04/15/1997 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 4/15/97 sanctions in the Kennedy-Kassebaum law are targeted at those seniors who knowingly and -„ willfully transfer their assets in order to qualify for Medicaid as a needy person. Although the committee supports sanctions against those who would intentionally defraud the government, the committee views the Kennedy-Kassebaum sanctions as first excessive and then unenforceable. There are two reasons to support repeal of these criminal sanctions: First, the sanctions in place prior to the Kennedy-Kassebaum law already dealt with the issue of those persons who transfer their assets in order to qualify for Medicaid. These persons would be denied access to the Medicaid program for a period of time equal to the time that their assets would have paid for their care, which is currently at $2,821 per month for a period up to 36 months. Second, the criminal penalties involved in the Kennedy-Kassebaum law would apply only if it could be proven that the person knowingly and willfully sought to defraud the government. Therefore, the Intra-Governmental Relations and Legislation; Long-Range Planning Committee recommends passage of this resolution due to the fact that the criminal sanctions in the Kennedy Kassebaum law are viewed as excessive and generally unenforceable. AUDIENCE PARTICIPATIQN Dick Moran, 4650 Dover Center Road, spoke about his plan to establish a group home. He said there seemed to be some confusion that he had not communicated well with the city as to his intentions and had not given the city notice of intention to file a lawsuit. Mr. Moran then presented Council members with a packet of documents which he said would "speak for themselves." Mr. Moran began to read from one of the documents--a letter dated March 6, 1997 from his attorney, Pat McIntyre, to Law Director Gareau. Mr. Moran's recitation was stopped when he reached his allotment of five minutes, and he was assured that the documents would be placed in the record. (Per instruction of Law Director Gareau, the documents will be kept on file in the City Council ofliice.) (Later in the meeting, Law Director Gareau said he wanted the record to reflect that the reason the letter of March 6, 1997 was written was because he asked Mr. Moran's attorney for the document because we were very confused by the number of requested residents as they had indicated various numbers. They were unclear on this issue, and he wanted a position paper to clarify the situation. A follow-up letter dated March 7, 1997 raised the issue of fair housing but did not supply the case laws. At that point, the Law Department began research on the case laws and was then able to formulate an opinion and act accordingly. Mr. Gareau asked that Council not overlook the fact that the original application asked for nine (9) residents and not sixteen (16). It was only after the letters of March 6 and March 7, 1997, did it suddenly become an issue where more residents were required than had been on the original application.) Carol Koziol, 4425 Birch Circle. Mrs. Koziol thanked Council for the opportunity to present her concerns regarding the Birch School baseball diamond which would be 12 feet from her backyard. Speaking on behalf of herself and Mr. Osiecki she wanted to thank everyone for allowing them to participate in the process. 6