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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1980-03-18-HSC-min.pdf 3-18-80 Present Stephen Baran, Nicky Osborne, Barry Marshall, Ruth Butler, Ruth Nablo, Howard Levingston, Carol Perez (late) , also Elizabeth Pressman The meeting was called to order at 7 35 p.m by vice-chairperson Nicky Osborne The minutes of March 3, 1980 were approved as written Those of March 11, 1980 were approved as amended Nancy Banks, assistant to the Town Manager, spoke to the committee about her presentation for the Local Officials Human Services Council on human services in Lexington She explained to the committee the make-up and function of LOHSC She asked for input from committee members on where the focus of the talk should be Nicky Osborne stated that the H S committee does not yet have a clear sense of direction She added , however, that though looking at agency budgets at first seemed to take the committee away from carrying out the Selectmen's charge, the task did help the committee find its focus The committee heeds to develop an overall framework, to see where the needs of the Town are and then set priorities for the Town From this vantage point the committee will have a broader context in which to review budgets Steve Baran stated that using the Boston College study as a base, the questions relating to needs are "What do we as a group stand for?" Ruth Butler raised the issue of how persistent values are The con- cept of human services as helping the worthy poor still seems to exist in Lexington This conflicts with the later idea of human services dealing with improving the well being of the entire community Ms Banks asked the members of the committee whether the B C study will be helpful to them. Ruth Butler suggested that the first task of the group is to define what a human service system is Parameters for human service priorities can be set from that definition Ms ,Butler asked whether a voluntary human service group has an obligation to the utilization of Town funds, or to support of human service agencies? Barry Marshall said that there appears to be an overlap or duplication of some services, indicating a lack of coordination of human services in Lexington Perhaps the total amount of money spent. on human services by the Town could be better spent There is the question of how much money the School Department spends on counselors within their system, who then refer students to other agencies Should school counselors be doing more themselves? All three agencies reviewed by the committee seemed to have management problems of one sort or another Steve Baran suggested that this leads one to feel there is a real need for training for some of the providers It is unclear who should pro- vide the training Ruth Nablo said she would like to see contracts drawn up with each Town funded agency, requiring that specific criteria be met 3-18-80 - 2 - Agencies may have a preventive or a problem solving orientation Ruth Butler wondered whether monies are distributed with these differences in mind -. She added that REPLACE seems to do preventive work especially in the case of its outreach worker Services provided by the private sector have not been looked at by the Committee, said Ruth Nablo What services do they provide, and how well are they functioning? She stated that human services should be geared to what needs actually are and should not duplicate what someone else is already doing Ms Banks mentioned that the Council on Aging and the Board of Health disagree on both the need in Lexington for well elderly clinics and on where such clinics should be held A sensitivity to what the need really is needs to be developed Howard Levingston offered that REPLACE seems to be innovative in what they are doing Most of their budget seems to be spent in functional areas Mystic Valley Mental Health Center, however, seems to spend a disproportionate amount of its budget on bureaucracy Mr Levingston also feels that in the year since the new director was hired at Mystic Valley the situation has gotten worse, not better When the present Town Manager came to Lexington Mr Levins- ton continued, he had an immediate effect on improving the efficiency of Town management Objective criteria are needed by the committee, Ruth Butler said Nicky Osborne felt that though the B C study is 1-1/2 years old it has a lot of baseline information that still is useful Steve Baran indicated that even an instrument like the study is not ideal It did not interview the teen-age population, nor did it address minority groups in Lexington Dr Baran added that he did think the study was done beautifully It was very well organized, especially considering the amount of time given to do the survey Ms Banks informed the committee that the data from the survey has been keypunched and additional computer runs can be made with the data The definition of vulnerability given in the study was disagreed with by Ruth Butler She questioned the academic correctness of the definition and indicated that it reflected a deficit in academic responsibility at B C The entire preventive component of human services has been sliced out of the B C definition This perpetuates categorical funding Steve Baran suggested that. perhaps the definition was used because that was where the Town was Ms