Corey Fisher, a representative of Burke County Department of Social Services, told the county commissioners the department had 13 openings at the time the report was prepared, a vacancy rate of roughly 7.5 percent, and five hires in November.

Fisher said the department is "meeting all of our EOU metrics for the month of November," and reported Medicaid enrollment remains "about 28,000 recipients." He described Food and Nutrition Services as "pretty stable" at around 10,400 cases, with a modest month-to-month decline of about 300 cases in November.

On child-protective services (CPS), Fisher said assessment caseloads remain high. He noted the state recommends CPS social workers carry 10 to 12 cases and said that, "for the year, we averaged around 285 cases," adding that if the county were fully staffed the average per-worker caseload would be lower. Fisher described recent steps to add supervisory capacity and a quality assurance team to support caseworkers.

Foster-care data in the transcript is internally inconsistent: Fisher at one point referred to "109" and elsewhere stated "190 kids in care" for the snapshot reported; he also said November showed six entries and four exits. The transcript records Fisher describing 125 entries and 102 exits for fiscal-year 2025 and noting that 2025 was the first year since 2021 with a net increase in entries.

Fisher spent significant time on changes tied to the statewide Medicaid foster-care transition to a single contractor, Healthy Blue, which took over foster-care Medicaid coverage on Dec. 1. "The first month has been a little bit challenging," he said, describing "growing pains" including onboarding staff, differences in role expectations and outstanding contract renegotiations with some providers. Fisher said the county remains hopeful the unified approach will improve placements and reduce administrative complexity but cautioned that providers and contracts are still being worked out.

After the presentation, a commissioner moved to accept the report as presented. The transcript records the motion and the chair calling for those in favor; an explicit roll-call or written tally is not clearly recorded in the transcript.

The board did not take additional formal votes tied to the DSS details reported; Fisher offered to answer follow-up questions and the manager indicated staff will return with additional data at subsequent meetings.