Health & Human Services Committee approves contracts and budget amendments; DSS updates HELP hiring flexibility

The Jefferson County Health & Human Services Committee voted to authorize a contract with Thrive Wellness and Recovery Inc. and approved several county budget amendments tied to community-services preschool Medicaid billing, public-health department staffing, and additional adoption and legal-guardianship incentive funds from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services. The committee also passed a resolution supporting reauthorization of the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) and the Weatherization Assistance Program as included in the meeting packet.

Committee members heard a departmental update on the Department of Social Services (DSS) HELP program and vacancy trends. The county's DSS administrator told the committee the HELP program would allow the county increased flexibility with civil-service examinations by using "TNE" (time and experience) to consider applicants' prior work experience and on-the-job time for certain titles, which the administrator said the county plans to pursue for recruitment of social welfare examiners and caseworkers.

The committee approved the resolutions by voice vote. Motion records in the transcript show the following movers and seconders on each item: the Thrive Wellness agreement was moved by Legislator Bartlett and seconded by Legislator Cantwell; the budget amendment for preschool Medicaid billing services was moved by Legislator Bartlett and seconded by Legislator Boleo; agreements with New York State Education Department-approved agencies for special-education preschool services (July 1, 2025—26/30/2026) were moved by Legislator Bolio and seconded by Legislator Cantwell; the public-health staffing budget amendment was moved by Legislator Freeman and seconded by Legislator Barup; the OCFS incentive-funds amendment was moved by Legislator Bolio and seconded by Legislator Grant; and the resolution supporting reauthorization of CSBG and weatherization assistance was moved by Legislator Barrow and seconded by Legislator Grant. All were recorded in the transcript as carried by voice vote.

During the departmental report, the DSS administrator emphasized ongoing efforts to track vacant positions and to use HELP program provisions to accelerate hiring for two specific titles: social welfare examiner and caseworker. The administrator said the HELP program "gives us some flexibility when it comes to civil service examinations, and allows us to use what is called, TNE, your basically, your experience, and time on the job to hire." The committee recorded no formal direction beyond approving the resolutions; the DSS administrator said the county will pursue submitting the titles to New York State under HELP and will monitor the program's effectiveness for filling vacancies.

The committee adjourned after the votes and the DSS update.