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Opinion: Department of Social Services needs significant improvements, says Rossie resident

Posted 10/26/21

To the Editor: There's no doubt significant improvements need to be made in the Department of Social Services, but why it's necessary to hire an outside consulting firm costing the county's taxpayers …

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Opinion: Department of Social Services needs significant improvements, says Rossie resident

Posted

To the Editor:

There's no doubt significant improvements need to be made in the Department of Social Services, but why it's necessary to hire an outside consulting firm costing the county's taxpayers $85,000 is beyond me. As an act of community service, there are four (4) universities with ample talent to research, evaluate, document, and make recommendations to improve the existing policies; quality of future oversight is also important.

Evaluating existing deficiencies and creating policies and procedures to correct them is not rocket science. Let’s start with some very basic questions. Have the caseloads/salaries been compared to a county with similar client numbers that is running efficiently? When staff didn't complete wellbeing visits, were the assigned staff held responsible, and was the lack of proper diligence noted in their personnel file to document the event and provide evidence for potential employment action in the future? What technology is being used to facilitate the management of caseloads and follow-up? Does the Personnel Policy Manual indicate that no DSS employee can profit from clients served by the agency? Did employees come forward indicating problems with the existing policies and procedures? If so, what if anything happened to their claims?

NYS Department of Social Services shouldn’t be allowed to walk away unscathed in this debacle either. The office in Syracuse was well aware of the problems occurring in St. Lawrence County and did nothing.

A young teenager from Gouverneur, Treyanna Summerville, did not have to die. She died because people chose not to do their job and look the other way.

Jan Robinson
Rossie