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Riley County Health Department gets approval for staff travel and to join Kansas debt-setoff program
Summary
The county health department received commissioner approval for three staff to attend national conferences and to sign up for the Kansas debt-setoff program to pursue unpaid client bills.
Riley County commissioners granted the health department multiple out-of-state travel requests and authorized the county to join the Kansas debt-setoff program to help collect unpaid health-department bills.
Diane Creek, who presented on behalf of the health department, asked commissioners to approve travel for Danae Jones to attend the National Association for the Education of Young Children annual conference in Orlando in November; and for Chelsea Van Horn (outreach coordinator) and Jenny (Ginny) Ebert (opioid education and prevention specialist) to attend the Safe Kids prevention conference in October at National Harbor, Maryland. Creek said employees who attend national conferences will be expected to share materials and briefings with other county staff after returning.
Commissioners moved and seconded the travel approvals; the transcript records "Aye" votes and the chair signing the approvals.
Creek also asked the commission to approve the health department's enrollment in the Kansas debt-setoff program. She said the program allows the health department to submit unpaid bills to the state; if a resident has a state income-tax refund, lottery winnings, homestead tax refund or similar receivable, the state can apply those funds to pay the county debt. Creek said the county will begin by applying the program to childcare licensing and possibly the clinic, and that exceptions and payment plans will remain available.
Commissioners voted to enter the debt-setoff agreement; Creek and county staff discussed that distributions from the debt-setoff program may depend on how many agencies statewide participate and that Kansas retains a percentage of collected amounts. The transcript records the motion carried and the chair signed the paperwork.
Creek also noted a policy that conference attendees must share materials with other county programs and sign them to a shared drive for internal training.
The transcript does not record specific dollar estimates of expected recoveries, and Creek said debt-setoff revenue has not been a large source at prior workplaces, but the department sees it as an additional collection tool.
