Present: Jean Austin, Chair; Kerry Ahearn-Brown, Vice-Chair; Bill Clark, Nora Becker, Tricia Biles, Leon Frison, Bill Kerbin, Sheriff John Price, Bill Short, Jeff Troester, Jeff Grafton for Dr. Wheeler. LMB Staff: Rebecca Lepter, Jenny Randolph and Kimberly Crew, recorder.

Anticipated Absences: Chelsie Crouch, Ron Fithian, Pam Kuster, Joe Newell, Linda Wilson. LMB Staff: Candy Edwards, Executive Director; Karen Cotton.

Other Absences: Matthew Hash, Shakeara Jones, Rev. Lawrence Purnell and Kreigh Kirby.

One non-Board member was present.

Welcome and Introductions

Approval of Board Meeting Minutes: Board meeting minutes for January 15, 2009 were reviewed and approved. Motion to approve minutes was made by Jeff Troester and seconded by Bill Clark. Motion was moved by all.

Jean Austin made a brief discussion of the format of Board attendance on the minutes. It was agreed by the Board that the current format was acceptable. It will read Present, Anticipated Absences, and Other Absences.

Correspondence

Jean Austin made the Board aware Amy Crowding had resigned from the Board. There was a discussion of the needs as to filling this vacancy. Mrs. Austin asked the Board Development Committee to have a recommendation by the March Board meeting. Jenny Randolph reminded the Board of facts that the Board is one community member above the by-law mandate for membership and mentioned that Amy Crowding’s position would not need to be filled, however, when Leon Frison’s term ends, his position would have to be filled.

Special Guest Presentation
Dan Ashe, from Challenge Applications, made a presentation to the Board. Challenge Applications is an organization that helps employers learn how to do better things for their employees, how they go from good to being better and how they can help their employees from hating their job to enjoying their job.  Mr. Ashe stated there are a lot of employees who don’t like their job so they do just enough not to be fired. Mr. Ashe said it’s not about the money it’s about the affirmation; talking to people, taking care of people that makes the working environment more positive.  He gave an overview of what his company has to offer.

Board Committee Reports – (Committee reports were suspended this month in order to receive a special report from the Ad Hoc Committee on the Needs Assessment.)

Ad Hoc Committee Report - Bill Kerbin, Chair for the committee, discussed the purpose of the Ad Hoc Committee which was to summarize the 8 Maryland Rresult Areas of the Needs Assessment for a better understanding.

