Area Health Education Centers
Minutes
Monday, September 21, 2009
Conference Call
Voting Members in Attendance: Dennis
McCutcheon, Alison Witte, David Bowyer, Anna Reno, Sandra Elza, JoAnn Raines,
Norman D. Ferrari, III, Georgia Narsavage Carla See, Grace Mitchell
Guests in Attendance: Chuck Conner, Susan Coyle, Lora Adkins,
Malinda Turner, John Walters, Sonnie Strader, Carla Campbell, Lew Holloway,
Parr Thacker, Elizabeth Richmond, Sherri Douglas, Patricia Crawford, Elaine
Soper, Alicia Tyler, Beth High, Brenda Michael
Staff in Attendance:
Robert Walker, Hilda R. Heady, April L. Vestal, Sandra Y. Pope, Sharron Giles, Jacki
Novacich, Derrick Day, Margaret Novacich
Roll Call of
those in attendance by Jacki Novacich was conducted. The above listing in attendance reflects that
role call.
Motion to Approve the Consent Agenda: (Anna Reno/David Bowyer)
New Business:
Revised
Policy 2007-09: "Requirements Governing the Purchase,
Management and Disposition of
Property
and Equipment Purchased with RHEP Administered Funds"
The policy was
acted in 2007 to clarify requirements for purchase management and disposition
of property and equipment. This is an
area that was identified in the Legislative Post Audit Division Findings, which
will be discussed later in the meeting.
We are purposing a wording revision to the policy to reflect the need
for change from the findings in the audit.
Please see area's in read in Appendix A.
Note, inventory
tags for RHEP will be placed on equipment and will not interfere with Lead
Agency inventory tags already in place.
Both will be placed on equipment.
It was decided
that Policy 2007-02 (revised 9-21-09) would be placed on the WVRHEP/AHEC
website http://www.wvrhepahec.org/
under "What's New" for the panel to review for approval. An e-mail with the link and a link to www.doodle.com will also be included for the
panel to vote online. For those unable
to view the website and vote via the web a hard copy of the policy and a voting
form will be mailed out for return to the Office of Rural Health. Reason for urgency for approval is to have
the policy in place before the end of the calendar year, and start its
procedures immediately after approval.
Addendum to minutes: Policy
2007-02 (revised 9-21-09) was voted on and approved via web and mail votes on
Friday, October 9, 2009 with 17 members yes's and 1 no, and 8 members refrained
from voting.
Request to Remove
John Walters
from Northern WV Rural Health Education Center Region 1 brought to the panels
consideration that
A motion to
approve
Another motion
was brought before the panel for this take immediate effect: (Norman D. Ferrari, III/ JoAnn Raines) Motion
was approved
Hilda R. Heady
will discuss this with Jodie Jackson to make sure this will not affect
reporting at this time.
Post Audit Division Findings:
Dr Walker stated
that the Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) responded to the Legislative
Post Audit, and we need to now move on and leave the finding behind.
April L Vestal
has been working on the findings and creating a way to remedy them. She goes on with discussing each finding and
how we will remedy the findings.
·
Finding 1: Internal Control Weakness
1.
Training
and in-service with Lead Agencies Administrators and Chief Financial Officers
(CFO's) to make sure they understand their responsibilities and roles of being
a Lead Agency. Also, to clarify roles
and responsibilities and answer questions they may have on managing RHEP funds.
2.
Train
the Advisory Boards and the Advisory Panel of their roles and responsibilities
as well.
3.
Develop
a memorandum of understanding between HEPC and WVU on roles and
responsibilities within that.
·
Finding 2: No Inventory Management (Policy 2007-02 was in place at the time
of this audit)
1.
We
are exploring methods of maintain a schedule of technology equipment. Changes proposed in Policy 2007-02 (revised
9-21-09)
2.
Looking
at keeping inventory sheets of items such as PDA's (Personal Digital
Assistants), Net books and Printers that are priced at $1,000.00 or less.
3.
