ALC-Personnel

Good afternoon welcome to personnel I Mark. Members please have receipts. Hi Mister chairman. Morning members. First item on the agenda item B. this is a request for the department of correction that 3 titles to the previously approved salary grid this is the grid the correction brought last month the cost for these titles was already built into the cost the provided less but they just forgot to add these 3 titles to the list so we're just adopting 3 more titles to the list with that Mr Motegi questions. Members are there any questions. And I have a motion to I have a second I have a second all in favor it is approved. Mr chairman items C.. This is a request for the department public safety to establish a labor market rate of for the positions in grades 6. Grade 67. And 9 as listed in the agenda and on the report an item C. the rate would be at $52425 for the grade sixes and would allow $2500 increases this affects 13 titles of the cost for these would be approximately $143000 and then they're also requesting labor market rate and state police for the 3 other titles which are the CACD investigator senior investigator and area managers they have significant turnover almost 3 percent turnover in these. Rustication so in order to resolve these retention issues they want to be able to give an increase of up to 10 percent. With no one exceeding the maximum the great the estimated cost for these titles would be about $463000 Mister Mister chairman I take any questions. Senate bill you're recognized thank you senator Wallace Tony this is that which was referred to when we were having budget hearings the necessity for these increases so that we can be competitive with other states being competitive yes but I think that's different I think what primarily they were focused on and I want to let the agency correct me come up and speak to it but I believe that's more for the troopers themselves these are different titles but I'd rather let ASP come up and confirm that the I'm going to support it I'd like to make a motion to support I just wanted to make sure what I was talking about I thank. Do we have agency here a low current. And serve you will please identify yourself. Thank you Mr chairman bill bright corals of the Arkansas state police. Philip Warner head of HR for the department of public safety. No ma'am I've got if you let me go and proceed to what we brought in the the budget hearing was just far Commission troopers that we talked about what we're looking at here on this is that we have for our sin GS 6 is and and certain job classifications you know we we made adjustments the GS 13 GS 5 and now we have a problem some GS 5 they're making more the GSX so we're asking for that is a 20 $500 increase on that intercede ACT workers we have a like a 29 percent turnover and what we're trying to do that and if you for I'm sure you've heard the other part of a DCFS what they did for their employees they gave them a 7 percent race started paying them overtime and then paying them overtime to be on call in which for us the solution for us was ago a 10 percent raise for our people because we can we have to be fair and equitable because we have from 1 destination division we have a highway patrol division are also call and we thought this would be a great balance is to give the CACD workers a 10 percent increase because we just wanna be fair balance because we have 11 division of state police getting paid to be on call they would have to other divisions are not so that's that was kind of the formula in the in the reason we came with this. Member are there any other questions. If not do I have a motion. I have a motion to I have a second. I have a second all in favor. It is approved. Thank you Mr chairman. Mr chairman item D. is a request for the department of commerce for 10 positions from the growth pool for rehab services. This is being requested to join the current I. T. staff in an effort to intensify their cybersecurity in inter agency operations a re have request restructures IT division in these positions will be inclusive of the restructuring costs of the positions will be about $871000 agencies indicate it can absorb the growth in their request opium is recommended the request. Go ahead Sir Lowery. You're recognized. Yeah I'd like to have someone from the agency questions about sure yeah Dr Childress. And if you would identify yourself. Sri's Childers Director Arkansas division of work for service and Joe Baxter Commissioner rehab services. Thank you and this may be a question that's answered under transformation but I know we we've invested dramatically in in D. I. S. for their services on IT and any others always concerned state government that we don't have separate silos and different entities doing basically the same thing and not sharing resources so can you explain for us what what is unique here that cannot be done in collaboration with DIS yes Sir I represent Lowery we are utilizing D. I. S. a within the Division of workforce services of for all of the services that they can provide our agency but there are certain things that have to be done and can only be done by in house I. T. staff and so a lot of our support is just for management of our current I. T. systems that require expertise one in that specific type of. Program or software and then also of going out to all of our local offices across the state and servicing those local offices as well which is something that to my knowledge the I. S. would not be able to support okay follow up Mister chair. Go ahead yes and I know 1 of the to the demands that you had on your agency over the last year point 7 years has been the increase in unemployment claims and that the way and all of that And constituents still could contact myself as well as other saying that