By Patrick Tepoorten

A report four months in the making was released by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) late last week, and is highly critical of Chisago Countyís Master of Social Work (MSW) program. Incomplete information, poor accounting, improper reimbursements, non-compliant field placements, and questionable contracts all plague the county program, which is designed to trade the opportunity for county social workers to achieve a Masters degree in exchange for an internship in the child protection field, also known as a ìIV-Eî position.

The report, titled ìChisago County Title IV-E Welfare Scholar Phase II Program Report,î and compiled after DHS received a complaint from Chisago County resident Tony Peterfeso, spells out in detail the many problems the program is experiencing.

NON-COMPLIANT PLACEMENTS

According to the report, Chisago County Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ìapproved non-child welfare field placements for four of seven employeesî in the MSW program. It is still possible that more than four worked outside of a 4-E position, as the county has yet to provide the state ìadequate informationî for at least one employee.

The report does show that positions held by Kirk Fjellman, Laurie Karp, Julie Steiner, and Andrea Luering were not in the child welfare field yet were approved by the county. Another employee, Amy Shaleen, is included as well, if for no other reason than the county was unable to provide documentation regarding her internship.

REIMBURSEMENTS MISUSED

Despite a contract that clearly states employee-students will be responsible for all expenses beyond tuition and books, the state report shows that reimbursements were made to participants for a variety of costs not covered by the contract.

Most notably, the expenses claimed by employees Brad Foss and Luering were highlighted. Both had student liability insurance reimbursed by the county despite the fact, said the report, ìboth...signed contracts with Chisago County HHS agreeing that they would be responsible for any expenses other than tuition and books.î

A fishing license claimed by Foss was reimbursed by the county as well. However, the county never passed that reimbursement request along to the state.

Suspect reimbursements made to Luering include money paid for a health club membership ($171.48), membership fees for the National Association of Social Work ($65) and for sympathy cards ($6.69).

DHS is seeking reimbursement for these expenses, which were passed on to the state by the county as part of the MSW program.
The state is also seeking funds for the education of Kris Mattson. Mattson was in the MSW program for only one month before withdrawing. Documents show that Chisago County allowed Mattson ìto keep one month of federal fundsî and required her to return only the county portion of the matching funds. The state is requiring the county reimburse the federal portion of Mattsonís education, in the amount of $1,592.

These reimbursements, combined with others including a double reimbursement for books for Brad Foss, $101.48 which has already been paid back to the county by Foss but not forwarded to the state, plus others, make the county responsible to the state for $1,936.65.

COULD GET FAR WORSE

Those reimbursements though, may just be the tip of the iceberg. The state has taken a dim view of employees not working in IV-E positions and could still require massive reimbursements for what it sees as erroneous education claims.

The report states that the county must ìrequire employees to meet their contractual obligations, or repay Title IV-E funds claimed on their behalf.î

That means the county would be forced to reimburse the entire education cost for any employee that cannot be placed immediately in a IV-E position.

The money received from state and federal sources for those educations ranges from $30,000 to almost $80,000 per employee.
In the case of Foss and Amy Shaleen, neither of whom work for the county any longer and whose educations accounted for $79,702.97 and $40,168.13 in state and federal funds respectively, the county is not in a position to place them in IV-E jobs. Since they cannot, the report would seem to suggest that the funds must be repaid.

It should be noted that, in Shaleenís case, making a proper determination as to the correctness of her job placement is impossible as the county has been unable to provide the state with any information regarding her education.

However, if the county remains unable to prove she worked in a IV-E position, it is likely those funds would have to be repaid.
The DHS report also calls upon county HHS to provide missing documentation, as well as any that would ìverify employeesí compliance,î with the IV-E rule. The county is to consult with the state on allowable expenses such as mileage, and ìshall develop an internal quality assurance systemî to be approved by the state.

REACTION

County Administrator John Moosey was disturbed with the reportís findings on Monday morning. ìI am very concerned,î he said, but noted that he was still trying to digest the findings.

He indicated that he and the board had been instructed by county HHS that not placing MSW employees in a IV-E job was acceptable to the state and federal governments. ìNow I am not sure that was the case,î he stated.

Mooseyís ìnumber oneî concern, as he put it, was with HHSís inability to provide documentation for at least one employee.
ìI have a serious problem with that. Weíre a government organization for Peteís sake,î he said, and added that he is currently trying to find out why the department was unable to provide the requested paperwork.

The MSW program was suspended internally in early May by Moosey, who at the time stated, ìItís a chance to clear the decks and let her (new HHS director Mary Sheehan) focus on really important things. The amount of noise surrounding this program has become a distraction.î

Still, he insists that suspending the program had nothing to do with the stateís just-released report, saying that he knew the state was looking into the program but was unaware they would issue a report as they have.

He said further that he would be reviewing the report with Sheehan and that a determination would be made as to how to proceed.
He added that all but two of the employees who took part in MSW are still with the county and he hoped they could be placed in IV-E jobs immediately thus avoiding any possible reimbursement of funds for those employees related educations.

Commissioner Ben Montzka, who had been calling for the programís suspension since last fall, worried what the reportís findings might mean for local taxpayers.

ìA significant sum may need to be reimbursed,î he said and added that the money would come out of local levy dollars. Montzka was unwilling to speculate as to how much the county might have to pay back, but did say it could cost ìmore than tens of thousands of dollars.î

Even if IV-E employees were able to be placed in internships immediately, Montzka believes that county taxpayers would essentially be paying for something ìtwice.î

Commissioner Lynn Schultz stated that she wanted to take a closer look at the report before rendering judgement as to its findings. She did take a moment to make a comment on how it should be handled.

ìIíd like to resolve this in a positive, thorough manner. What happened? How did it happen? We need to make sure we correct operations that resulted in this. But, we should keep the brow-beating to a minimum. Business shouldnít be conducted like that.î
Commissioner Rick Olseen noted that, in no small part, new HHS director Mary Sheehan was brought on for situations like this. ìThatís why weíre glad to have Mary on board. Hopefully she can get this thing straightened out.î