Inclusion
of inventory tag system outlined in Policy 2007-02 (revised 9-21-09)
·
Finding 3: Unsupported Expenditures - Agreements that were made with
different organizations and funding was given to those organizations to meet
specific program goals. Although, that
wasn't really outlined as specifically as the auditors felt like it needed to
be.
1.
Recommendation
to develop what's called a "Second Entity Agreement" with any vendor which
funding is given in order to meet specific program goals in order to outline
exactly what the funding was given for and then what goals are being met.
·
Finding 4: No Safety Evaluations of
Student Housing
We
have been doing some research by contacting the institutions, so we can develop
a
process
to meet the guidelines of existing Policy 94-01 "Minimum requirements for
student rural rotations and
Requirements for school based student orientations" for revision.
·
Finding 5: Inadequate Procedures
Governing Student Housing Rental Contracts - We are talking with institutions as well concerning this
finding. We are reviewing current
housing leases, seeing if there are cancellation clauses, month to month option
after the lease is expired and possibly creating a more uniformed lease for
RHEP housing.
·
Finding 6: Unsupported Travel
Reimbursement - Again,
we will conduct an in-service for Lead Agencies to discuss travel
reimbursements as travel reimbursement is per each lead agency standards.
·
Finding 7: WVRHEP Funds Used as Rewards,
Gifts, and Prizes
1.
We
will look at developing an ethics policy that will cover
§
Rewards
§
Gifts
§
Prizes
§
Other
ethical situations
2.
The
policy in regards to the gifts, prizes and rewards will follow the standards of
that of state ethics policy and that of the lead agency.
·
Finding 8: Raises Given Absent Proper
Approval Documentation - Again,
we will conduct an in-service to discuss roles, and requirements of the lead
agency and advisory board.
·
Finding 9: Inadequate Leave Procedures - We Looking at leave polices from each of
the lead agencies and insuring that there is proper documentation and approval
of any paid time off.
These are just
some of the items we have discussed for development of remedying the nine
findings.
Executive/ Associate Director's Report:
WV AHEC Update:
We have received
the notice of grant award for the five centers.
Unfortunately it was less than we were expecting to receive. We had to revise the budget and submitted it
today. We will be meeting with center
staff and others to provide their statewide work plan to reflect the actual
awards received for the current year.
The SEARCH
application was received and there was a request to revise the budget, which
was a good indication that we may receive the funding.
WV RHEP Update:
April continures
to work on making changes and improvements to the Legsislative Post Audit
Division's findings.
WVRHEP/AHEC Dinner Update:
An e-mail was
sent out recently to update the Partnership about the 2010 WVRHEP/AHEC
Partnership award dinner. It will be held
in conjunction this year with the West Virginia State Rural Health Conference
on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at The Resort at Glade Springs Daniel, WV. This is in hopes to low the cost of the
dinner. The Partnership awards will be
given out Wednesday night along with a dinner and program. The Earl Ray Tomblin Award for Legislative
Excellence will be awarded during the Rural Health Day at the Legislature in
February. The award will be given to the
recipient in his respective chamber.
This has yet to be confirmed, as Dr. Walker will speak with President
Tomblin for confirmation.
Nominations for
the Partnership awards are currently open and the Nomination form and
description of the Awards are available on the WVRHEP/AHEC website. All nominations are due by September 25,
2009.
Unfinished Business:
Policy 2007-02
(revised 9-21-09) is no available on the web for the panel's review. An e-mail will go out to the list service
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 and a mailing to those not able to view and vote
via the web later in the week
Adjournment: Motion to Adjourn the meeting (Anna
Reno/Norman D. Ferrari, III) Motion Approved.
