Colusa County Municipal Code Art. V County Welfare Department

(Ord. No. 116, § 1)

A department of county welfare is hereby created, to be known as the county welfare department.

(Ord. No. 834, § 2)

Partnership HealthPlan of California Commission (“Commission”) is a multi-county commission that has created a Medi-Cal managed health care plan for Medi-Cal recipients. The purpose of this chapter is to authorize the county of Colusa to join the existing Commission. This chapter allows the implementation of a county organized health system in Colusa County, as authorized by Welfare and Institutions Code Section 14087.54.

The Commission has a proven record of improving health care access to its members, who are Medi-Cal recipients, and improving Medi-Cal reimbursement rates to health care providers. The commission links each member with a primary care provider and has been successful in reducing inappropriate use of emergency rooms, providing appropriate levels of inpatient care for its members, developing innovative case management programs and arranging for the provision of an enhanced level of local health care services.

The Commission negotiated a contract with the California Department of Health Care Services, as specified in Welfare and Institutions Code Section 14087.5, to arrange for the provision of health care services provided under Welfare and Institutions Code Chapter 7, Part 3, Division 9. The Commission is authorized to negotiate a contract with the California Department of Health Care Services to expand the Commission into the County of Colusa. This expansion is expected to occur on or about January 1, 2024, for the county of Colusa.

(Ord. No. 834, § 2)

Pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code Section 14087.54, the Colusa County board of supervisors hereby authorizes the county of Colusa to join the Commission.

(Ord. No. 834, § 2)

The Commission shall be comprised of Commissioners appointed by the board of supervisors of each member county. Unless and until the Commission, by formal action, establishes a different formula or system of membership, Commission representation for each member county shall be based on the number of Medi-Cal beneficiaries enrolled in the Commission’s health plan in each county according to the following formula:

(a) Zero to forty-five thousand Medi-Cal beneficiaries within the county equals one Commission seat.

(b) Forty-five thousand one to sixty thousand Medi-Cal beneficiaries within the county equals two Commission seats.

(c) Sixty thousand one plus Medi-Cal beneficiaries within the county equals three Commission seats.

Commission members shall be appointed by the board of supervisors. Commission members shall serve at the pleasure of the board of supervisors, and may be removed for any reason without cause. The term of office of each member shall be for four years or until the appointment of his/her successor. Vacancies on the Commission are filled by appointment by the board of supervisors. Appointees shall serve for the unexpired term of the vacant position.

The Colusa County board of supervisors shall follow its own Commissioner selection criteria set forth in this section but also acknowledges that the Commission encourages member counties to consider selecting Commissioners from the following settings: safety net providers (including providers at federally qualified health centers), behavioral health providers, regional center providers, local education authorities, dental providers, Indian Health Service facility providers, and hospital providers with special efforts to select candidates, as opportunity allows, who reflect the diversity of the community and regions (including, but not limited to race, ethnicity, language, and disability status).

(Ord. No. 834, § 2)

The term for the Commissioners shall be for four-year periods. Nothing herein shall prohibit a person from serving more than one term. Each Commission member shall remain in office at the conclusion of that member’s term until a successor member has been selected and installed into office. An office shall become vacant if a Commissioner ceases functioning in the area from which appointed, or fails to attend three Commission meetings in a row.

(Ord. No. 834, § 2)

Pursuant to the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code Section 14087.54 as it exists on the date of adoption of the ordinance codified in this chapter, the Commission shall:

(a) Have the power to negotiate the exclusive contract with the California State Department of Health Care Services as specified in Welfare and Institutions Code Section 14087.5, and to arrange for the provision of health care services provided under Chapter 7, Part 3, Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code;

(b) Be considered an entity separate from the county of Colusa;

(c) File the statement required by Government Code Section 53051;

(d) Have the power to acquire, possess, and dispose of real or personal property, including creating and/or acquiring affiliated or supporting entities, as may be necessary for the performance of its functions; to employ personnel, including health care providers in accordance with California law; to contract for services required to meet its obligations; and to sue or be sued; and

(e) Have all the rights, powers, duties, privileges, and immunities conferred by Article 2.8 of Chapter 7, Part 3, Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code in addition to those previously specified in this section.

(Ord. No. 834, § 2)

Pursuant to the provisions of Welfare and Institutions Code Section 14087.54(d) as it exists on the date of adoption of the ordinance codified in this chapter, any obligations of the Commission, statutory, contractual, or otherwise, shall be the obligations solely of the Commission and shall not be the obligations of the county of Colusa. The Commission shall do business as Partnership HealthPlan of California.

