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Town of Lexington Lexington 2020 Vision Committee Minutes of Meeting of August 23, 2013 2020 Vision Committee A meeting of the was held on Friday, August 23 at 7:45 a.m. in the Parker Room in the Town Office Building at 1625 Massachusetts Avenue. Members Present: Fernando Quezada, Bhumip Khasnabish, Dan Krupka, Marian Cohen, Andrew Dixon, Peter Enrich, Jane Warren, Alan Wrigley, Peter Lee, BOS Liaison Joe Pato Staff: Melissa Jones Members Absent: Chuck Benson, Planning Board Liaison Greg Zurlo, School Committee Liaison Margaret Coppe Action Items: Future agenda item: Health Department representative to discuss Healthy Communities project (Candy) Future agenda item: Discuss committee recruitment and possible revision of charge (Candy) The meeting was called to order at 7:50 a.m. and acted on the following items: Approved the minutes from July 19, 2013. Approved Town Report submission and took photo: Dave Tabeling was present to take the photo. Reviewed data analysis from community survey: Marian said that she and Dan had a debate regarding where to place the section on the demographic profile of respondents. Marian said that in her field, it always goes first while Dan believes that it is not exciting for the reader to see that first. The Committee decided to send the preliminary report to the following parties: those respondents who requested the results; TMMA; Minuteman; Colonial Times; Patch; the leadership of IAL and CAAL; Town website. Marian will provide email addresses and the results will be distributed the week of Labor Day. Staff will follow up with Fernando to draft the language that will accompany the email blast, website posting, and media submissions. The Committee decided to include the demographic section as an Appendix. The Committee decided to meet with the other boards to discuss this in early October. Overview of Healthy Communities Project: Melissa provided a brief overview on the work done by the Health Department. The Committee discussed the project’s relevance to 2020, particularly that the issues relate to what the Committee focuses on, and the fact that this provides more data. Marian noted that the issue of mental health stands out, as this is a neglected area. Fernando said that the mental health piece fits in when considering the overall health of the community. Marian said that a focus on mental health in Lexington will help to reduce the stigma associated with psychiatric disorders in our part of the world. Fernando noted that stigma is a cultural creation, and that an ongoing discussion for the Committee is whether it should “impose” or “discover” cultural values. Fernando asked how this project feeds into the Committee’s efforts, and vice versa. He suggested that the Health Department’s efforts could be supplemented by the Committee’s own information. The Committee would like to invite a representative to talk about this project further. Dan asked how the Board of Selectmen considers all of the different results from surveys conducted by various boards and Town departments. Joe said that the Board has not reviewed them yet, but he is happy to receive suggestions. Marian suggested putting all of the surveys in one place and looking at the patterns. Peter Enrich suggested that this might be a task for the Committee. Dan said that it is important to take a step back and see how the results can be integrated. Received update on subcommittee on demographic change: Dan said that the draft is 75 percent complete. He discussed the sub-committee’s work with the schools to determine what they do to promote the diversity of staff. He said that we need to begin thinking about what the benefits are of a diverse student population, and how we can capitalize on this and turn it into a meaningful, unique opportunity. Bhumip mentioned that at graduation, the school staff does not pronounce many of the students’ names correctly, and the Committee discussed how this reflects the lack of diversity of the staff. Fernando said the meat of that discussion should