Health & Human Services Committee - Regular Meeting

CALL TO ORDER: By Hon. Amy Sargent, Chair

MEMBERS: Legislators Elane Daly (Vice Chair), Aileen McNabb-Coleman, Ben Vitale, and Tom Winslow

MINUTES TO APPROVE: July 8, 2026

APPOINTMENTS: None

Zachary Zuckerman, Senior Vice President, USI Insurance Services – Discussion Regarding Health Care Plans

Kathleen Cuddy (Health) –

- Providers for Early Intervention and preschool continued to be in need. Currently there is one full-time physical therapist serving our children from birth to age 3 in our early intervention program who travels the county. Any other children seen are going to an office or paying through their insurance for a medical model and travelling out of town. There are zero speech therapists serving in children in Early Intervention - Tick borne disease continues to be a pertinent and timely issue to reinforce awareness. We have seen an increase in the tick borne disease anaplasmosis as compared to last year at this time, Lyme disease continues to be concern. - Baby Palooza collaborative amongst WIC, Seymour Library, YMCA and our participating families with young children to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week was a successful event. Dozens participated in breastfeeding, storytime and other activities. A successful community collaboration focused on our families with young children. - Our Senior Health Educator, Meghan McCole, attended the senior citizen health fair sponsored by Senator Mannion's office. During her time there, sharing information with attendees, she scheduled four Healthy Neighborhood Program visits. One attendee shared they read our article about radon, tested their home and consequently installed a radon mitigation system in their home. Looking to September, we will be providing education at the YMCA as part of their Falls Prevention program.

Lauren Walsh (Mental Health) – No updates

Christine Bianco (Social Services) –

In the past month, the number of individuals and families being housed in emergency housing has been stable. - On 7/31, there were 18 families and 86 singles being housed by DSS - On July 2, there were 20 families and 84 singles - On June 5, there were 26 families and 100 singles - On May 1, there were 26 families and 110 singles - On April 2, there were 29 families and 147 singles - We have continued to maximize our use of the New York State Rental Supplement Program (RSP) allocation ($268,767), the New York State Shelter Arrears Eviction Forestallment (SAEF) Program Funding ($140,249). Several clients have been able to access FLIPPA funding that has helped them access permanent housing. DSS continues to very closely monitor residential placements of foster care youth. - Currently there are 6 youth placed in Qualified Residential Treatment facilities. - 4 of these are approved to be at the QRTP level of placement. DSS receives any eligible funding reimbursement for these placements. - 2 youth were determined by the Qualified Assessment review process to not need a QRTP level placement and therefore DSS is ineligible for reimbursement for a continued placement at QRTP for these youth. DSS has been unable to locate a lower level of care for these youth despite numerous referral applications being sent to Therapeutic Foster Care providers and Group Home providers. Efforts will continue. - Currently there is 1 youth placed with a Residential provider that is OPWDD/DOH certified but not OCFS certified. This level of care is needed due to youth’s very high level of need. - DSS currently has 7 Caseworker vacancies of the approved 24 caseworker positions that are budgeted. 6 of those we have received legislature's approval to fill and 1 we have not brought forward yet for permission to fill. Recruitment and retention of Caseworkers remain a significant concern. - I remain very concerned about high caseloads for Caseworkers in all program areas – CPS, APS, and Foster Care/Preventive Services. - A Child Protective Services Performance report put out by the OCFS at the end of July lists Cayuga County as having the highest percentage of Caseworkers carrying a caseload of over 15 CPS cases out of all of the Counties in New York State.

Brenda Wiemann (Office for the Aging) -

- Towns and Villages contributed $15,520 for our Meals on Wheels program in 2026. - OFA Staff tabled at Representative Mannion's Senior Fair Aug 4th - Hosted both Residents from Auburn Community Hospital to help them learn about our programs, Medicare and Medicaid related to aging services, and how OFA helps meet the needs of older individuals in our community in a very cost effective way. - The Senior Farmer's Market Distribution was very successful with 430 given out in 3 hours on July 15th at the Mall. Auburn Market coupons well-received. There are a small number of coupons remaining. - NYSOFA Director, Greg Olsen, and the Executive Director of the Association on Aging, Becky Preve, will be guest presenters on August 25 at 1:00 at Bluefield Manor and later that same day at the Legislature meeting - Met with Amanda O'Grady July 23rd for the purpose of getting out an RFP for the Senior Meal Program- current contractor (Trio Community Meals) renewals expire 12/31/26

Authorizing the Chair of the Legislature and the Public Health Director to enter into the Public Health Preparedness Contract with HRI (Working in Collaboration with NYSDOH) and Accept Funding for the time period of 7/1/26-6/30/27

Authorizing the Chair of the Legislature to participate in round 5 of the Sepic Replacement grant and accepting additional funding in the amount of $200,000

Establishment of Contract with Independent Psychologists to Cover Court-Ordered Psychiatric Evaluations

Accepting New York State Office of Mental Health Funding to Support the Children's Single Point of Access (C-SPOA) Program

(Pending County Attorney Approval/Awaiting ATF) Authorize the Director of Community Services to Create and Fill a Coding and Billing Specialist Position at the Cayuga County Mental Health Department

(Pending County Attorney Approval) Authorization for Cayuga County Mental Health Center to sign an Addendum to their Contract with Qualifacts Systems, Inc.

Amending the Social Services 2026 Budget to Accept State Funding for Family-Centered Case Management Services

Amending the Social Services 2026 Budget to Accept 100% Federal Funding from the Flexible Fund for Family Services (FFFS)

Authorizing the Chair of the Legislature and the Commissioner of Social Services to enter into a contract with Community Action Programs Cayuga/Seneca (CAP) to perform any outreach activities for this State Mandated HEAP Program (100% Federally Funded), for the period of September 1, 2026, through April 30, 2027

ADJOURNMENT: Wednesday, September 9, 2026