Twelve counties looking to collaborate
For two years, Goodhue County has been working to integrate its Public Health and Social Services departments into one. Now that it has accomplished its goal, more integration may be coming to southeastern Minnesota.
The county has been in discussions with 11 surrounding counties to figure out how jointly to provide human services at a lower cost to everyone. For the past couple of years, human services departments in all 12 counties have explored options, developed a blueprint for how things would work and discussed which services the counties would be willing to share.
A steering committee comprising representatives from the Minnesota Department of Human Services as well as the 12 participating counties — Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, Waseca and Winona — is leading the project.
“Separately, our 12 counties were looking at a future where we would have to provide the same or a greater level of services with fewer dollars,” steering committee co-chair and Goodhue County Commissioner Ted Seifert said. “This kind of innovation provides a solution that will let us thrive in these new, tough economic times.”
The next step is to develop an operating plan, business case and implementation plan, for which global management consulting and technology services company Accenture has been hired. Those parts of the project are being funded through grants from the St. Paul-based Bush Foundation and the Rochester Area Foundation.
“The demographic and economic shifts these counties are responding to represent the ‘new normal’ for Minnesota — more services needed with fewer resources,” Bush Foundation Chief Financial Officer Greg Keane said.
If the redesign works as planned and savings are achieved, “they would eventually get their money back and be able to loan it out to somebody else,” Seifert said of the Bush Foundation.
Seifert estimated that within a year the committee should have a better idea of how the operation will look and exactly what can be done to save money. At some point down the line, the group will decide where the operations should be consolidated.
“It conceivably could mean that jobs that are here in Goodhue would be consolidated someplace else or it’s possible they could be consolidated here,” Seifert said.
Goodhue County is considering constructing a new building for its Health and Human Services staff. If a new facility is approved, the nearby Citizens Building would be left empty, and Seifert said it could be a potential consolidation location.
But, he added, he’d like to know what will happen with the 12-county redesign before approving any new county buildings because it would be unclear how big a building should be constructed if it’s unknown how many staff would remain in the area.
“It’s premature to make that decision,” Seifert said.