the benefit of children, provided they are not under the exclusive jurisdiction of the public school system. ClUsersllegistarlAppDataiLocallTemplBCL TechnologieslearyPDF 81@BCL@OCODOB821@)BCL@OCODOB82 doc 4