2020-11-04-HSC-min - Laserfiche WebLink

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Town of Lexington Human Services Committee Wednesday 11/4/2020 @ 7 PM Conducted by Remote Participation* MINUTES Participants: Gail Fields, Lea Elkin, Pam Joshi, Leslie Zales, Doug Lucente (Select Board Liaison), Betty Borghesani (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 September 30, 2020 meeting a. Identified Committee Member to take minutes going forward-rotate role within Committee 2. Chair resignations and election a. Lea Elkin resignation—has enjoyed the Committee and felt very committed; time to pass the baton but will be staying on the Committee b. Gail Fields resignation— great group of dedicated people on this Committee and happy to stay on c. Leslie Zales —Lea Elkin nominated Leslie Zales to Chair and seconded by Martha Kurland 3. Police and Human Services Partnership Discussion and Next Steps a. MI: Police Videos not posted publicly yet,perhaps next few weeks; will send to Committee once posted b. MI: Got data from Police Chief on breakdowns of calls coming through dispatch for 2019 calendar year c. MI: Current trends: Policing and the role of Police in the community has been in the forefront of many discussions; signed contract with All Aces Consulting Firm to review policies, culture, and community engagement. They will be working directly with municipal staff core team (Melissa Interess will represent Human Services department); will have an Advisory Council made up of individuals from various community groups; kicking off in December. d. Discussion regarding how Committee can be helpful in the diversity, equity, inclusion work. Discussed the idea of social workers collaborating more consistently with the police. MI reports the partnership with the Police Department(PD) is good but could there be more we could do together? LK referenced history of this kind of partnership and that it used to be standard operating procedure in larger communities to have social workers in the PD until budgets began to tighten. DL: Last month the Select Board voted to pause all further spending for the design & construction of a new police station. One reason, "what is the future of policing". We do not want to build a space that doesn't support any modified police policies/organizations.