02_Minutes
Community Action Council
Minutes
Agency Mission:
Strengthening individuals and families to lessen the impacts of poverty
Board of Directors Meeting
February 26, 2020
5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
3020 Willamette Drive NE, Lacey, WA 98516
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT REPRESENTING Volunteer
Lynn Flaisig Bridget Flory
Thurston County Housing Authority Cities of Yelm & Rainier
Yes Yes
Greg Jasperson Private Citizen Yes
Erik Martin Bob Lolcama Lewis County Church Affiliation Yes Yes T. Walton Debbie Sullivan Lisa Semko Private Representation City of Tumwater Private Citizen Yes Yes Yes Yes Jim Phillips Michael Steadman Linda Allen Private Citizen Private Citizen Head Start Yes Yes Yes
BOARD MEMBERS ABSENT (Excused) REPRESENTING
Sharon Trask Virgil Clarkson Chris Weinreich
Mason County Commissioners Senior Lobbying
Private Citizen
Yes Yes Yes
STAFF PRESENT POSITION
John Walsh Brian Sanda Dale Lewis Kirsten York Katrina Kahler-Wilson Sam Dougherty Khim Schoenacker Beverly Hartsell
Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer
Director of Housing & Emergency Services Director of Family Services
Housing Program Manager Weatherization Program Manager WIC Program Manager
Administrative Assistant No No No No No No No No
GUEST PRESENT REPRESENTING
Community Action Council
Minutes
2
Board of Directors Meeting
December 11, 2019
5:30 PM – 6:30 PM
3020 Willamette Drive NE, Lacey, WA 98516
Topic
DISCUSSION/DECISIONS
Welcome & Introductions
Introductions
Approval of July Minutes Review Correspondence
The February 26th, 2020 Board of Directors meeting was held at 3020 Willamette Drive NE, Lacey, WA 98516
Lynn Flaisig, Board President, called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM. Individual introductions were made.
Debbie Sullivan made a motion to approve the minutes from the December 11, 2019, Board meeting. Bob Lolcama seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved.
John briefly reviewed correspondence including a number of thank you letters from families that were served in the Energy, Housing and Weatherization Programs. Housing was recognized for their essential role in the annual Point in Time Count by the Thurston County Public Health. John discussed MOU with United Way of Thurston County and how our housing department is assisting individuals and families that have been affected by the Nisqually flood. Also, Samantha Mitchell from Lewis County Youth Advocacy Center received a certificate of appreciation from the US Department of Homeland Security for exceptional service. Correspondence was passed around to the members for their review.
Announcements John Walsh thanked the Board members for attending. Next meeting will be Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
Business Items: N/A There are no new business items.
CSBG/Organizational Standards (if needed)
Standard 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 5.3, 5.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.7
A number of documents were discussed including the revised By Laws, the Annual Outcome Report, the Annual Client Survey and the Monthly Program Reports.
Standard 5.3, 5.4 - Pursuant to the By Laws John explained that after a review of the By Laws a number of changes were necessary. These proposed changes were submitted to the Board for their review in December.
Community Action Council
Minutes
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Topic
DISCUSSION/DECISIONS
After a comment period the proposed changes were submitted to the attorney for review and comment. The attorney’s proposed changes (minor) were incorporated and John handed out the revised By Laws for Board review. If revised By Laws are acceptable to the Board John requested that the Board consider voting for approval at the March meeting of the Board. John also indicated that if there were questions, additions or proposed changes to contact him directly.
The other reports including the Annual Outcome Report, the Annual Client Survey and the Monthly Program Reports will be discussed in the CEO report.
John also reported that we did not put the annual audit out to bid last year so it will be put out to bid this year. Further, the Agency must conduct a Risk Analysis and that it will begin over the next couple of months.
Finance Committee
2019 Audit Review Standards 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 - Michael Steadman, the Board Treasurer, reported that the Finance Committee met earlier today for the annual audit presentation and review. Michael introduced Mr. Terry Sodder, CPA and Partner with Aiken & Sanders Inc. PS. Terry thanked the Board for engaging their firm to perform the audit. A copy of the audit was submitted to the Board for their review, comment and questions. The audit was covered in extensive detail with the Finance Committee so Terry went through some of the items including the Auditor’s Report the Statements of Financial Position, Activities and Changes to Net Assets, Functional Expenses and Cash Flows. Terry noted that the CAC was in good financial shape and showed an increase in revenues due primarily to the housing program. Terry noted that for the type of auditor report issued for Financial Statements was
“Unmodified” and there was no material weaknesses, significant deficiencies or noncompliance with internal controls over financial reporting. Related to Federal Awards there were no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies to be a material weakness and the auditor’s report issued on compliance with major programs was “Unmodified”. The Agency is considered to be a low-risk auditee and there were no findings or questioned costs. Terry reported that the major programs this year included the Community Services Block Grant and the Low Income Housing Energy Assistance Program. Terry thanked Brian and the rest of the staff involved in the process of the audit. The Finance Committee recommended the Board approve the audit as submitted.
