LOCAL PUBLIC HEALTH FINANCE AND GRANT WEBINAR
Webinar Highlights and Questions/Answers
August 22, 2014
Overview of Webinar
Handout: Agenda
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The purpose of the webinar was to provide a general overview of some changes taking place with grants
to CHBs including:
o Changes to the 2015-2019 Master Grant Contract
o Changes to the mechanism for distributing Title V, TANF and Local Public Health Grant funds
o Review of a recent Alternate Financial Reconciliation Requirements for MDH Grants to Local
Public Health
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This webinar did not address questions or changes specific to grant programs other than LPH Act funds,
TANF and Title V. However, some of the information does apply to all MDH grants to CHBs
Presenters were:
o Alyssa Haugen, Grants and Special Projects Manager, Health Operations Bureau
o DeeAnn Finley, LPH Policy and Administration Specialist, OPI
o Janet Olstad, Assistant Division Director, Community and Family Health Division
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Changes to the Master Grant Contract (Alyssa Haugen)
Handouts: Draft Master Grant Contract and Master Grant Contract Crosswalk
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Reviewed changes to the CHB Master Grant Contract.
Did a one year amendment last year to take the time review the MGC and make some revisions to update,
streamline and align terms with the MGC and program specific grant project agreements.
MGC will be for January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019.
Grant project agreements can cross MGC terms.
Intent to leave MCG numbers the same.
Reviewed the content of the MGC crosswalk.
There is major grant reform happening at the federal level that may require an amendment to the MGC
#14. We will review these possible changes with our legal counsel, but it may require an amendment.
The MGC will be sent in early September and will come as an e-mail from OPI and will be returned to OPI,
We will accept signed and scanned or mail in copies.
Fully signed paper copies will be returned OPI.
More details will be included in the e-mail.
Local Public Health Grant Changes
LPH Act Grant (DeeAnn Finley)
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The Office of Performance Improvement began managing the LPH Act funds on July 1, 2014.
Beginning with the next grant cycle that begins January 1, 2015 the LPH grant funds will be distributed
through a grant project agreement.
This grant project agreement will replace the Assurances and Agreements currently in place for CHBs.
The current Assurances and Agreements will be replaced by three grant project agreements: one each for
the LPH Act grant funds, TANF, and Title V.
The duties for the LPH Act grant funds are very similar to assurances and agreements. There are a few
items that were moved to the master grant contract, but you will see a lot of similarities.
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A draft of these duties has been reviewed by several local public health directors.
The MDH, OPI will try to have the term of the grant project agreement be for multiple years (probably 5).
It is anticipated that these grant project agreements will be sent out in late September or early October
for signatures.
Unlike some of the grants you have, this will probably not include a dollar amount and you will receive an
annual award letter with your amount.
TANF & Title V (Janet Olstad)
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Intention to look at doing grant project agreements for TANF and Title but extended time periods – 5
years for Title V, but maybe shorter for TANF given the impact of the biennial process on these grants.
The goal is to have them out by end of September for signatures.
Again, will be based on information that is in the existing Assurances and Agreements – starting on page 4
Only change might be moving TANF over to the Family Home Visiting program as the MDH authorized
staff.
LPH Reconciliation Exemption (Alyssa Haugen)
Handouts: Alternate Financial Reconciliation Requirements for MDH Grants to Community Health Boards
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Review handout for details.
While only required for only grants over $50,000, some grant programs with grants under that amount
may periodically ask for general ledgers to meet federal requirements.
MDH is making plans for some technical assistance related to finance and budgeting based on the
Reconciliation Exemption requirements and hearing from LPH leaders about the need for training on
budget and finance.
We are working with MDH grant managers to try to increase consistency among grants as much as
possible so we can provide guidance.
Questions
If your grant project agreement requires participation in out-of-state travel, do you still need to get prior
approval for out-of-state travel under the terms of the MGC?
