REGISTRATION AND FILES

Mr. NATCHER. I want to direct your attention to pages 23-61 and 23-62 of the justifications wherein an increase of $20,166 is requested, and six positions for registration and files. Explain that to the committee, please.

Before you proceed with that, Mr. Shea, let me direct your attention to pages 23–61 and 23–63. One page shows five, I believe, and the other one shows six. What is the exact number of positions requested? Is it five or six?

Mr. SHEA. It is six positions.

Mr. NATCHER. Go right ahead.

Mr. SHEA. The request is for six GS-3 clerk-typists in the registration and files. The registration and files section of the Public Assistance Division has by default really become a social services exchange in the District of Columbia. Some 7 or 8 or a little bit longer than that maybe, 9 years ago, there used to be what was referred to as a social service exchange. This was a file, a series of files, a registration and files unit in which all agencies that had any contact with an individual would register this fact on this index. The service was discontinued. At that time the service as a matter of fact was supported by voluntary funds. So that what has happened is by default, our registration and files has virtually become a social service exchange. It is through this unit that the requests come from virtually every social agency, from many of the hospitals in the area, to find out if the individual or the individual and his family have been known to public assistance or to any operation of public welfare. With the existing staff it has not been possible to post and clear and file and maintain the daily workload of the unit on a current basis. It is in this particular area where the greatest number of problems appear to arise because of the volume of demand for clearance of applications and for identification and for many other purposes. This identification is not only from within the Department but from without the Department. From other social agencies, hospitals, and clinics in the total area. So we are attempting to get this particular segment of the agency services, which is public assistance and child welfare, manned to the extent that they can keep current with the pressure that they find coming into them daily.

Mr. NATCHER. Mr. Shea, on page 63 of the justifications you show that the workload statistics indicate a need for 11 additional positions. However, the total positions needed are not requested at this time, pending a management survey of the total programs serviced by this unit.

Now, do you feel that any of these positions should be requested at this time, or should this survey be completed to show just exactly what is needed before the positions are requested?

Mr. SHEA. Of course, we hope that the management survey will cut down basically on the paperwork of the operation to the absolute minimum. However, this is not going to cut down, I do not think, to such an extent, but we will not need some of the existing positions. We would hope, of course, we would not have to request any more positions beyond that, after the survey is completed. But the pressure on this particular unit is so great now that I do not think that, even if

the management survey is totally successful, that we are going to find ourselves needing less positions in this particular area, below this particular request. We would hope, however, that the survey would indicate we would not need any more than this number in the future.

PAYROLL CLERKS

Mr. NATCHER. Mr. Shea, I want to direct your attention now to page 23-64 and 23-65. Justify the request for three additional accounting clerks, for a payroll. At the same time, explain to the committee now, on your statistical data set forth on 23-65 the reduction.

Mr. SHEA. The Department is requesting in agency services, 95 new positions. The request is for 3 additional accounting clerks to enable the division and the Department to maintain current production for the daily, the semi-weekly, and monthly payrolls prepared, which involve as you know over $17 million a year and involve an average of 35,000 persons receiving public welfare benefits on an average. One of the things that creates a major problem in the division is if anything happens to the payroll, if it is not getting out on schedule, and have us break down and get the material to the appropriate District agency that prepares the checks and gets the checks into the mail and on to the recipients. What we are trying to do is to make sure that the individual authorizations received for computation and requiring the application of various policies and procedures and standards for recipients of public assistance and for the board and care of wards of the Department are processed promptly. Otherwise we have confusion in the whole agency. We have an excessive amount of telephone calls. We have people who are really desperate in order to be able to handle their immediate needs on public assistance which usually, of course, is paying the rent on schedule the first day of the month, and any board and care payments for wards whether they be in foster homes or whether they be in institutions.

The people who take care of the children in foster homes or the people who run the institutions have to pay their bills, too. So we try to get our end of the contract out on schedule. We feel that these positions are necessary in order to help us realize our end of the bargain.

DICTATING MACHINE TRANSCRIBERS

Mr. NATCHER. Mr. Shea, justify the request for nine additional dictating machine transcribers that you show on page 23-66 of the justifications.

Mr. SHEA. At the present time we have a supervisor, clerk, dictating machine transcriber, who directs and supervises the transcribing program through an assistant and through a unit that actually is constituted of 36 transcribers. They transcribe for 207 social workers and 14 investigators. Their work consists of typing case histories on persons served by public welfare, and which as you know involves a great deal of complex technical and quasi-legal and social work technology. We try to maintain control records of the receipt assignment and completion of cases and prepare related reports by unit, social worker, and activity. The large portion of the reports of eligibility investigations and of service rendered must be written in longhand

by the social workers, thereby wasting more professional time which they should be spending, either on investigating or with the recipients in the field. We would hope that these additional transcribers would begin to meet the need of additional positions. You will recall we asked for social work positions to establish three new units in Public Assistance.

We have asked for 15 new investigators, 10 of whom are investigators per se, and 5 of whom are collection agents. Each of them will have a certain amount of dictation. We want to try to maintain a reasonable ratio of transcribers to dictators and these additional positions we think will keep a balance between the amount of time necessary for the transcription of the records as produced by the investigators and the social workers.

"SHARPENING PENCILS"

Mr. NATCHER. At page 23-67 you show an item there of 105 manhours for sharpening pencils and erasers. You are not spending too much time along that line, are you? How do you account for the 105 man-hours on sharpening pencils?

Mr. PUNTCH. Well, of all the areas we have surveyed to try to find out the work hours, sir, this is an actual count of what is going on in this activity. I would not think that they actually spent that much time sharpening their pencils. This was the schedule set up by the management man who was with us and this is what he came up with, which was a one-shot thing, which we hope will be used by this management survey. We have done something about some of that. You will notice again we are not asking for as many positions as the workload statistics would indicate. And we have installed an imprinting machine to reduce some of the reproduction of names and case numbers.

Mr. NATCHER. We are glad to have that explanation because certainly we hope you do not spend that much time just taking care of pencils and erasers in this particular section.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FREE LUNCH PROGRAM

Now, Mr. Shea, under "Elementary school free lunch program" which appears on 23-69, we have no change. We have here $50.400 with seven positions. This as you well know, Mr. Shea, and the other members of the committee, was a program right close to the heart of our former chairman, Mr. Rabaut. I can still hear him talk about these children in the District and you will remember from time to time when anyone started in on the children he would be the first one to say, "Now, wait just a minute, you are not going to bother the children." It always affected him and he certainly, bless his heart, was always a friend of the District.

WELFARE INSTITUTIONS

Mr. NATCHER. Now turning to the "District of Columbia welfare institutions" where the amount of $4,019,034 is requested, which is an increase of $354,817. In addition, 103 new positions are requested. We will insert pages 23-70 through 23-72.

(The justification follows:)