STATE BOARD OF EXAMINERS - Idaho



STATE BOARD OF EXAMINERSMINUTES – Special Subcommittee MeetingMarch 24, 2020 – 1:30 p.m.Joe R. Williams Building, 4th Floor Syringa Conference Room700 W State Street, Boise ID 83702Call-In Information - (712) 770-4875; Access Code = 820128The special meeting of the Subcommittee to the State Board of Examiners was called to order at 700 W State Street, 4th floor, Syringa Conference Room, Boise, Idaho, at 1:31 p.m. pursuant to Idaho Code §67-2002 and by order of the chair. The following members were present: Chairman David Fulkerson, Division of Financial Management; Lisa Mason, Secretary of State; Andy Snook, Office of the Attorney General by phone; and Brian Benjamin, Office of the State Controller, as assisting secretary of the subcommittee.Also present were Jackie McCleve, State Controller’s Office; Mashelle Kenney, Health District Number 1; Lora Whalen, Health District Number 1; Josh Tewalt; Department of Corrections; Paul Spannknebel, Veteran Services; Anne Lawler, Board of Medicine; Rachelle Vance, Department of Health and Welfare; Jodi Osborn, Department of Health and Welfare; Monica Young, Department of Health and Welfare; Colonel Ked Wills, Idaho State Police; Ken Suchy, Idaho State Police.REGULAR AGENDAIdaho Association of Public Health Districts- Action Item- Recommend ApprovalRequest for overtime compensation for staff working in response to the COVID-19 virus throughout Idaho. The request is to authorize certain exempt FLSA employees (Professional, Administrative, and Computer) to be paid cash for overtime worked. If approved, these employees would be changed temporarily from the period March 9, 2020 with a potential end date of May 31, 2020.Discussion: Ms. Whalen stated that she was speaking on behalf of all 7 Idaho Health districts who are on the front line of the COVID-19 response. Over the past 4 weeks the health districts have asked staff to work an inordinate amount of overtime hours in response to COVID-19, which includes epidemiologists who are working after hours and on weekends. Preparedness staff who've been planning. Nurse practitioners who are doing some clinical items associated with the virus. Communication officers are really the ones getting the word out to our communities. EHS’s (Environmental Health Specialist) who are assisting as we all set up in incident command, EHS’s are primarily doing logistical things in helping to coordinate supplies. EHS Specialists are helping set up emergency child care for healthcare workers and First Responders. Program managers are overseeing. Financial managers and Specialists will be having more to do as time goes on, and the IT department is also involved. Ms. Whalen stated that it is seven days a week, twelve-hour days operation. Mr. Fulkerson then asked what the funding source would be for payment of the overtime hours. Ms. Whalen responded that they would be using District funds at this point however there is hope that there will be some Federal grant dollars coming in. This request is twofold. One to hopefully be able to take advantage of federal funding to pay some of these. Secondly, they would not be able to pay the comp time back to these employees and function as health departments. Mr. Fulkerson then asked if Ms. Whalen if she had an estimated dollar amount in total. Ms. Whalen responded that they only have a best guess, they used the last pay period and took employees hours. She was unaware if it was going to continue at this level but according to the spreadsheet that Ms. Kenney forwarded it was approximately 63 thousand dollars for two weeks period in the overtime over the whole state and all seven health districts. Mr. Snook then asked if we are looking at possibly maintaining some kind of comp balance for these employees or whether it would be an all or nothing type of thing. Mr. Snook asked if there is there a balance that the agency would want to carry forward. Mr. Fulkerson added that because there will be lots of people working overtime, there would come a point where people would want to have a little time to relax and refresh rather than just keep going. He reiterated Mr. Snook question of should we be having a balance being carried forward. Ms. Whalen response is that she would rather the employees use their annual leave that they will be accumulating during this time. At this time they believe they are in it for the long haul. This request only goes through May and at that time they would be better able to speak to the request. Mr. Benjamin asked that if there are any items that the Board does approve that the agencies report back the amount of hours that covered under the request so the Board can keep track of it.Resolution: Ms. Mason moved to place item 1 on the consent agenda. Mr. Snook seconded the motion. The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.Department of Correction- Action Item- Recommend ApprovalRequest for overtime compensation for staff working in response to the COVID-19 virus. The request is to authorize the following classifications of employees to be paid for overtime worked:IT Information Systems and Infrastructure Engineer 2 and 3 IT Manager 1, 2 and 4 IT Software Engineer 2 IT Software Engineer 2 and 3 Human Resource Specialist, Senior Human Resource Unit Supervisor Correctional Manager 2 Food Service Operations Managers Section Supervisors, Probation and Parole If approved, these employees would be changed temporarily from the period March 9, 2020 to May 31, 2020.Discussion: Mr. Tewalt stated that the first group he wanted to discuss was the IT positions. Department of Corrections has been dealing with some significant turn over in their IT positions, which has created some very high comp balances. It has been difficult to backfill after positions have turned over. He then stated with the CDC Guidelines they are trying to minimize anyone who is in contact. With