Karuk Tribe – Health Board Meeting
December 2, 2010 – Meeting Minutes
Meeting called to order at 2:59 PM by Arch Super, Chairman
Present:
Arch Super, Chairman
Michael Thom, Vice-Chairman
Dora Bernal, Member at Large
Alvis “Bud” Johnson, Member at Large
Wilverna “Verna” Reece, Member at Large
Crispen McAllister, Member at Large (late – 3:05 pm)
Charron “Sonny” Davis, Member at Large
Florence Conrad, Member at Large (late – 4:16 pm)
Absent:
Florrine Super, Secretary (leave-excused)
Quorum is established.
The Mission Statement was read aloud by Verna Reece, Member at Large.
Agenda:
Bud Johnson motioned and Dora Bernal seconded to approve the agenda with changes, 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Minutes of November 3, 2010:
Verna Reece motioned and Bud Johnson seconded to approve the minutes, 4 haa, 0 puuhara, 1 pupitihara (Michael Thom).
Guests:
None at this time.
Director Reports:
1.) Daniel Pratt, TANF Director:
Daniel is not present, his written report was provided and Elsa is available for any questions that the Council may have regarding his report. The revised TANF policies and procedures will be tabled until a later date. Elsa will provide a full copy of the TANF program policies and procedures for the Council to review as there are new Council Members and some that have misplaced their copies. Next week, December 6-7, 2010, will be office moving time for the Yreka TANF office, so their office will be closed while all phones, computers and equipment is transferred to their new building.
Dora inquired about a meeting date for the Council representatives and Daniel Pratt, to meet. Elsa recalled that the planning for those meetings will take place prior to the Health Board Meetings since that worked best for the representatives’ schedules. The next TANF meeting will be scheduled January 13, 2011 at 2pm in Happy Camp; attempting to schedule all of the monthly meeting prior to the Health Board Meetings.
Dora Bernal motioned and Bud Johnson seconded to approve Daniel’s report, 5 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Crispen McAllister arrived at 3:05PM.
2.) Mike Edwards, Director of Children and Family Services:
Mike is present to review his written report. He has no action items but provided highlights of his report to the Board. He explained the transportation needs being met in Yreka. Elsa questioned the transportation services for the Happy Camp area, as there is no mileage provided through CHS any longer, and the Elders worker has not been providing transportation services in Happy Camp since June. Mike noted that the need for Happy Camp hasn’t been addressed to date. He did notice that once the transporter was added in Yreka, the patients and clients are in such need, that they would not be able to adjust to not having that service any longer. There are clients in Yreka that are transported far down South to get the clients services that are not offered any closer and without the transportation services those clients would receive no care.
Sonny inquired about the white van that was used previously for services and asked if the Elders in the community know about this service. Mike isn’t sure that there is enough information on services distributed although he is careful to reserve services to and from clinical appointments only, not shopping or errand appointments. Sonny’s concern is that an Elder passing away in Yreka recently leads him to think that there isn’t enough staff checking on the clients or the Elders. Lessie commented that the new PHN will be checking on clients and patients, including Elders; completing more home visits. Also, Clarence will be transferred back to completing some CHR work as the transporter begins to get more and more appointments.
Mike explained that there is another case being transferred into Tribal Court from Siskiyou County Court. The ICW Committee has intervened on behalf of another Tribal Member and between him and Kim Dodge they now have over 60 ICW cases.
The DUI program has 33 clients currently. This assists especially in Happy Camp as there are now classes in Happy Camp, alleviating the clients from finding transportation to Yreka.
Verna Reece motioned and Sonny Davis seconded to approve Mike’s report, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
3.) Annie Smith, PHN:
Annie is present to introduce herself to the Health Board. She has been a nurse in Siskiyou County for 25 years. She is a PHN and is very, very happy to be a part of the Karuk Tribal Health team. She is spending time getting up to speed and learning her responsibilities. She has found that she is under excellent direction. She is getting acquainted with the staff and identifying the needs of the patients and clients. She does not have a written report for the Board tonight but she is sure that Lessie keeps her up to speed on the actions of the Health Program.