they're having delays and they're having problems and I I do commend the work that that your agency is done over and above what we've heard is happening in other states of ferreting out fraud fraudulent claims is this part of the work that to these positions would be working within key and could we hopefully see shorter time frames in terms of processing of claims of the work that these IT this IT staff will be doing will be within mostly or the majority of their work with the within the Arkansas department or division of work for services in Arkansas rehabilitation services so we'll be within that division of our agency of we we have our IT staff have talked about how we can share services and share our staff when needed especially when we go into the United modernization efforts so that are up to I. T. leads in both of those Aditi W. S. legacy and then rehab services I have visited frequently about the opportunities that this will give them the flexibility and then we can work with our federal funding agencies to ensure that that's allowable as far as unemployment insurance and the the times that you referred to in the and the other progress that we've made but we're still catching up from the pandemic that requires a special skill set that for someone who has unemployment insurance of knowledge and experience so where I. T. would come into places when we do have. A modern system we we say that there will be less demand on the human resource side because we'll be able to do more with the modern system which we help then we'll be able to utilize our resources even more so within all of our agencies and possibly have a reduction in staff okay. Thank you director thank you Mr chair thank you. Members are there any questions any other questions. Seeing none do I have a motion I have a motion. Do I have a second. I have a second all in favor. It is passed thank you thank you thank you. Mr chairman items he is requesting department higher education for universe of Arkansas to be college faithful this is for 2 faculty positions of alignments for these positions will be $115000 of the institution is looking at paying approximately $50000 each and then we had matching French that the total compensation is about 66.$5000 per year. Members do we have any questions. Then seeing none I have a motion to have a second. Thank you I have a second all in favor say aye. It imposed. Senate passes. Mr chairman items health. This is our request a miscellaneous federal grant request from DHS for one position to DHS deseo assistant deputy director grade 13 this is funded by the US treasury departments covered related rental assistance program the appropriation of position was approved yesterday by peer this is just the title that we're looking at for the particular position. Members. You have any questions have so moved. The motion. All in favor hi. In the post. Sam Nunn this past. Mr chairman item G. this is also a miscellaneous federal grant requests for the department of health this for 10 epidemiology related M. F. G. positions grant monies from the C. B. CDC's epidemiology and laboratory capacity program again these positions in the preparation was adopted by peer yesterday we're just looking at the titles for this particular program. Members are there any questions. C. none do I have a motion I have a question. Okay. Go ahead thank you Mr yes my from health department for questions. And we have somebody from the Department ear. Don Adams Arkansas department health. Mike Simmons of our mail. Matt Gilmore Harmon Health. So go through the need for the for the positions. Yes Sir thank you for the question are these positions are geared specifically towards building our capacity department health as it relates to public health informatics a good friend itself is labeled under data monetization but this is a really geared towards establishing a robust informatics our capability within the department of health and the epidemiology branch so these positions will go away if the grant money goes away is that correct that is my understanding yes Sir okay thank you. Yes Senator Rapert you're recognized. Thank you Mr incensed good job on the table. And this could have sent the person if you had somebody that was part of that I mean question and it's in the news current news about Monaco Monaco. Clonal antibodies as Odin pulled Arkansas. Thank you for the questions right as as release Markle antibodies closer to mine yes Sir sorry apologies I this is related to the FDA a polling of emergency use authorization for certain monoclonal antibodies that decision was based on the the fact that the those particular monoclonal antibodies were found to not be effective against the Omicron variant at this point and in this pandemic Omicron represents greater than 99 percent of all samples are being sequence so it's safe to assume that throughout the United States Omicron is a variant that is causing the disease and with that in mind those particular model client was not gonna be effective against treating people with Omicron. And I have I wouldn't have a way of knowing what I've gotta of somebody's in the health field here tell me the has it has a relative and and I know that's to dispute that in Florida but my question was have they pulled the antibodies from Arkansas. They're not available anymore that I can answer Sir we can go back to our team and engage with the with no. We do have. We do have medical staff at the health department that works in this area I do believe we're still receiving an allocation of the monoclonal bodies that are approved to treat Omicron but the other. Antibodies we are no longer receiving those okay but we can get you some more definitive detailed information if you understand that some basics that I'll be able to answer questions that