the prison system both the front door and back door is controlled by in person contact, therefore the IT employees have been working around the clock to facilitate telephonic and video hearings so the prisons can facilitate release decisions and other important due process steps for the people in their custody. Also, IT has been working with the County jails because on the front door to their systems they have pre-sentencing investigations, risk assessments and substance use of behavioral health assessments that have to be done in person or facilitated through secure video for telephonic processes. Additionally, they have the need for increased technological solutions in county jails and within some of their own facilities to facilitate parole revocation hearings, along with other functions from the parole commission to include being able to facilitate parole hearings themselves. Mr. Tewalt then stated the next group he would like to discuss is the Human Resources employees. He noted that they have some human resource specialist seniors and a particular human resource unit supervisor. The Department of Corrections stood up the incident command system a week and a half ago. The Human Resource Unit Supervisor is a member of the incident command team and that means that she is available at all times. Specifically, they are a 24/7 operation in our prisons and Community re-entry centers. We've implemented medical screening for all persons entering an IDOC facility or work site. IDOC has stood up human resources to be available and on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week for employees who have specific needs or questions and supervisors who are on site to be able to get employees information that they need. Mr. Tewalt then stated that they have Correctional Manager II classification which are the captains in the secure facilities, also the community re-entry Center managers that oversee the community re-entry centers. Food service operations managers are in the secure facilities. Section supervisors are in the probation and parole district and they oversee P.O’s. Mr. Tewalt stated that the department is bracing for impact if COVID-19 were to work its way into the staff that are preparing for critical staff shortages which would create an all-hands-on-deck situation. Today correctional officers, Corporal, sergeants and lieutenants as well as probation and parole officers are able to receive over time. However, IDOC has also stood up phase three emergency Staffing plans that accounts for those positions. IDOC is prepared to utilize existing Personnel funds to pay for the overtime. IDOC already has well-defined time tracking and cost recovery processes in place. Mr. Fulkerson then asked regarding the IT staff if it was a potentially short-run work load to get the secure communications up and running, or whether this would last for more than one or two pay periods. Mr. Tewalt stated that he does, because it's not just that initial effort to get it set up. Mr. Tewalt described the emergency plan and that resources that are typically utilized through help desk would be transitioned to be onsite and be available 24 hours, the type of issues where they move to the helpdesk would be considered onsite. This would entail overnight critical system function being able to support the additional VPN and other type of things. Mr. Tewalt agreed that there is a piece that would be short run, however there would be a maintenance site that would be required if they go into a full-scale operation. Mr. Fulkerson clarified with Mr. Tewalt that they video and telephone communications would most likely be an 8 to 5 Monday through Friday operation not a 24/7. He also clarified that the HR staff would not continue to have the overtime after the initial push. Ms. Mason then asked if they had an estimated total of cost. Mr. Tewalt responded that he was not sure, based on the numbers provided it was around $20,000-$25,000. Mr. Fulkerson asked whether they had existing appropriation to handle the request. Mr. Tewalt responded that they did. Mr. Snook then asked if there was a balance of comp hours that the employees should keep before beginning to pay out comp time. Mr. Tewalt responded that during any given year they pay $750,000 in overtime for security staff, it is part of a routine function to allow staff the ability to keep time for leave or if they would rather receive payment. The most common response they see with is that employees are not able to use all their annual leave to begin with.Resolution: Ms. Mason moved to place item 2 on the consent agenda. Mr. Snook seconded the motion. The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.Division of Veterans Services- Action Item- Recommend ApprovalRequest for overtime compensation for 25 employees working in response to the COVID-19 virus. The request is to authorize these 25 exempt FLSA employees (Professional, Administrative, and Computer) to be paid for overtime worked. If approved, these employees would be changed temporarily from the period March 22, 2020 and through May 31, 2020. Discussion: Mr. Spannknebel stated that veterans’ home is home to 230 veterans who are all advanced age, with multiple mental health condition. Some are in the Alzheimer’s critical care unit. Prior to COVID the veterans had a lot of activities going on and a lot of happy veterans. Over the course of the last couple weeks, specifically March 13th, CMMS (Center of Medicaid and Medicare Services) came out with guidance which required immediate restriction of visitors, which means residents no longer can see their family members unless it is end of end of life situations. This is taken quite a toll on the veterans. They have restricted communal dining which has been their livelihood for the course of their time in the veteran’s home. Veterans are now restricted to their individual rooms and