Charlottesville                                                               Christine Gough, Chair
                                                                                    Kathryn Gallanosa, Vice Chair

      Social Services                                                              Board Members:
                                                                                   Lisa Brown

       Advisory Board                                                              Rebekah Menning
                                                                                   LD Perry
                                                                                   Cathee Johnson Phillips
                                                                                   Ivy Porpotage
    City of Charlottesville, City Hall Annex, P.O. Box 911,                        Mike Signer
                  Charlottesville, VA 22902                                        Judith Zeitler



                                                                 MINUTES

                                              Charlottesville Department of Social Services
                                                             Advisory Board

                                                              February 25, 2019

Board Members Present: Kathryn Gallanosa, Christine Gough, LD Perry, Cathee Johnson Phillips, Mike Signer,
Judith Zeitler
Board Members Absent: Lisa Brown, Rebekah Menning, Ivy Porpotage
Staff Members Present: Diane Kuknyo, Laura Morris

The meeting was called to order at 12:03 p.m.

Public Comment:
None

Approval of Meeting Minutes:
The January meeting minutes were approved as submitted.

Members’ Report:
Mr. Perry shared that the repair café took place on Saturday at the Haven. There was a large turnout and
everyone who attended was appreciative for the help. Sewing and mending were the most popular services
provided.

Ms. Zeitler shared that she attended the Race Matters – How to effectively talk about race workshops presented
by Dr. Ken Hardy and recommends that everyone attend if they have the opportunity.

Chair’s Report:
None.

Director’s Report:
FY2020 City Budget: Ms. Kuknyo shared that she has not sent the budget reduction bullet points to the board
because as of right now there are no proposed reductions for social services in the city’s budget proposal. As
previously discussed, all city departments were asked to submit 3% budget reduction scenarios. The
department’s reduction scenario included eliminating 2 positions as well as reducing other line items such as
office supplies, furniture, and food.

Board members expressed interest in still seeing the budget reduction information. Ms. Kuknyo will send the
spreadsheet the department submitted to the budget office to the board.
      Charlottesville                                                   Christine Gough, Chair
                                                                        Kathryn Gallanosa, Vice Chair

      Social Services                                                   Board Members:
                                                                        Lisa Brown

       Advisory Board                                                   Rebekah Menning
                                                                        LD Perry
                                                                        Cathee Johnson Phillips
                                                                        Ivy Porpotage
    City of Charlottesville, City Hall Annex, P.O. Box 911,             Mike Signer
                  Charlottesville, VA 22902                             Judith Zeitler

UVA Disproportionality Study: Ms. Kuknyo shared that a second class at UVA has asked to review child
welfare caseload data for disparity and disproportionality this semester. The previous study looked at 3 years of
data. This group will review 8 years of data from the Virginia Department of Social Services and will look at
additional data points.

Organizational Equity Tool: Ms. Kuknyo reviewed the questions and responses from the department’s
organizational equity tool. All city departments were asked to complete the tool.

Monthly Data Report from VDSS: Ms. Kuknyo shared that the Virginia Department of Social Services will be
publishing quarterly performance indicator reports for all local departments of social services on the public
VDSS web site. Additionally, VDSS plans to rank each locality on their performance. This is concerning
because each locality is different. They have different caseloads, staffing sizes, and do not receive the same
amount of local funds to provide services. Another concern is the report will not indicate state system outages
and how that may have affected an agency’s ability to meet processing targets. The administrative committee
of the Virginia League of Social Services Executives plans to send a letter outlining their concerns.

Board Member Training Requirement: Ms. Kuknyo noted that the Virginia Department of Social Services now
requires all advisory and administrative board members to attend annual board training. Rather than have
everyone go to Roanoke for the training, staff from the regional office have agreed to come to the board’s
March 25th meeting to provide the training. Board members agreed to extend the March meeting to 2:00 for the
training.


The next board meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 25, 2019 in the City Hall Basement Conference
Room.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:22 p.m.

Recorded by:
Laura Morris