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Community Living Coalition - Minutes - June 28, 2002
1. Introductions & Review of Agenda
2. Updates from TSC - David Driscoll gave an
update on the Transition Steering Committee:
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The TSC meets 2x a month for 2 days. There are
six working groups addressing specific tasks. The deadline is September
30, 2002 for a complete Transition Plan.
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The big issue this week was that the Ministry said
they could not present and pass comprehensive legislation for a new authority
by March 31, 2003. The Minister offered a simple bill that would create
the authority, with all the details covered by regulations instead of
legislation. This is not sufficient in that regulation is easily changed
by the Minister, while legislation would provide much more security.
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Complicating the issue of timing of the creation of
an authority is the fact that a surplus at the end of March 31, 2003 cannot be
retained by Community Living without an Authority in place. |
| Working Groups have huge tasks ahead of them.
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| Stan Remple has been providing staff support to the TSC but
is not available for much time in July, so Doug Walls will fulfill much of the
staff support in July. |
| Susan Whittaker has been appointed to the TSC as a
permanent replacement for Stan Remple. |
| Working Group updates:
 | Governance: Laney Bryenton is Chair: Diverse group with
support from George Morfitt and others. Vancouver Foundation is
hosting a forum with business leaders interested in governance. The
governance committee developed a vision statement that was adopted by the
TSC.
bryce_schaufelberger@hotmail.com - Bryce reported that the committee is
developing options for a name for the new authority. People seemed to
like Community Living B.C. - but suggestions could be forwarded to Bryce to
bring to the next committee meeting. The size of the proposed board of
the authority will be in the range of 15 to 21 people with 50% plus 1
members to be family and self-advocates. The Governance committee has
been working on a single provincial authority, rather than 5 regional
authorities, to ensure that there is consistency across the province, and
portability for families (of funding, services, etc.). The job
description of the provincial board members is big and the committee is
considering whether board members should receive some compensation.
There will be a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), and there will be some
regional staff structures as well, but these have not been determined yet. |
| HR & Finance: Doug Woollard is Chair:
 | Many hours have been spent gathering information from
government. They must understand all that currently exists within
the Ministry to ensure that the new authority gets as many resources as
possible (people, buildings, furniture, vehicles, budgets, programs).
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| There is a hope that the current level of
administration/corporate funding in the Ministry can be used for less
admin and more direct support in the new authority. |
| In HR area, the governance committee will be developing
an organizational structure and staffing model, based on the tasks
identified by the governance committee and IF & Planning committee.
All assets that have been assigned to Community Living must be identified
and requested for the new authority... BC Housing, property at Woodlands,
Tranquille, etc. |
| Collective Bargaining strategies have been discussed
for the community living sector. |
| Current MCFD Budgets: Children's services ending March
31, 2002 - $46 Million for Children with Special Needs + $31 Million for
Children in Care. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2005, the
budget for Children with Special Needs will be $42 Million (or 10%).
For Children in Care, the budget will drop 40%, to $18 Million.
Associate Family budget needs to be moved to the proper area. Adult
Services Budgets: $530 Million was spent last year ($12 Million surplus
was returned to general revenue). This year, the budget is $577
Million, so the potential for a surplus this year is good. The only
way to retain that surplus is have an authority created. Next year's
budget is projected at $497 Million, so the potential of a surplus from
this year would help the transition to a smaller budget next year.
There is a need for cooperation between the Ministry and service providers
to explore innovations and savings to meet the needs of people on
waitlists, and deal with less budget next year. This cooperation
will require a commitment from the Minister that all savings can be
retained in community living. |
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| Communications Advisory Group - Terry Robertson is the
Chair. Information Mailings are being developed and should be approved
at the next TSC. Q&A format for different working group topics will
create one-pagers and web pages. Linda Perry has been contracted to
present community information forums across the province to give families,
self-advocates, service providers and Ministry staff an opportunity hear
first hand what is going on. The Ministry has a call centre that will
allow us to provide a 1-800 number to give people province wide access to
information. This should also be up in the next few weeks. The
call centre could also be the central point for receiving faxes and e-mails.
Any questions they cannot answer will be forward to the TSC and working
group chairs. Video conferencing is also being explored as a method
for community input and participation. |
| IF & Planning: The Chair is Tim Stainton. The group
started with outlining Principles of IF. They have presented a first draft
of a model to the TSC. The people and funding at Willow are being
considered as a place to begin planning for some individuals. They are
thinking about planning and funding allocation functions and deciding how
these functions will be carried out. Independent Planning and
Information is an important innovation to ensure families and individuals
receive skilled and creative support if they choose. There will also
be an implementation plan developed for year one, two and three.
Community Supports / Networks will be developed for people with complex
needs who want Individualized Funding and don't have family or friends to
support them. |
| Children's Services: Cathy Anthony and John Kehler are
co-chairs. This group is expanding / refining the agreement that the
Minister published on April 18th about where services for Children will be
placed. People have been appointed to the Joint Policy Directorate to
co-manage those services that have been put under their mandate (managed by
Community Living Authority and Children and Family Authorities). |
| Accountability Working Group: Jane Short - Donegani is
the Chair. The working group is looking for methods to ensure
accountability that are effective, economical and least bureaucratic.
We want to ensure creative options are possible with the accountability
framework. |
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3. Actions/responses to TSC updates (if required)
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