Finding 1181351 (2025-003)

Name of contact Person: Brittany Naylor, Director of Social Services Corrective action: This finding is listed as a repeat finding on the Food and Nutrition Services program and was a citedfindinginpreviousaudit2024-003.LenoirCountyhasdiscoveredtherootcausesforthesecontinuedfindings and have made the following updates to alleviate these issues. The root causes for these findings stems from ineffective processes from the time documentation is received to when it is transferred to the worker, staff in training and worker oversight and error when documenting case actions. Lenoir County will implement the following for theFood and Nutrition Servicescaseactionscited for theSingleCounty Audit Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2025. Staff meeting will be held Wednesday, February 18, 2026 and the following training materials will be discussed and provided to the Food and Nutrition staff to ensure continued understanding and knowledge of program requirements. With new staff in training, the following documentation from prior year will be provided again. This will include documentation and guidance of policy/DSS Administrative letter. The DSS Administrative letter EFS_FNS_AL-35-2020 will be provided detailing the Telephonic Signature for Food and Nutrition Services Applications and Recertifications (amended) as of September I, 2020. (Where to document on applications and recertifications and must have a standalone note and cannot contain any additional characters or spaces). Verbally explain and provide the DSS-8569 form and ensure that staff are creating and mailing required documents to clients as required by policy. Training will include explanation and guidance on how the case file must be documented with the date the notice was verbally explained, how the notice was given, if by hand deliver or mailed. Verbally explain and provide policy 130.01 Documentation/Record Retention and policy 130.03 Case Record Documentation to ensure that staff understand how to correctly document case actions, attach documents in NCF AST and provide detailed information on how income was verified. Providing staff with copies of the Single County Audit findings, the Corrective Action plan and staff expectations to ensure that staff is well informed of the findings and what is expected from the Corrective Action Plan implementation. Front Desk Staff will train on how to effectively complete Telephonic Signature Standalone verifications correctly before submitting to ongoing workers. Staff will be required to check documentation and case notes thoroughly before proceeding with case disposition to ensure Telephonic Standalone Signature has been added, if applicable. Supervisors and/or Lead Worker will complete 100% 2nd party reviews on all new hires until each worker receives a 98% or higher accuracy processing rating and will complete a minimum of 5 2nd party reviews for each existing worker to target these key areas of concern until all workers reach and maintain a 98% or higher accuracy processing rating. Supervisors and Lead Workers will continue to monitor case actions and provide monthly statistical data detailing case findings. The Supervisor and Lead Worker will provide a list of findings and maintain scheduled monthly meetings with staff to provide feedback and coaching to ensure continued compliance of program requirements. The meetings held will consist of staff unit meetings and/or individual conferences provided by the Supervisors in an effort to effectively catch and manage error trends that have been discovered from 2nd party review findings. All documentation will be submitted to the Administrator for review and will be discussed and reviewed with the Supervisors during monthly conference meetings. The Administrator will provide monthly updates on case actions and findings to the Director. Proposed Completion Date: Training will be held with Food and Nutrition Staff on Wednesday, February 18, 2026 for eligibility issues cited. Corrective Action Plan will be implemented immediately after training and significant improvement of all areas cited must be maintained by June 30, 2026