HomeMy WebLinkAbout1979-12-03-HSC-min.pdf HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE December 3, 1979
Present Carol Perez Chairman, Barry Marshall Stephen Baran, Ruth Nablo,
Adelaide Osborne, Howard Levingston
Also, Nancy Banks, Elizabeth Pressman
The meeting was called to order at 7 35 PM. The minutes of the November 20th
meeting were approved as corrected. Mrs Perez then told the committee that the new
editor of the "Minuteman , Mr Dineen, had called her to find out what the committee
had done She suggested that he call back after January 31 1980, since there is
not yet anything to report. The committee agreed aith this suggestion
Mrs Perez then read the group a letter from the Selectmen to the committee
It asked that, if possible, the committee work with the neighbors of the Reed
Street area on the problem of institutionalization of residential neighborhoods,
"subject to addressing priorities previously established." Some discussion followed
A second letter, from James F Crain was presented. He recommended that the
committee meet with Nancy Lazarus who set up "Call for Action in Boston as well
as a -eferral service for. the Bar Association It was decided to reply to Mr Crain
and let him know that when the committee is further along it will get together with
him.
On Saturday December 15 from 3-7 PM all committee members are invited to an
Open House at CMARC in Woburn
A question on reviewing Charlie McManus' position was answered by Nancy Banks
She indicated that such a review is not a priority The money7$6,000 will be in the
budget for that position. Later on the committee may want to look at it as part
of the overall system of human services
CMARC has been informed that they must make their budget request by means of a
citizen' s article on the 1980 warrant, The role of the committee is to advise the
Selectmen so that they can decide whether to suppqrt the article or not,
It was asked who the Human Service Council is Nancy Banks explained that they
were an ad hoc group and not an appointed Town committee It was an attempt to bring
human service providers together Of a mailing list of about 50, only about 20 showed
up at meetings Since the B t, Study was completed the council has not met They
felt that they had gone as far as they could. The Selectmen felt that the purpose
of the group, dialogue among providers, was good, but first human service priorities
must be set
Nicky Osborne passed out a chart that she had made to use in reviewing agency
budgets and programs
Human Services Committee Page two 12/3/79
The committee broke up into subcommittees for about 1/2 an hour At 8 40 they
reconvened as a whole
Ruth Butler and Ruth Nablo reported on CMARC They felt that they needed a lot
more information from CMARC Discussion followed It was hoped that guidelines could
be set up for the Selectmen to know just what information to ask for from the agencies
Overlap of agencies and unnecessary duplication of programs will be looked at by the
committee
Nicky Osborne and Barry Marshall presented what they had been discussing about
Mystic Valley Mental Health The question of how Mystic Valley can meet unmet needs
in Lexington will be asked of the Director The $30,000 that Lexington gives Mystic
Valley could possibly be used toward this end. Audit reports, Federal Site Visit
reports, and Quality Assurance reports can all be used to review agencies where such
information exists
The committee decided that it would like to set up a meeting with the Guidance
Committee that Dr Monderer chairs Elizabeth Pressman will contact Dr Monderer
about this
REPLACE, being reviewed by Carol Perez, Howard Levingston and Stephen Baran
was discussed next Since REPLACE does get money from the Dept of Mental Health
drug abuse program, the question of how much effort is directed toward drug problems
was raised The sub :committee plans to meet with the director Ms.Perez cannot go to
an on-site visit since REPLACE is not accesible to her Other questions raised in
connection with REPLACE were what kinds of kids drop in, what types of emergencies
come in on the Hot Line, to whom and from whom do they refer, what kind of work do
volunteers do and what is their training, what does a "case mean, and is there a
breakdown of the types of calls received?
The committee raised the question of how much counseling is done by clergy
and police, and would they like consultations with the professionals in the agencies?
The question was also brought up as to whether or not runaways drop in to REPLACE
Finally, the issue of whether the functions of REPLACE would change if they were in
a different location was raised
Some planning was done for the next meeting Mrs Perez will talk to Mrs
Miley to clarify the intent of her letter to the committee about Reed Street The
first agenda item for next time will be a review of the Boston College study,
secondly a discussion of priorities, and finally an update from the subcommittees
The dates for the next two meetings were changed from Monday, December 10
and 17 to Tuesday December 11 and 18
The meeting was adjourned at 10 10 p m.
Respectfully )/ ;
submitted,�
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Elizabeth H Pressman
Management Intern
be 12/12/79