we have thank you Sir thank you Mr. Thank you thank you Mr over here too far left. How much is the total grant amount that's going to fund these positions and how long as is and is anticipated to carry these positions. It's 2.90 8000000 senator Hammer I believe it goes to June of 2023. Okay in the case reporting that is going to be doing is it specific to COVID or is that going to be for what kind of case reporting is gonna be on. Yes so what these particular positions will support the broader array of diseases of public health importance informatics really is broad and wide ranging so these positions are going to serve you know the goals related to cover 19 certainly but also also either I will provisions is HIV hepatitis C. mixer. And given. The fact that that money is expected to run out June 23 which. Really in the far wait a realistic do you expect your bill to find people to be willing to commit to work that long without the expectation that there would be more money coming behind to keep those positions yes September we we consider that that's a good question what we are actually seeking additional funding so that we could sustain these positions long term and you know depending on what's going on at the time we may decide to on fund other positions to fund these these are very critical positions some of this work is being done by contractors right now that has special expertise so our goal is to hire these individuals to have in house expertise in these areas what's your source of anticipated funding that you're hoping to find other federal grants are going to come to general revenue your words are going to be other federal grants yes Sir okay right thank you. Seed 87 you're recognized. Thank you Mr. I'm over to the left also we still we still actively doing the contact tracing. Are no Sir we are we are not doing contact tracing do you remember the amount of money that was allocated for those 2 vendors. I do not the number of talking to someone around 100. 50000000. Somewhere in that area. That's about right. I would hate to speculate I don't have that number committed to memory but will we can look at a container is that money all but exhausted. I don't believe that it all has we had money that was both going towards case investigation which is investigating the actual positive cases plus the contact tracing so those 2 activities were together and we were using it yes some appropriated funds for those activities but no we have not spend all that could you could you give us the amount of money that's left over also. If they're no longer doing active contact tracing that that money should be returned correct this is part of a larger grant that had multi purposes within that grant and so I let Mike speak to how that funding is used at least with an IRA you'll see grant I do think there was some cares funding that we use for contact tracing case investigation and yes any unused portion has been returned to that that committee but we also do some of the L. C. grant that we get directly from the federal government that's primarily what we've used to pay for this but the contact tracing funds were totally separate that was a separate funding. Well we've using multiple funding sources to fund it right it's all been appropriated through this body okay. I would like to know how much is left over. And what what you anticipate to do with that it's been returned or going to going to be returned. Yes Sir will get that all right thank you thank you Mr chairman your. Represent Wardlaw you're recognized thank you Mr chairman. Esterman. I see some other mikes lit up around the room I have a motion at the proper time to address some of the concerns if you want to take questions from those members all set and waiting to come back with the motion yes Sir welcome back to thank you. Representative Lowery you're recognized thank you Mister chair just want to follow up on Senator Stubblefield question I remember some of the grants in the in your correct that it came from cares Act funds my question is on on those entities that received seem like there was a point where we had contact tracing requests coming in that seem to have overlapping I remember specifically the funds that went to the northwest Arkansas council to work with the Marshallese community who does the audit on whether all of that money that was sent to them was expended or not and whether there were provisions within it that to allow that money to be spent for other types of practices other than contact tracing who who actually would do that audit. I believe Los both DFA and legislative audit's of monitors those expenditures of those funds and within the cares Act money that we receive for contact tracing case investigation any unspent money was returned to the committee to be re distributed for other purposes within the L. C. grant that we get directly from the federal government as I stated before that has very broad of a purpose for that grant so any unspent money in one category could be shifted to another as long as it's were proved within the grant and we've been appropriated to spend that money. Okay all right well thank you thanks for that thank you Mr chair. In seed 88 you're recognized. Thank Richard so regarding contact tracing could you get this information on the outcomes of contact tracing please other words we did the tracing and as result of tracing we reduced cases by X. amount. We'll work on getting that information together okay the last time I ask for that they said nobody had it so your your that in track outcome so you're telling me they did track and there was a positive outcome to contact tracing we have outcomes and and and measures that we have for our contact tracing vendors as far as predicting prevention it would be strictly a prediction or an