Title III Administrative and Financial Requirements Policy #20: Flexibilities Under a Major Disaster Declaration

This content is part of a public comment period. For more information, refer to Minnesota Board on Aging – State Plan on Aging.

Authority Reference	45 CFR 1321.101
Operating Category	Title III Administrative and Financial Requirements

Policy

1. The goal of this policy is to provide a simple, clear set of expectations with regard to communication between MBA, AAAs, and service providers during and after a federally declared emergency (specifically, a “major disaster declaration” under the Stafford Act (42 U.S.C. 5121–5207) and hereafter referred to as an MDD), to protect the health and safety of older Minnesotans during a MDD within the federally permissible uses of OAA funds; and to protect the integrity of public funds during emergency situations.

2. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the federal government can declare a major disaster for any natural event, including a tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, earthquake, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought, or, regardless of cause, fire, flood, or explosion, if the federal government determines damage of such severity has occurred that it is beyond the combined capabilities of state and local governments to respond.  A major disaster declaration provides a wide range of federal assistance programs for individuals and public infrastructure, including funds for both emergency and permanent work.

3. If the federal government declares an MDD in any portion of Minnesota, MBA may use disaster relief flexibilities to provide eligible services to affected older adults and family caregivers in areas of the State where the MDD is authorized.

4. Under a federally-declared MDD, MBA may take any of the following actions at its discretion:

A. Allow use of any portion of the funds of any open grant awards under Title III of the Act for disaster relief services for older individuals and family caregivers. For purposes of this policy, MBA intends this to mean any portion of a grant award already allocated to the MBA or to an AAA that has not yet been spent.

B. Award portions of State plan administration, up to a maximum of five percent of the Title III grant award or to a maximum of the amounts set forth at § 1321.9(c)(2)(iv), for use in a planning and service area covered in whole or part under a MDD without the requirement of allocation through the intrastate funding formula for direct service provision.

C. Award of funds set aside to address disasters, as set forth in § 1321.99, or as determined by the Assistant Secretary for Aging, in the following ways:

· i. to an AAA serving a planning and service area covered in whole or part under a MDD without the requirement of allocation through the intrastate funding formula;

· ii. to be used for direct service provision, direct expenditures, and/or procurement of items on a statewide level, if the MBA adheres to the following:
a. MBA judges that provision of services or procurement of supplies by the State agency is necessary to ensure an adequate supply of such services and/or that such services can be provided/supplies procured more economically, and with comparable quality, by the State agency;
b. MBA consults with AAAs prior to exercising the flexibility, and includes the Ombudsman as set forth in part 1324, subpart A if funding for the Ombudsman program is affected;
c. MBA uses such set aside funding, as provided at § 1321.99, for services provided through AAAs and other aging network partners to the extent reasonably practicable, in the judgment of the MBA; and
d. MBA reports any clients, units, and services provided through such expenditures.

5. Services considered to be “disaster relief services” may include any allowable services under the OAA to eligible older individuals or family caregivers during the period covered by the MDD. AAAs may not use OAA funding for services not allowable under the OAA, even during a MDD.

6. AAAs must request use of MDD flexibilities in advance of any adjustments to their planned use of OAA grant funds and receive approval from MBA prior to spending their OAA funds in any other manner than stated in their grant agreement. MBA, must, in turn, respond promptly to AAAs requesting such flexibility. Processes and corresponding timeframes are described under “Procedures” below.

7. The general principle to be followed in emergency situations is to be responsive to emergency circumstances on the ground, knowledgeable about how funds may and may not be used in such circumstances, and communicative with state and local colleagues.

8. AAAs and service providers must carefully track expenditures for disaster relief services.

9. MBA must record expenditures for disaster relief flexibilities separately from the grant where funding was expended. MBA may expend funds from any source within open grant awards under Title III and Title VII of the Act, but must track the source of all expenditures.

10. MBA may only make obligations exercising this flexibility during the MDD incident period or 90 days thereafter or with prior approval from the Assistant Secretary for Aging.

Procedures

1. MBA will communicate in writing with an AAA if a major disaster declaration (MDD) is declared for a part of the state that includes any area within the PSA the AAA serves within 72 hours of such declaration and/or as soon possible after written notification from the federal government. This communication will include the intended duration of the MDD if specified and as determined by the federal government.

2. AAAs are encouraged to reach out to service providers in any serious situation in which disaster relief services might reasonably be anticipated. AAAs must especially be proactive with respect to Title III-C Nutrition Services. After receiving notification from MBA that an MDD was declared, AAAs are required to reach out to each of their Title III-C service providers within 48 hours and to each of their Title III-B, III-D, and III-E service providers within one week of notice from the MBA to find out the following:

A. What is the ability of the service provider to maintain a normal level of service for their current clients given the circumstances of the MDD and for what duration of time;

B. Does the service provider have capacity to provide services to additional clients if they receiving funding to do so?

C. What is the service provider hearing from clients about their needs for services and/or emergency situations, especially with regard to nutrition services?

D. If the service provider is unable to provide a normal level of service, what is/are the specific challenge(s) the service provider is experiencing that need to be addressed in order for the service provider to resume service?

3. The purpose of the initial information gathered under Paragraph 2 of this Procedure is to serve as a basis of timely collaborative planning and communication between the MBA and an AAA about disaster-related needs with a PSA experiencing an MDD.

A. The AAA must communicate their findings to the MBA within 24 hours of receiving such information from their providers.

B. The MBA will evaluate the information provided by the AAA and follow up with the AAA in writing within 24 hours.

C. The MBA and AAA must work together to determine the level of urgency and what flexibilities the AAA may need to support older Minnesotans and caregivers.

4. In this process, AAAs are strongly encouraged to identify what would be most useful to address the urgent needs of older Minnesotans and their caregivers within the PSA. If the MBA determines an AAA may use an open grant award for disaster relief services, the MBA must communicate this decision in writing to the AAA and indicate which grant award(s) may be used for this purpose and how much may be spent.

5. In using any flexibilities under an MDD, the AAA must report:

A. The specific entities receiving funds;

B. The amount, source, and intended use for funds; and

C. Other such justification of the use of funds.

6. When AAAs have expenditures to report from their flexible use of funding under an MDD and as approved under these Procedures, AAAs must report the spending separately from other Area Plan expenditures. This will also require service providers to track any spending under MDD authorities separately from their normal expenditures. For example, if Nutrition Provider A normally provides congregate dining services, but opens or staffs a new site because of an MDD, expenditures for meals served at the additional congregate site should be tracked and reported separately from their normal congregate site meals when the service provider submits its expenditures to the AAA. The MBA will provide a reporting format for such expenditures.

7. If MBA and/or AAAs use any of the flexibilities under an MDD, the use of these procedures requires MBA to prepare and submit a State plan amendment as set forth in § 1321.31(b). The State plan amendment must at a minimum include the specific entities receiving funds; the amount, source, and intended use for funds; and other such justification of the use of funds.