Banks told the committee that the professor who worked with the B C students would probably be glad to speak with the H S committee Other criticisms of the study were that it is too long to be read by the average citizen, that it is not well indexed, and that the sampling taken was faulty Nicky said that the committee does want to go back to the study to review and better understand it Nancy Banks told the group some of the problems that had arisen while the study was in process 3-18-80 - 3 - A suggestion was made by Ruth Butler to center a study of overlap and duplication on the schools since they seem to represent a system which interlocks with other human :erv.ice syctem. Steve Baran added that the committee has felt it necessary to take a s 'stems approach rather than looking at each agency independently Ms Bunks asked how much time she should spend on the history before the B C study She does want to convey tie amount of citizen involvement in Lexington Citizens have lobbied for issues and the Town has resconded to them Ruth Nablo stateu that maybe the Town should fund every agencf lust so they can be scrutinized Howard Levingston retorted that maybe the Town should fund none of the agencies and let them come to the Town to .justify funding Nicky Osborne asked whether a citizens' committee can really implement the Selectmen' s cnarge, or 'nether the Town needs a staff person to carry out the charge Where do staffing and citizen involvement interrelate, asked Steve Baran? Ruth Butler asked whether the committee can act almost as a consultant to an agency? Ms Banks replied that an agency like Mystic Valley should have such back up help from its state and regional linkages but it doesn t seem to happen Ruth Nablo sees a gap in that the committee has not yet addressed the Council on Aging That group seems to have a good relationship with Mystic Valley If an agency is physically located in Lexington though it serves a wider area, how much control can Lexington exert? Arlington cut thc.ir appropriation to Mystic Valley in half last year Nancy Banks told the group Barry Marshall relayed to the committee Selectman Crain ' s remarks to the March 1', 1980 Town ieeting about Mystic Valley Mr Crain stated that the FY ' 81 appropriation would be held in escrow unles, and until they adequately provide the Selectmen with the data they have requested Nancy Banks asked the committee to identify for the Selectmen the types of information it wants from Mystic Valley If Mystic Valley feels it can provide tee answers they will get their funds if not, they will lot receive the FY '81 appropriation Mr Levingston want, to find out how much of the Mystic. Valley budget is for overhead and administration and how much for direct service Nicky Osborne referred Nancy to the questions posed at the end of the committee' s report on My tic Valley Barry Marshall told the committee that he had spoken to Dr Carbonneau on Monday, March 17, and Dr Carbonneau was unaware of the invitation to him, by the committee, for Tuesday, March 25 Mrs Pressman indicated that in addition to the written invitation, sent last Thursday, March 14, she had spoken to Doris Senter, Dr Carbonneau' s administrative aide on Wednesday, March 13, and told her about the invitation Ms Banks said that the Town wants to write a contract and this is the kind of data needed The first payment would be made, but if information re- quested is not forthcoming, the Town would not make further payments Data received, Mr. Levingston -bated, must be scrutinized very carefully For this 3-18-80 - 4 reason, Ms Butler said, the committee must be very clear on what data it wants Questions must be ca.'t in terms of kinds of outcomes The committee must know what it is looking for Howard Levingston asked how Mystic Valley justifies the use of the $30, 000 from Lexington Discussion followed, including the following questionE What is the objective of the service related to a need? Could Mystic Valley have helped CMARC so they wouldn' t have developed as many pro- blems as they did? Are we giving the agency the money and then backing into the figure? It was suggested that Selectman Crain' s exact words about money in escrow be obtained. The committee could like to knot the thinking that led up to that deci_ ion it was also mentioned that a member of the Board of Selectmen might like to sit in on the committee meeting with Mystic Valley Ruth Nablo suggested that if the School Department runs summer work- shops for guidance counselors this summer, REPLACE ouynt to be invited to participate Mrs Nablo further stated that REPLACE participants should be compensated ,just as teacher participants are The committee went on to review the budget. review criteria drawn up by Nicky Osborne Meetings for April were set for April 8, 15, and 29 REPLACE will be invited for April 15 The committee will set agendas for coming meetings on March 25 Priorities and "due dates" will be set Further discussion of Mr, Nablo's suggestion about the summer work- shop took place Mrs Nablo will draft letters to REPLACE and the Scnool Department with the committee 's suggestion Included will be the comment that this is part of the committee' s effort to create linkages between agencies The meeting was adjourned at 10 25 p m. Respectfully Su/bbmittteeed, 01 Elizabeth H Pressman