The MGC does say you need prior written approval. However, specific approval will be done by grant project
agreements. If you already have that approval in place through an accepted work plan or budget for a grant
project agreement; that would work. If it is something new and was not part of your work plan or budget, you
would just need to send an e-mail to get permission and that approval could be placed in your grant file.
What about travel to boarder states where it is 1 mile to the next state and we are doing planning with
them. Do we need prior approval for 1-2 miles?
It should work to have your out of state travel plans (if you know them) outlined as clearly as possible in your
work plan or budget. When those are approved, that would serve as prior approval. If you could do on the
front end with broad approval for the year should be sufficient.
Could the documentation on sharing the LPH responsibilities be a copy of the board minutes?
That could be an option. The wording in the grant duties says to provide documentation and CHBs to do what
works for them. We will continue to explore this with CHBs.
There was a notice in CHS Mailbag about federal changes to the Title V MCH Block Grant. What impact does
that have at the state and local level?
The federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau is implementing a transformation of the Title V MCH Block
Grant which they are referring to as MCH 3.0. The aims of the transformation are to reduce the reporting
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burden and increase accountability from states. This may have a lot to do with the Affordable Care Act and
the impact of that on the block grant. MCHB is trying to make a case for the role of Title V and need for the
block grant. It looks as though what we are asking of LPH may not change significantly, but this is still a bit
unknown. Changes begin in FFY 2016 and will be a phased-in approach and not fully implemented until 2018
or 2019.
Is there going to be a specific format for approval of out-of-state expenses, subcontracts, etc.? Will this be
emails or official signature? The approval process for each of these seems to be different and inconsistent from
grant to grant. This has an impact when we have state or federal audits. They may ask for proof of budget or
subcontract approval. What will that official correspondence look like? Will there be any consistency in the
process?
The Community and Family Health Division as convened a group of their grant programs to create some
consistency in their programs. Additionally MDH (department-wide) has convened a group of grant managers
to try to become more consistent across the department.
One concern is that approval via e-mail may not be able to be accessed if the staff that leaves the agency.
MDH had recently purchased an electronic grant management system. Hopefully this system will increase
consistency among MDH grants. Invoices can be submitted and grantees can view the status of invoices.
Additionally, this system can include other correspondence, such as budget and out of state travel approvals
so the information will be available to everyone with permission within your agency. The MDH is starting to
roll out that program on grants. Some local agencies will be asked to pilot test the system. It will be a central
portal to all of your grants and access more information you have already submitted to the MDH. Some CHBs
will be contacted to test the system by the end of the year.
Are you planning to have this referenced or on display at the Community Health Conference?
That is a good suggestion. I will work on setting up a resource table at the conference?
Will award letters for 2015 come out by early October of this year? CHBs often try to do budgets in October?
TANF and the LPH Act funding will probably be available by October because there were no changes to those
funding amounts. There may be a very slight reduction in LPH Act Grant because the joining of a new CHB,
affecting multi-county incentive. Early October may be difficult for Title V given the timing if the federal
awards. Title V still under federal sequestration so the funding amount can change a little every year; making
it difficult to determine local funding. The MDH is pushing federal partners to get that information to us as
soon as possible.
Regarding the financial reconciliation exemption, many of the grants have CHBs send in proofs every time with
every invoice. Does this new reconciliation mean we can stop doing that?
This is one if the items we are working on with individual programs. We know there are differences in what is
required at the invoice level and what will happen with reconciliation. We do not want to make commitments
of individual programs until we are able to talk with them. We have started to have some group meetings to
make those adjustments. Until you receive a notice, we do not want you to start changing what you submit to
specific grant programs. There may be federal requirements that that we are not aware of that may require
more documentation. Feel free to contact individual grant programs to see where they are at with
implementing the exemption.
In the title LPH reconciliation Exemption, What is meant by the word "Exemption"?
The state Office of Grants Management has a requirement for financial reconciliation of all grants given out by
the state of Minnesota. The “exemption” is asking for an exemption to that requirement for grants to CHBs.
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