She announced that she has an open door policy for any type of questions or comments. She now has an office phone and cell phone. She will check her email quite often and will communicate well with the Council.
Michael Thom motioned and Sonny Davis seconded to approve Annie’s report, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
4.) Chad Tiraterra, RPMS Administrator:
Chad apologized for being late. He then went on to note that his regular reports are included for Council review; workload reports including break out of information on site, provider, and services. The beta testing is done in the patient registration GUI and he will be completing the paperwork necessary to submit the patch nationally.
Verna Reece motioned and Bud Johnson seconded to approve Chad’s report, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
5.) Vickie Simmons, COO:
Vickie is not present, she’s on training but her written report was submitted for the Health Board to review.
Dora Bernal motioned and Verna Reece seconded to approve Vickie’s report, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
5.) Eric Cutright, IT Director:
Eric is present to provide his report. He provided an overview of the generator project. On Tuesday there were more line installations and the project passed inspection. The power company has scheduled the Tribe to connect the generator facility to the Administrative office. This would mean that the Administration office and the Happy Camp Medical/Dental clinics will be closed most of the day, next Thursday. The Council believes that having the wiring and connection done on Friday would be best as the staff is already scheduled for a Holiday and all offices closed. Eric will verify if he can move that date and attempt to get both crews out on the Holiday to ensure operations run as smooth as possible for the patients and clients of the Tribe. The process is moving faster than anticipated but he may need a phone vote for additional equipment. He will have fuel hauling issues but he’ll work on that once it is up and running.
They are scheduled to move the TANF office, December 6-7, 2010. They should be operational in their new location on Tuesday. The Datacenter has passed the County inspection. The security system install is not complete but the project has several little items. It is still 5 months past due.
There is a major outage with EHR in the past couple weeks, so they completed back ups and the system was back up and running.
Verna Reece motioned and Sonny Davis seconded to approve Eric’s report, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
6.) Vickie Walden, Dental Office Manager:
Vickie distributed her written report to the Health Board. She announced that Dr. Bardonner resigned on November 15, 2010 and Dr. Schoen was moved to the Dental Director position. As a result of the departing DDS a dental staff member was laid off due to not needing the assistance any longer. Susan Beatty and Jessica Courts obtained their CEU’s to obtain their sealant eligibility. Dr. Do will be on vacation from December 22-January 3rd, 2011.
Vickie went on to explain her program and the staffing changes and asked Lessie if there will be recruitment for Yreka. Lessie may be moving Dr. Do to Yreka and then advertise for a contractor to service Happy Camp.
Verna Reece motioned and Crispen McAllister seconded to approve Vickie’s report, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
7.) Lessie Aubrey, EDHHS – Fabian Alvarado, Orleans FNP:
Fabian introduced himself to the Council. Fabian thanked the Tribal Council for supporting him and his family during his family leave. He is present to discuss emergency medical care for the community in Orleans. The paramedic services are about 45 minutes away, and it isn’t a part of the clinics mission to provide emergency care, it does happen that he is forced to render emergency care for minor stabilization prior to patient transport though. He would like to devote his CEU’s this year to developing his emergency medical services knowledge and experience. He has the opportunity to ride along with the Hoopa Ambulance on Friday’s for about six months, and he would like to seek the Council’s opinion and support of this. Arch inquired if Lessie and Fabian have discussed this with Dr. Burns. Lessie announced that the Orleans clinic is not open on Friday’s to date, so his absence on ambulance runs will not affect that clinics services. Fabian would like to revise the clinic operation hours to include being open later Monday thru Thursday, to capture patients that are working. In the meantime he would like to dedicate Friday’s to developing his emergency experience. He went on to tell a story regarding services that he must offer.