Appendix A
Policy 2007-02
Page
1
of 5
Education
Partnerships
Policy
and Procedure
Title of
Policy: Requirements Governing the
Purchase, Management and Disposition of Property and Equipment Purchased with
RHEP Administered Funds
Formulated By: HEPC
and WVRHEP Administrative Office
Approved By: Advisory Panel
Date: August 13, 2007
Date: September ,
2009 Revised
Effective Date: Updated
Equipment Schedule to be included within FY 07
Audit and Full Implementation in FY 08
Implementation
Responsibility: Site Coordinator
WVRHEP
Administrative Office
Lead
Agency
Oversight Responsibility: WVRHEP Administrative Office
HEPC
Policy Statement:
This
policy outlines uniform standards governing the purchase, management and
disposition of property and equipment purchased with WVRHEP administered
funds. Effective
The
further intent of this policy is to safeguard RHEP property purchased with
state grant funds to ensure that uses of the asset will remain with the RHEP
program per the oversight of the grantor agency - HEPC.
Procedure:
Purchases
1. The purchase
of equipment is an allowable expense and is defined as an asset that has an
individual purchase price of $1,000 or more and a useful life greater
than one year and all computers (including laptops,
netbooks, and central processing units (CPU) with an acquisition cost of $300
or more. (This policy will
take precedent regarding any other prior policy that may have an area that
contradicts this policy, for example, purchase price different than
$1,000). All
electronic equipment (i.e. PDAs, printers, cell phones, etc) will be
inventoried on a separate list. This
items will not be tagged, but will be subject to the same management as other
equipment purchases.
2. All equipment purchases must be approved by the RHEP
Administrative Office prior to purchase.
Purchase requests are to be itemized with the original or revised budget
for the RHEP program along with the estimated purchase prices. An approved budget or revision, itemizing
equipment will be included in your grant agreement or change order.
3. The purchase of property or vehicles with WVRHEP
funds is a non-allowable expense, effective November 17, 2003. Property or vehicles purchases prior to this
date still must follow the RHEP management requirements outlined in this
policy. Property purchased prior to
November 17, 2003, should be capitalized in the Lead Agency's audit. Footnotes to the financial statement shall
also reflect that the property was purchased with RHEP funding and property
belongs to the RHEP program.
4. Routine repairs/maintenance and capital improvement
expenses are not considered equipment.
5. All Lead Agencies shall follow their organization's
procurement standards when purchasing equipment with RHEP funding. In addition, no item may be purchased that
exceeds a cost that is reasonable or customary - unless approved by the
Commission.
Management
6. Lead Agencies/Consortiums must maintain a RHEP
Cumulative Property and Equipment
Schedule listing all items purchased completely or partially with RHEP administered funds. Only items that had an individual purchase
price of $1,000 or more and a
useful life greater than one year should be listed, as
well as computers, netbooks, and central processing units (CPU) with an
acquisition cost of $300 or more. This
list shall include the following information.
a. Date of Acquisition
b. Identification number (serial number, model number or
other identification number, etc.)
c. Description of equipment/asset
d. Quantity
e. State Account Number
f. Grant Number
g. Total cost
h. RHEP % of Cost
Basic repairs/maintenance expenses or capital
improvement expenses are not to be maintained on this list. These items generally do not reflect a
tangible individual item that can be inventoried separately (examples include
paint, windows, carpet, etc.). Exceptions
may occur for any property purchased with RHEP funds that are on the cumulative
list that may have their value increased by a capital improvement expense,
therefore, these items may be added to the cumulative list.
7. A physical inventory of equipment shall be taken and
the results reconciled with the records at least once every two years. Any discrepancies between the quantities
determined by the physical inspection and those reflected on the RHEP Cumulative
Property and Equipment Schedule shall be investigated to determine the
cause of the difference. Findings shall
be reported to the RHEP Administrative Office.
8. A control system shall be in effect to insure
adequate safeguards to prevent loss, damage, or theft of the equipment. All equipment
meeting the definition in item #1 will be tagged with an WVRHEP inventory tag
provided by RHEP Administratin.
Adequate maintenance procedures shall be implemented to keep the
property and equipment in good condition.
Any loss, damage, or theft of equipment shall be investigated and fully
documented; and the WVRHEP Lead Agency shall promptly notify the RHEP
Administrative Office.
