Klamath County adopts three JDS policies on vehicle use, progress notes and professional boundaries

The Klamath County Board of Commissioners on July 8 approved three policies presented by Heidi, director of the county's Developmental Disability Services (JDS) department: a policy on use of personal vehicles for official business, a progress note submission policy and an appropriate and professional boundaries policy.

Heidi told the board the vehicle policy responds to ongoing fleet issues. The policy formalizes a temporary solution that lets staff check out county vehicles from the county road shop and establishes an alternative mileage reimbursement of up to 30 miles per day for employees who use personal vehicles. The policy includes a required mileage form and an entry workflow so finance can capture weekly mileage claims.

The board also adopted a written progress-note submission policy, which director Heidi said replaces a long-standing verbal practice. Under the policy, service coordinators will have the week of service to complete and sign billable progress notes; the policy is intended to support monthly billing and to give managers a way to track billable activity against budget targets. Heidi said the JDS department does not take money from the county general fund and relies on billable services for its budget.

The third policy, on appropriate and professional boundaries, reiterates standards the department already uses and tightens them into written policy for staff who work with people with intellectual or developmental disabilities. The policy addresses dual relationships, romantic relationships with individuals the department supports, conflicts of interest when authorizing Medicaid services, and requires new employees to sign the policy and participate in annual retraining and at least one boundaries training per year.

Each policy was moved, seconded and adopted by a unanimous vote of the commissioners. Board members praised the director for putting the policies in writing and noted the policies will help both staff and the people the department serves. Several commissioners asked about implementation details; Heidi said forms, a Smartsheet feed to finance for mileage claims and annual training are already planned.

Implementation notes provided at the meeting say staff will sign the boundaries policy at hire and annually thereafter, progress notes may be submitted on a weekly basis to support monthly billing, and mileage claims will be tracked on a weekly form for finance to enter.