Dr. Burns reviewed the previous schedule on Fabian working 4 days a week and not a full 5. Now, with Fabian moving toward some emergency training on Friday’s this would leave the Orleans facility with the same schedule. Once he is done with his four days a week and the one day with the ambulance, then he will still have the Orleans facility be open four days but at 10 hour days. Dr. Burns is supportive of this and Fabian’s need for some emergency training.
The Tribal Council feels that the emergency support is needed especially in an area where emergency care takes at minimum of 45minutes to respond and Fabian is the only healthcare provider for the area.
Dora motioned and Verna seconded to support Fabian in working with the volunteer ambulance on Friday’s for up to six months, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
7.5) Lessie Aubrey, EDHHS:
Lessie requested a credit card for Annie Smith as the PHN position of the Tribe’s Health Program.
Verna Reece motioned and Dora Bernal seconded to provide Annie Smith a VISA card with a $1,500 limit, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Lessie then went on to provide an oral budget report. Everything is being spent at the percentage appropriate.
She attended a meeting last night in Sacramento. She attended a meeting with UIHS which she learned that UIHS got with the State of California and Federal Representatives at a face to face meeting. The State of California cut the billable mental health services and several other services from the LCSW’s that they provide. The Federal Government provides the State of California 100% of costs for the eligible Native American population and then gives the State of California a 3% administrative fee for administrating the funding. So to understand that the state cut that funding seemed to bring up some interesting conversations in the meeting. Also, the State of California noted that the Native Americans were discriminating against others by receiving care when others aren’t provided similar services. Lessie noted that there were several staff there and the outlook should be good. She has been following this topic and was glad that the opportunity to have a Federal and State representative meeting presented itself.
Arch asked that Lessie review open dates to schedule a meeting with her and Michael and Arch. Lessie will work on that and get back with them.
Dora Bernal motioned and Sonny Davis seconded to approve Lessie’s report, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Non Health Employees:
1.) Ruth Rouvier, Language Department:
Ruth is requesting out of state travel for ANA grantee training. It is in Washington DC January 19-22, 2011. She would like to take Erin as well as it is recommended to bring finance or reporting person, which Erin is the primary one to oversee the ANA grant.
Michael Thom motioned and Crispen McAllister seconded to approve out of state travel for Ruth Rouvier and Erin Hillman to Washington DC January 19-22, 2011, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
2.) Laura Olivas, KCDC
Laura is present to seek approval of resolution 10-R-127 approving a service line agreement for the new KCDC modular building.
Verna Reece motioned and Dora Bernal seconded to approve resolution 10-R-127 authorizing approval of the service line agreement, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
3.) Robert Goodwin, Self-Governance:
Bob provided a copy of resolution 95-R-91 acknowledging the authority and jurisdiction of the police department, city of Yreka, and sheriff’s department county of Siskiyou to enforce on Tribal property both fee and trust laws of the State of California. Bob does not recommend having this in tact as it is written as it is a violation of Federal law as the resolution allows coverage that they cannot exercise authority over. This arose with the recent discussions between KTHA and the local enforcement services in Yreka CA. The Tribe does not want an old resolution that is out of date to be the hold up in open negotiations and understanding of coverage for the Housing Authority.
Florence noted that the Council wants services for emergency response, however, not the actions listed in the whereas’. Arch asked if there will be another resolution approved to replace the rescinded one. Bob noted that no, Jim is drafting a resolution and agreements regarding the water line, but not the laws in general. Florence asked if Bob had attended PL-280 training and Bob noted that his schedule didn’t allow him to attend. The Council would like him to look into that training again, and he agreed that he would like to take it.
Sonny Davis motioned and Crispen McAllister seconded to rescind resolution 05-R-91, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Request approval of a MOU to allow the Tribe to be signatory on 11-M-004. The staff has worked on this to include Tribes in receiving signatory for the MOU and it will assist in a proposal to the Water Resources Control Board. There will be another draft of this MOU that will include language representing Tribes; however this first version will get Earl to the opportunity to receive funding for his already submitted proposal.
