Attachment II

MEMORANDUM

DATE:       Greg Scoles, City Administrator
TO:             Lee Tuneberg, Finance Director
FROM:      May 7, 2002
RE:             Report on Ashland Strategic Plan - Social and Human Services Element

The current Strategic Plan includes the following goal:

Implement and fund the Health and Human Services Plan

The Health and Human Services Plan Mission Statement:

To ensure that all people in Ashland live in a safe, strong, and caring community, the City of Ashland seeks to enhance the quality of life and promote the self-reliance, growth, and development of people. To these ends, the City of Ashland will strive to provide resources and services to meet basic human needs.

This report is intended to provide an overview of city activities that reasonably could be construed as elements of this plan, its endeavor to provide resources and services to meet basic human needs, and communicate them to Council for further consideration and direction.

The plan identifies a safe and healthy community as central to the mission. The city is charged with promoting the general welfare via an established safety net that addresses chemical dependency, a safe environment, available and affordable health services, effective and responsible emergency assistance, family development, and equal access to justice.

The city's role is:

· facilitating a safe and healthy community by providing leadership,
· enacting responsible public policy,
· encouraging effective, collaborative efforts and
· establishing and funding clear priorities.

The plan includes three goals:

1. Provide a comprehensive and coordinated system of services to address people in need.
2. Ensure that the allocation of program funding is fair, objective and consistent.
3. Ensure that funded programs directly address changing priorities and are administered in an effective and cost-efficient manner.

Current city efforts are significant yet only touch upon the above goals and their respective elements. Relevant city activities thought to fall under this program's umbrella and related policy numbers are:

A. Maintaining this plan and significant elements as continued elements of the city's strategic plan and inclusion within the annual budget process. (most all elements)
B. Allocate CDBG funds toward priority projects including affordable housing. (1-4, 2-2)
C. Social service grants funding 20+ agencies for total of $100,000 each year.(1-1, 2-1, 2-3)
D. Assistance programs helping seniors, low income and or disadvantaged customers pay utility bills. (2-3)
E. Senior program supporting needs of the growing population. (1-3)
F. Living wage initiative affecting contracted work in Ashland. (2-1)
G. AFN discounted services for community cable services. (1-3, 1-4)

As can be seen, these activities and their potential areas of inclusion are not comprehensive when considering the breadth of the elements of the plan. Elements not addressed to date are high-lighted below. It should be noted that element 2-2, allocating 15% of CDBG funds, has been deferred in light of the priority goal of developing affordable housing through a limited number of programs with that money instead. The current CDBG process calls for 75% to go to one or two projects, 5% to municipal building accessibility and 20% to administration.

PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE AND COORDINATED SYSTEM OF SERVICES TO ADDRESS PEOPLE IN NEED

POLICIES:

(1-1) Identify opportunities to achieve a broad spectrum of integrated community services that provides for all residents by helping eliminate identified barriers associated with collaboration such as liability insurance, ways to mitigate obstacles to information exchange among agencies, ways to overcome "turfdom" and fears of budget invasion and the creation of a streamlined, performance based contracting system that rapidly identifies changes in the community and responds with innovative projects.

(1-2) Create a consistent database of information on local service needs, successful program solutions to human and social service problems, and sources of funding for human and social service programs.

(1-3) Assist older Ashlanders, through the Senior Program, in achieving an opportunity for employment free from discriminatory practices because of age; suitable housing; an appropriate level of physical and mental health services; ready access to effective social services; appropriate institutional care when required; information about available supportive services; and supportive services which enable elderly persons to remain in their homes.

(1-4) Ensure that the needs of low income individuals are considered in the planning for public housing, community services, and fees for development.

(1-5) Identify opportunities to develop creative partnerships with service organizations that could include technical assistance, staff development, co-sponsorship of programs and development of new revenue sources.

(1-6) Play a leadership role in the creation of a "City of Ashland Operating Foundation for a Safe and Healthy Community."

ENSURE THAT THE ALLOCATION OF PROGRAM FUNDING IS FAIR, OBJECTIVE AND CONSISTENT.

POLICIES:

(2-1) Allocate public resources, from within the City's general fund, in an amount set by resolution, for the direct support of essential safety net services.

In recognition of the reality that the costs associated with the provision of essential safety net services increase on an annual basis, give due consideration in the City's budget process to matters pertaining to inflation indexes, environmental factors which may contribute to increased demand for services, and compensation rates (livable wages) paid to social service employees.

(2-2) Allocate, as permissible by the CDBG Block Grant process, on an annual basis, fifteen percent (15%) of categorical CDBG resources for the direct support of qualifying safety net services.

(2-3) Expend through the City's budget process, resources allocated from the City's General Fund and the proportional share of CDBG funds, in the charitable, private not-for-profit sector for the provision of safety net services such as:

a) Temporary, emergency food and shelter;
b) Substance abuse education, prevention and treatment;
c) The preservation of dignity and equal access to justice;
d) Primary and preventive health care services;
e) Critical supportive services for families, seniors and victims.

ENSURE THAT FUNDED PROGRAMS DIRECTLY ADDRESS CHANGING PRIORITIES AND ARE ADMINISTERED IN AN EFFECTIVE AND COST-EFFICIENT MANNER

POLICIES:

(3-1) Ensure that the City consults with local agency officials in the design, delivery and evaluation of services, by establishing an Ad Hoc Human Services Task Force with its primary focus on working on the implementation of Policies 1-2, 3-2 and 3-3 and related human services planning and management issues.

(3-2) Develop and adopt techniques for analyzing and measuring the equity of outcomes and benefits of services delivery which can be integrated into planning, evaluation and budgeting components. Programs should be evaluated on the basis of well defined performance standards that relate to program administration and participant development, in addition to the basis of numbers served or placed.

(3-3) Develop a format for presentations to the Budget Committee, to be made every 3-4 years, which utilize the results of the monitoring framework outlined in Policy 3-2.

Many of the tasks are currently dealt with by various committees, council liaisons and staff. Foremost is the work by the Housing Commission, Senior Board, Budget Committee and Council itself. The ad hoc committee last met in November 2000 and suggested alternative ways to fund this program (minutes attached). Several of the ideas generated relate to current operational and budgetary activities by the groups listed above.

The high-lighted items speak to a different level of activity than employed today. Item 1-2 calls for a database and its management, 1-5 looks for partnerships between the city and service organizations, 1-6 suggests creating a foundation and 3-1, 2, 3 identify and detail a management, tracking and reporting system.

All of these elements are labor intensive and would have a direct impact on the city budget, and possibly on the availability of funds needed for said services. Considering the existing efforts and funding mechanisms by Council and sub-groups, the allocation or reallocation of resources to bolster current efforts or to address less active elements of the plan requires further direction from Council. Staff suggests Council accept this report and determine what steps to take next.

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