• Children Completing School - presented by Bill Kerbin. Board discussed concerns of why Kent County Public Schools have such a high drop-out rate. Parents are less involved in their child’s education. Ms. Ahearn-Brown also mentioned that the schools need social workers. Guidance Counselors are being used for test coordinators and are not available to assist students. Ms. Ahearn-Brown also mentioned that in Kent County, there is about 63% children being raised by their grandparents.   Mrs. Ahearn-Brown stated that education is not a priority in the homes. Kerry Ahearn-Brown stated she felt that parents are overwhelmed, that because of the economy most have to work two jobs, therefore, they don’t take the time to find out what’s going on in their child’s life.  Mrs. Ahearn-Brown also stated that the schools need social workers and parents need more resources.  Leon Frison stated that after about sixth grade, the parents stop attending PTA meetings.
• Stable and Economically Independent Families – Bill Kerbin gave a brief summary on this area. Poverty in Kent County is at a high of 61.4% with single parenting at a rate of 22.8%. Kerry Ahearn-Brown stated that at the time of this survey, DSS had 20 children in foster care, had dropped to 14 in 2007/2008 and that has risen to 18 since the economic crunch. Mrs. Ahearn-Brown stated there has been a 40% increase in food stamps as well as an increase in out-of-home placement. Ms. Ahearn-Brown said they have 5 people at the shelter, but none considered emergency. It was also mentioned that not all homeless seek shelter through DSS, they either move around and live with other family members or friends.
• Children Enter School Ready to Learn & Children Successful in School – Presented by Bill Kerbin and prepared by Amy Crowding. Board members want to know since Kent County is so small, why it is being compared with the other 24 counties who have a much higher population. With the results given Kent County really looks bad. Tricia Biles mentioned the “Nimble Nine” that Michael Harvey had discussed in last weeks Kent County newspaper. This would include Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Talbot, Somerset, Worcester, Garrett and Allegany counties. These counties would be considered more comparable because of being rural, they have smaller budgets and less bureaucratic. There also seems to be a lack of enthusiasm amongst the teachers as well as lack of encouragement from home
• Healthy Children - presented by Nora Becker – Board members have great concerns over high percentage rates of alcohol/substance abuse.  Nora was unable to find any information on mental health. Kerry Ahearn-Brown asked if one child could make a difference with the statistics and Bill Clark’s answer was that he didn’t think so. The majority of the adolescent surveys are pretty accurate. Board members wanted to know since Kent County was so small, how can it be justified that it has a higher rate than any other county in Maryland for alcohol abuse. Within the state of Maryland, Kent County was ranked 5th in adolescent substance abuse. Sheriff Price told the Board he did not have any paperwork to justify their findings. He explained that underage drinking isn’t considered an issue if they’re not out on the roads being caught and no one is getting hurt. Bill Clark mentioned that the percentages used are based on per capita which is per every 1000.  Sheriff Price mentioned that the “Washington Ball” would be this weekend and by 8:30 p.m. the ER at the hospital would be full of underage drinkers, primarily females.  Bill Clark mentioned that he had read an article in the Sun paper that there is discussion of changing the law for alcohol possession because of the high percentage rates of alcohol usage and other problems that occurring. Tricia Biles spoke up and said “comparison (with the other counties) really doesn’t do much good, thinking in terms of our community and our goals for it.”   Nora Becker mentioned there are some upcoming bills related to the addictions issue.

• Children Safe in Their Families and Communities – presented by Kerry Ahearn-Brown.  Kerry stated there were 96 reports in 2008 of abuse with 2/3rd’s resulting in neglect. There have been 65% ruled out with about 15% indicted. In 2007 there were about 100 reports of abuse. There are three rulings that DSS use to determine abuse: Indicted, which means you are the abuser; Un-substantiated, there’s not enough credible evidence to prove whether abuse occurred or not; and a Ruled Out which means there is no credible evidence that abuse occurred.

 Executive Director and LMB Staff Reports (Candy Edwards was out due to illness)

• A synopsis of Community Enrichment Grant applications approved by the Program Committee was presented by Becky Lepter. Ms. Lepter told the Board there were 12 proposals received for the latest round of CEG’s totaling $72,000, with the allowance of only $25,000 to be approved. The six that were considered were asked if they would be able to accept less. They all agreed partial funding would be ok. Those selected have Board approval and a letter is ready to go to GOC for approval. Next round of CEG’s are due April 24th, at 4:00 p.m. There will be a Technical Assistance for the CEG’s early in April. This will be the last round for CEG’s and the Board wanted to know what GOC was going to do to about approving additional funds for programs for the community. Karen Cotton spoke up and told the Board that she and Candy Edwards would be attending a meeting with GOC next week to go over the budget for FY10 and wouldn’t know anything until that time.
• CPA Semi-Annual Review Results – presented by Jean Austin. Ms. Austin discussed the meeting held between the Program & Finance committees to go over the mid-year review of vendors.  There were 8 vendors who were reviewed and the committees looked at the outcomes and how the monies were being spent.  Committee members have received the minutes of this meeting and know the outcomes. Tricia Biles complimented Becky Lepter on a job well done and Jean Austin went over an email that was sent from GOC commending Ms. Lepter for a job well done.

OLD Business
Jean Austin asked the Board for clarification of an Open House. All Board members agreed they would like the LMB to have an Open House.  Ms. Austin told the Board because of prior commitments and Becky Lepter going out on maternity leave soon, the Board would have to take lead on preparing for the Open House.  The Board Development Committee agreed to take this responsibility and would give an update at the March Board meeting.  Jeff Troester stated they could tie the Open House in with a Board meeting.

Bill Clark moved a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:25 and Nora Becker seconded the motion.

Next LMB Board meeting will be Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 4:00 p.m.