Counties Discuss Human Service Zones and Identify Preliminary Plans

More than 150 county officials played an important role in redesigning county social services Tuesday, June 11th. It is truly a monumental task. The North Dakota Association of Counties and the Department of Human Services hosted the meeting to update county folks on the legislation which shifts the financial responsibility of county social services to the state. But the goal is so much greater than just changing who pays the bill. The focus is to redesign how social services are delivered in the state most effectively and efficiently.

Commissioners, Social Service Directors and Auditors from every county were represented at the meeting. Most of the day was spent answering questions and defining the next steps. NDACo Executive Director Terry Traynor and Chris Jones with the Department of Human Services first educating the group on what social service redesign “is” and what it “isn’t”; stressing that this isn’t a state takeover of social services. There are a number of key aspects to the redesign project, they include:
· No reduction in access points, all social service offices will remain
· No reductions in force or reductions in pay however roles will change for some
· Create equity in access and meet clients where they are
· Promote specialization of efforts where possible to improve consistency of service
· Promote decision making as close to the client as possible

During the meeting, counties broke into groups; visiting with neighboring counties to explore potential partners in creating a human service zone. The legislation allows for 19 human service zones in the state. Counties with populations of more than 60,000 may be an independent zone. Once county leaders decided what counties would be included in their zone, they choose a “host county”. The benefit structure is based on what the host county offers and will be part of the formula paid by the state. The host county will provide the administrative support for the human service zone. At the end of the day, 19 zones were identified, with one county remaining undecided. The map shows the zones identified. This is preliminary, more changes can be made; but it is an optimistic start.

County auditors have many questions regarding indirect costs along with what information they need as they prepare their budgets for 2020. More information will be provided to them at their annual conference June 26th.

The Department of Human Services has created a web page to post information related to Social Service Redesign project you can view documents including Frequently Asked Questions by visiting: https://www.nd.gov/dhs/

Dave Thompson with Prairie Public Radio shared the full interview with Jones and Traynor. You can listen to it here: http://www.tinyurl.com/yyfwtfqj
Here is a link to the story on Prairie Public as well: http://www.tinyurl.com/yxnwa8wx