By Patrick Tepoorten

The Chisago County Health and Human Services (HHS) response to a state Department of Human Services (DHS) report leveling allegations of mismanagement at the Masters of Social Work (MSW) program was released last week.

Written by former Human Services Director Elizabeth Dodge and presented by HHS Director Mary Sheehan at last Wednesdayís county board meeting, the countyís response is critical of the state, while at the same time noting at least $20,000 in reimbursements that must be made.

Dodgeís response is a point by point reply to the state, beginning with the implication that the county did not respond to requests for information with due diligence.

ìChisago County did indeed respond with due diligence,î stated Dodge. ìHowever, the communication process of this review was blatantly different from what we have come to expect in our state/county partnership role with the department.î

Later, Dodge stated that the result of this perceived departure from protocol resulted in ìnumerous issues that have been misconstrued and misapplied.î

For instance, Dodge references a March 7 e-mail sent by Mike Lindner, who Dodge describes as the ìpoint man on student interns.î In his e-mail to Dodge and others involved in compiling the requested information Lindner states, ìI wonder how much work we should do in terms of organizing the material or just send attachments with financials, receipts, job descriptions, etc. and let DHS sort it out.î

Dodge wrote in her response that her department ultimately decided ìto provide only as much as was asked, and await further communicationî from the state.

Dodge dedicated a section of her response to what she called the ìtenor and toneî of the state report, which accused the county of providing information in a ìconfusing and incomplete manner,î and concluded that the county ìfailed to provide adequate informationî in many areas.

Responding to that allegation, Dodge wrote ìThe materials referenced as confusing and incomplete include our standard job description outlines.î She added that, with the county moving toward more generic job descriptions, it would be hard to ascertain IV-E criteria without follow-up questions.

Had follow-up questions been pursued, said Dodge, the state would have learned that Kirk Fjellman, Kris Mattson, Kelly Schaaf and Amy Shaleen all ìfulfilled their IV-E obligations.î The report further describes other MSW students as either fulfilling their obligation presently, still in school, or never a part of the program.

As to field placements, HHSís response to the stateís charge that four of seven employees were allowed ìnon-child welfareî placements was to reference the IV-E MSW Field Manual, which states, ìstudents must have at least one field placement in a Minn. county social services child welfare unit ... or at the MN Department of Human Services ... In selecting a second field placement ... preference should be given to agencies that have contracted with county social services ...î

Dodge responded, saying, ìAll of the referenced disallowances were for the second year field placements.î However, she also acknowledged that two field placements, one for Fjellman and another for Shaleen, did not meet contract criteria.

And, although Dodge defends the placements as offering ìour staff and our county an opportunity for learning that would bring us back the competency that needed to be developed,î she goes on to estimate the amount of reimbursement to the state for the non IV-E placements at approximately $20,000.

Mileage and tuition disallowances related to these two employees will also have to be conjured, and 25 percent of that total will be added to the reimbursement total.

Dodgeís response also deals with allegations that county reimbursements for insurance, fishing licenses, and other claims were in error. Agreeing with DHS that student liability insurance is not an allowable IV-E expense, Dodge noted that a payment of $275 would be made back to DHS.

As to the fishing license purchased by Brad Foss, and expenses paid for health club memberships and sympathy cards for Andrea Luering, Dodge defends the reimbursements by the county as based on union contracts and work related, and concluded ìNone of these expenses were considered allowable IV-E expenses and were never claimed as such.î

Though never claimed as MSW expenses to the state, the expenses were included in the stateís investigation. In the case of the fishing license, a memo on the receipt lists it as an MSW related expense.

In a phone interview on Friday, Sheehan indicated the possibility that simple explanations could account for confusion regarding health club and sympathy card purchases as well. However, she added that she wouldnít know more until later this week.

In conclusion, Dodge noted some important improvements the county needs to comply with, but didnít stop there.

ìIt appears that the persistence of this complainant (Tony Peterfeso), the redundancy of the misapplied information, and the perception of malicious intent is rampant among some of those charged with oversight. This element of suspicion appears to have led to a poorly completed audit, with poor communication that could have resulted in an improved outcome, improved accountability, and without the unnecessarily negative and inflammatory comments which immediately leads to negative media attention.î

Finally, she stated that some fiscal losses are ìto be expected in a minimally guided project, our savings in staff retention and recruitment, our leadership in child welfare strategies and improvements, and our continuing gains in producing positive outcomes for deeply struggling families with children, will far and away prove that Chisago County HHS embraces a compassionate and accountable approach to itís work.î