there's two per room. Mr. Spannknebel stated that there's not any interactions with their loved ones and families. The veteran’s home has done a pretty good job right now to maintain the quality of care. The request is for 25 Personnel, 10 are direct care and 8 are with Direct Delivery, and 7 in the Boise home operation and support. All employees are working within the homes. Mr. Spannknebel then stated that they have anticipated 25 hours of overtime per pay period. This does not take into consideration a quarantine situation. If that were to happen it will change the definition of essential personnel. That includes many individuals who are not involved in direct care. Right now all non-direct care staff are not allowed on the floors. The total of the 25 hours would be for $23,892 per pay period if they paid everyone out at the 25 hours per pay period. The do have the appropriated funds from the federal government and misc. revenue to help cover the cost of this overtime. The employees are seeing extensive amounts of overtime. Right now the activity coordinators are the lifeblood of the veterans home, they have had to get very creative with activities they can do. They can’t gather in the activity room, they can’t do sing along in the cafeteria, so they are being as creative as they can. CMMS requirements now require that they track the employees, and perforrm health screening. Every shift employees are required to get their temperature taken, it is an extensive burden. Right now they are still admitting new veterans. Also they need IT staff to help keep the med carts running and keeping all the technology running for the veterans. Resolution: Ms. Mason moved to place item 3 on the consent agenda. Mr. Snook seconded the motion. The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.Idaho State Board of Medicine- Action Item- Recommend ApprovalRequest for overtime compensation for 4-5 employees working in response to the COVID-19 virus. The request is to authorize these 4-5 exempt FLSA employees (Professional, Administrative, and Computer) to be paid for overtime worked. If approved, these employees would be changed temporarily from the period March 13, 2020 through May 31, 2020. Discussion: Ms. Lawler stated they are the licensure of regular licensure of regular regulatory Organization for all the Physicians physician assistants respiratory therapists and other medical providers in the state. The key ones are the respiratory therapist Physicians and physician assistants, and Ms. Lawler stated that they are doing what they can to ensure licensure for people from other states and also people who are have licenses within the state who have either retired or have gone in active with the licenses. She noted that they had to change over a lot of their systems in the last two weeks in response to the Governor's Proclamation. Ms. Lawler stated that they have created a new process for a temporary license that they are going start issuing. In doing all these things and changing over the licensing processes and how they manage all of the regulation to ensure that they have a ready flexible Health Care Workforce to address COVID-19 ,the Board is having to work a lot of extra hours, she stated that they are not a big agency and have 17 employees. They have a management team of five. Currently every employee is learning every single job in the agency. The associate director who's been handling operations licensure and backing up for all the jobs, including all the finance and Human Resources tasks. The attorney who handles all the Policy processes and licensure and is constantly revising documents and renewing policies so they can be flexible during this whole crisis. The licensing manager who oversees her licensing team. They have a team of four licensures Specialists that she oversees all the processes as well. Finally they have a management assistant who is in charge of maintaining the website, she also backs up all of their operations. The Board of Medicine is a dedicated fund agency. They currently have a fairly robust free fund balance in addition and they also have salary savings in their dedicated fund right now. They anticipate that over the six-week period that was identified, they have anticipated that about thirteen thousand seven hundred eighty five dollars for overtime, which is something that they do have in their salary savings. Ms. Lawler stated that if they were to exceed that, if this were to be extended, they have dedicated funds that they would be able to use as well. Mr. Fulkerson asked if the estimated hours, was per pay period or are they estimating that the total number of overtime hours over the course of the timeframe. Ms. Lawler responded that it was actually per 80 hour pay period. Mr. Fulkerson then asked if they anticipated that they going to continue at that rate or whether it would be once they get past the initial push of putting the procedures in place to respond to the new licenses that then would tail off. Ms. Lawler responded that they are anticipating to be continuing to put in new processes and also potentially have the loss of staff who are may not going to be able to work for part of the time or have to support family members who can't work. She stated she did not know if it was actually going to decrease that much, however if the Board would like to adjust the request they would be happy to do that. Mr. Fulkerson then asked what's the estimate of the number of these new licenses that would then be issued??Ms. Lawler stated that they do not have an exact number. They are looking at a potential of 600 licenses for physicians in Idaho. They are unaware of how many Physicians and physician assistants and RC from out of state would qualify for the temporary license and seek that depending on where they would want to be practicing. The Board is already getting inquiries about practicing not