Week of 14 April, 2008:
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
David Ervin, CEO of TRE, spoke at length with Senator John Morse, who in turn has met with Karen Beye, Director of the Department of Human Services (a cabinet position) and with Governor Ritter.
David Ervin has also spoken with Representatives Bob Gardner, Larry Liston, and Amy Stephens.
The Joint Budget Committee has convened and discussed TRE’s status.
From David Ervin, “all pertinent parties are aware of the matter and have expressed grave concern. While there is no resolution yet, the concern is great enough that each person is looking into creative solutions to the problem.”
Thursday, April 17, 2008
David Ervin plans to stay in Denver, to be available to meet with state legislators and Division of Developmental Disabilities officials, and to be ready to testify as to the impact closure of TRE will have in our community.
Week of 21 April, 2008:
Monday, April 21, 2008
David met with representatives from the Colorado Departments of Human Services, and Health Care Policy and Financing, the Governor’s office, Senator Morse and Representative Bob Gardner. Following more than two hours of reviewing TRE’s status, the issue of un- and under-funded mandates across the Colorado developmental disability system, and what TRE needs in order to retain its status as CCB for El Paso, Park and Teller counties, it was agreed that this same group would meet for final resolution this coming Friday (4/25). From that meeting, if not before, TRE expects to know definitively whether or not TRE will continue as the CCB for the region beyond May 10.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Q&A Updated
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Yellow Cab has restored services to our Service Users. This is the latest word as of 2:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 24.
Friday, April 25, 2008
David Ervin, CEO, and John Martin, TRE’s Deputy Director, met with senior officials from the State Dept. of Human Services (DHS), Division for Developmental Disabilities (DDD), Dept. of Health Care Policy and Finance (HCPF), Office of State Planning and Budgeting (OSPB), Senator John Morse (D) and Representative Bob Gardner (R). After nearly 3 hours of meeting, there was unanimous agreement in principle for The Resource Exchange to continue serving as the Community Centered Board for El Paso, Teller and Park Counties through June 30, 2009.
The group agreed to an Interim Solution that is intended to provide for the following:
1. TRE will continue to perform all CCB functions through June 30, 2009, or the end of fiscal year 2009.
2. TRE will be provided necessary financial support for the continued performance of all required CCB functions.
3. The DHS and DDD will work collaboratively with TRE over the next weeks and months to continue analyzing TRE operations, required functions against available revenues, and the unique position of TRE as the only CCB that does not provide direct service and does not benefit from local municipal financial support.
4. There will be a state-wide DD system study of CCB requirements and mandated functions against the current needs and resources in the system, expected on or before December 2008.
All parties to today’s agreements have committed to working closely and collaboratively to better understand not only the issues that TRE faces, but the issues that the CCB system faces relative to current requirements against available resources.
In the days and weeks ahead, we will continue working closely with DHS and DDD to navigate a range of details. As they become clear, we will communicate them.
We are delighted with today’s agreement. Throughout this process, each of the parties to today’s agreement have remained singularly focused on maintaining the continuity and integrity of services to people with developmental disabilities and their families; it appears we have accomplished this essential outcome. Thank you to all of our supporters, staff, community friends and partners, and most importantly, the people we are privileged to serve.
Week of 28 April, 2008:
Friday, May 2, 2008
With an agreement in principal in place, we have been waiting for the next step of action to take place which would allow us to announce to the public, without any equivocation, that TRE will remain open through June 30, 2009. That action, a formal confirmation from the State that TRE will remain the community centered board (CCB) for El Paso, Park and Teller counties, with minimum funding for all mandated CCB functions, is reportedly imminent. The necessary legislative action needed to formalize this must be considered in the context of the legislature’s final days of the session, which is, under ‘normal’ circumstances, quite hectic. However, there remains clear commitment on the part of all State departments and members of our local legislative delegation to assure that TRE remains the CCB for the region in to the future.
We will make a formal announcement of our status on or prior to May 9. Thank you for your continued interest and support.
Week of 5 May, 2008:
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
TRE today received a letter from the State Department of Human Services, Division for Developmental Disabilities that formally confirms that TRE will continue to function in its role as CCB for El Paso, Park and Teller counties through 30 June 2009. With this confirmation from the State, TRE will remain the fully-functioning CCB for El Paso, Park, and Teller Counties through Fiscal Year 2009.
Pertinent passages from the letter are copied below:
"On May 5, 2008, the Joint Budget Committee (JBC) of the Colorado Legislature expressed their intent and direction to Karen L. Beye, Executive Director of CDHS, that to avoid disruption of services for individuals with developmental disabilities in the El Paso, Park and Teller counties, they are supporting TRE through the remainder of this FY and FY 2008-09 in providing services within these counties. This statement of intent from the JBC indicates their support for DDD using certain existing FY 2007-08 appropriations to assist TRE. Additionally, DDD is instructed to provide an analysis and recommendations for levels of funding assistance for FY 2009 to the JBC for action at their June 23, 2008 meeting.
Specifically, the following processes are authorized:
DDD is authorized the use of up to $514,000 General Fund FY 2007-08 appropriation out of the DD “hold harmless” category to assist TRE in operating functions through June 30, 2008.
DDD will review TRE’s financial and programmatic situation in order to develop a plan for TRE’s operation in providing services to individuals with developmental disabilities in FY 08-09 and to ensure the funds for the rest of FY 2008 are used judiciously.”
TRE will be working closely with DDD over the next weeks to analyze our needs for the coming year, and will welcome continued collaboration with DDD over the next 15 months. Simultaneously during that time, we will be party to a state-wide system study of the un- and underfunded CCB mandate issue, to be completed in time for the 2009 legislative session.
With this news we are assured that we will be conducting business as usual on May 11 and through 30 June 2009.
We will continue to post updates to keep folks informed as to the progress of DDD’s analysis of TRE and the un- and under-funded mandates issue.
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