Jim Phillips made a motion to approve and accept the audit. Michael Steadman seconded the motion. The motion was unanimously approved with no abstentions.
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Minutes
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Topic
DISCUSSION/DECISIONS
The Board thanked Brian and his staff for all of their hard work. John also thanked Brian and his team for their continued diligence and hard work.
Fundraising Committee
Update T. Walton reminded everyone about the Monarch Breakfast event date - 4/21/2020. Kirsten York announced that there will be a guest speaker that comes highly recommended. We have a good jump on sponsorships with Amerigroup providing a sponsorship of $4000.00. We are continuing to seek additional sponsorships. The next meeting of the Fundraising Committee will be March 5, 2020 at noon. John encouraged volunteering, attending the event and/or donating,
.
Chief Financial Officer Report
Fiscal Reports Other Items
Standard 8.7 - Brian reviewed Financial Summary. (Please review attached).
Lynn Flaisig asked about the WIC case load and if they were increasing. Khim Schoenacker responded that despite numerous efforts they were holding steady. There was brief discussion about the status of Golf Club Road. Brian shared some facts about operations including a summary report on commodities in the warehouse. The value of the current inventory is approximately $158,000. Brian also commented that during the month of January his fiscal team was processing checks at a total of $74,000 per day.
Chief Executive Officer Report
Monthly Reports Other Items
John discussed the Annual Agency Outcome report that illustrated program service data for the same period as the Agency audit. By reviewing both documents you can see how resources are being used by each program. John also highlighted a few items … all of housing support initiatives are under the program title “Housing
Stability; the range of homeless prevention services has expanded; we have expanded Weatherization services to Klickitat and Skamania Counties; we have been working with PSE on the installation of ductless heat pumps and we have now added the Lewis County YAC as a part of Monarch. We also transitioned the Lacey WIC clinic to another local clinic.
There was a question regarding who sets the rent for our housing programs and the response was that HUD sets the fair market rent documentation system. There was an additional question regarding why there was no data for the Lacey Outreach Program and the response was that the contract was not in place for the reporting period.
Community Action Council
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Topic
DISCUSSION/DECISIONS
Standard 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 - The Annual Client Survey was shared with the Board. It was noted that more than 2,600 surveys were completed by clients receiving services. Clients write their responses to the questions and then the response are aggregated. The results are presented by question and by County. It was noted again that the survey is anecdotal but that the opinions of 2,600 people is worth considering. John walked people through the report format to assist Board members in their review. John asked the membership to go over the material and if they have any questions please ask.
The Monthly program reports for December and January were also presented to the Board. There were no questions.
Commenting on Legislative issues, John indicated that he really cannot report on what will happen nationally with the pending elections. Consistent with last year’s the President’s budget zeros out program like CSBG and Energy Assistance but this will not hold. Related to the State we are waiting for the budgets which were published last week.
Monarch renovations are proceeding though slowly. We have a contractor consultant assisting us and hopefully the final drawings will be done within a month. Once completed we can finalize the budget. Currently we are using the cost of $175/foot for the interior renovations so approximately $875K; for the new structure about $250/foot so approximately $1.2 million.
Deschutes Stairs – John commented that the City of Tumwater requires addition engineering before being able to issue a building permit so that is in process.
A question regarding how the agency is planning to respond to the COVID issue. John responded that we are working at it by accessing the best information to share. There was a question regarding clients and John responded that the first issue to address is the Agency and employees. If we do not have staff we cannot assist the clients. There are lots of moving parts to this issue and the team is working through them. We are aware that we may be ordered to be closed by public health or DOH due to the “public” nature of our services. One of the main message we are trying to get out is to stay calm and use good hand washing technique.
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Topic
DISCUSSION/DECISIONS
Comments and/or Suggestions There was a discussion regarding the homeless data numbers related to the Point in Time Count and a % were from out of Thurston County. Kirsten directed the Board to the recently published Thurston County Point in Time Count for the best information available. Kirsten also revealed a number of other issues including aging families being less able to afford to live in the community and landlords who are willing to take tenants that have some issues.
Staff comments – Sam reported that Weatherization services are going well and expenditures are on track; Khim reported that the State is still having issues with their new systems including problems with the EBT system locally and timely access to reports and the information being generated. These issues at DOH do impact our services; the Monarch expansion into Lewis County is going well along with HSP. We are getting positive feedback from the service providers and the County.
Adjourn Board of Director Meeting: March 25, 2020 @ 5:30 p.m. M>
