DATE CHANGED ON MERGER  PLAN

BETWEEN JOB & FAMILY SERVICES

AND CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT AGENCY

 

RESOLUTION

 

 

            The Board of County Commissioners of Putnam County, Ohio, met in regular session on the 5th day of  November, 2009, at the office of said Board with the following members present:   Mr. Vincent T. Schroeder, Mr. Travis A. Jerwers and Mr. John E. Love.

 

            Mr. Jerwers     moved the adoption of the following Resolution:

 

            WHEREAS, In accordance with Ohio Administrative Code Section 5101:9-1-22 and the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services cost allocation plan, the Board of County Commissioners on September 25, 2009, approved a merger plan between the Putnam County Job & Family Services and the Putnam County Child Support Enforcement Agency.

and

 

             WHEREAS, The Board has learned that  on page 1 of the plan, it was inadvertently typed that the current CSEA director will retire December 31, 2010 instead of December 31, 2009.

now therefore, be it

 

            RESOLVED,  That the Board of County Commissioners does hereby approve the attached merger plan (with corrected date) between the Putnam County Job & Family Services and the Putnam Child Support Enforcement Agency for the proposed merger date of January 1, 2010.

 

Mr. Love     seconded the motion and the roll being called upon its adoption, the vote resulted as follows:

           

 

Putnam County Job and Family Services

And

Putnam County Child Support Enforcement Agency

Merger Plan

Proposed Merger Date January 1, 2010

 

The following plan has been developed in accordance with Ohio Administrative Code Section 5101:9-1-22 and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Cost allocation Plan.

 

 Justification: In Calendar year 2009 The Board of Commissioners made the decision to combine the Putnam County Child Support Enforcement Agency in with the Putnam County Job and Family Services for the purpose of cost savings and customer efficiency. The commissioners determined that under the current economic conditions it would be fiscally prudent to move the CSEA under the administration and supervision of the JFS and eventually collocating CSEA within JFS. JFS currently occupies a county owned building. The commissioners determined that a cost savings will come for the collocation as CSEA currently pays over $30,000 per year in lease payments. Another savings will occur through attrition at the management level as the current director of CSEA will retire December 31, 2009 savings realized from the retirement by not replacing are estimated at around $80,000.00. One other reason for the merger and collocation is the current facility that CSEA leases is located in the Blanchard river flood zone which over the past several years have made accessibility to the CSEA impossible at times. 

 

Merger Timelines:    Ninety day notification by commissioner resolution of intent to combine CSEA and JFS was passed on September 25, 2009.

 

                                                Notification of intent to combine agencies was hand delivered to ODJFS Fiscal Supervisor, Patricia Gorman on September 29, 2009

 

Merger Plan developed and approved by the Putnam County Commissioners on September 25, 2009 and was hand delivered to ODJFS Fiscal Supervisor, Patricia Gorman on September 29, 2009.

 

 

 

RMS COMPLIANCE

 

Combining Cost Pools Both the CSEA and the JFS are supervised by ODJFS, employee salaries and all forms of compensation are allocated to cost pools. Job and Family Services have a minimum of three cost pools: Shared, Income Maintenance and Social Services. CSEA has one cost pool designed specifically for them. The upcoming merger will allow for one JFS employee to eventually becoming responsible for all cost pools: Shared, Income Maintenance, Social Services and Child Support. CSEA staff will remain at their current location until June 2010. While separated the PCJFS will be responsible for all data entry of RMS data into QuIC+ system. While maintaining separate locations the CSEA has a coordinator who will be responsible for distributing and gathering RMS forms at the CSEA for entry by JFS.  

 

To comply with the ODFS Cost Allocation Plan, the agency will submit an upload for the combined Job and Family Services and Child Support (RMS) time study for the period when CSEA makes the physical move to the PCJFS.

 

Shared Cost Distributions Shared cost are indirect cost benefits two or more program areas. In accordance with the ODJFS Cost Allocation Plan, the shared cost pool includes: salaries, related compensation and operational costs. Shared costs are allocated to the IM, SS and CS cost pools which are based on the average number of Full-Time Equivalents (FTE) positions reported in the previous quarter. The CDJFS will submit an automated combined Quarterly Report of CDJFS Full-time positions on an ODJFS 4290 showing the number of staff for each category. The deadline for required quarterly upload will be at the beginning of the first fiscal quarter that CSEA physically moves to PCJFS.

 

 

FINANCIAL REPORTING

 

Reporting Combined                                       

Administrative Costs: Pursuant to OAC 5101:9-6-83 (B) (2), combined agencies report applicable shared cost on the JFS 2827 “Monthly Financial Statement”. Shared CSEA administration costs reported on the JFS 02750 include salaries, compensation, training, travel and operational costs inclusive of supplies, equipment and overhead costs related to all shared employees. The PCJFS Business Office will be responsible for combining shared payroll and administrative costs that will be reported on the agency 2827.

 

Reconciling 

Administrative Costs: Pursuant to OAC 5101:9-7-01, a combined agency shall pay administrative cost for the PA fund and reimburse the PA fund from the other funds that the agency is responsible for operating. The PCJFS Business Office will utilize the current system that it has in place to transfer funds from CSEA to PA for reimbursement. System and procedure already has been established due to agency already being a combined agency.

 

                                                Prior to combining costs, both the CSEA and the PCJFS will reconcile their respective funds. Target date for reconciliation will be December 20, 2009 reconciling the month of November 2009. 

 

Combining CSEA

And PCJFS Staff Position descriptions of all CSEA staff were reviewed and updated. Position descriptions were written in accordance with DAS FTE percentage of time for performing the position assigned. Additional duties were added when necessary to reflect extra duties that may occur when working in a combined agency. This task was completed on August 6, 2009. CSEA manger will follow PCJFS written HR procedure and review each Child Support employee’s position description annually during the employee’s performance review.

 

                                                Salary adjustments were made to each CSEA employee’s hourly wage.               

 

 

Mr. Love yes    Mr. Jerwers yes   Mr. Schroeder yes