County discusses forming guardian monitoring program

At a workshop meeting Monday morning, Whitman County commissioners discussed the possibility of forming a guardianship monitoring program. The program would aid in establishing guardians for individuals who are unable to manage their own affairs.

County Commissioner Art Swannack brought the topic up in the workshop meeting and said he felt it would be something worth looking at.

“We do need this monitoring process to make sure it’s done correctly,” said Swannack.

Swannack attended a state Council on Aging meeting earlier this year where he learned about the program. The council there discussed the program in Spokane County.

“The state Council on Aging was really impressed with Spokane County,” said Swannack.

The program would fall under the responsibility of Jill Whelchel, clerk of the court.

“It would be something through her office in conjunction with the superior court judge,” said Swannack.

Whelchel said the program would help to establish accountability and reporting in regard to court-appointed guardians.

“When the court appoints a guardian, that guardian is truly working for the court,” she said. “There is supposed to be regular reporting to the court. It’s historically difficult. If you have a program in place, each guardian is overseen by someone in the program.”

Whelchel said if there is no one to oversee the program, it falls under the responsibilities of the superior court judge.

“Otherwise, Judge Frazier is doing it,” she said. “And he already has too much. It is an important issue to have a guardian monitoring program.”

Swannack said “some do, some don’t” in response to the reporting. He said a program would help the guardians to be reminded of court dates and other important information.

The commissioners Monday discussed the possibility of the program, but took no action. They said they want to take the time to meet with Judge Frazier to hear his perspective.

“We still want to talk with the judge to see what he says,” said Swannack.

If the program is implemented, Whelchel would be responsible for it, and she would seek to have a part-time employee in her office to help her with her other duties as clerk of the court so she could oversee the program.

“If I had the money to have someone in the clerk’s office do the work I am currently doing, then I would have the time to do it in 2017,” she said. “Certainly I would want to start putting a program together like that by June if I had the funding.”

Commissioner Michael Largent asked if any “valuable services” would need to be cut in order to fund the program. The commissioners agreed this was important to look into and address.

Swannack reported that the program is estimated to cost $9,000, and those dollars would be for funding the part-time employee in the clerk’s office.

“It seemed like a very small investment for something that was worthwhile,” he said. “I think it’d be worth having that in our budget.”