County Board Actions: Hennepin Health and Environmental Response Fund

(The following news release comes from Hennepin County.) 

County Board Actions includes summaries of only a portion of the total actions of the board, selected for general news interest. For complete information on all resolutions and actions by the board, see the information on the last page.

Hennepin Health governance structure established

The Hennepin County Board of Commissioners named commissioners Mike Opat, Peter McLaughlin, Gail Dorfman and Randy Johnson to the interim governance board of Hennepin Health, the county’s pilot project for integrated health care.

The demonstration project will coordinate medical care, behavioral health and social services in four county systems: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), NorthPoint Health & Wellness Clinic, Human Services and Public Health Department (HSPHD), and the Metropolitan Health Plan (MHP). The new patient-centered model aims to reduce costs to taxpayers, improve outcomes for low-income, hard-to-serve clients, and gain efficiencies and improvements for both the county and the client.

The interim governance structure will respond to critical policy issues, establish strategic direction, approve operating policies, approve the risk-reward sharing model, and provide management of the model. The governance structure would remain in place throughout the pilot period.

The governance structure is similar to the one used to develop the model. A related resolution establishes the scheduled meeting times.
The proposed resolution establishes a Policy Steering Committee with three County Board members, two Hennepin Health System Board members, and representatives of each of the systems involved, as well as physician representation. A management committee would be established to respond to more immediate issues, if necessary.  

Additional Environmental Response Fund grant approved

At the Jan. 24th meeting, the board authorized negotiation of agreements awarding $1.4 million in Environmental Response Fund (ERF) grants for 10 projects.

Today the board approved an 11th project  – $80,000 to the City of Minneapolis for the 430 Oak Grove project, to seal an abandoned well in an historic building, built in 1926, which is being converted into 75 rental housing units.

The ERF grant program, funded by a county mortgage registry and deed tax, provides grants for environment assessment and cleanup of sites that present a known threat to human health or the environment; provide community benefit from the cleanup; and lack funding from other sources. Priority is placed on projects that promote public/green space, affordable and moderately priced housing, and economic development.

Since November 2001, when the ERF program was established, a total of $38 million has been awarded for 270 grants.

Volunteers appointed to advisory boards

The board appointed or reappointed the following residents to citizen advisory boards:

Patrick O’Connor of Golden Valley, and Lydia Poor of Minneapolis were appointed to the Capital Budgeting Task Force.

Dan Cohen of Minneapolis was reappointed to the City Planning Commission (Minneapolis).

Marvin Johnson of Independence and Ann Swenson of Edina were reappointed to the Community Action Partnership of Suburban Hennepin (CAPSH) Board.

Kathy Casmer of Eden Prairie was reappointed, and Kristin Klingler of Minneapolis was appointed to the County Extension Committee (Minnesota Extension Service).

Cynthia Davies of Plymouth was reappointed to the Human Resources Board.

Sue Abderholden and Maureen Marrin (recommended by mental health advisory groups), Ben Gisselman (recommended by Hennepin County Bar Association), and Lisa Radzak of St. Louis Park were reappointed; and Kortney Nordrum of Minneapolis was appointed to the Mental Commitment Attorney Panel Advisory Board.

Douglas Muller of Eden Prairie was reappointed; and Hassan Ali of Eden Prairie, Yes Raj of Woodbury, Matthew Rothchild of Robbinsdale, Janice Thompson of Edina, and James Wrobleski of Eagan were appointed to the Workforce Investment Board.

For more information on advisory boards and to apply online, go to the Hennepin County website – www.hennepin.us/volunteering.  

Indicating a measure has passed the board does not imply a unanimous vote. The actions of the Hennepin County Board, including a record of how individual commissioners voted, are posted under “Hennepin County Board Meetings” on the front page of the Hennepin County website – www.hennepin.us. This portion of the site includes agendas, minutes and resolutions for all committee and full board meetings. Also, from time to time, individual commissioners may post their own viewpoints, news and information on their own websites.

If you’d like to watch committee and full board meetings, they are generally broadcast live on Tuesdays, beginning at 1:30 p.m., and rebroadcast the Friday following the meeting, beginning at 8 p.m., on Metro Cable Network/Channel 6.

Meetings also are streamed live on the Hennepin website. Look under “Hennepin County Board Meetings,” “Board meeting videos.” Archived videos of past meetings also are available on that site.

For more information about these news items, call Carolyn Marinan: 612-348-5969, or Carol Allis: 612-348-8536.

Look for more news on the Hennepin County website – www.hennepin.us.