2021-01-13-HSC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

Town of Lexington Human Services Committee Wednesday 1/13/2021 @ 7 PM Conducted by Remote Participation* MINUTES Participants: Gail Fields, Leslie Zales, Doug Lucente(Select Board Liaison), Betty Borghesam (Council on Aging Liaison),Martha Kurland,Melissa Interess (staff), Tony Serio(staff) Welcome&introductions: Zoom Meeting Called to order 7:04pm 1. Reviewed and approved minutes of November 4, 2020 meeting a. Identified Committee Member to take minutes. 2. Police and Human Services Partnership Discussion a. Police videos were produced and posted-not many people have viewed to date. Committee members reporting viewing videos and feeling impressed, that they were informative and spoke to the diverse role of current policing. b. Viewing videos raised some questions for committee members: - GF-interested in knowing more about search requests and whether there is vulnerability in this area for racial profiling. - LZ-raised ongoing question of role of social workers to support police. Disc'd members knowledge of other communities (including reviewing recent incident in Newton). Committee members seem to see value in exploring this issue further and consider talking with other towns about this intervention. - MK notes high incidents of Domestic Violence(DV) calls and wonders whether there are repeat callers and whether there is any room for further intervention or support with this population. - MI shares that there is currently a Community Crisis Intervention Team which acts to provide preventative intervention. Human Services (HS)will receive referrals from this group. She also notes that HS gets called in by public safety for hoarding issues. c. Discussed whether there have been complaints from the community towards the police. Reportedly there have been 4 official complaints this year. Questions raised regarding this are: I) Is there a mechanism for complaints? Are citizens aware of the complaint mechanism? Would it be helpful to have an Ombudsman? (DL reports that the town budget for FY22 to be voted on at Town Meeting includes a diversity inclusion officer to start in July 2021). d. Next Steps: Ask someone from Police Department to meet with us. The hope for such a meeting is to partner with them to enhance the mutual goal of assessing the current services and how to make them better. Would it also be helpful to connect with the Select Board? MI will reach out to Police Department. Committee members will develop questions in advance of the meeting to share with the Police Department. 3. MI provided feedback on Citizen Advisory Council for the Diversity,Equity, and Inclusion work being conducted by the Town in partnership with the consultant,All Aces, Inc. All Aces have now met with the Advisory Council and completed focus groups with Lexington staff,board/committee members, and citizens. They are gathering data on where Lexington is doing well in the arena of Racial Equity and in which areas Lexington could do better. DL and MK both attended focus groups and shared experiences.