only in Idaho, but that many other states just so they can help. Mr. Snook then commented that they have narrowed their focus to 4 of their staff. He then asked if the Board of Medicine needs to already be converting over to cash payments where they have relatively low balances. Ms. Lawler responded that she is hoping to look at this on a case-by- case basis to ensure that each employee that is seeking the overtime according to this request would have the opportunity for additional vacation time or comp time. Mr. Fulkerson stated that he was concerned because this seemed a short term push to get some process in place. Ms. Lawler stated that they are doing all these new licensures on top of the regular licensure. They are still needing staff to do all the normal work and this will be on top of all of that. Mr. Snook commented that maybe it would be worth doing a second time around and perhaps performing an analysis of the workload. He stated he is inclined to approve what the agency believes their needs are in order to operate. Mr. Benjamin suggested to the Board that there was some concern about whether this was a direct responded to the COVID response, and then let the Board know that they could possibly change the dates and have the Board of Medicine return at the next Board of Examiner meeting to reevaluate. Resolution: Ms. Mason motioned to move item number 4 to the consent agenda contingent that the Board of Examiners revisit the item at the April 14th meeting and go through the time reports that will then be available an also the current item would be approved through May 21st. Mr. Snook seconded the motion. The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.Department of Health and Welfare- Action Item- Recommend ApprovalRequest for overtime compensation for staff working in response to the COVID-19 virus throughout Idaho. The request is to authorize certain exempt FLSA employees (Professional, Administrative, and Computer) to be paid for overtime worked. If approved, these employees would be changed temporarily from the period March 8, 2020 through June 12, 2021.Discussion: Ms. Young commented that they were requesting cash compensation for overtime for 44 employees who are working in the Division of Public Health. They are playing a key role in the crisis right now. The spreadsheet that was provided has some detail of what those workers do. Also regarding the bureau of EMS they are involved in incident command. They are the Health and Welfare operations center and are the liaison to the Office of Emergency Management, the local Health District and to others throughout the state. Ms. Young stated there was also a question that was asked earlier about establishing a minimum balance or having a certain amount of time on the books before paying out overtime, their preference would be not to do that. They are hopeful that there will be Federal Grant funds to pay for the comp time. Also the Director is cautioning that this will be going on for a long time which will mean the employees will not be able to take off any time, and finally they have learned that when their comp time balances get high it becomes very difficult to get the employees the time off. All of the employees who have been identified have been directly responsible to responding to the crisis. Mr. Fulkerson then asked if the request was for overtime per pay period, and that it would be extra hours on top of the normal work week. Ms. Young stated that it is an estimate. She stated that she is hopeful that it will not be that high. Mr. Fulkerson asked if this overtime would be paid out of federal funds or whether she was hopeful that it would. Ms. Osborn then responded that they did have a grant from the CDC Public Health crisis response grant and that it would cover overtime. The grant will not pay for accrued time, but it will pay for it if it is paid as it is earned specifically for COVID. Resolution: Ms. Mason moved to place item 5 on the consent agenda. Mr. Snook seconded the motion. The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.Idaho State Police – Action ItemRequest for overtime compensation for staff working in response to the COVID-19 virus throughout Idaho. The request is to authorize certain exempt FLSA employees (Professional, Administrative, and Computer) to be paid for overtime worked. If approved, these employees would be changed temporary period of time.Discussion: Colonel Wills stated that they are asking for 2 classifications of employees for the commissioned lieutenants and captains lieutenants are mid-level managers and our captains are senior level leadership out in the field and this is for law enforcement operations throughout the state. Colonel Wills stated that he anticipates that it will be in support of city and county law enforcement and supporting their requests. It'll be to support City and County's, and to replace Troopers as they are no longer able to come to work. Colonel Wills stated that they anticipate the funding will come out of the law enforcement fund and some out of General funding. Mr. Fulkerson then asked if they anticipate the lieutenants and the captains may be mobilized out to do paroles. Colonel Wills responded that yes they would be out in the field supporting the other troopers as this crisis evolves. Mr. Fulkerson asked if they had a total amount per pay period if ISP were to put the plan in place. Colonel Wills responded that they had the estimate per pay period per employee. Mr. Fulkerson asked that they submit the totals later to the Board. Resolution: Ms. Mason moved to place item 6 on the consent agenda. Mr. Snook seconded the motion. The motion carried on a unanimous voice vote.Ms. Mason moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Snook seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 2:41 p.m. ................
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