9. Effective for FY 07 and thereafter, the RHEP
Cumulative Property and Equipment Schedule is to be included within the
Lead Agency's annual audit. This
schedule will be reconciled to the cumulative schedule on file at the RHEP
Administrative Office.
Prior to the
FY 07 audits being completed, the Commission will send each Lead Agency their
Consortium's RHEP Cumulative Property and Equipment Schedule in the
revised format listed above. The purpose
of this confirmation will be to ensure accuracy and to inform the Lead Agency
that the individual items less than $1,000 will be removed from the list. Once the list is verified to be accurate, the
Lead Agency will be held accountable for the items on the list per this
policy. The Lead Agency will also be
required to keep this list up to date with additional purchases and
disposals. The updated format and list
must be included within the FY 07 audit as noted above. Note: All required information to be included
on the schedule may not be available for prior years, however, effective for FY
08, all information will be required to be included on the schedule.
Items with a
purchase price less than $1,000 removed from this Schedule shall still remain
and be administered within the RHEP program as long as their useful life will
allow.
10. Title to equipment and property acquired by a WVRHEP
Lead Agency with WVRHEP funds shall vest in the WVRHEP Lead Agency subject to
the conditions of this policy.
·
The Lead Agency
shall use the equipment in the project or program for which it was acquired.
·
The Lead Agency
shall make the property or equipment available for use for similar programs if
such use will not interfere with the work on the original project or program
for which the equipment was originally acquired.
·
When no longer
needed for the original project or program, or if the Lead Agency is no longer
a Lead Agency (ex cancellation of the grant agreement, etc), then property and
equipment purchased with RHEP administered funds and identified on the RHEP
Cumulative Property and Equipment Schedule must be returned to the RHEP program
via the following procedures:
o
Equipment - a
request to dispose, sell or transfer the equipment must be submitted to the
RHEP Administrative Office for approval.
The disposal procedures listed below must be followed.
o
Property (real
and Personal) - HEPC and the RHEP Administrative Offices must be notified. HEPC and the RHEP Administrative Office, will
request
§
Title to
transfer to the grantor agency - HEPC, per the direction of the RHEP
Administrative Office, HEPC will issue a lease for a nominal value to another
entity so the property will continue to be used for RHEP purposes,
§
Or, per the
discretion of HEPC and the RHEP Administrative Office, in lieu of signing over
title to the real or personal property, HECP will pursue and agreement or lease
with the Lead Agency that will allow the RHEP program (or like program) to
benefit from the use of state purchased property for reasonable life of the
asset.
·
An example of
this situation would be if the property has been jointly purchase with state
RHEP funds and another entity's fund, or another entity own a portion of the
building/land on which the property resides.
11. The Lead Agency shall, at a minimum, provide
equivalent insurance coverage for property and equipment purchased with RHEP
administered funding that same as other equivalent property and equipment
insurance purchased with other funding.
Disposal
12. A Property and Equipment Disposition Form must
be submitted to the RHEP Administrative Offices when a Lead Agency (Consortium)
is planning to dispose, sell or transfer an item. Signature approval by both the RHEP
Administrative Office and the Commission must be secured on this form. Once signature approval is obtained, a copy
of the form will be returned to the Lead Agency validating the decision. The original will be maintained at the
Commission and a copy will also be maintained at the RHEP Administrative Office.
·
Equipment and
property transferred to another Lead Agency (Consortium) will be added to their
RHEP Cumulative Property and Equipment Schedule.
·
Proceeds from
the sale of equipment and property must be used for the RHEP program. The sale of property must conform to the Lead
Agency's procurement policies and the sales price shall be reasonable and at
fair market value.
13. A denial of the disposal request will be communicated
with the form being returned and being marked denied and a reason will be
disclosed.
14. Approval or denial of disposition will be made within
60 days of submission.
_____________________________ ________________________
Robert Walker, MD Hilda
R. Heady, MSW
Vice Chancellor for Health
Sciences Executive Director,
WVRHEP