Michael Thom motioned and Crispen McAllister seconded to approve 11-M-004, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Bob then went on to seek approval for a resolution that holds $53,000 a year so that the consortium provides assistance to the Tribe, however, the Tribe would like to reduce that funding to $10,000 and keep the funding in the program. The resolution number is 10-R-126.
Verna Reece motioned and Bud seconded to approve resolution 10-R-126, 6 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Bob will provide a copy of the resolution and a letter explaining this to the BIA, specifically, Amy Dutchke so that she is provided an explanation of the Tribes position regarding this change.
He then presented the mushroom MOU that was developed with the staff and USFS on the MOU. Bob explained that there is no current MOU in place with the USFS and the Tribe. This current MOU will cover temporarily the Tribal Members. However signing this MOU and sending it in with Addendum “A” regarding cutting the mushrooms, will hold the Tribal Members to adhering to the rules. He did note that the “Gathering MOU” with the USFS will supersede this MOU as it will include mushrooms and gathering. Bob provided a briefing on the tickets that could be issued to Tribal Members. The number will be 11-M-005 between the Karuk Tribe and MOU. Michael would like to adjust the MOU for June 1, 2011. Bob will send the dates of the next MOU meeting to the Council so they know when they are.
Dora Bernal motioned and Michael Thom seconded to approve MOU 11-M-005 between the USFS and the Karuk Tribe with a revision on the timeline of June 1, 2011, 6, haa, 1 puuhara (Verna Reece), 0 pupitihara.
Bob then went on to note that he wanted to provide a Gaming update on the recent meeting held with Dennis Whittlesey and the conference attended in Las Vegas, NV and that discussion was fruitful leading to support of traveling to DC for further meetings. Also, discussions regarding any Gaming endeavors or information sent to the Gaming Committee aren’t done any longer as Bob would like to have the Council review the Gaming Committee participants. He does not believe that the group as it is set currently, adequately addresses the appropriate people any longer. The Council is fine with him not sending the information to the broadcast list; however he will continue to inform the entire Council until a full review of the Gaming Committee is done.
Bob also noted that Arch was selected to be seated on another consultation board, which is a great honor. This recent selection had sought nominations from Tribes of their Chairman and of the several that were submitted, Arch was selected to represent this Region. It is a tremendous opportunity to work with the Government officials and obtain a position to get the Tribes issues out there.
Florence Conrad arrived at 4:10pm.
Closed Session:
Florence Conrad motioned and Crispen McAllister seconded to allow a write off of $12,478.00 from medical billing debt that is uncollectable, 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Florence Conrad motioned and Sonny Davis seconded to approve a pay $0.50 per hour pay increase to employee #4782 along with re-classification to part time status, 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Florence Conrad motioned and Sonny Davis seconded to provide a $1,500 loan to Tribal Member #732 with $200 monthly payments, 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Consensus: to issue a reminder to all staff regarding law of windshield wiper use and headlights during bad weather.
Verna Reece motioned and Crispen McAllister seconded to approve out of state travel for April Attebury December 15-16, 2010 to Arizona for the Judge’s Consortium Meeting, 7 haa, 0 pupitihara.
Dora Bernal motioned and Verna Reece seconded to approve a $225 donation request from Junction/Somes Bar Basketball players; $150 from Karuk Booster Club, $125 from Council Discretionary, and an additional $100 personal donation from Council Member Verna Reece will be sent, 7 haa, 0 puuhara, 0 pupitihara.
Next meeting date: February 10, 2011, Happy Camp CA.
Meeting adjourned at 5:19 PM.
Respectfully Submitted,
_________________________
Arch Super, Chairman
Recording Secretary, Barbara Snider