Legislature weighs Department of Social Services advisory board after public complaints about Code Blue shelter

Public comment and a committee discussion at the Tompkins County Legislature Health and Human Services Committee on Jan. 15 focused on residents’ complaints about shelter operations and on options to form an advisory body to advise the Department of Social Services.

The committee heard public comment from Amanda Kirsch Gessner, who said residents using county shelters and other social services “don’t feel safer or feel like they’re gonna be listened to in places like this,” and invited legislators to meet with people who say they have been harmed by local care responses. John Gladstone, identified himself as a county resident and described being denied shelter after he and an 80-year-old man were living temporarily in what he said were technically “squatter” arrangements; he said the denial contributed to several days in the hospital.

Why it matters: committee members said they want an ongoing formal mechanism to collect resident and provider input before policy or budget decisions are finalized. Members debated two structures: a state-regulation model that would create a 20-member advisory council appointed by the social services commissioner, and a locally created advisory board appointed by the Legislature that would report to legislators and be organized by resolution.

Bridget Corso, county administrator, and Katrina McCloy, clerk, briefed the committee on research into the two options. Corso summarized the distinction: the state-prescribed advisory council is appointed by the commissioner and is intended to advise the commissioner and department; a legislative advisory board would be appointed by the Legislature and advise the Legislature directly. Kit Kephart, commissioner of the Department of Social Services, told the committee that the state regulation setting up a social services advisory council requires a large membership and historically generated many presentation requests that consumed staff time. Kephart said the county would need to assess internal staffing needs before standing up either body.

Kephart also provided operational updates about sheltering. She said the county currently shelters roughly 84 people systemwide and is operating a Code Blue shelter; staffing shortages are the main constraint to opening an additional location. Kephart said the county is seeking shelter workers and supervisors and asked the public to share job postings. She clarified that a driver’s license is not a state regulatory requirement for shelter staff but that the county’s newer site will require staff who can transport people and pick up supplies.

Committee members generally favored a legislative advisory board that would include people receiving services, providers and members of the general public, while retaining a DSS staff liaison. Legislators discussed keeping the board smaller than 20 members to allow workable meetings and suggested using existing bylaws from other county advisory boards as a template. The committee asked County Administration staff to draft a model legislative resolution and membership bylaws for future consideration.

The committee underscored limits on local authority: Kephart reminded members that state and federal rules govern many program-level decisions, and an advisory board could not override statutory or regulatory eligibility or documentation requirements. The committee also discussed outreach and recruitment plans for applicants and suggested involving several legislators in the appointment interview process.

The chair concluded that staff (County Administration and the clerk) will return with a draft legislative advisory-board proposal for the Legislature to consider, and Kephart said DSS will assess staffing impacts for the next budget cycle.

Ending: The committee did not take formal action to create the board at the Jan. 15 meeting; members directed staff to prepare a legislative advisory-board proposal and associated bylaws for later review.