Washington State Courts - Boards, Commissions, Programs, and Organizations

Meeting Minutes
November 3, 2008
Kilroy Airport Center, 18000 International Blvd., SeaTac, WA

Call to Order
Judge Van Deren called the meeting to order and introduced the attending guests.

A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes as presented for the September 15, 2008 Board meeting. The motion passed.

Judge Van Deren reported that Sharon York and Nancy Dapper will be attending the March, 2009, CPG continuing education program in Silverdale. New Committee appointments were circulated and Judge Van Deren thanked all the Board members for their continued efforts in the important Committee work of the Board.

Judge Van Deren updated the Board regarding the Supreme Court’s consideration of the suggested amendments to General Rule (GR) 23. The Supreme Court Rules Committee indicated its support for all the Board’s suggested amendments. The Rules Committee requested that in response to comments received by the Court that the Board add a grandfather provision which would affirmatively state that currently certified professional guardians are not required to complete the increased educational requirements for new applicants. The Rules Committee also suggested that the Board incorporate the qualified immunity standard recently adopted for the WSBA Boards and Commissions. Draft grandfather and immunity provisions were added to the Board’s GR 23 suggested amendments and provided to the Rules Committee.

Shirley Bondon, Manager of the Office of Public Guardianship (OPG), provided an update on the program and informed the Board of proposed legislation by the WSBA Elder Law Section that will allow OPG to pay for training for prospective public guardians who are not yet certified. The legislation will address the need for public guardians in counties where there are no certified professional guardians. OPG would appreciate the Board’s pre-screening the applications for certification submitted by public guardians to facilitate their expeditious appointment upon completion of the mandatory education program. The Board indicated that its current practice is to review all applications for conditional approval/denial pending completion of mandatory education and that the OPG applicants would be treated similarly. A question was raised whether it was appropriate for the Board to formally support any legislative proposals. After discussion a motion was made and seconded to support the direction of the OPG program without taking any position on the proposed legislation. The motion passed.

Ms. Bondon offered to attend future meetings of the Board and provide quarterly reports on OPG’s progress. Judge Van Deren announced that she appointed Linda Moran to represent the Board on OPG’s ad hoc committee which will be reviewing OPG’s strategic plan and progress.

Gary Beagle, Committee Chair, reported that the Committee will meet in November and quarterly thereafter. Current responsibilities of the Committee are: review of the standards for approval of continuing education courses; update forms and instructions for requests for CE approval; ongoing oversight of the UWEO Guardianship Certificate Program & update of the Guardian Manual; determine CE credit hour approval for CPG completion of the UWEO Guardianship Certificate Program.

Mr. Beagle thanked all those who assisted in developing the program curriculum and the huge effort involved not just in creating the substance but also in readying the material for online presentation. On October 31, two days of instruction began by concluding the Guardianship of the Person (course one) with segments on the personal care plan, annual report, discussion on boundaries and a panel presentation by self-advocates. Instruction on Guardianship of the Estate (course two), included: income and medical entitlement programs, special needs trusts, due diligence and best practices, fiduciary duties and ethical considerations. Instructors provided an overview of the feedback provided by students on course one and resulting adjustments to course two, one example of which is the addition of regular instructor office hours to assist students.

Mr. Beagle presented the agreement proposed in resolution of continuing education noncompliance for consideration by the Board in closed session.

At its last meeting the Board approved for posting and distribution for comment draft proposed new disciplinary regulation 520 regarding random auditing of guardians’ Superior Court filings. Comments received were compiled and distributed to the Board prior to the meeting.

The Board discussed the primary objections raised in the comments: that auditing of Superior Court filings is within the purview of the courts, and that the Board should not be initiating a grievance on its own motion and should only respond to grievances filed. Concerns were voiced that GR 23 did not envision the Board actively looking for violations of standards of practice and that GR 23 specifically states that it does not duplicate the statutory process by which courts supervise guardians. It was suggested that one way of addressing the concern of late filings is for the Board to begin by educating guardians as to the importance of timely filings and then evaluate the need for auditing in the future.

In response, comments were made that the Board has a responsibility to investigate violations of statutory duties and standards of practice and that recognizing the failure of guardians to abide by reporting requirements requires the Board to take an active role in this area. It was expressed that even if it were concluded that only the Superior Courts should be auditing and enforcing the filing requirements, the fact is that the courts are not able to effectively perform this function for various reasons, including budget, resource and time constraints, and the Board is seeing a pattern of untimely and incomplete filings in its investigations. In regards to auditing without receiving a grievance, it was emphasized that the vulnerable party in guardianships is the incapacitated person who in most circumstances is not capable of voicing his or her concerns, and thus it is entirely appropriate for the Board to investigate concerns on its own initiative.

Judge Van Deren proposed forming a workgroup comprised of CPGs and other interested parties to look at existing monitoring and oversight, explore the need for the Board to take a more active role, determine the necessary scope if such an effort is pursued and report back to the Board at its June Retreat. A motion was made and seconded for forming a workgroup. The motion failed.

The monitoring report provided in compliance with the Disciplinary Settlement Agreement was presented to the Board. The Board will consider the report in closed session.

The Agreement Regarding Discipline was presented in resolution of the allegations of the guardian’s self-petitioning without following the steps to remove an appearance or actual conflict of interest. The Board will consider the agreement in closed session.

Judge Wickham, Committee Chair, presented the pending requests and sought direction from the Board. Both questions originated from discussions within Committee and do not describe a specific factual circumstance. Concern was expressed that without the presentation of a specific factual circumstance upon which to provide informed direction, attempting to draft an opinion to cover all conceivable scenarios encompassed by a broad, general question may result in unintended consequences. A motion was made and seconded to direct the Committee not to address requests where there is a lack of specificity in the particular factual circumstances. The motion passed.

The Board adjourned to closed session at approximately12:40 p.m. to consider the agreements regarding discipline and applications for certification.

The Board reconvened in open session at approximately 1:10 p.m. and took the following action:

(2) CPGB No. 2008-012: The Board approved the Agreement Regarding Discipline with clarification in the statement of facts.

(3) CPGB NO. 2008-CE-001: The Board approved the Agreement Regarding Discipline with clarification in the statement of facts.

(4) CPGB No. 2008-002: The Board approved the SOPC’s resolution of this grievance.

(1) Individual motions for conditional approval* of each of the following applications for certification passed, abstentions noted:

(2) Individual motions for denial of each of the following applications for certification passed:

(3) Motion to approve the requests for voluntary surrender of the following certifications passed:

(4) Motion to approve the decertification for noncompliance with annual dues and declaration requirement of the following professional guardians passed:

Certified Professional Guardian Board (CPGB)

November 3, 2008 Meeting Minutes