estimate of what we prevented through those efforts what outcomes would not be contacts correct outcomes report tracing them for the purpose of stopping the spread as are slowing the spread then outcomes would be we slow the spread by acts in my correct correct I think the intent of contact tracing is that those people are very high risk of becoming positive since they've been in close contact with the positive and that if they turn positive they will let you will not further transmit that to someone else so it's difficult to measure exactly what was prevented. But we you know we can provide what information we have about the outcomes on contact yeah I understand it's difficult but we spent $150000000 or so well that is difficult I think it's impossible to predict exactly what you prevented knowledge might speak to this this is more is where you make this make sure I got the question right because I don't know that were when you say to predict we prevented this is an action that we did we're not predicting anything we actually if we contacted them and said you are positive do not you know don't go out don't do these things then there ought to be a number that we followed up with that yes as a result of our. ACT we diminish the spread or slow the spread by ex is not a prediction that's an actual number okay well I apologize maybe just some terminology differences here contacting positive cases is what we call case investigation and we have numbers on their contacting those that are not positive but have been exposed that are at high risk of developing the disease we refer to that is contact tracing so we can get you the numbers yes we have lots of data on how many we contacted what the results were those of those that we contacted and and we don't have any we don't have any data that says we spent 100000000 plus and we actually slow the spread we don't have a dated well I I think this is in the area of doctor Simons expertise some let him answer the question. If I understand correctly Sir no it would not be possible to directly measure how many cases you would averted averted by doing this particular intervention this is population wide so we could certainly. The vote based fiscal model to identify the blinds available models but to measure directly serve you okay we are thank you Mr. Is Senator Hammer you're recognized thank you Mr I just wanna walk out here with a clear understanding on something. You're saying that. The health department is no longer doing any contact tracing is that correct or we all need can for with each other before you answer no Sir we are no longer we are no longer as the department or are contracting with a vendor to do contact tracing its not that we we still recommend that people quarantine after in contact based on the current guidelines we're no longer actively contacting people that are known exposures to to tell them they need to or advise them that they need to quarantine so if somebody gets a call from somebody says we're with the health department and we are calling to see who all you've been with. That needs to be considered. Referred to the Attorney General has that happened somebody asked me about it last week so when did when did the health department stop contact tracing. 2 weeks ago that activity seized on January the 17 Sir. Okay did you all put out a notification about that or is this we just find out something today or was that publicized Mr. If I if I'm not mistras this class at a press briefing recently okay our thank you thank you. Senator Chesterfield you're recognized yes I'm trying to see what we're going to do with G. which is dealing with the epidemiology supervisor the epidemiologist the 80 H. Chief epidemiologist the senior GIS analyst are we going to have motions on that or is that a part of what we're a representative what I was going to deal with we going to deal with the G.. I will allow the discussion to continue I'm just asking are we going to deal with G. I'm not saying whether you let it happen or not that's fine but we our own G. and I'm just wondering through the chair to representative Wardlaw if it's motion is going to be on G.. All right thank you so much yes clarifies thank you Mr. In recognized representative Wardlaw. So we're ready for the motion Mr thank you Mister FOR and dodging my motion my motion is to hold this over for Friday discussion and till they can give us the answers on Senator Rice and not senator Solomon's questions and then on at that time we will approve or not approve G. on the basis of the information we receive. Do I have a second on it. And I have a question. Senator just feel you're recognized thank you if they are not able to put together this information by Friday what then does the make a wish to do. I don't know that I can speak to that until Friday we have to see what we get Friday of they've eluded they can get the information we just need to get it. In front of us not in an email so specifically what information do you want I'd like to know about the monoclonal it we're still using monoclonal antibodies and and senator of Sullivan ask questions log I don't remember exactly what it was but they were gonna get him information I think Senator Hammer ask questions about information all questions were answered is that we get you that information so we'll see Friday if they bring us that information. Thank you Mr. I have a motion for do I have a second I have a second all in favor. Any post. It is passed. All right Mister chairman items H. 3 K. these reports to the committee they require no action if there's any questions on the report so we have to take this time. Members I give me a minute to look over those. Members are there any questions. Say no questions. They are approved. Members thank you for a better day and. We're dismissed.