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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-02-25-HSC-min.pdf MINUTES OF HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING - Feb 25, 1980 Present Carol Perez, Ruth Nablo , Ruth Butler, Stephen Baran, Barry Marshall , Nicky Osborne also Elizabeth Pressman Absent Howard Levingston The meeting was called to order at 7 30 p m by Carol Perez She announced that at 7 45 the Selectmen would be meeting with the architect of the preliminary plans for conversion of the Munroe School to a Human Service Center It was decided that Elizabeth Pressman would go to that meeting so that committee members could carry on their deliberations of CMARC, REPLACE and Mystic Valley, since final reports are due this week Mrs Pressman passed around the New England Human Services Coalition, Inc Newsletter This is a new publication and Mrs Banks asked whether the committee felt it worthwhile to subscribe Mrs Perez read a letter from Marcia Feakes , chairperson of the Youth Commission The commission endorses funding REPLACE at the present level It is in favor of the addition of an administrativei, assistant, and the continuation of the outreach worker The committee wondered how to touch base with the agencies after the reports are done It was decided to send each agency a copy of the report with the understanding that they could address any comments about the report to the Selectmen Ruth Butler stated that she liked the idea of documenting sources of information in each report, as Ruth Nablo had done with CMARC Mrs Perez informed the committee that CETA would provide REPLACE with the position of Administrative Assistant during the coming year The committee moved to consider the funding of Mystic Valley Ruth Butler suggested that the committee not recommend specific linkages between Mystic Valley and other agencies It was felt, however, that areas of possible linkage could be specified for study during the coming year A question was raised as to whether any level of local matching funds was required in order to receive federal funding (See item 4 on page 1 of Review of the Mystic Valley Mental Health Center ' s Budget Report, 2/25/80 draft) Barry Marshall expressed concern about the accounting practices of Mystic Valley, in particular, failure to control accounts receivable and to clearly account for accumulation of surplus monies that might ordinarily have to be returned to the federal government Mr Marshall 7 4 noted the failure of the new Chief Accountant to respond verbally by phone, despite repeated requests that he do so Instead, he chose to send a written response to the Town Manager' s Office It was announced that a new administrator had been hired for CMARC She would begin on April 1 In the meantime, there is a need for greater sophistication on the part of CMARC board members regarding the rules and regulations of DMH MINUTES OF HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING - Feb 25, 1980 2 Nicky Osborne told the committee that the federal government does not require a specific amount of local funds for Mystic Valley but it is important that there be some local match Other committee members agreed that there seemed to be a lack of readily available data On the other hand the committee had not specified what data it wanted at the beginning of the program year It was agreed that the committee should make a statement relating to all three programs; that linkage between the programs become a matter of special inquiry, possibly through the formation of a committee consisting of liason representatives from the agencies and from the Human Services Committee In relation to this , a human services management workshop for the agencies being funded, including follow-up sessions , was reviewed as desirable This would promote better management of each program as well as linkages between programs The following format was proposed by way of presenting a report to the Selectmen; a preamble , finding a level of communications for each program, common areas for study across programs , and reporting requirements in general terms A discussion of future meetings , frequency, specific dates , and agenda items followed Ruth Nablo indicated that she would like the committee to begin to focus on the total Human Services Budget Ruth Butler suggested that perhaps it would be a good idea to continue on an agency by agency basis before looking at the total The committee decided to grant the total REPLACE request of $34 , 423 , but take the $3 , 935 amount that is additional to the Town Manager' s recommendation from the Mystic Valley appropriation It was felt that REPLACE is a local agency addressing itself to the Lexington teen-age population Ruth Nablo read the update to the CMARC report Carol suggested setting specific dates for review of agencies CMARC is currently paid on a quarterly basis Other agencies should also be paid installments , though not necessarily on a quarterly basis Review of the agency could take place before each payment Future meetings need to set a framework for Human Services policy Ruth Nablo read the Appropriation Committee view of the Human Services Committee as it appears in their report Ruth Butler suggested that the committee sponsor a workshop for the three agencies , REPLACE, CMARC , and Mystic Valley, around where their agencies are now Representatives of these agencies should help the committee plan various workshops Mrs Perez will write the preamble and linkage sections of the committee ' s report to the Selectmen She will also indicate what the group plans for the future Each sub-committee will write its own section MINUTES OF HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING - Feb 25 , 1980 3 The March meetings were set for March 4 , 11, 18 and 25 at 7 30 p m The meeting was adjourned at 10 35 p m Respectfully submitted, Eli abeth H Pressman fl