The Guilford County Health and Human Services Advisory Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 28 and, when they do, there will be plenty to talk about.

Some of the items on the agenda are American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding, a partnership between Social Services and the Guilford County Family Justice Center, the “Every Baby Guilford” program, Monkeypox, and the money on the way from the massive national opioid lawsuit settlement.

There are other items as well before the committee that has an interesting history and very limited powers – thus the name “Advisory” in its title.

Before the Republicans took control of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners in 2012 Guilford County had a Board of Health and a Board of Social Services that had real powers well beyond that of an advisory role.

However, the commissioners felt as though the Board of Social Services in particular had not conducted proper oversight of that department.  The department was the center of a scandal of falsified reports and paperwork that covered up a huge backlog in the distribution of benefits.

So, the Republican-led Board of Commissioners did away with both the Board of Public Health and the Board of Social Services, merged the departments and turned those board duties over to the commissioners themselves.  The Board of Commissioners also merged the two former boards into one committee and relegated it to an advisory role.

The committee can advise the county commissioners. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, the commissioners were mostly determining county health policy with little input from others except for the county health director.

The September 28 committee meeting will be held at the county’s Department of Health and Human Services building at 1203 Maple Street in Greensboro in room 122 on the first floor.

The meeting can also be viewed virtually using the Zoom link https://www.zoomgov.com/j/1605956867?pwd=WGNxQ0NFMmVwM2U3c2Z2Y0pqQkFuUT09.

Those who need assistance or have questions about the meeting can contact Board Liaison Wilton Donnell at wdonnell@guilfordcountync.gov.

 

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