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It is required that the proposed Work First County Block Grant Plan be made available for public inspection and comment. (There are, however, no specific requirements as to the places or length of time the proposed plan must be posted.) The proposed plan was posted at the Cannon Memorial Library-Concord, the Cannon Memorial Library-Karmapolis, the Cabarms DSS, Cabarrus Health Alliance, and the County Manager's office fi.om November 13 through November 19. Any comments received in relation to the proposed plan will be reported to the Board of Commissioners at its meeting of November 20. Highlights of the Proposed Plan Update As to the financial aspects of the proposed plan, the update includes a 10% reduction in the annual maintenance of effort (MOE) spending requirement for Cabarms County. State law permits counties which choose, and are selected for, "electing" county status to reduce the MOE requirement for county spending by 10%. The Board acted at its August meeting to request electing (as opposed to a continued standard) county status. If Cabarms is selected by the State as one of the limited number of electing counties permitted under existing State law, the County's MOE requirement would be reduced by $129,000, to $1,167,667.) Due to the reduction in our County's welfare assistance caseload, we have had difficulty in meeting the MOE requirement during the past two years. In another financial area, as an electing county, Cabarrus would be able to establish a reserve fund fi.om any State funding included in the County's block grant which is not expended for public assistance payments. The plan proposes the establishment of such a fund for use in the event that an economic downturn should lead to an increased need for public assistance payments during the plan period. The level of funding which might 'be available, however, for deposit to such a fund can not be determined at this point. In the area of policy improvements, the proposed plan carries forward the "pay for performance" and other policy enhancements akeady in place in Cabarrus, as well as the New Focus program which has helped 74% of applicants for family assistance to avoid the need for ongoing cash assistance. In support of the New Focus approach, the proposed plan would, if Cabarms is granted electing status, per,rdt the use of some of the 100% federal funding included in the County's block grant for ongoing cash assistance, to be used instead for emergency assistance to families where needed. Specifically, the proposal would modify the State policy for use of this federal funding for one-time grant diversion payments for families in emergency situations. It would permit a one-time payment of up to $1,200 for emergency needs with a three-month disqualification for regular cash assistance. (Under caarrent State policy, a one-time payment of up to three times the assistance payment to which the family would be entitled is pemlitted, about $816 for a family of three, with a three-month disqualification for regular cash assistance.) This proposal would thus increase the resources available to families in emergency situations, at no cost in county funds. Other Policy refinements would address fairness issues which have been of concern.. For example; the proposal would require Social Security SSI payments a family receives to be counted in the same way 2