ST. PAUL - Steps to regionalize Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) offered by the Town of St. Paul, County of St. Paul and Town of Elk Point are moving ahead.
On Feb. 3. the topic of creating a regional FCSS partnership came up during a joint meeting between the three municipalities and less than a month later, a memorandum of understanding will likely be in place as of March 1.
On Feb. 22, County of St. Paul council approved the memorandum of understanding at its public works meeting, sending it back to the Town of St. Paul and Town of Elk Point to approve.
Both Town councils had meetings scheduled for Feb. 28. Town of St. Paul Mayor Maureen Miller confirmed that the item would be on Monday night's agenda. Due to Lakeland This Week's afternoon press deadline, information from the meeting was not yet available.
Not a complete merger - yet
When asked about the steps taking place to regionalize the departments, County of St. Paul CAO Sheila Kitz explained that the move is being done as part of the municipality's succession planning, and the anticipated future departure of the County's FCSS Director, Janice Fodchuk.
The County felt that it would be "an opportunity to explore a merger of two separate FCSS (programs) to a regional FCSS in the future," said Kitz. "The premise is that our director will move into the Town FCSS offices and all residents in the St. Paul area will be able to access FCSS services at the Town of St. Paul’s FCSS location."
This year will offer an opportunity for the Town of St. Paul FCSS director, Lynn Smid, to become familiar with FCSS programs that the County and Town of Elk Point FCSS operate.
In 2015, the County of St. Paul and Town of Elk Point decided to combine the municipalities' FCSS departments, and have been operating as the County of St. Paul & Elk Point FCSS ever since.
"The FCSS office in Elk Point will continue to operate as it currently does," confirmed Kitz. "At this point in time there will be no merging of financials."
She added that the County will continue to employ staff to run programming that is in place.
"We will, however, allocate some funds to the Town of St. Paul to offset the costs incurred by the Town. For example, the Town of St. Paul will share their staff to assist with the County/Town of Elk Point programs. This has been determined to be the best way to transition the services ahead of a move to a Regional FCSS," said Kitz.
Future vision
The vision, if it is approved by municipalities later in the year, is for a completely regional FCSS, with the management of the program likely falling under the Town of St. Paul.
"The municipalities feel that this process will result in a win-win for all residents as future cost savings will result in enhanced programming," said Kitz.
If the memorandum of understanding is approved by the Town of St. Paul and Town of Elk Point, a relocation of the County of St. Paul's FCSS office will likely happen in early March.