(Ord. No. 834, § 2)

The Commission may establish advisory committees from time to time for any purpose that will be beneficial in accomplishing the work of the Commission.

(Ord. No. 834, § 2)

The Commission shall continue to represent the county of Colusa until such time as the Colusa County board of supervisors terminates the representation. To terminate the representation, the Colusa County board of supervisors or its designee shall provide ninety days’ notice to other member counties and the California Department of Health Care Services, as specified in Welfare and Institutions Code Section 14087.54(g).

(Ord. No. 116, § 2)

The board of supervisors shall appoint a director of county welfare who shall be the executive officer of the county welfare department and who shall administer all work of such department subject to the jurisdiction and control of the board of supervisors. The director shall have the requisite qualifications and experience necessary to enable him properly to discharge the functions of his office.

(Ord. No. 116, § 3)

The director of county welfare is hereby authorized and empowered to appoint and employ such assistants, trained social workers, clerical and stenographic help as may be necessary for the proper conduct of the affairs of the county welfare department upon the approval of the board of supervisors and to pay salaries authorized by such board. Such assistants, social workers, clerks and stenographers shall hold office at the pleasure of the director.

(Ord. No. 116, § 4)

The general powers and duties of the county welfare department shall be as follows:

(a) To organize and administer adequate relief for the indigent or dependent poor and indigent sick, state and county aid to the needy aged, needy blind, needy orphan, half orphan, abandoned and other dependent children, and all other noninstitutional relief dispensed or provided by the county;

(b) To disburse or distribute such funds or goods as shall be received from private or government sources, for the purposes defined in this article, and to administer any trust declared or created for these purposes, in accordance with the terms of such trust;

(c) To cooperate with other departments of county work in the maintenance and supervision of a county work relief program;

(d) To cooperate with other public and social welfare agencies and societies of the county, state and federal governments, and to cooperate with the state, county and city health authorities in advancing and maintaining standards of housing and sanitation;

(e) To maintain a modern system of records on county relief cases and relief expenditures;

(f) To cooperate with the county hospital, the county almshouse and the county jail, and to assist the heads of those institutions in matters of investigation and social service.

(Ord. No. 116, § 5)

The county welfare department shall avail itself, insofar as possible, of the services of existing county departments and county employees where the services of such departments and such employees can be rendered to such welfare department without interfering with their ordinary duties.

(Ord. No. 116, § 6)

Applications for relief made to the board of supervisors or any member thereof shall be referred promptly to the county welfare department for investigation and recommendation.

(Ord. No. 116, § 7)

The county welfare department shall file with the board of supervisors monthly a report of work done and shall render for the approval of the board of supervisors a written statement of expenses incurred and relief claims against the county with a list of additions, deductions and changes.

(Ord. No. 116, § 8)

In addition to, and independent of, the powers and duties conferred by any or all of the foregoing sections, the county welfare department is hereby designated as the county agency to administer unemployment relief funds made available by the state relief administrator and the state relief commission as provided by article 16, section 10 of the Constitution of the state and Section 2800 et seq. of the Welfare and Institutions Code of the state, for the relief of hardship and destitution due to and caused by unemployment within the county. Such funds, whether from state or federal source, shall be administered as follows:

(a) Any moneys made available by the state relief administrator and the state relief commission, whether from state or federal sources, shall be deposited in an unemployment relief trust fund in the county treasury, which trust fund is hereby created, and such moneys shall be expended in accordance with the laws of the state under the rules and regulations established by the state relief commission and the state relief administrator and the fiscal regulations established by the state controller. The conditions of eligibility for relief provided from such unemployment relief trust fund and the standards of such relief shall conform to the requirements fixed by the state relief commission and the state relief administrator.

(b) Such personnel of the county welfare department as will authorize or in any manner commit the expenditure of moneys in such unemployment relief trust fund shall be approved by the state relief administrator, and the salaries of all personnel paid out of such trust fund shall be approved by the state relief administrator.

(c) The county auditor shall pay only such claims against such unemployment relief trust fund as will be authorized in a list of authorized expenditure items compiled by the relief administrator and furnished to such auditor by the state controller.

(d) The county welfare department shall furnish such reports and maintain such records with respect to the administration of such employment relief trust fund as may be required by the relief administrator and the state controller, and all such records shall be open to the inspection of the relief administrator and the state controller, or their agents or representatives.