Unusual collection of state representatives call on Gov. McKee to staff DHS adequately
By Steve Ahlquist in UpRiseRI
UpriseRI first reported on the understaffing
back in February, when DHS employees held a press conference to address their
concerns. See: Unfilled staff
vacancies, ongoing mismanagement causing severe problems at DHS.
Since then, the situation has worsened.
In February, “Backlogs due to vacancies at DHS
have caused a lack of access to vital resources for Rhode Island’s most
vulnerable children, families and elderly, including delays to obtaining SNAP
benefits for food security, child care benefits, health insurance coverage, and
cash assistance to meeting basic needs during the bone-chilling winter months,
amongst the COVID-19 pandemic,” said SEIU Local 580 President Matthew
Gunnip. Since then DHS has lost 11 more workers.
State Senator Samuel Bell took to Twitter on Thursday to criticize McKee’s handling of the DHS staff vacancies, tied the intentional understaffing at DHS to state efforts to cut Medicaid. Senator Bell’s Twitter thread is well worth a read.
At his press conference on Thursday, Governor
McKee claimed to be unaware of Senator Bell’s Twitter thread, saying that his
administration has spent “a great deal of time understanding the issues that
we’re working with there.” The Governor said that he’s “comfortable and confident
that we’re heading in the right direction at DHS.”
The letter from members of the Rhode Island
House of Representatives strikes a much less comfortable and confident stance
regarding DHS, saying that the staffing vacancies “are endangering Rhode
Island’s most vulnerable populations…
“What exists now is a narrative from DHS that
vacancies are being filled, but in reality, vacancies were intentionally kept
vacant until January 2022, and in the last few months we have merely seen some
chairs getting shuffled on the Titanic’s deck, while the total number of DHS
staff actually declined.”
Here’s Governor McKee answering questions
from The Providence Journal‘s Katherine Gregg:
You can read the letter here:
Dear Governor Daniel J. McKee:
The Department of Human Services (DHS) is
responsible for ensuring that critical benefits and services are efficiently
and effectively delivered to more than 300,000 adults, children, the elderly,
and individuals with disabilities.
DHS reported to the House Oversight
Committee on February 17, 2022 that there were 978 funded positions at
the agency, but only 875 were filled as of January 2022. Ten weeks later, on
April 23, 2022, the total number of filled DHS positions reported to
legislature was 864. This means a net loss of 11 positions since January 2022
and a net total of 114 funded positions that were vacant.
Frontline positions that went vacant as far
back as April 24, 2020 (more than two years ago!) were not advertised until
January 19, 2022. Neither the COVID-19 pandemic nor early retirements and other
attrition can explain this shocking lack of urgency.
We, the undersigned members of the Rhode
Island House of Representatives, are respectfully calling upon Governor Daniel
J. McKee to create a transparent, public, and collaborative action plan to fill
all funded frontline positions by June 2, 2022 and thus help alleviate the
untenable workloads and backlogs at DHS, which are endangering Rhode Island’s
most vulnerable populations. Such a plan needs to include a new strategy, that
is specific and concrete, to ensure that new staff are recruited and onboarded
efficiently and effectively, and that all staff are managed competently, so
once a net increase in total frontline DHS employees is achieved, it can be
sustained over time. What exists now is a narrative from DHS that vacancies are
being filled, but in reality, vacancies were intentionally kept vacant until
January 2022, and in the last few months we have merely seen some chairs
getting shuffled on the Titanic’s deck, while the total number of DHS staff
actually declined.
On February 17, 2022, outgoing Acting DHS
Director Celia Blue testified that an infusion of 90 more frontline positions
was needed to adequately deliver services. We call upon Governor Daniel McKee
to submit an amended budget proposal as recommended by former DHS Acting
Director Blue and provide funding for 90 additional frontline positions at DHS,
above and beyond the critical vacancies that exist now, which Acting Director
Blue stated were needed to meet federal mandates and to properly resource DHS.
Sincerely,
·
District 1
Representative Edith H. Ajello
·
District 4
Representative Rebecca M. Kislak
·
District 7
Representative David Morales
·
District 10
Representative Scott Slater
·
District 16
Representative Brandon C. Potter
·
District 18
Representative Arthur Handy
·
District 20
Representative David A. Bennett
·
District 25
Representative Thomas E. Noret
·
District 27
Representative Patricia A. Serpa
·
District 28
Representative George A. Nardone
·
District 31
Representative Julie A. Casimiro
·
District 36
Representative Blake A. Filippi
·
District 39
Representative Justin Price
·
District 40
Representative Michael W. Chippendale
·
District 41
Representative Robert J. Quattrocchi
·
District 42
Representative Edward T. Cardillo, Jr.
·
District 43
Representative Deborah A. Fellela
·
District 47
Representative David J. Place
·
District 48
Representative Brian C. Newberry
·
District 55
Representative Arthur J. Corvese
·
District 56
Representative Joshua J. Giraldo
·
District 59
Representative Jean Philippe Barros
·
District 60
Representative Karen Alzate
·
District 61
Representative Leonela Felix
·
District 62
Representative Mary D. Messier
·
District 64
Representative Brianna E. Henries
·
District 65
Representative Gregg Amore
·
District 66
Representative Liana Cassar
·
District 68
Representative June Speakman
·
District 69
Representative Susan R. Donovan
·
District 71
Representative Michelle E. McGaw
·
District 72
Representative Terri Cortvriend