Ball (center): “… a lot of very competent employees”. Listening are
Health and Family Services Chairperson Cindy Kurpil Gieger
and another Bonadio employee,
Brian Lafountain
MONTICELLO – Officials from an outside accounting firm retained to assess conditions in Sullivan County’s Division of Family Services like what they see.
Two members of The Bonadio Group, based in Pittsford NY, presented a detailed report at to the county legislature on Thursday.
Late last year, the division was in disarray in large part because of a growing backlog of Home Heating Assistance Program (HEAP) applications.
Bonadio Manager Timothy Ball said one key factor that stands out now in DFS is the people currently running it, notably Acting Commissioner Joseph Todora and consultant Dr. William Moon.
“What we’ve seen in the very beginning is that the DFS has a lot of very competent employees,” Ball said. “It currently has a very competent head with Joe, and William Moon as deputy. And just a side word about William Moon, he has tons and loads of experience.”
One thing Ball said he felt in his time so far is a greatly improved attitude in the department. He said there has been a general sense of change and of things getting better. That has come through working specifically with the Temporary Assistance and Food Stamps.
“We’ve had meetings with individual employees and we’ve had meetings with supervisors and we’ve talked about supervisor roles and we talked about how you can keep an eye on what managers are doing, and vice versa, your managers can come to you with issues. We’ve opened up those gateways and we’ve helped open up those gateways.”
Todora said the work Bonadio and DFS are doing is clearly forward-looking.
“[I] think the critical aspect of what we’re talking about today, what we’ll be talking about a month, two months, three months from now is, where do we want to be.”
The services offered by Bonadio will cost Sullivan $150,000 for a year.
That’s a bargain, said Todora.
“I don’t know that this body has spent $150,000 any more, any better than they would with this contract.”
The changes for the better come after the State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance conducted reviews of the county’s SNAP and Temporary Assistance programs in February and found that the county was “not meeting Temporary Assistance program requirements for personal eligibility interviews, providing program information and making eligibility decisions within specified program timelines.”
The comments, from Deputy Commissioner Phyllis Morris, also said the county “is not meeting SNAP program requirements for timely case processing and benefit issuance at both initial application and recertification.”
The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance required the county to submit a corrective action plan within 60 days, which it has done.
